[This is an ongoing Facebook project that I've decided to share here as well,
slightly revised and expanded, with additional photos and links.
Check back for updates through 4 July 2026.]
As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, it gives me a chance to share some stories of my family's history and how it intersects with our country's. Once a week until Independence Day, I'll add to this dual timeline.
1718 In my last post I mentioned my only purely Irish ancestors, the first arrivals in this country on my mother's side. Next to emigrate on that side of my tree, were Scotch-Irish (also called by some Scots-Irish, a contentious fight typical of these pugnacious northerners, as evinced in the title of a terrific book by Jim Webb, "Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America"). They are sometimes referred to as Ulster Scots as well.
Whichever name you prefer, here is their background, in a nutshell. In the early 1600s, the English, led by King James I, the first king of both England and Scotland, wished to quell further Irish rebellions from that neighboring isle. They established the Ulster Plantation in what is now Northern Ireland. By issuing land grants there to thousands of Protestant lowland Scots (another occasionally troublesome group, thus killing two birds with one stone), they could dilute the threat from the native, Catholic Gaels to whom the land originally belonged. Gaining stability and loyalty–and all that additional tax revenue–from the region was essential. For the next hundred years or so, the two groups did not mix, the clannish Scots doing nothing to assimilate, growing more prosperous while the native Irish grew poorer, pushed further out of the area as growing Scots families and continued arrivals took more of their land. Those tensions never really resolved. The conflict has continued almost to this day as “The Troubles.”
 |
| photo courtesy discoverulsterscots.com |
At any rate, after several generations, by the early 1700s, many of those Scots wished to move on again, this time to the new world; Scotch-Irish is the name for that group. Among the earliest of these émigrés were families from Aghadowey Parish, in County Londonderry, led by their Presbyterian minister, James McGregor. In five ships, they set sail in 1718. Thomas Steele and Martha Morrison, 7x ggs, were part of that congregation. (I was delighted to learn that the ship the Steeles were aboard was called Robert.) Landing in Boston, the group found they were not welcome. There had been an influx of ships that summer already, so they were directed to look further north, in part to establish towns that would act as a buffer from still-hostile indigenous people. The ships dispersed, Robert and its passengers spending a harrowing winter in Casco Bay ME, the ship icebound, smallpox raging. Come spring, the group sailed south, finally staking claim to land in modern-day New Hampshire. They called their town Nutfield, later renamed Londonderry.
I have a soft spot in my heart for Thomas and Martha. When I began my genealogical journey in earnest, they were the first ancestors whose arrival in America I discovered. They are fairly well-documented, which was made things easy. They can even lay claim to being part of the group that planted the first potato patch in the Colonies. You’re welcome.
 |
Londonderry NH 2019. Please note my Ulster Scot t-shirt.
photo courtesy your humble blogger |
In 2019, on the 300th anniversary of the founding of Nutfield/Londonderry, there was quite a hoopla, a grand addition to their annual Old Home Day celebration. We made the trip out, and even got to ride in the parade, on a float for descendants of the original sixteen families. Alas, somehow we two were the only ones on the float (my husband given honorary founder descendant-by-marriage status), but waved and smiled to the baffled spectators along the route. We were followed by a wonderful group of marching bagpipers (Scotch-Irish, remember), and were later told that somewhere behind them the actual Ben & Jerry rode on a–dare I say–ice cream float. Anyway, it was a delightful day of Americana.
 |
A Parade in Town. Londonderry NH 2019
collage courtesy of your humble blogger |
Anyway. By the time of the War of Independence, it is thought that almost a quarter of a million Scotch-Irish made the journey here, ultimately representing almost fifteen percent of the Colonies’ population. Many of them settled in Appalachia, and their cultural influence can still be seen there today in everything from fiddle music to moonshine. But their influence is broader: the Scotch-Irish were heavily represented in the Revolutionary War; nine Ulster Scots signed the Declaration of Independence, and nearly one third of our Presidents have Scotch-Irish ancestors. Here in the 21st century, other descendants and I of those original Aghadowey parish voyagers have a yearly Zoom call with descendants of those that stayed at home. It is always delightful, full of shared song and storytelling, uniting us across the sea–and years.
With the arrival of the Steeles and Morrisons in 1718, it would be almost one hundred and fifty years before additional ancestors of mine arrived on our shores, coming not from Great Britain, but for the first time throughout northern Europe. But we’ve got plenty of years to cover before then….
For more information on the Ulster Scots, visit here. They also have a terrific YouTube channel.
No comments:
Post a Comment