tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20604901973677478302011-11-14T16:12:12.313-05:00McDowells, their relations, and early American Scots-Irish migration and settlementwalkernoreply@blogger.comBlogger761100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060490197367747830.post-15253696920919187682009-03-07T18:02:00.000-05:002009-03-07T18:03:02.473-05:00

In 1778 an unknown Hessian officer recorded his observations on the Revolutionary War: "Call this war by whatever name you may, only call it not an American Rebellion: it is nothing more or less than a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian Rebellion."

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Elizabeth "Betty" Hutchinson, Scots-Irish immigrant and mother of Andrew Jackson (who would become 7th President of the United States), had these last words for her son: “Andrew, if I should not see you again, I wish you to remember and treasure up some things I have already said to you: in this world you will have to make your own way. To do that you must have friends. You can make friends by

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"Lord, grant that I may always be right, for Thou knowest I am hard to turn."

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Auraria is a ghost town in Lumpkin County, Georgia, southwest of Dahlonega, the county seat.In 1828, a man walked along Findley Ridge and kicked a rock–and discovered it was full of gold. This was in Cherokee territory, and part of present day Lumpkin County, Georgia. The first American gold rush subsequently ensued. The Indians were dismayed at the influx of unauthorized settlers. Cherokee

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from The New Georgia Encyclopedia, by David Williams (Valdosta State University); the Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press: By late 1829 north Georgia, known at the time as the Cherokee Nation, was flooded by thousands of prospectors lusting for gold. Niles' Register reported in the spring of 1830 that there were four thousand miners working along Yahoola Creek alone.

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from The New Georgia Encyclopedia, by David Williams (Valdosta State University); the Georgia Humanities Council and the University of Georgia Press: There are several popular stories of the beginning of Georgia's gold rush; but in fact, no one is really certain who made the first discovery or when. According to one anecdote, John Witheroods found a three-ounce nugget along Duke's Creek in White

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from A History of Rockbridge County, Virginia, by Oren Frederic Morton, published 1920, The McClure Co., Virginia:The house that John Lewis built near the site of Staunton in the summer of 1732 was not within the recognized limits of any county. Until 1744 the Blue Ridge was the treaty line between paleface and redskin. The first county organization to cross that barrier was Spottsylvania, which

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James Logan, Pennsylvania's provincial secretary, to John Penn, 1729:"It now looks as if Irel[an]d or the Inhabitants of it were to be transplanted hither.... [W]e may easily believe there are some grounds for the common apprehensions of the people that if some speedy Method be not taken, they will soon make themselves Proprietors of the Province."(from Our Savage Neighbors, by Peter Silver, pub.

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from The Life of George Washington, Volume IV, by Washington Irving, published 1857:"The original settlers were from various parts, most of them men who had experienced political or religious oppressions, and brought with them a quick sensibility of wrong and a strong appreciation of their rights, and indomitable spirit of freedom and independence. And this part of the state was of a hard

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from History of the McDowells and Connections, by John Hugh McDowell, pub. 1918, C. B. Johnston, pp. 381, 383:ORIGIN OF THE McDOWELLS. 
By William McDowell.The McDowells are of Pictish origin and natives of Scotland, and away back about 200 B. C. one of them, the first that I can find anything about, had a duel with one of the Kings Habakon. You will find another William McDowell—was

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from the Tennessee Historical Society, The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, © 1998: By 1772 about seventy homesteads or farms had been established along the Watauga River in northeastern Tennessee (now Carter County). The area lay outside the boundaries of British colonial government and within the recognized boundaries of Cherokee territory. Disregarding the British mandate, the

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from The Road to Guilford Courthouse, by John Buchanan, ©1997, John Wiley & Sons, pp. 206-207:The Over Mountain People were largely Scotch Irish, but the mixing had already begun, for among them were sizable numbers of English and some Germans and Welsh. At the time of which we write they lived in the extreme northeastern corner of what is now Tennessee, along the Watauga, Nolichucky, and Holston

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from a petition to Governor Gooch of Virginia, dated July 30, 1742, Calendar of Virginia State Papers, i, p. 235:"We your pettionours humbly sheweth that we your Honours Loly and Dutifull Subganckes hath ventred our Lives & all that we have In settling ye back parts of Virginia which was a veri Great Hassirt & Dengrous, for it is the Hathins [heathens] Road to ware, which has proved hortfull to

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from Chronicles of Border Warfare, by Alexander Scott Withers, William Powers, William Hacker, Reuben Gold Thwaites, Lyman Copeland Draper; pub. 1895, R. Clarke Company:John Lewis, the father of Gen. Andrew Lewis, was probably of Welsh descent, and born in 1678 in County Donegal, Ireland. About 1716 he married Margaret Lynn, of the famous Lynns of Loch Lynn, Scotland. In a dispute over his

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from Western North Carolina: A History (1730-1913), by John Preston Arthur, published 1914, Edwards & Broughton Printing Co., North Carolina, pp. 43-45:VANCE'S CAMP. From the Bald mountain, now in Yancey county, it seems that Col. Love became their pilot; and five or six miles further on in "a low gap between the head of Indian creek and the waters of the south fork of Laurel, we encamped and

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from Western North Carolina: A History (1730-1913), by John Preston Arthur, published 1914, Edwards & Broughton Printing Co., North Carolina, pp. 43-45:MOUNTAIN MOONSHINE. On Monday they "proceeded on between the head of Rock creek and Doe river, and encamped in a low gap between these two streams. The next day they went five or six miles to the foot of the Iron mountain to a place they called

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from Western North Carolina: A History (1730-1913), by John Preston Arthur, published 1914, Edwards & Broughton Printing Co., North Carolina, pp. 41-43:WAS THIS EVER "NO MAN'S LAND"? When the surveying party came to the Yellow they found that the compass had been deflected when it had been sighted from the peak just north of Watauga Falls, caused doubtless by the proximity to the Cranberry Iron

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from Western North Carolina: A History (1730-1913), by John Preston Arthur, published 1914, Edwards & Broughton Printing Co., North Carolina, pp. 40-41:RATTLEBUGS. On Saturday, June 1st, they came upon "a very large rattlebug," which they "attempted to kill, but it was too souple in the heels for us." On the night of May 31st they had had "severe lightning and some hard slaps [sic] of thunder."

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from Western North Carolina: A History (1730-1913), by John Preston Arthur, published 1914, Edwards & Broughton Printing Co., North Carolina, pp. 38-40:THE FIRST TENNESSEE BOUNDARY SURVEY. From the narratives of David Vance and Robert Henry of the battles of Kings Mountain and Cowan's Ford, as well as from the dairy of John Strother, can be gathered a fine account of the survey from Virginia to

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from A History of Watauga County, North Carolina, by John Preston Arthur, published 2002, Genealogical Publishing Company, page 120: Running the State Line.— As the Cherokees occupied the territory southwest of the Big Pigeon River in what is now Haywood County, no provision was made for running the line beyond this point. Generally speaking, the line was to follow the tops of the Stone, the

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from The Gold Placers of the Vicinity of Dahlonega, Georgia, by William Phipps Blake, Charles Thomas Jackson, published 1859:It is the universal testimony of those who have worked in the placers of Georgia, that the gold is generally in larger lumps and particles, or is coarser than in the placers of the western parts of North Carolina, in Burke, McDowell and Rutherford counties. Mr. Blake also

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from The Gold Placers of the Vicinity of Dahlonega, Georgia, by William Phipps Blake, Charles Thomas Jackson, published 1859:... At that time [1829] Habersham was an organized county, but the rest of the gold region was included in the Cherokee nation, over which the United States exercised a supervisory care. The richness of the newly-discovered mines soon brought together a large number of

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from The Gold Placers of the Vicinity of Dahlonega, Georgia, by William Phipps Blake, Charles Thomas Jackson, published 1859:According to Wheeler,* the first piece of gold found in the United States, was picked up in 1799, by Conrad Keed, a boy twelve years of age, in the bed of a small stream on his father's farm in Cabarus [sic] county, North Carolina, It was about the size of a small

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from The 1780 Presbyterian Rebellion and the Battle of Huck's Defeat, by Sam Thomas, Curator of History, Culture & Heritage Commission of York County:In the Backcountry, due to their isolation from the coast, past resentments could be put aside - at least temporarily. When war arrived after 1776, at first the Scotch-Irish were rather lukewarm toward the idea of independence from Great Britain.

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The migration of Protestant Scots to Ulster, Dublin, and other parts of Ireland, occurred mainly during the 17th and 18th centuries. The first major influx of Scots into Ulster came during the settlement of east Down. This started in May 1606 and was followed in 1610 by the arrival of many more Scots as part of the Plantation of Ulster. During the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Irish Catholics

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from Historic Families of Kentucky, by Thomas Marshall Green, pub. 1889, R. Clarke:Ephraim McDowell, who fought at Boyne river, as well as at Londonderry, was already an elderly man, when, with his two sons, John and James, his daughters, Mary and Margaret, and numerous kinsmen and co-religionists, he emigrated to America to build for himself and his a new home. In his interesting "Sketches of

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from a speech delivered by a Shawnee chief (possibly Laulewasikaw, brother of Tecumseh) at Fort Wayne in 1803:"The Master of Life, who was himself an Indian, made the Shawanoes before any other of the human race; and they sprang from his brain; he gave them all the knowledge he himself possessed, and placed them upon the great island, and all the other red people descended from the Shawanoes. He

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from History of the Settlement and Indian Wars of Tazewell County, Virginia, by George W. L. Bickley, M.D., pub. 1852, Morgan & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio:In July, 1786, a party of forty-seven Indians, of the Shawanoes tribe, again entered Abb's Valley, Capt. James Moore usually kept five or six loaded guns in his house, which was a strong log building, and hoped, by the assistance of his wife, who

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from "Indian Tragedies of the Walker Family", by Emory L. Hamilton, Historical Sketches of Southwest Virginia, 1974:In July 1784 the depredations by Indians began on the family of Captain James Moore when his fourteen year old son James Moore was captured by the Shawnee Black Wolf, his son, and another Indian, when he went to a field to get a horse to ride to the mill. He was carried to the

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It is probable that some families left Virginia due to increasing conflict between settlers and Indians. In 1755 attacks by the Shawnee along the frontier increased significantly. In October 1755 Colonel Adam Stephen, one of George Washington's officers, wrote from Winchester, Virginia that the Indians "... go about and Commit their Outrages at all hours of the Day and nothing is to be seen or

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from Partisans and Redcoats, by Walter Edgar, © 2001, HarperCollins Publishers:In 1740 there were very few Europeans in the South Carolina backcountry. By the American Revolution, nearly one-half of the colony's total population, and 80 percent of its white population, lived there.The migration of predominantly Scots-Irish settlers transformed the lower South and, in the final analysis, was key

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from The Road to Guilford Courthouse, by John Buchanan, ©1997, John Wiley & Sons, pp. 120-121:There are Celtic myth enthusiasts who believe the Scotch Irish were Celts, have peopled with Highlanders whole American landscapes where there were none, imagined bagpipes on American battlefields that never echoed their wails, conjured a Celtic culture for an entire American region where it never

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from Annals of Augusta County by Joseph Addison Waddell, pub. 1902,C.R. Caldwell, page 31:Borden's tract was South of Beverley's Manor, and in the present county of Rockbridge. The first settlers on the tract were Ephraim McDowell and his family. His daughter, Mary Greenlee, related in a deposition taken in 1806 [at age 94], and still extant, the circumstances under which her father went there.

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from History of the McDowells and Connections, by John Hugh McDowell, pub. 1918, C. B. Johnston, page 232:Amongst the earliest settlers in the valley of the upper Catawba, in the old county of Burke, were Joseph McDowell the elder, a grandson of Ephraim, the founder of the family in Virginia, Kentucky and our own State, and his cousin, known as "Hunting John," who was near the same age. They

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from History of the McDowells and Connections, by John Hugh McDowell, pub. 1918, C. B. Johnston, page 45:Courage and Thrift of Ancient Clans Infused Into AmericanCharacter—Recent Investigations Which Grace aRevolutionary Lineage Back to 373 A. D.The Scotch-Irish blood in America has been a strong influence in the molding of our national character. In Virginia, Pennsylvania, North and South

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from History of the McDowells and Connections, by John Hugh McDowell, pub. 1918, C. B. Johnston:According to tradition, the Quaker Meadows farm (pictured) was so-called long before the McDowells or any other whites established homes in Burke County [North Carolina], and derived its name from the fact that the Indians, after clearing part of the broad and fertile bottoms, had suffered the wild

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from The Road to Guilford Courthouse, by John Buchanan, ©1997, John Wiley & Sons, page 140:Ninety Six was a fortified village more important than hundreds of far larger American towns today, second only to Camden as a Back Country outpost. It got its name because it was thought to be ninety-six miles from the Cherokee town of Keowee in the southwestern corner of South Carolina. It was described a

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My 7x great-grandfather Ephraim McDowell left Ireland 9 May 1729 at the age of 56 on the George & Ann, migrating to America with his children after the death of his wife Margaret Irvine in County Antrim. After an arduous voyage they landed at Philadelphia 4 Sep 1729. They first settled in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In the fall of 1737, with his son John, daughter Mary Elizabeth, and son-in-law

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The colony of South Carolina was founded in 1670, and was divided into three counties 12 years later. Craven County, which roughly encompassed the northern half of South Carolina, included the southern half of present-day York County, while the top portion of present-day York County was considered part of North Carolina.Before the boundary between the two Carolinas was fixed in 1772, the northern

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1712: Archdale Precinct (created 1709) of Bath County was renamed Craven Precinct.1729: New Hanover Precinct of Bath County was formed from Craven Precinct. (It was named for the House of Hanover, which was then ruling Great Britain.)1734: Bladen and Onslow Precincts were formed from New Hanover. 1739: With the abolition of Bath County in 1739, all of its constituent precincts became "Counties"

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Charles Woodmason, an Anglican itinerant minister, was sent into the Carolina back country as a missionary in the 1760s. He stated that the congregation in the Waxhaws was "most surprisingly thick settled beyond any Spot in England . . . Seldom less than 9, 10, 1200 People assemble of a Sunday." With populations centered around the meetinghouses, the churches quickly became religious and social

walkernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060490197367747830.post-9971651069424666442007-11-12T18:46:00.001-05:002008-01-13T19:04:13.737-05:00

White County, Georgia, was created in 1857 from part of the original land lot county of Habersham, which was created in 1818 from Indian treaty lands. In early times, the area of White County formed a transitional boundary between the Cherokee and Creek Indian nations. Gold was found there in the late 1820s along the Nacoochee River (then known as Duke's Creek) touching off the Great Gold Rush of

walkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060490197367747830.post-9358624238403945312007-11-11T16:40:00.000-05:002008-01-15T19:04:37.320-05:00

from History of Augusta County, Virginia, by John Lewis Peyton, pub. 1882, Samuel M. Yost & Son:Among those whose attention was now directed to our Valley was John Lewis, who had been for some time in Pennsylvania, quietly awaiting the arrival from Europe of his wife and children. This remarkable man was born in the north of Ireland, descended from a French-Protestant family, and was educated in

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In the 18th-century migrations, few trails in America were more important than the Indian route which ran east of the Appalachians from Pennsylvania to Georgia. This Ancient Warriors Path had long been used by Iroquois tribesmen of the north to travel south and trade or make war in Virginia and the Carolinas. By a series of treaties with the powerful Five Nations of the Iroquois, the English

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from The Irvines and Their Kin by Lucinda Boyd, Chicago, Illinois, 1908:There is no district in all of Ireland so rich in armorial bearings as the neighborhood of Larne. The churchyards of Carncastle, Glynn, and Raloo [pictured] abound with them. The churchyard of Raloo is over-grown with long grass and weeds, so as to be almost inaccessible. But one may pull aside obstructions and remove lichens

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The MCDOWELLs, BOWMANs, and GREENLEEs came from Virginia to Burke County previous to the Revolution [late 1750]. JOSEPH MCDOWELL's grant on Quaker Meadows was dated 1749. They were all related by marriage or consanguinity. JOSEPH MCDOWELL, SR., was of Scotch descent, and emigrated from North Ireland to America. He was born in 1715, and emigrated with his wife at an early age, having offended

walkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060490197367747830.post-80622538157711607022007-10-30T17:13:00.000-04:002008-01-23T17:23:35.879-05:00

John Lewis was descended from Huguenots who emigrated from France to Ireland in 1685 (at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes). He left Ireland in 1729, a fugitive, after his oppressive landlord Charles of Clonmithgairn launched a brutal attack to evict Lewis’ family from premises of which he held a freehold lease. During the attack, Lewis’ wife was wounded and his invalid brother Edward was

walkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060490197367747830.post-31453935592768871562007-10-26T18:42:00.000-04:002008-01-13T18:55:07.670-05:00

The Great Wagon Road was an early American thoroughfare and the heavily-travelled main route for settlement of the southern states, particularly the backcountry. Beginning in Philadelphia, the Great Wagon Road passed through the towns of Lancaster and York in southeastern Pennsylvania. Turning southwest, the road crossed the Potomac River and entered the Shenandoah Valley at Winchester, Virginia,

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inscription:Near this spot repose the remains of EPHRAIM McDOWELL. the first of his name in America. Who died about 1730[?]: JOHN McDOWELL. his son. Who was killed by the Indians in 1742: JAMES McDOWELL. his son. born 1739. died 1772. And ELIZABETH his wife. Who died about 1810: Also their Daughter ELIZABETH McGAVOCK. Who died 1803.(location: McDowell Cemetery, near Fairfield, Rockbridge County,

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Robert Harvey and Martha, his wife et als., vs. John Bowyer--O. S. 140; N. S. 48--. Orators Robert and Martha are children of Magdalen Bowyer of Rockbridge, wife of John. Complainants are, viz: Robert Harvey and Martha; David McGavock and Elizabeth; James McDowell of Rockbridge; James McDowell, son of John, said John next friend to his infant children, Polly, Samuel, William, Sarah and John;

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Patrick Henry was one of the most influential (and radical) advocates of the American Revolution. He is perhaps best known for the speech he made in the Virginia House of Burgesses on 23 March 1775, urging the legislature to take military action against the encroaching British military force. The House was deeply divided, but was very much leaning toward not committing troops. As Henry stood in

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When Benjamin Borden came to Augusta he made different men his agents and lodged at their houses using the houses as places to see persons wanting land. Aside from John McDowell with whom he first met he had John Patterson, through whom he sold many tracts of land. McDowell first made entries of one hundred acres each for James Bell, Alexander Breckenridge, George, James, Robert and Adam

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Click image to enlarge.Caption reads: Andrew Jackson, the Seventh President of the United States, in 1780 when a boy of 13 enlisted in the cause of his country, and was taken prisoner by the British. When ordered by an officer to clean his boots, he indignantly refused, and received a sword cut for his temerity.

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Staunton, July 23d/83Hon. Lyman C. Draper,My Dear Sir, I was engaged in the midst of an important criminal case as counsel for the defense when yr letter of the 7th inst. came to hand which occupied me about twelve days. This will account for my not replying to your letter at an earlier date. I am descended from Henry Miller of the Iron Works– the first established west of the Blue Ridge--&

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from Peyton's History of Augusta County, Virginia (1882):Though the founder of this family settled on Burden’s grant, the whole of which lies in the present county of Rockbridge, it is intimately connected with many of our people. The McDowells and Lewises were relatives and lived near each other, previous to 1732, in Ireland. They intermarried so extensively with the McCues, Prestons, Pattons,

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"Those who explore and settle new countries are generally bold, hardy, and adventurous men, whose minds, as well as bodies, are fitted to encounter danger and fatigue; their object is the acquisition of property, and they generally succeed."The eldest of 15 children, John Marshall was born in a log cabin on the Virginia frontier September 24, 1755. He would grow to become 4th Chief Justice of the

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From Waddell’s Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, page 37: “On the 28th of February 1739, John McDowell, who settled in Borden’s Grant, made oath at Orange Court that ‘he imported himself, Magdaline, his wife, and Samuel McDowell, his son, and John Rutter, his servant, at his own charge from Great Britain in the year 1737, to dwell in this colony, and that this is the first time of proving their

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The area that became Augusta County was settled primarily by the Scots-Irish in the early 1730s. Formed from Orange County, Augusta County was created in 1738 by an Act of the General Assembly which provided that its territory should remain a part of Orange County until there were sufficient inhabitants to support a local government. The first Court was held in 1745.

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Benjamin Borden,* a native of New Jersey, and agent of Lord Fairfax in the lower Valley, obtained from Governor Gooch a patent dated October 3, 1734, for a tract of land in Frederick county, which was called "Borden's Manor." At the same time he was promised 100,000 acres on the waters of James River, west of the Blue Ridge, as soon as he should locate a hundred settlers on the tract.*His name is

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Early biographer James Parton [Life of Andrew Jackson, pub. 1859-60, 3 vols.], had this to say of Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States, son of Scots-Irish immigrants:"His ability in swearing amounted to a talent. Volleys of the most peculiar and original oaths, ejected with a violence that cannot be imagined, seared and overwhelmed the object of his wrath. Aware of his powers in

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There were eight frontier forts in Scott County [Virginia] territory built to provide protection against Indian raids and for use as stopping places for hunters and settlers: Blackmore’s Fort, overlooking the Clinch River, was built by Capt. John Blackmore in 1772. It was attacked by Indians many times and several people were killed or captured near the fort. Daniel Boone was in command of Fort

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On November 26, 1818, in Floyd County, Kentucky, my great-great-great-grandfather James Koger married Sarah Walker Porter, aka "Sally". Tracing the Walker name in Sally's name led me to her paternal grandmother Susanna Walker (1739-1795), who married Sgt. Patrick Porter (1737-1805) around 1756 at Walker's Creek, Augusta County, Virginia. Sgt. Patrick Porter and his father-in-law, John Walker, my

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1721: Spotsylvania County was established from Essex, King and Queen, and King William counties. 1734: Orange County was established from Spotsylvania.1738: Formed from Orange County, Augusta County was created in 1738 by an Act of the General Assembly which provided that its territory should remain a part of Orange County until there were sufficient inhabitants to support a local government.

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John Walker, the son of an immigrant of the same name came first to Augusta County [Virginia] and later to Rockbridge, where they settled and lived on a creek named for them and which still carries the name of Walker's Creek. Leaving Rockbridge County, this John Walker arrived on the Clinch in the year 1773, and settled on a 300 acre tract of land at the "sink" of Sinking Creek between Castlewood

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The Filson Club Quarterly, July 1971, pg 256:"John Snoddy, in a deposition, said 'I came to Kentucky with Daniel Boone in the year 1775 and came by the blue lick crost Silver Creek and went up Harts Fork and soon on to what is now Bonnesbourgh.'"The Moore brothers assigned their land warrants to Captain John Snoddy when they left the Clinch, and since Captain Snoddy was a militia officer and at

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Patrick and Samuel Porter were intimately acquainted with Indian Chief Logan. Patrick Porter, while serving under General Lewis on the Ohio River, was approached by Chief Logan who, with a smile, extended his hand to Porter, at the same time saying,"I know you. You are Patrick Porter. I want to be your friend. You don't know me. I am Capt. John Logan. Many times I could have killed you, but

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In 1769, Patrick Porter and his family, William and Edward Russell, and a party led by John Morgan (consisting of the Walker sisters and their husbands, William and Andrew Cowan, James Smith, William Trimble, James Wharton, Fredrick Fraley, Joseph Moore, James Anderson, three Dickenson brothers, and Col. John Snoddy) moved to the area called "Castle's Woods", which was settled earlier by Jacob

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John Walker and his wife, Katherine Rutherford, first lived at Wigton, Scotland, later moving to Newry, Ireland, from whence they sailed from Strangford Bay in May 1726, landing in Maryland in August of that year. Soon he was settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1734. His wife, Katherine, died the same year. Most of the family of John Walker, the immigrant, moved from

walkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2060490197367747830.post-53910277991430230592007-09-02T21:08:00.000-04:002007-09-02T21:14:08.542-04:00

British sailors who landed on Barbados in 1625 at the site of present-day Holetown on the Caribbean coast found the island uninhabited. From the arrival of the first British settlers in 1627–1628 until independence in 1966, Barbados was under uninterrupted British control. Nevertheless, Barbados always enjoyed a large measure of local autonomy. Its House of Assembly began meeting in 1639. Large

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The Carolina back country was nearly devoid of European settlers prior to 1750, but by the time the American Revolution reached the area in 1780, the back country contained an estimated population of more than a quarter of a million. The largest proportion of these were Scots-Irish Presbyterians, although there were also numbers of English, Welsh, native Irish, native Scots, Swiss, French, and

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The people we call Scotch Irish, known in the old country as Ulster Scots, were largely descendants of mixed Germanic peoples who over many centuries had moved into and taken over the Scottish Lowlands. Beginning in the early seventeenth century many migrated to Ulster in Northern Ireland, and starting about 1715 the Scotch Irish began a massive migration to America. By 1775, when the War of the

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"John McDowell came to Glenoe, parish of Raloo near Larne, Ireland in 1595 as a political exile where he married Mary Wylie."(from History of The McDowells of Wigtonshire, Scotland; County Antrim, Ireland, by Mary Semple, 1927)

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"A Journal of my voyage and Travels from the County of Longford in the Kingdom of Ireland to Pennsylvania, in America, A.D. 1729. I took my Journey from The County of Longford, on Friday the 9th day of May; came to Dublin ye 12th ditto. Entered on shipboard the ship called the George and Ann, ye 18th. Sett sail the 20th. Came to anchor at Glenarm on the 24th, where Matthw. McClaughry and his wife

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The "Irish Track", mapped by Peter Jefferson and Joshua Fry before 1751. The Great Wagon Road passed near Augusta Courthouse [Staunton], and close to the homesteads of John Lewis and Gilbert Christian on the creeks that bear their names.

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Scots-Irish is an ethnic group from Ireland which ultimately traces its roots back to settlers from Scotland, and to a lesser extent, England. In particular Scots-Irish can often be traced back to the Scottish Highlands, Scottish Lowlands, Galloway, and the Scottish Borders.The Scots-Irish and their descendants are primarily found in Ulster, where they are Ulster Scots, and in Canada and the USA,

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