WHERE TO SEARCH FOR YOUR IRISH ANCESTORS
More Irish emigrants came to America during the 18th century than any other country, many of whom had lost their Irish farms to landlords. Although some books were published with European passenger lists, considering the thousands of immigrants at sea, very few survived. Also, America belonged to Great Britain during the Colonial era, and the Steerage Act was not enacted until 1819.
Early 1700s delivered Irish families to the port cities of Philadelphia and Charleston. Although Irish and Scotch-Irish families landed in Pennsylvania, they did not remain ther.
There were many Irish settlements in South Carolina. They settled in Charleston, Chester, and Lancaster Counties.
My special to you is this - After migrating into South Carolina, the Irish named their (counties) after Pennsylvania counties where they had temporarily dwelt.
As the records prove, the Irish and Scotch-Irish organized themselves and crossed the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains in wagons. The early Irish arrivals populated Maryland, North Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia. The furthest point was western Virginia, parts of which became West Virginia.
New! Compendium of Irish Genealogies
By Jeannette Holland Austin. Hundreds of Irish families from Northern Ireland to America. Alphabetical. 4 PDF files (80 pages) (alphabetical). $85.00
The Great Wagon Road
The Great Wagon Road was an old Indian trail. It was widely used by immigrants who first landed in the port city of Philadelphia. They traveled westward to the market towns of Lancaster and York and then south into the backcountry of Maryland (Hagerstown), Virginia, and North Carolina.
The trail stretched across southeastern Pennsylvania, more than four hundred miles to the Shenandoah Valley of the Appalachian Mountains and beyond. Nothing deterred these immigrants from crossing the vast wilderness. Imagine, if you will, that they were traveling across ancient Indian paths formerly used by the Indians in following the buffalo.
In 1649, Oliver Cromwell, then Lord Protector of England, banished certain Catholic patriots to Barbados. After the failure of the confederation formed in that year, 45,000 Irishmen were transported beyond the seas, some to France and Spain, and several shiploads to Barbados. On this island, as in neighboring Montserrat, the Celtic language was widely spoken in the last century, partly due to this early Irish colonization, which made Barbados one of the most populous islands in the world. At the end of the 17th century, Barbados was reported to contain 20,000 white inhabitants. After the Restoration of King Charles II of England in 1660, the influence of the Duke of Ormond procured letters patent suspending the Navigation Laws, thereby allowing Ireland comparative freedom of trade. As a result, manufacturers flourished, and there was no “surplus population” left.
During the first year of the reign of William and Mary, Parliament was called to discourage the manufactures of Ireland that competed with those of England, which they complacently consented to do. By this invidious policy, according to Lord Fitzwilliam, “100,000 operatives” were driven out of Ireland. Many of the Irish Protestants removed to Germany, while several Papists went to Spain.
It is estimated that due to extortionate Irish racks, 3,000 males departed Ulster annually and went to the American colonies.
Buffalo trails, an important trail to the Indians, set the path from East to West across America. Some historians insist that America stole the lands belonging to the Indians. Yet the records reveal transactions wherein the Cherokees and other tribes sold thousands of acres to America. The question “why?” comes to mind. Since the Indians followed the buffalo, setting up camp wherever they were — it could have been that those tracts of land were not useful to the buffalo. That is why the genealogist must search the trail of the Buffalo. Although several early settlements went to Maryland from Pennsylvania, the major portion of the trail includes the Alleghany and Blue Ridge Mountains, and records in North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Virginia should be searched. Far West was in Augusta County, Virginia. Some interesting details of the early settlers were written in the Minutes of Augusta County, Virginia. I strongly recommend the following book:
Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, by Joseph Addison Waddell which includes valuable genealogical data dating from ca 1731 to 1871.
Genealogy Tips:
Searching county records is essential to finding emigrant ancestors. Minute Books are treasure troves because they list the daily business of the residents of the county. In other words, if you do not find an old will or estate in the probate court, it could be entered of record (in the Minute Books) as having been filed. And the names of some of the earliest settlers will prove their existence.
The First Irishmen to America
One of the earliest settlements of Irishmen in America was in the Colony of Pennsylvania in 1699, when James Logan of Lurgan, and others, accompanied William Penn to his new plantation. Logan became one of the most important men in the colony, which he governed for two years after the death of Penn, and whose capital he enriched by bequeathing to it a considerable library. Others followed the 1699 emigrants, mostly from Northern Ireland.
During 1729, the arrivals to the port of Philadelphia are set down as — English and Welsh, . . . 267 Scotch, 43 Palatines (Germans), and 5,655 Irish!
Source: A History of the Irish Settlers of North America From the Earliest Period to the Census of 1850 by Thomas D’Arct. (1851).
Genealogy Tips:
As early as 1730, the Irish named their new Pennsylvania locations after old Irish townships, viz, Derry, Donegal, Tyrone, and Coleraine. This trend was continued throughout other American colonies. Now you know where to search for your Irish ancestors!
The Story of Patrick Jack of North Carolina
At the commencement of the Revolutionary War, Patrick Jack, a native of Ireland who emigrated to America with his brothers, was a resident of Charlotte, North Carolina. He and his eldest son, Capt. James Jack, united in business, became the owner of some of the finest lots, or rather blocks, in Charlotte.
On one of these lots, the old Elms property, on the corner next to the courthouse, Patrick Jack and his son, Capt. James Jack resided when the delegates from the militia districts of the county assembled in May, 1775. They also kept a public house of entertainment, and, on suitable occasions, told Irish jokes to the infinite delight of their numerous visitors.
But things were soon to change. On September 26, 1780, Lord Cornwallis, elated with his victory at Camden, entered Charlotte with the confident expectation of soon restoring North Carolina to the British Crown.
Patrick Jack was then an old and infirm man who had given up the chief control of his public house to his son. Captain James Jack. Neither enlisted the sympathies of the British soldiers, and the house’s patriotic character was widely known among the Tories. Thus, its destruction was consequently a foregone conclusion.
The British soldiers removed their aged owner from the feather bed upon which he was lying, emptied its contents into the street, and then set the house on fire! Patrick Jack lost his dwelling-house and much of his furniture, an accumulation over many years of patient toil and industry. The excitement of the burning scene, consequent exposure, and great nervous shock to a system already debilitated with disease, a few months afterward, brought to the grave this veteran patriot, and he was buried in the old graveyard in Charlotte.
Genealogy Tip: Searching old wills and testaments is the fastest means to learning the names of your ancestors. The last will of Patrick Jack, dated May 19, 1780, naming his heirs, was probated in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.
Source: Sketches of Western North Carolina Historical and Biographical. Illustrating Principally the Revolutionary Period of Mecklenburg, Rowan, Lincoln, and Adjoining Counties, Accompanied with Miscellaneous Information, Much of it Never Before Published by O. L. Hunter, Member of North Carolina Historical Society (1877).