My rambling Carrick theory, with no hard evidence:
We have links in my family that lead back to the John Carrick, b 1712, d 1812 in Adams
Co., PA. We
know his homestead was in an area called Carroll's Delight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orrtanna,_PA
This area was reported to have been settled by "Scots Irish." There were many
Germans in the area
that came from an area called the Palatine. The Scots-Irish were folks who had been
forcibly
relocated from Scotland to Northern Ireland. This forced relocation is the source of the
friction
that persists today in Northern Ireland.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster_Scots_people
We don't know where this John Carrick was born. What we do know is that when a family
from one area
migrated to America they were often followed later by others from their family, but also
from other
families in the area. We have several instances of descendants of John marrying people who
were from
the area of Larne, NI. This is a town on the eastern edge of Ireland, just a bit east of
Carrickfergus. (There is no relation to the name, apparently. You can look that up
separately.) This
is just a bit east of Belfast, of which you have no doubt heard. Most of these relatives
are in the
William Gilmore SIMMS line.
So, we are kind of assuming that our Carrick family was originally from the area around
Ayrshire,
Scotland:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayrshire
Notice that Carrick is the northernmost of the 3 districts that made up Ayrshire. At the
very bottom
of the Ayrshire is the location of the Kennedy clan. The Carrick name is a sept of the
Kennedy clan.
Notice the reference to the possible birthplace of Robert the Bruce. Just below Ayrshire
is the
county of Wigtownshire. Notice the small inlet in the map. There is a town there called
Stranraer.
From there you can catch a ferry that goes over to Belfast. The land
in NI is very poor, much like
the land in Scotland. The Ayrshire area is in lowland
Scotland. The lowland Scots were mostly cattle
rustlers and smugglers of Scotch whisky, which is made in the highlands north of Glasgow
and
Edinburgh.
So, we are assuming that our family migrated to Adams Co., PA. As I mentioned, their
neighbors who
were not Scots Irish were Germans. They did not get along well with one another, primarily
because
of religious differences. IIRC, the Germans were Lutherans and the Scots-Irish were
Presbyterians.
So, John's kids sort of split up. A few went to Ohio, some went down to central
Kentucky and then to
Tennessee. Samuel Czar Carrick went to East TN and founded Blount College, the forerunner
of U of
TN. (There are two dorms there called North and South Carrick Hall.) My kin ended up in
the area
around Sparta, White Co., TN.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparta,_Tennessee
During the Late Unpleasantness the northern and southern armies swept repeatedly back and
forth
through this valley. Before the war there were about 100,00 people in the county. After
the war
there were about 10,000, and the infrastructure was gone. What the armies did not consume
they
destroyed. My kin again migrated, this time mostly to Harmon Co, OK. They arrived pretty
much in
time to get established just before the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gould,_Oklahoma
In 1998 my older son and I went to France for the World Cup. The US games were over a two
week span,
so we went up to Scotland and spent a few days, including an overnight trip over to
Carrickfergus
and a drive out to Larne. We learned several things: One, Edinburgh is one of the
prettiest places
in the world. If you get a chance to go to Scotland, be sure to include a stay there.
Second, there
are Carrick things everywhere. (It may just be a matter of the evolution of the language,
but we did
not see any Kerrick or Karrick signs anywhere.) In the Fort Worth phone book there are 4
Carricks
and they are all related to me. In the Glasgow phonebook there was almost a page of
Carricks. Third,
you can see that the land is mostly unsuitable for farming. No wonder that the migration
to America
began almost immediately.
Now, the task we have is to tie that John Carrick back to the old world. Most of you have
all seen
the "book" I sent with references to the other two Carricks whom I assume are
related to John, James
and Samuel. I am not sure how they are related - I have assumed that they are siblings,
but they
could be cousins or otherwise related. If you are interested in pursuing this let me know.
The book
was too big to send to the list. If you want a copy just email me. It is an rtf file. Most
word
processing systems can read it. Also see my web site for other details:
http://home.roadrunner.com/~gilcarrick/Genealogy/genealgy.htm
Gil
--
mailto:gilcarrick@gmail.com
web page:
http://home.roadrunner.com/~gilcarrick/genealgy.htm
Researching: C.ARRICK, S.HANKLIN, L.ITTLE, S.ANFORD, M.OORE, G.AMBLE, V.AN V.LECK,
M.CELHINNEY
Gil Carrick, 1012 Portofino Dr., Arlington, TX, 76012
817-994-9213 (cell) gil.carrick (Skype)