Hi All,
I received this from another list (NCBLADEN) and thought it
interesting. It's a bit lengthy and concerns the Scot-Irish migration
so if you aren't interested, just hit the delete button now :-)
Enjoy.
Nancy E Parr---Hostess
==============================================
The following is Chapter XII The Scotch-Irish Migration from Carolina
Cradle, Settlement of the Northwest Carolina Frontier, 1747-1762 by
Robert
W. Ramsey. I was going to skip a few paragraphs for the sake of brevity
but
decided that would be unfair to Dr. Ramsey's fine work, and besides,
there
were no paragraphs that didn't have some wonderful piece of information
in
it. Dr Ramsey meticulously uses detailed footnotes which I have not
included. Please see the list of bibliographies for information on
where
you can purchase it. It's # 20.
"The first distinctively Scotch-Irish settlement in America was
established on the Eastern Shore of Maryland between 1649 and 1669. In
1681
and 1682, five Presbyterian meeting houses were organized by Francis
Makemie
in Somerset and Calvert counties. They were Rehoboth, Manokin, Snow
Hill,
Wicomico, and Patuxent. The significance of these congregations may be
seen
in the fact that only twelve Presbyterian Churches are known to have
existed
throughout the thirteen colonies prior to 1700.
By 1695 the Scots were quite numerous in Dorchester and Somerset
counties. Ford's (note: Henry Ford, author of The Scotch-Irish in
America)
view was that these settlements were unimportant "as a stage in the
Scotch-Irish occupation of America" but it has already been seen that
the
movement of people from this region was of enormous significance in the
settlement of northwestern Carolina. George Scot, Laird of Pitlochie,
wrote
in 1685 that a friend living in Maryland had sent such an encouraging
account of the country that many of his acquaintances were preparing to
make
the voyage to Baltimore's colony.
Following these early developments, and continuing throughout the
first
half of the eighteenth century, thousands of Scots from northern Ireland
engaged in a wholesale emigration to America, settling before 1730
chiefly
in Cecil County, Maryland; New Castle County, Delaware; and Chester
County, Pennsylvania. Smaller numbers made their homes in Sussex
County,
Delaware, and Kent County, Maryland. A few may have settled in the New
Jersey counties of Hunterdon, Somerset, Union, Middlesex, and Monmouth
(note: as part of footnote # 7: As has been seen, however, John Nisbet,
Alexander Osborne, John Oliphant, and possibly Henry Sloan originated in
Jersey. Other Jersey families of significance to this study included
those
of Andrew and John Craig, John Gardiner, David Hampton, Thomas and
William
McElwrath, William Davidson, Robert and James Harris, Margaret (Kerr)
Barclay (wife of Richard King), and James Chambers. These families may
have
been Scottish--or they may have been Scotch-Irish).
The fundamental causes of this movement were economic. Repressive
trade
laws, rack-renting landlordism, famine, and the decline of the linen
industry were major factors in stimulating the overseas movement of
these
Ulster Scots. The manufacture of woolens, northern Ireland's staple
industry, was restricted in 1699 by the passage of an act forbidding the
exportation of Irish woolen goods to any part of the world except
England.
This act deprived the Ulsterites of their foreign markets.
Between 1720 and 1728 thirteen Scotch-Irish churches were
established
in
Pennsylvania and in New Castle County, Delaware. The first of these was
the
so-called Rock Church, organized in 1720 one mile from present-day
Lewisville, Maryland, on the Pennsylvania border. James Logan,
Secretary
of
the Province of Pennsylvania, stated in 1727 that the Scotch-Irish
immigrants settled generally near the Maryland border. According to
Proud,
such was the volume of immigration that an estimated six thousand
Scotch-Irish landed in New Castle or Philadelphia in 1729 alone.
Gradually the Pennsylvania - Maryland frontier was pushed westward
toward the foothills of the Alleghenies. By 1729 a sufficient number of
pioneers had settled in the Susquehanna Valley to warrant the creation
of
Lancaster County. Six additional Presbyterian meetinghouses were then
established in Lancaster, Chester, and Bucks counties; they included
Faggs
Manor, Little Britain, Chesnut Level, Plumstead, Derry, and Paxtang.
Scotch-Irish settlers began moving west of the Susquehanna as early
as
1721, but were ordered to leave by the propriety government because the
Indian title had not been extinguished. One of the first permanent
settlers
west of the Susquehanna was James Silver, whose home was located on
Conodoguinet Creek in the Cumberland Valley eight miles west of Harris'
Ferry. Silver built a house and grist mill in 1724 and received a
Blunston
license ten years later (note:
In chapter II, page 14, Dr Ramsey writes "By 1734, so many Scotch-Irish
had
crossed the river into the Cumberland Valley that Samuel Blunston of
Wright's Ferry was given authority to sell to trans-Susquehanna pioneers
a
limited number of licenses to settle. This policy was abandoned
following
the settlement of large numbers of Germans along Codorus Creek and the
renegotiation of the Maryland boundary dispute."). The existence of the
grist mill indicates the presence of other settlers in the Cumberland
Valley
by 1724.
Of the 250 persons who obtained licenses from Samuel Blunston in
1734
and 1735, at least 50 are of significance to this study. They include
John
Beard, whose land was on Conococheague Creek adjoining John Harris;
James
Barry: William Blythe (north side, "the waggon road"); Francis
Beatty
(north side, Yellow Breeches Creek); Samuel, Randle, George,
Rowland,
Robert, and Benjamin Chambers; James Cathey (south side,
Conodoguinet
Creek); William Cathey (land "now owned by George Cathey, on north
side, Conodoguinet); Archibald Cathey (north side, Conodoguinet,
near
John Cathey and adjoining James Woods); James Clark (adjoining
Samuel
Given);
James Crawford (north side, Yellow Breeches); Isaac Davenport (on
Conodoguinet, two miles west of John Lawrence); William Davison;
William Docharty (one mile southeast of John Potts); Robert
Edmiston
(adjoining Thomas Wilson); William Fullerton (next above William
Hall); Francis Graham; John Hunter (head of Conodoguinet); David
Houston (adjoining John Black); John Jones (northwest side of
Conodoguinet); Hans Kaighe (sic) (Cordorus Creek, where Thomas
Linvie [Linville?] formerly lived); Francis, William, and John
Lawson; William Little; John McKown; John and Morgan Morgan
(Yellow
Breeches); James Martin; Archibald McAlister (adjoining Patrick
Campbell); William McDowell (northwest branch, Conococheague);
John
McWhorter (north side, Yellow Breeches, first granted to John
Rankin); John Parker; James, John, Thomas, and William Patton;
James Patterson and son James; John, James, and Robert
Rutherford;
James Rankin; William Ralston (south side, Conodoguinet, adjoining
the widow Jack); William Robinson (north side, Yellow Breeches);
James Todd; John Wilson; and the Reverend John Thompson
(Conodoguinet).
Between 1734 and 1740, six Presbyterian churches were established in
the
Cumberland Valley. The date and location of each clearly reflects the
advance of the Scotch-Irish southward toward the Potomac and the "back
parts" of Prince George's County, Maryland. Silver's Spring was
organized
in 1734, followed by Meeting House Spring in 1734 or 1735, Big Spring
in
1735 or 1737, East Conococheague (or Rocky Spring) in 1739, Falling
Spring
in 1739, Mercersburg in 1738 or 1739, and Upper and Lower Marsh Creek
in
1740.
It should be noted that the records of the Presbyterian churches
were
meagre. In attempting an explanation of this unfortunate situation, one
authority has concluded that the Scotch-Irish were somehow conscious of
not
having found there an enduring home. It was his feeling that this
attitude
accounts for the indifference of the pioneers in Pennsylvania toward to
preservation of records. In 1751, the Cumberland Valley contained a
predominately Scotch-Irish population; by 1820 only one-third of the
taxables were of that stock.
Between 1730 and 1734 the Scotch-Irish, led by the Kerr and Lewis
families, began moving southward from the Cumberland and upper Potomac
valleys into the Shenandoah region. The fertile valleys of western
Virginia
extended generally from northeast to southwest, thereby lending
geographical
encouragement to an extension of the southward movement. Moreover, land
costs in Virginia were considerably less than in Pennsylvania.
William Beverly, a wealthy planter-merchant of Essex County,
Virginia,
saw an opportunity to profit from the influx of new settlers.
Accordingly,
he entered into an agreement with John and Ralph Randolph and John
Robinson,
and acquired 118,000 acres of land "on the River Sherando called the
Manor
of Beverly," upon an order of Council dated August 12,, 1736. Robinson
and
the two Randolphs subsequently released their interest to Beverly, who
proceeded to sell the "manor" to new settlers in small tracts of varying
size. In 1739, Benjamin Borden acquired his tract of nearly 100,000
acres,
thereby creating a combined speculative venture of 200,000 acres,
extending
southward from Augusta Church to a point near modern Lexington. The
Beverly
and Borden patents acted as a spur to the southward migration of the
Scotch-Irish. The Valley of Virginia filled rapidly after 1736, leading
in
turn to settlement of the northwest Carolina frontier.
Why did the Scotch-Irish leave Pennsylvania? What caused the
establishment of a steady succession of Presbyterian Churches from New
Castle westward and southward into Virginia? Most of the reasons were
considered in the discussion of general causes for migration, but one
additional cause peculiarly applicable to the Scotch-Irish deserves
mention.
Pennsylvania was established by English Quakers in 1681. In 1715,
the
Friends represented the largest single element in the population and
controlled the political and economic life of the colony. By 1740 this
was
no longer true. The Quakers continued to dominate the colony----but
were
outnumbered by both the Germans and Scotch-Irish. Political
difficulties
inevitably ensued.
In 1732, in Lancaster County, Andrew Galbraith (the Scotch-Irish
candidate) opposed John Wright (Quaker) in a contest for a seat in the
Assembly. Wright won, and there were no repercussions. In 1743,
however,
the Scotch-Irish forced the county sheriff to approve only those tickets
acceptable to them and to make a return accordingly. The Assembly
warned
the sheriff who thereupon altered the returns and permitted Samuel
Blunston
to take the vacant seat.
Also in 1743 Richard Peters, Secretary of the Province, proceeded to
the
Marsh Creek settlement in an attempt to conduct surveys and dispossess
the
squattors. "About seventy" of the inhabitants assembled and forbade
them
to
proceed. These persons were subsequently indicted, subdued, and forced
to
obtain leases.
The Quaker government encouraged the Scotch-Irish to move to the
frontier in order to provide a buffer against possible French and Indian
hostility. Also, such a policy placed the newcomers as far as possible
from
the centers of political authority. The Quakers were determined to
maintain
control, and there can be little doubt that their efforts to do so were
an
important cause of Scotch-Irish emigration from Pennsylvania."