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Hello,
Was looking for some information concerning the Carruth family in Antrim Co., in what is
now Northern Ireland and, well one thing leads to another (isn't that always how it
is), and here is a post I thought someone here may find of some interest.
Let me start by saying that the Carruth family as whole includes more than those that
spell their surname Carruth. Those that spell their last name Caruth, Coruth, Carouth,
Carrouth, Corruth, etc., or included when I say the Carruth family.
I use Harold B. Carruth's book, "Carruth Family," as an example. He cited
more than 20 ways the name is found spelled in records found and documented quite a few
different Carruth families. I wish he had the internet to use like we do. He may have
answered all our questions for us. His research and compilation of it along with the
information sent to him is a very good source. I believe he may have had an idea that we
were all related, but could not prove it, so left the question open for future generations
to find more records and make reflections from them concerning the Carruth family.
In working towards finding information about the Carruth family, it seems like I have been
getting a history lesson that that has been interesting I might add. Famines, wars,
migration history and trails, changing of county lines, and beginning times of the use of
surnames, to name a few. To study one's family history, I suppose you have to know
something about the places and times they came from.
What's all this got to do with the Carruth family? Well, concerning the Carruth
family in Ireland, it is necessary to learn where they came from and where they lived.
Without going into this to much, I want to point out a website at the following address:
http://www.cruithni.org.uk/
Pretty interesting name, Cruith-ni, considering our family name is Carruth. Makes me
wonder what kind of connection there may be between the two. The website has this
information:
-Cruithni is the plural of the medieval Irish word Cruithin. The other spelling often used
is Cruthin. The original word was Pritani in P-Celtic or Prydyn in Welsh. The Pictish
Chronicle records the legend that the Picts in Scotland were founded by a king named
Cruithne, son of Cinge. However, it is doubtful whether there is any link between the
Cruithni in Ulster and the Picts in Scotland.
-In the account of the voyage of Pytheas of Massilia, about 325-323 BC, the islands of
Ierne and Albion are called the Pretanic islands. Probably as a result of a Latin
mispronunciation, the word changed to Britanni and the islands became known as the British
Isles.
I have written about some of the above before and posted information here concerning the
Cruithni in Ulster and those that moved to what became Scotland that were called Scotti
(hence later the name Scotland). This was the same area where "lands of
Carruth" or Korruith, are found. Anyway, I won't go in to that here, but what is
it they say about history, to the victors...who knows, the British Isles might have been
called the Carruth Isles, lol.
Back to the Cruithni website, I'm using this as a reference to where you can get more
information. From this website I want to note the following (bear with me, more on the
Carruth family after this):
-In 1476, the Lords of the Isles in Scotland were defeated by James IV and sought refuge
in Antrim.
-Henry VIII wrote a book attacking Luther, and was given the title "Defender of the
Faith" by Pope Leo X. However, in 1534, Henry had declared himself head of the Church
of England instead of the Pope, and in 1560, the Scottish parliament ended the authority
of the Pope in Scotland. In 1541, the Irish parliament declared Henry to be King of
Ireland, but several decades were to pass before Ulster finally came under the control of
the Tudor monarchy.
-in 1607, Hugh O'Neill, Rory O'Donnell and Cuchonnacht Maguire set sail from Lough
Swilly for Spain and took about 90 leading people from Ulster with them, prompting
despairing words in the Annals of the Four Masters.
-The flight of the earls was followed by an unsuccessful rebellion in 1608 by Sir Cahir
O'Doherty. Sir Niall O'Donnell and Sir Donnell O'Cahan were also accused of
treason and imprisoned in the Tower of London. This meant that almost all the land in the
six counties of Tyrconnell (Donegal), Coleraine, Fermanagh, Tyrone, Armagh and Cavan could
be confiscated by the crown, and therefore available for plantation.
------
James VI, king of Scotland, officially declared Scotland to be a Presbyterian state in
1592. In 1603, Elizabeth of England died and James VI now became king of Scotland and
England known as James I of England between 1603 and 1625.
-------
Back to the Cruithni site:
-The plantation was to be carried out by "undertakers," who could only take
Scottish and English tenants, and servitors who were often ex-soldiers but could take
Irish tenants. About a quarter of the land was to be retained by the "deserving"
Irish who had not been implicated in the rebellions. County Coleraine was planted by
London companies (including Clothworkers, Drapers and Fishmongers) and was renamed County
Londonderry.
-There seemed to be no reason to believe that this plantation would be any more successful
than any of the others carried out in Ireland. In fact, it was probably the influx of
Scottish immigrants later in the century, mainly moving to Antrim and Down, which was to
bring the strong Scottish traditions which persist in Ulster to this day.
-In 1641, there was a major rebellion led by the Catholic gentry, who had lost most during
the plantation. The accounts of the massacres of the settlers appear to be exaggerated,
but certainly many men, women and children were killed, and others died from exposure and
hunger. The following years were unsettled and extremely confused, with Civil War in
England and the arrival of a Scottish army under General Monro at Carrickfergus in 1642.
In 1649, Cromwell arrived in Ireland and took merciless revenge at Drogheda and Wexford
for the Ulster massacres of 1641. In December, his army also defeated the settlers'
army in Ulster. "I am persuaded that this is the righteous judgement of God upon
those barbarous wretches who have imbrued their hands with so much innocent blood,"
Oliver Cromwell.
-From about the middle of the century, there was a rise in exports of salt beef from
Ireland to the new colonies in the West Indies, from ports like Galway. However, it was
not until the 1680s that there was a marked improvement in economic conditions in Ulster,
when there was a further influx of immigrants and capital. This was also the beginning of
the rapid growth of Belfast, which became the fourth most important port in Ireland by
1700.
- Between about 1717 and 1775, large numbers of people, mostly Protestants, left Ulster to
settle in America. Bad harvests in 1726-29 led to a famine, and there was another terrible
famine in 1741. Harvest failures, high rents and payment of tithes were some of the
factors which convinced many Presbyterians to risk the hazardous sea crossing to America.
In 1776, Benjamin Franklin estimated that the Scotch-Irish formed one third of
Pennsylvania's 350,000 inhabitants. Many fought against the British in the American
War of Independence.
OK already, enough history. However, this history is very important in answering the
questions I have posed before and here again concerning the relationship of the various
Carruth family lines. Are we all related, where do we connect, etc.? The above history
along with other history that we have discovered, gives us a time period for when the
Carruth (including the various spellings) family moved from Scotland to Ireland. It may
be that they were returning to Ireland, but that is another subject to be examined another
time.
When James, king of Scotland, also became king of England and united the Isles to become
the British Isles along the same time period of the flight of the Earls, is the same
period of the opening of the plantation of Ulster. It is the same time period that the
Carruth family seems to start moving from Scotland to what has become Northern Ireland.
There are several Carruth families, shown in the various records that have survived from
that time period, in the counties of Ulster.
If you are still with me, there must be an interest here. I've found a map I'd
like for you to see at the following address:
http://www.from-ireland.net/lewis/ant/antrimindex.htm
Here you will find a 1837 map of Antrim County. You can click on the map and expand it.
Then click on the bottom right corner of the map and it will become a whole page size map.
Using this map, I located the Presbyterian congregations listed in, "Carruth
Family," that listed WWI veterans from their congregations. This is pretty
interesting because it represents a group of families of the Carruth family found in
Northern Ireland, yet you can see how close they all live. Those congregations listed are
from Ballymena, Belfast, Carrickfergus, Derry, and Dromore. Each one shows at least one
Carruth family member that served during WWI.
Using the above listed map, you can find all but Derry and Dromore, a very short distance
from each other. This same map also shows Ballymartin, which is the parish name of where
my seventh great-grandfather died. He lived in Ballypallidy which is a townland of
Ballymartin and must be to small to be noted on the map. Dromore is a townland of
Ballymena, and likewise, must be to small to be noted on the map. Derry is located Tyrone
County, which the boundary for is shown on the left side of the Antrim County map.
You can go to the following website and see how close these counties are as well as look
up where the individual parish and townlands are located:
http://www.ancestryireland.co.uk/index.php?filename=civilparishmaps
With these Carruth families living so closely together, there must be connections.
Brothers, Uncles, etc. In, "Carruth Family," concerning whether Mary Carruth
who married John Huggin or Huggen and Elizabeth Carruth who married Thomas McCormick, are
the daughters of James Carruth who died in Ballymartin in 1728, the author wrote about
another Carruth family being shown in the Carnmoney baptismal records for 1717 to 1719.
Elizabeth is assumed to be connected to and the daughter of James because the McCormick
family history shows her as being the daughter of Adam and sister of Walter, who were no
doubt sons of James. She is of the same age as Walter and Adam, so it is assumed she is
their sister since it is referenced that she is connected to this family group.
In James' will, John Huggen is listed as an executor along with his older sons John
and James. It is assumed that this is the same John Huggen that married Mary Carruth.
These assumptions are also partly made due to their being no daughters mentioned in
James' will as was the custom of the day due to the use of the dowry system for
daughters.
A year after James' death, when Adam, Walter, and probably Alexander (younger
brother), who were all mentioned in James' will along with their mother and older
brothers John and James, came to America and settled in the Hanover Township of Lancaster
County, Pa., Mary and James Huggen or Huggins and Elizabeth and Thomas McCormick can also
be found in Lancaster County. James' wife is thought to of been Margaret Law and she
is thought to of died in 1729. The oldest sons, James and John, stayed on in Antrim
County after inheriting the family farm properties. Alexander came to America a short
time after Adam and Walter if he did not come at the same time.
Elizabeth and family remained in the Lancaster County area after the three brothers
families and Mary's migrated down the Old Wagon Trail to Virginia and on to NC. So I
would say there is good reason to believe that Mary and Elizabeth were daughters of James.
The mention by Harold B. Carruth of another Carruth family in Carnmoney leaves room for
one of the other branches of the Carruth family shown in his book to of been living in
such close proximity to the others that there must be a connection. Carnmoney is in
Antrim County where several of the Presbyterian congregations are that I mentioned before
as well as where Ballymartin is, which is where James, who died in 1728, lived. Could
this be where John Carruth, that married Jemima Russell, lived before coming to America?
How about William Carruth, who married Margaret Perry, and is thought to be John's
half brother. I think these are good possibilities. They are both thought to of been
born in Ireland or Northern Ireland.
Harold B. Carruth mentions in his book that Dumbarton was a port used by a great number of
lowland scots to sail to the plantation of Ulster in chapter Z of his book. This chapter
is for William Carruth and family. William is thought to of been born approx. 1575 and
died in Dumbarton near 1635. Through this chapter we hear more of the troubling times of
the era when his wife is tried for witchcraft. I doubt she was doing so, this may have
had something to do with practicing one religion versus the religion the reigning
government was telling the local folks of the area to practice. If you were reported to
be practicing a religion that did not agree, you may be accused of practicing witchcraft.
Anyway, this chapter shows only one son for William although it mentions there are
probably more. William's son John was appointed a burgess in 1635, by right of
father, when William died (William was a burgess, his son being appointed in 1635 gives us
his date of death). The b!
ook alludes to William probably having other children and his sons may be the Carruths
who began to populate the Ulster plantation and show up in the records of that era.
For William's son John, there is a good bit of information, and his family is shown
too. John's son Robert is who I think is James' father that died in Ballymatin in
1728. For Robert, the book shows he had six sons including: William, Robert, John,
James, David, and Thomas. Robert died between 1685 and 1687. We know this because he
died before Thomas did. Thomas was born in 1685 and died in 1687. None of the above sons
of Robert appear in any of the Dumbarton records again. There is a James Carruth who was
made a burgess of Dumbarton, that is thought to be the son of Robert (son of Robert who
died between 1685-1687, shown above), but he is thought to of been born in Renfrew in
1704.
In the same book, in chapter "O," there is mention that Carruths were not native
to Renfrew. The Renfrew parochial records start in 1673 and there were no Carruths
mentioned until 1696. In this chapter, it is mentioned that Robert, mentioned in the last
paragraph as the son of Robert, may be the Robert married to Margaret Kyle that gave birth
to Margaret and is recorded in the Port Glasgow register for this birth in 1701 (first
Carruth mentioned in this registry). There are no more entries in the Port Glasgow
registry for a Carruth until 1720 for a marriage record of Agnes Corruth. This Robert is
thought to possibly be the father of Robert Carruth who married Isabella Ewing and lived
in Renfrew as well as the father of James, born in 1704, mentioned in the last paragraph.
Others have documented Robert who married Isabella, as a son of a Samuel Carruth.
I say all this to show that the Carruths in the Dumbarton and Renfrew (only a few miles
from each other as is Glasgow) area were moving and when the Ulster plantation came open,
a number of them took advantage of the chance to go there. The records are incomplete so
we cannot say for sure how many went as we cannot say for sure with the records we have of
who the father was of some of the Carruths we know of. I think Robert (died between
1685-1687), that I mentioned earlier, is James' father (James that died in Ballymartin
in 1728), but I cannot say for sure. However, with looking at all this together, I can
just about say for sure that all those named Carruth both in Scotland and Ireland were
cousins. Also, I think it may be safe to say that the sons of Robert (died between
1685-1687), mentioned above, are good candidates for being among those that populated the
Antrim County area.
Could the father of John and William Carruth, that were born in Ireland and migrated to
Mass., be from this same family? Why not, there is a John and a William among
Robert's (died between 1685-1687) children. The children of James Carruth (James that
died in Ballymartin in 1728) are being born around the same time that John and William
are. James could very well be John and William's uncle.
With the wars and famines of that era on going and the opening of America, considered
another plantation opportunity somewhat like Ulster was at that time I'm sure, Carruth
families again set out from both Ireland and Scotland, this time to come to America. The
promise of plenty of land to buy and own and a place they could worship the faith they
pleased without interference I'm sure were big reasons for their migration. Many
cousins came, some got together and some did not. Some if not many, did not know of the
others presence in America for a long time. Others stayed behind as evidenced by the
congregation records referenced earlier.
In America too, there have been hardships and rough times. There have been wars where
cousins have fought on opposite sides, just as there was I'm sure back in the old
countries. There have also been wars here between America and the old country. I'm
sure many Carruth cousins have faced each other in battle and I know without doubt that
they did in the American Civil War.
At any rate, those named Carruth, Caruth, Carrouth, Coruth, Corruth, Carouth, etc., whose
ancestry comes from Scotland and/or Ireland, are cousins I believe. Also, we have Carruth
cousins in New Zealand, Australia, and other places around the world whose ancestry also
comes from Scotland and/or Ireland. As we explore our family history together more, I
look forward to coming into contact with many of you.
Best Wishes,
Harvey Carrouth
harvey33(a)aol.com