Hi W'ton Lists,
In doing some associated research, I located this yr 2000 informative msg
by Trish & Nancy discussing W'ton interstate migration. One reason to post
it is because the reference to Quaker records is appropriate. We have not
exploited this rich resource. For example, the mention of the Dare family
going to then returning from NY should reveal or should have revealed more
records that could shine light on the NC W'tons and associated surnames. And
I've always liked the 1776 Rev War story of Calvert County March 6th 1776.
(see to the bottom this msg)
"At Mr Thomas Cleverly Dare's on the Clifts. Whereas a Man o' War supposed
be twenty guns, has anchored off this shore yesterday with design as is
suspected that is Inimical to this neighbour hood having taken a new england
vessel yesterday noon at the mouth of this river. The Committee consisting
of the following Gentn. vizt Col Ben Mackall Major Jas Wilkinson, Messrs Sam
Hance, Edwd Reynolds Walter Smith (md into Dares/Wtons), Kenzy Johns, Dr Jas
Gray & Dr E. Johnson & Mr Jas Heighe. Mr Hance in the Chair"
We have also since learned of the 1738 journey from PA of Jon Bangs &
John Carruthers, and the joint purchase of property in the New Bern area for
a shipping scheme, timely supported by Trish's discussion below.
Bill King has done yeoman's work to carry the migration through SC to AL,
Ark, MS & LA.
If others can contribute, lets hear from you.
Barry
Date: Tue, 01 Aug 2000 17:09:58 -0400
From: Barry Wetherington cbarry@. . . .
To: WITHERINGTON-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: [Witherington] How the W's got to North Carolina from MD
Hi Nancy, and Trish (and W'tons),
First, to clarify, I didn't actually receive this message, but did find
it roundabout on the W'ton Digest List. So I am going to post (See Below)
Trish's excellent analysis of Nancy's query ('How the W's got to North
Carolina from MD') to the W'ton Lists.
(Trish, New Bern Sept Sol W'ton Reunion?)
Next, a couple points:
-One reason for the difficulty in locating records to establish the
W'ton migration route is because of the 4 disastrous fires to the Calvert
court/records system over the years, which tended to destroy the evidence of
a prep by the W'tons to depart MD for points south. Still, there are
excellent land records covering these periods that do reflect W'ton
activities, some of which may reflect the efforts/activities of W'tons prep
to depart MD for NC.
Many of these records can be accessed in the W'ton List archives:
http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/surname/w/wetherington.html
http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/surname/w/witherington.html
and the other W'ton Lists, and at which, Nancy and all, you can subscribe
(Free) to the W'ton lists by a single mouse click.
-There are supposedly existing records of Quaker Meetings in the Calvert
Co MD area, altho that would be an excellent quest for someone since we
haven't yet located them - see refs in archives. In fact, one of the
databases I recently posted discussed in some detail the movement of a
family (W'ton? Dare?) (Search for quaker & new york) based on Quaker
requirements, and how they gave up all land in MD?, moved to NY, then ret'd
and, as I recall (the mind goes 2d), repurchased the land they had sold.
Also the extensive MD online (and at the Hall of Records in Annapolis -
Lisa?) records system are being expanded on an almost daily basis:
http://search1.mdarchives.state.md.us/cgi-bin/htsearch?restrict=/megafile...
http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/
(There are more sites here!)
-There are a number of sites that discuss MD>NC> and points south
migration patterns, suggesting migration to TN & KY were regular patterns,
start here:
http://www.migrations.org/
Here are a couple other useful sites:
http://www.ls.net/~newriver/nrv.htm
http://www.esva.net/ghotes/
We have also discussed the migration issue previously, which a simple
search of List Archives should locate easily.
Barry
Subject: Re: [WETHINGTON] Billmeyer b Mar 1788 d Dec 1870 dau Mary
Withington/Wethington
Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 19:24:43 -0500
From: "Nancy Ahrbecker" <nasa(a)iquest.net>
To: WETHINGTON-L(a)rootsweb.com
Barry,
I know you're busy getting ready to take off but I just have to ask if we
know how the W's got to North Carolina from MD. The community where I live
said the Quakers went there, used up the land and moved north. Does anyone
have any ideas on this?
Thanks
Nancy Ahrbecker
-----Original Message-----
From: Barry Wetherington <cbarry(a)flashcom.net>
To: WETHINGTON-L(a)rootsweb.com <WETHINGTON-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Date: Sunday, July 30, 2000 1:14 PM
Subject: [WETHINGTON] Billmeyer b Mar 1788 d Dec 1870 dau Mary
Withington/Wethington
Query withington against document
/data/us/pa/montour/billmeyer_cemetery.htm.
http://www.interment.net/data/search.htm
1. Billmeyer Cemetery - Montour County, Pennsylvania
Abstract: Cemetery records of Billmeyer Cemetery in Liberty Township,
Montour
County, Pennsylvania
http://www.interment.net/data/us/pa/montour/billmeyer_cemetery.htm
2. Lexington National Cemetery - Surnames T-Z - Fayette County, Kentucky
Abstract: Cemetery records of Lexington National Cemetery, Surnames T-Z, in
Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky
http://www.interment.net/data/us/ky/fayette/lexingnatl/index_tz.htm
3. Cypress Hills National Cemetery - Surnames Wh-Wi - Kings County, New
York
Abstract: Cemetery records of Cypress Hills National Cemetery, Surnames
Wh-Wi,
in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York
4. Indiantown Gap National Cemetery - Surnames Wi-Wy - Lebanon County,
Pennsylvania
Abstract: Cemetery records of Indiantown Gap National Cemetery, Surnames
Wi-Wy,
in Annville, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania
http://www.interment.net/data/us/pa/lebanon/indiantown/index_wiwy.htm
http://www.interment.net/data/query.idq?CiRestriction=withington&SUBM...
rch&CiScope=%2F&CiMaxRecordsPerPage=10&TemplateName=query&CiSort=rank%5Bd%5D
&HTMLQueryForm=search.htm
... Weston, Daniel, d. 06/27/1864, PVT CO D 130TH IND INF, No Form 14
On
File
Copy This Form 14 Filed 5/22/59, Plot: D 1011, *
Wethington, Boyd, d. 04/17/1901, I 15 USC VI, Plot: 3269, *
Wethington, Boyd, d. 04/17/1901, PVT CO I, 15TH REGT, USCI, Plot: 3269, *
...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
... 14 On File Copy This Form 14 Filed 5/22/59, Plot: D 1011, *
Wethington, Boyd, d. 04/17/1901, I 15 USC VI, Plot: 3269, *
Wethington, Boyd, d. 04/17/1901, PVT CO I, 15TH REGT, USCI, Plot: 3269, *
Wetmore, Chester, PVT CO G 45TH PA INF, Plot: A 1647, *
...
http://www.interment.net/data/oop/qsumrhit.htw?CiWebHitsFile=/data/us/tn/kno
x/knoxnat/index%5Fvwh.htm&CiRestriction=%20wethington%20&CiQueryFile=/iissam
ples/issamples/query.idq&CiBeginHilite=%3CB%20CLASS=HIT%3E&CiEndHilite=%3C/B
%3E&CiUserParam3=../search.htm
______________________________
Subject: Re: [WETHINGTON] Billmeyer b Mar 1788 d Dec 1870 dau Mary
Withington/Wethington
Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 22:13:12 -0400
From: Trish Worthington Cobb <turniproots(a)coastalnet.com>
To: WETHINGTON-L(a)rootsweb.com
Hi Nancy,
My theory is that the Witheringtons came from Maryland to North Carolina
by
water, not overland. There is no evidence that they settled anywhere along
the
way and then moved on. It seems that they were in NC a very short time
after
the death of Robert Widdrington. They had been living along the coast of
Maryland's Chesapeake Bay, a navigable route. There was navigation to some
"port" towns of NC. Ships were being built in some of the northeastern NC
towns. At the time Bath, in Beaufort County was considered a port. I would
imagine that the ships sailing the Pamlico Sound were much smaller than
those
crossing the Atlantic.
I pulled out my copy of The History of a Southern State - North Carolina, by
Hugh Talmage Lefler and Albert Ray Newsome.
Here is some of what I found about early North Carolina ports of entry:
p. 55 "About 1704, on a bluff overlooking the Pamlico River, a town was
formally laid off by John Lawson, surveyor general of the province, who
with Joel Martin and Simon Alderson, was its founder. On March 8, 1706,
the legislature incorporated Bath, the first town in North Carolina. Bath
grew very slowly and never became very prosperous, but it was a place of
considerable political and commercial importance for a number of decades.
Several sessions of the legislature met in the little town, and in 1715
Port Bath was created - the first official port of entry in the province."
In 1709 Wiliam Gordon, an Anglican missionary wrote about Bath: " ...in all
probability it will be the centre of trade, as having the advantage of a
better inlet for shipping, and surrounded with pleasant savannas, very
useful for stocks of cattle."
p. 68 "Although Bath had been made a port of entry, it failed to develop
as a great commercial center. ... Beaufort was begun about 1713 and in
1722 was made a port of entry. Within a few years Roanoke (Edenton),
Currituck, and Brunswick were also made ports."
p. 72 "...the Lower Cape Fear settlement may be said to have begun with
the founding of the town of Brunswick, laid off by Maurice Moore about
1725, some fourteen miles above the mouth of the river. About 1733 the
town of Wilmington was begun, sixteen miles farther up the river. These
two towns became the shipping points of the Lower Cape fear, and both were
included in the official Port of Brunswick."
pp 78-79 "In the 1730's... Brunswick, which had been founded about 1725,
was one of the best ports in the province; and Wilmington, destined to
outrank all other ports, was begun about a decade later. Both towns were
included in the Port of Brunswick, for a colonial port was an area rather
than a specific town. As early as 1732 forty-two vessels cleared from
Brunswick ..."
p. 102 "...it should be remembered that most ships trading with the
colonies were less than three hundred gross tons, that many of them were
less than one hundred tons burden, and that ships as small as this could
anchor at most of the North Carolina ports."
"... Both people and goods traveled by water. It was cheaper and usually
faster than land transportation... Most of the sailing craft carried
passengers as well as freight, although conditions on such small craft were
most uncomfortable..."
p. 103 "Though North Carolina had a few good outlets for ocean commerce,
it had an excellent system of inland waterways - sounds, rivers, and
creeks. These waterways were adapted to small craft and became the chief
arteries of trade and travel. Most of the large plantations and many of
the small farms were located on or near navigable waters; all the important
towns in the Coastal Plain were situated on watercourses; and along some of
the rivers, especially the Roanoake and the Cape Fear, travellers reported
that there were - many warehouses and stores. The emphasis placed on
waterways was clearly revealed in the numerous road laws, like the one of
1745, which provided that roads be built - to the nearest landing."
I don't know if that is correct about the Quakers. I have never heard that
they tried to settle in or near Craven County. I know they were in the
northeastern counties, and there was a settlement in Wayne County (may have
been Dobbs then), but keep in mind that the Tuscarora Indians kept
settlement down until after they were massacred or chased out of NC. Now
that I think about it, the Quaker settlement in Wayne County was very near
the location of a large Tuscarora farming community, but I do not know the
date that the Quakers settled there. The Tuscarora War was about 1712 or
1713, if I remember correctly. New Bern was established by De Graffenreid
and the Swiss Palatine immigrants he brought over, prior to the Tuscarora
War. It was after the Tuscarora War that people began to pour into NC from
MD and VA.
The Witheringtons arrived in Craven County and began acquiring land along
the waterways of the Neuse River and its tributaries. Over the years their
children and their children's children spread out into Dobbs, Lenoir,
Greene, and Pitt counties.
Trish
Trish,
Thanks for the background info. Sounds logical to me. I read the book
about
the Ohio migration and found it fascinating but as you say no evidence of
them
coming overland to KY at least.
Nancy
--------------------------------
End of WITHERINGTON-D Digest V00 Issue #86
******************************************
Subject: WmDare, Commissioner, of The Quorum, Thomas Cleverly Dare's on the
Clifts/Gideon; Walter Smith1776
It hardly gets better than this!!!
Please see far below for the full story of this and more
like it:
Calvert County March 6th 1776.
At Mr Thomas Cleverly Dare's on the Clifts. Whereas a man of war supposed
be
twenty guns or upwards & two tenders the one a sloop the other a schooner
both armed vessels have anchored off this shore yesterday afternoon (the man
of War abt 6 miles off the tenders close in shore within one mile) with
design as is suspected that is Inimical to this neighbour hood having taken
a new england vessel yesterday noon at the mouth of this river. The
Committee consisting of the following Gentn. vizt Col Ben Mackall Major Jas
Wilkinson
Messrs Sam Hance, Edwd Reynolds Walter Smith, Kenzy Johns, Dr Jas Gray & Dr
E.
Johnson & Mr Jas Heighe. Mr Hance in the Chair
E.Johnson Clk.
Note: Mr Thomas Cleverly Dare's on the Clifts, Col Ben Mackall, Major Jas
Wilkinson,
Walter Smith, the 1776 date, etc - prominent surnames in Dare Gen.
[bw2/26/2000]
D:\DATA\GENEALOG\DARE\1776THOM.WPD February 26, 2000 4:07PM
http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ifetch2?/u1/textindices/D/DARE+2...
http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/0000...