Thomas Kelton, a lusty young lad, grew up in Kelton Township in southwest Scotland. When he was eighteen, he served in the Scots Army fighting Cromwell's English at the battle of Dunbar. He was taken prisoner there, and "sold" and sent to Massachusetts as an indentured servant to serve out a seven year sentence. He survived the loss of his first love, the disaster of the King Phillips Indian War, and many and sundry other experiences, but survive he did to provide himself with a good life.