HANSEN CUNNINGHAM, JACOB [SSNE 1399]

Surname

HANSEN CUNNINGHAM

First name

JACOB, JAMES

Title/rank

PARSON

Nationality

SCOT

Region

VARDO, FINMARK, NORWAY

Social status

CLERGY

Religion

LUTHERAN

Text source

James Hannsen Cunningham (1619-1680) was the natural son of Admiral John Cunningham. He obtained a letter of preferment from Crown Prince Christian in July 1644, to the parishes of Hyllinge and Kyndby. James applied for the chaplaincy of the church of the Holy Ghost at Copenhagen, but was rejected because he was illigitimate. The king resolved on 10 November 1644 that his birth should be no obstacle to this or any other employment in the church. Thereafter he was appointed as parson of Horslunde 1646. Cunningham accidently killed the son of the bailiff of Nakskov in 1657, but was allowed to remain in office but was to administer it through a chaplain. He received permission to preach in 1677, but apparently not to administer the sacraments. On 10 March 1674, Bergen Council was instructed to help him get his mother's inheritance by royal order. Cunningham married first to Cathrine Mikkelsdatter (his predecessor's widow) who died in 1659. His second wife was one Barbara Hansdatter Annemuller, who survived him (he died on 24 March 1680) and who married his successor.

Norske Kongebrev (6 vols., Oslo, 1962), II, p.158; T. Riis, Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot (Odense, 1988), II, p.267; Steve Murdoch, Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603-1746 (Brill, Leiden, 2006), pp.115-116.

Service record

DENMARK-NORWAY, HORSLUNDE

Arrived 1619-01-01

Departed 1680-03-24

Capacity PARSON, purpose ECCLESIASTICAL