THE NOTTINGHAM SETTLEMENT,
A NORTH CAROLINA BACKCOUNTRY COMMUNITY
Wendy Lynn Adams
Submitted to the faculty of the University Graduate School
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree
Master of Arts
in the Department of History
Indiana University
November 2009
Accepted by the Faculty of Indiana University, in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts
_______________________________
Elizabeth Brand Monroe, Ph.D., Chair
_______________________________
Marianne S. Wokeck, Ph.D.
_______________________________
Erik L. Lindseth, Ph.D.
ii
Acknowledgements
Although my name is listed as the author of this backcountry community study, I
am humbly aware that I could not have completed it without the assistance and support of
a number of individuals. Without their various contributions, I most likely would have
rethought my decision to tackle this aspect of the graduate degree. And so, with a grateful
heart, I wish to acknowledge and thank the following people:

My thesis chair, Dr. Elizabeth Brand Monroe, for her direction, editorial comments
and endless hours spent reading and re-reading my rough drafts. Her guidance
allowed me to expand my preliminary concept for this project and kept it from
becoming bland and inarticulate.

My thesis committee, Dr. Marianne Wokeck and Dr. Erik Lindseth, for their
recommendations on what to include and exclude in order to provide a fuller picture
of the eighteenth-century Scots-Irish.

Those who assisted me in researching my topic at the North Carolina State
Archives—in particularly, Meghan Bishop, a fellow IUPUI history graduate, for
traveling from her new home in New Bern, N.C., to Raleigh to fill my research
requests, and Vann Evans, an employee of the Archives and history graduate student
researching colonial Rowan County, N.C., for pointing out primary sources pertinent
to my topic.

My colleagues and fellow history graduate students at IUPUI (Janna Bennett,
Christine McNulty Braun, Kelly Gascoine, Nancy Germano, Jessica Herczegiii
Konecny, Meredith McGovern, Alison Smith, and Elizabeth Spoden) as well as my
internship supervisors and co-workers (Dr. Elizabeth Osborn, Deborah J. Baumer,
Traci Cromwell, Gaby Kienitz, M. Teresa Baer and Rachel M. Popma) for patiently
listening as I verbally worked through each ―crisis.‖

My family (especially my mother, Marilyn J. Adams, and my grandmother, Dorothy
A. Adams) and friends (in particularly, Jenny Carroll, Mike and Susan Forkner,
Jeanne Fox, April Stier Frazier, Shawn and Katie Holtgren, Connie Mow, Angela
Myers, Debbie Oke and Lisa Staples) for supporting my desire to return to graduate
school and encouraging me through the lengthy process of researching, writing and
editing.

Lastly, I wish to acknowledge and thank the Most High God, in whom all things find
meaning and life, for providing me with the ability to accomplish something I could
never have done on my own. For only through the grace and love of God have I been
able to complete this project.
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Tables………………………………………………………………………………vi
List of Maps………………………………………………………………………………vii
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………...1
Chapter One………………………………………………………………………………13
Chapter Two………………………………………………………………………………40
Chapter Three……………………………………………………………………………..68
Chapter Four………………………………………………………………………………97
Appendices
Appendix A – Brief Biographies for a Selection of the Pioneering
Generation……………………………………………………….105
Appendix B – Complete List of Rowan County Signatures on 1756 Vestry Tax
Petition…………………………………………………………..145
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………….147
Curriculum Vitae
v
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 — Surnames Found in the Province of Ulster, Ireland, 1600 to 1750 ………...47
Table 2.2 — Surnames Found in Southeastern Pennsylvania and Northern Maryland,
1700 to 1760………………………………………………………………..52
Table 3.1 — The Nottingham Settlement’s Thirty Tracts and the Purchasers…………...71
Table 3.2 — Amount of Land Purchased, Sold and Bequeathed………………………...77
Table 3.3 — Example of Increased Ownership of Enslaved Persons in Settlement
Households.................................................................................................... 79
Table 3.4 — Age and Size of Families When They Migrated to North Carolina in the
1750s and 1760s ……………………………………………………………81
Table 3.5 — Partial List of Rowan County Signatures on the 1756 Vestry Tax
Petitions…………………………………………………………………….88
vi
LIST OF MAPS
Figure 1 — The Nottingham Settlement in Rowan (Guilford) County……………………3
Figure 2 — The Counties of Ulster, Ireland……………………………………………...42
Figure 3 — Southeastern Pennsylvania in Early 1700s…………………………………..49
Figure 4 — The Great Wagon Road……………………………………………………...54
Figure 5 — Depiction of Colonial North Carolina (after 1760)………………………….58
vii
Introduction
In early December, 1753, colonial representatives for John, Lord Carteret (Earl
Granville), granted sixteen tracts of land along the Piedmont’s rolling hills within the
bounds of Buffalo and Reedy Creeks in the extreme northeastern portion of Rowan
(Guilford) County, North Carolina, on the eastern edge of the backcountry.1 (figure 1)
One grant declared that the tract of land was one of thirty reserved for the Nottingham
Settlement in March 1750.2 Before 1771, when Guilford County was created from Rowan
and Orange Counties, more families would purchase grants within a central section of
Guilford County approximately sixteen miles wide and nine miles long and join the
eleven initial purchasers and their families in creating a loosely knit community in the
North Carolina Piedmont bound together by common traits—property (landownership,
material possessions and wealth), kinship, Scots-Irish heritage, and Presbyterianism.3
1
The county name used to identify the location of the land purchased by those associated with the
Nottingham Settlement changed three times within the era of the pioneering generation’s arrival. First
named Anson County in 1749, the section known as Rowan County separated from the parent county in
1753. Then in 1771, the colonial authorities created Guilford County out of the extreme northeast section of
Rowan County and the extreme western section of Orange County. In order to differentiate between
modern Rowan County which is located to the far south and west of Guilford County and the location of
the Nottingham Settlement land tracts in Guilford County, ―Rowan (Guilford) County‖ will be used
throughout this essay to designate the geographical location of the land before Guilford County’s creation
in 1771.
2
Robert Thompson, 350 acres, Rowan (August 2, 1760), Secretary of State Record Group,
Granville Proprietary Land Office: Land Entries, Warrants, and Plats of Survey. North Carolina
Department of Archives and History, Raleigh (NCDAH) (referred to as ―Granville Grants‖). ―. . . being one
of the 30 Entries of the Nottingham Settle[ment].‖ Use of the term ―Settlement‖ in this essay refers to a
group of land plots and not an organized settlement by a colonial religious sect (e.g., Puritans, Moravians)
or a Utopian society. No formal contract binding the settlers to a land venture survives, whether one existed
or not. Most local and family historians refer to the Nottingham Settlement as the ―Nottingham Colony.‖
Because the Granville land grants refer to the ―Nottingham Settlement,‖ I will use Nottingham Settlement.
3
Fred Hughes, Guilford County, N.C.: a Map Supplement (Jamestown, N.C.: The Custom House,
1988), 52. To account for the manner in which tracts were numbered, Hughes explains that ―the grants
were numbered according to the issuance of the warrant [in 1750] not the survey of the land.‖ He
continues, saying that the ―number does not indicate the order of the final grant.‖
1
Many of the initial settlers (or pioneering generation) were related either by birth
or marriage.4 Before migrating to North Carolina, most of the families had resided in
southeastern Pennsylvania and extreme northern Maryland.5 (figure 3) A majority of the
men and their wives were either first-generation Scots-Irish immigrants or children and
grandchildren of immigrants from Scotland or Northern Ireland.6 These men established
themselves early on as responsible landowners within then Rowan County, serving as
jurors, justices of the peace, constables and overseers of the roads.7 All of the families
participated in the founding of or were affiliated with the Buffalo Presbyterian Church
located within the community.8 With the exception of those who died within a
4
Throughout this study, I use the term ―pioneering generation‖ to differentiate between the men
and women who first settled in the Rowan (Guilford) County area in the 1750s and 1760s and those who
either arrived or were born after 1760. The pioneering generation was also multigenerational and depending
on the family, included both parents and their adult progeny. Use of this term will limit not only the
individuals involved but the period studied.
5
George Johnston, History of Cecil County, Maryland, 1881; repr. Baltimore: Regional Publishing
Company, 1967, 145–46. Prior to 1715, the proprietors of Pennsylvania took advantage of the internal
religious and political struggles faced by Maryland’s colonial government and its Catholic landlord Lord
Baltimore during the English Revolution and granted land to Protestants looking for acreage in the region
just south of the original Pennsylvania-Maryland line (known as the ―Nottingham Lots‖); essentially
annexing a small section of Maryland into Lancaster County. The establishment of the Mason-Dixon Line
officially placed this section of land under Maryland’s jurisdiction in 1768. (See figure 3.)
6
While the immigration dates for many in this community are unknown due to the practice at the
time of not documenting the arrival in America of immigrants from the British Isles, the descendents of
several men have relied on family tradition when making this claim. Based on land records and wills found
in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, two of the men, John Cunningham and Samuel Scott, were at least
second-generation immigrants. Depending on the situation, some scholars prefer to use the terms ―Scots
Irish,‖ ―Ulster Scots‖ or ―Ulster Presbyterian‖ in place of ―Scotch-Irish,‖ which seemed to be the term of
choice for historians until more recent times. Throughout the following chapter, I will defer to the choice
made by the author whose work is reviewed. When discussing the Nottingham Settlement, I will use the
term ―Scots Irish.‖ For further information on the evolution of the various terms applied to Protestant
immigrants from Ulster, see Kerby A. Miller, ―’Scotch-Irish’ Ethnicity in Early America: Its Regional and
Political Origins,‖ in Ireland and Irish America Culture, Class, and Transatlantic Migration (Dublin : Field
Day, 2008), 125–138.
7
Rowan County Minutes of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions (referred to as ―Rowan Co.
Minutes‖) 2:59, 79, 93, 121.
8
Samuel Rankin, A History of Buffalo Presbyterian Church and Her People, Greensboro, N.C.
(Greensboro, N.C.: Jos. J. Stone & Co, [1934?]), 22–28.
2
Figure 1. Location of the Nottingham Settlement’s pioneering generation in Rowan
(Guilford) County, N.C., 1753–1760. (Drawing by Wendy L. Adams with assistance by
Rachel M. Popma. Points of reference based on Fred Hughes’ map of colonial Guilford
County, North Carolina (Jamestown, N.C.: Custom House, 1980).)
3
decade of receiving their land grant(s), the pioneering generation increased their land
holdings within the county.9
Many of the descendants of the Nottingham Settlement’s pioneering generation
remained in the vicinity of the original land grants after the Revolutionary War.10
Although land conveyances, poll tax lists and court records remain, personal documents
(such as diaries and account books) have not survived to provide the details of the lives of
early Nottingham Settlement members. Local and regional histories give the most basic
of information about their existence in the early formation of the county. What is known
(e.g., names, birth and death dates, and descendents) fails to present a comprehensive
account of either the individuals involved or the creation and existence of the community
itself. What physical and social boundaries defined the inclusion of settlers in this
informally constructed community? What individual characteristics and accomplishments
identify them as members of this community? Exploring proximity and social, cultural,
and religious experiences as well as material wealth of the settlers aids in identifying the
Nottingham Settlement’s pioneering and subsequent generations. Investigating the
Nottingham Settlement’s communal identity in turn speaks to a larger question—what
external influences motivated these individuals to relocate their families from
southeastern Pennsylvania to central North Carolina and how characteristic was this
resettlement to the colonial experience?11
9
I base this on the many land indentures made by Settlement members as recorded in deed books
for both Rowan and Guilford Counties from 1753 to 1780. See appendix A for further information on land
acquisitions made by individual settlers.
10
Some families, such as the Adam Mitchell family, left Guilford County after the Revolutionary
War and migrated to Tennessee or further west.
11
Much of what is known about the Nottingham Settlement and its members comes from Rankin’s
A History of Buffalo Presbyterian Church, which provides the barest of facts about both the individuals and
the community as a whole.
4
To determine the motivation behind the Nottingham Settlement members’
migration to and settlement in Rowan (Guilford) County, I propose that factors used to
identify the Nottingham Settlement, such as proximity, society, culture and religion,
establish a model for the North Carolina backcountry community in the mid-eighteenth
century. The following study supports this thesis by providing local and family historians
with an in-depth view of the lives of those associated with the Nottingham Settlement as
well as others residing nearby in colonial Guilford County. Exploring the communal
identity of the Nottingham Settlement, I rely on the methods employed in similar
backcountry community studies but subject to variations due to the availability of extant
source materials for this specific set of colonists.
My study of the Nottingham Settlement centers on twenty-one individuals—the
eleven who purchased the initial Granville land grants in December 1753, and ten other
participants in the community (men and women who purchased tracts initially reserved
for the Nottingham Settlement as well as other landowners associated with the
Settlement.) I determined the qualifications of those included in the sample based on
information gleaned from the individual Granville grants as well as later land conveyance
records. In many instances, the grants do not mention the Nottingham Settlement or the
number of the tract allotted to the Settlement. Therefore, when necessary, I relied on
Samuel M. Rankin’s early-twentieth-century history of the Settlement (A History of
Buffalo Presbyterian Church and Her People, Greensboro, N.C.) for information about
the group’s beginning and used the date (on the contract) of December 1753 as a basis for
deciding who purchased one of the thirty tracts.12 I also based my sample of the
12
Although some of the original thirty tracts cannot be discerned (based on the contract’s
description), I have endeavored to assign Nottingham Settlement tract numbers to individuals when
5
Settlement’s pioneering generation on kinship, church association and further information
provided by Rankin.
The reader should not consider my choice of persons or families as
comprehensive. The sample of twenty-one men and women includes: James Barr (?–
1805?), John Blair (abt. 1700–abt. 1772), David Caldwell (1725–1824), John
Cunningham (1725–1762), William Denny (1713–1770), Robert Donnell Sr. (1728?–
1816?), Thomas Donnell (1712–1795), George Finley (1723–1802), Adam
Leakey/Lackey/Leckey (?–1800), John McClintock (1713–1807), James McCuiston Sr.
(1700–1765), Robert McCuiston/McQuiston/McQuestion Sr. (1710–1765), Thomas
McCuiston Sr. (1704–abt. 1758), John McKnight ―IV‖ (?–1770), Adam Mitchell (1712–
1794), Robert Mitchell (abt 1713–1775), John Nicks/Nix (1716–1781), Lydia (Steele)
Rankin Forbis (abt. 1733–bef. 1789), Robert Rankin (?–1795), Samuel Scott (?–1777),
and Robert Thompson (1723–1771).
Using ―Germans on the Maryland Frontier: A Social History of Frederick County,
Maryland, 1730-1800,‖ Elizabeth Kessel’s 1981 dissertation on a German community in
colonial Frederick County, Maryland, as an example, I divide my study into two
sections—the first supplies historical context related to members’ experiences before
their migration to North Carolina, and the second analyzes settlers’ lives after the
pioneering generation purchased land in Rowan (Guilford) County.13
possible. (See table 3.1 in chapter 3.) Without an extant comprehensive plat map or register for the
Granville grants, I cannot explain the numbering system employed (how a tract number was assigned—
whether based on location or time of assignment) or provide a complete listing of tract owners.
13
Elizabeth Augusta Kessel, ―Germans on the Maryland Frontier: A Social History of Frederick
County, Maryland, 1730-1800, (volume I-II)‖ (Ph.D. diss., Rice University, 1981). Kessel explores the
―subtle balance between cultural persistence and accommodation that [eighteenth-century Germanspeaking] settlers achieved‖ after immigrating to America.(iv) In volume one, she explains the European
circumstances surrounding the pioneering generation’s emigration to America and supplies a brief, general
history of colonial Maryland and Frederick County at the time of her target group’s arrival. She also
6
In chapter one, I provide a review of the literature surrounding community studies
and the southern backcountry. Written within the past thirty to forty years, the books,
journal articles and dissertations I consulted represent the most recent research on
community studies and colonial America. I separate the literature into four sections—
geography, kinship, cultural heritage, and religion. A summary at the end of this chapter
links relevant information found within the literature to the experiences of the
Nottingham Settlement.
In chapter two, I present general background information pertinent to Settlement
members prior to their arrival in Rowan (Guilford) County as well as events occurring
during their lives in mid-eighteenth-century North Carolina. Because the families are
predominantly first-, second- or third-generation Scots-Irish immigrants who first settled
in southeastern Pennsylvania/northern Maryland, I briefly describe conditions in Ireland
and southeastern Pennsylvania/northern Maryland that may have precipitated their
migration to America and then the southern backcountry. In addition to this cultural
overview, I come to similar conclusions regarding the idea of previous connections
discusses the immigrant generations’ motives for emigrating and a general description of the settlers as a
community (e.g., social and marital status). Kessel then analyzes the community’s economic, religious, and
social experiences after settling in Frederick County, utilizing available county (e.g., land conveyance, tax
and court) and church records. Kessel investigates landownership—the acquisition, use, and distribution to
heirs—of the pioneering generation to determine the settlers’ impact on Frederick County’s growing
economy. When exploring the influence of religion and religious institutions on the settlers, she analyzes
the emphasis placed on education and literacy. In volume two, Kessel describes the German-speaking
community’s interaction with those outside their community, examining their civic and political
involvement in the county. Lastly, she explores the contributions ethnicity makes to one’s acculturation in
English colonial America. To reinforce her conclusions about the pioneering German-speaking settlers of
Frederick County, Kessel developed ―a codebook for regularized collection of the information‖ found in
probate, land, and church records and newspapers and prepared a genealogy for each family who had
remained in the county five years after its initial land purchase.(352)
7
existing between Settlement members before 1753 by showing that Settlement members
either lived within the same community or previously knew fellow members.14
I demonstrate how these families may have known of each other previously,
either before or after migration to America. To determine a possible Irish connection, I
trace family name origins in Ulster during the mid to late seventeenth century and early
eighteenth century using published Irish probate records.15 Because eighteenth-century
American Presbyterian church records have not survived, I rely on land conveyance
records, tax lists and probate records in Pennsylvania (and Maryland when appropriate)
to locate members in Lancaster County and nearby counties, such as Cecil County,
Maryland, and then discuss the possibility that Settlement families lived near each other
prior to their migration to North Carolina.16 To compensate for a lack of consistently
available documentation for each member, I follow Peter N. Moore’s example in World
of Toil and Strife and depend on the presence of others bearing the same surname living
in the general vicinity (in probate, tax and cemetery records) of fellow Nottingham
14
Settlement members’ existence in Pennsylvania and Maryland is difficult to trace. Although a
few of the men owned land in southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Maryland before their arrival in
North Carolina, others do not appear in either colony’s deed books. Other than land conveyance and tax
records, additional sources tracking their existence in Pennsylvania and Maryland are scarce—
Presbyterians refrained from recording marriages with the local, civil authorities; congregational records of
the Presbyterian Church are either incomplete or non-existent; and even though some court records of those
residing in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, during the eighteenth century survive, the Settlement
members’ use of commonly-held first names (e.g., John, William, James) makes discerning the identity of
those entered in court proceedings difficult.
15
Thomas M. Blagg, ed., Indexes to Irish Wills, Vol. V (London: Phillimore and Co., 1920); and
P. Beryl Eustace, ed., Registry of Deeds Dublin: Abstract of Wills, Vol. I, 1708–1745 (Dublin: Stationary
Office, 1956).
16
John Blair, John Cunningham, James McCuiston, Robert McCuiston, and Samuel Scott appear
in Warrant Registers (Records of the Land Office, Pennsylvania State Archives) for either Cumberland or
Lancaster County (in 1750, Cumberland County separated from Lancaster County), while surnames
associated with the Nottingham Settlement, such as Black, Cummings, Mitchell and Rankin, also appear.
8
Settlement members to demonstrate the probability or possibility of their acquaintance
with Settlement members.17
Chapter three investigates and analyzes the social and religious factors shared by
the Settlement’s pioneering generation, addressing the residential proximity of members
both before and after their arrival in North Carolina, their participation in the Presbyterian
Church, their attitudes toward education, and the extent of their material possessions. In
keeping with historical geographers such as James Lemon, Robert D. Mitchell and
Warren Hofstra, I utilize North Carolina land conveyance records to confirm that
Settlement members purchased contiguous parcels of land in Rowan (Guilford) County,
North Carolina.18 Because no official plat map of Rowan (Guilford) County exists for the
eighteenth century, I have constructed a schematic plat of the properties associated with
my sample group based on geographer Fred Hughes’s work in Guilford County, N.C.: A
Map Supplement and the book’s accompanying map of colonial Guilford County.19
(figure 1) Based on land conveyance, probate and poll tax records, I also explore the
pioneering generation’s material possessions and the distribution of their real and
personal estates.
To analyze the kinship and social relationships existing between the initial
landowners, I have ascertained common experiences and personal events encountered by
17
Peter N. Moore, World of Toil and Strife: Community Transformation in Backcountry South
Carolina, 1750–1805 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2007), 115–117. See appendix 2 in
Moore’s book.
18
James T. Lemon, The Best Poor Man’s Country: A Geographical Study of Early Southeastern
Pennsylvania (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972); Robert D. Mitchell, Commercialism and
Frontier: Perspectives on the Early Shenandoah Valley (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia,
1977); and Warren R. Hofstra, The Planting of New Virginia: Settlement and Landscape in the Shenandoah
Valley (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004).
19
Fred Hughes, Guilford County, N.C.: a Map Supplement (Jamestown, N.C.: The Custom House,
1988), 52–53. Although individual Granville Grants include a surveyor’s drawing of the tract in question,
the lack of an existing comprehensive plat map from this time period hindered my ability to piece the
individual plats together. Therefore, I had to rely on Fred Hughes’ work in order to provide an intelligent
schematic of the Settlement’s boundaries as well as the location of the pioneering generation’s land.
9
Nottingham Settlement’s members. Based on the example of short biographies published
in Lois Green Carr, Russell R. Menard, and Lorena S. Walsh’s Robert Cole’s World, I
first develop a standardized narrative of those included in the sample.20 When necessary,
I supplement personal facts from land conveyance records, probate records, county court
session minutes, and tax records found in both Pennsylvania (or Maryland) and North
Carolina with information provided by family and local histories (book and Web-based).
I borrowed the concept of ―record stripping‖ from both Kessel’s dissertation and Darrett
B. and Anita H. Rutman’s A Place in Time: Middlesex County, Virginia, 1650–1750.21
These short biographies allow me to assess the similarities and differences of members of
the Settlement and develop tables to support my analysis.
To better understand the Settlement’s affiliation with the Presbyterian Church, I
explore the community’s church associations in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Based
on a reference published in a twentieth-century history of the Presbyterian Church
established by the Nottingham Settlement community, I investigate the possible
connections between the Settlement’s association with Old and New Side Presbyterian
congregations in Pennsylvania (and Maryland) and the pioneering generation’s
subsequent migration to North Carolina.22 In particular, I discuss the Settlement’s
20
Lois Green Carr, Russell R. Menard and Lorena S. Walsh, Robert Cole’s World: Agriculture
and Society in Early Maryland (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991).
21
Darrett B. Rutman and Anita H. Rutman, A Place in Time: Middlesex County, Virginia, 1650–
1750, vol. 1 (New York: Norton, 1984); and Kessel, "Germans on the Maryland Frontier.‖ Kessel’s method
of organizing and analyzing individual lives to understand the community as a whole provides a model for
studying other communities. Using available records (e.g., land conveyance, probate, tax), she gleaned facts
for selected community members, quantified and codified each fact based on a numeric system within a
database, and determined commonly-held characteristics of the community at large. From the database, she
explored family and kinship, naming patterns, family size, and inheritance patterns.
22
The Great Awakening’s focus on an emotional religious experience and expression of one’s
faith divided the American Presbyterian Church into two camps—those who held to more conservative and
traditional viewpoints, with their emphasis on holy living (―Old Side‖) and those who embraced a
conversion experience and an emotional expression of religious beliefs and practices (―New Side‖). See
chapter 2 for more on this topic.
10
connections to two Presbyterian ministers—John Thomson (father of Robert Thompson,
initial owner of one of the thirty Nottingham tracts), a proponent of the Old Side; and
New-Side advocate Samuel Findley (brother of George Finley, a Settlement member),
from whose congregation (Nottingham Presbyterian Church) some of the pioneering
generation are believed to have come.23
I rely on three books—E. W. Caruthers’s A Sketch of the Life and Character of
the Rev. David Caldwell, D.D. (1842), William Henry Foote’s Sketches of North
Carolina, (1846) and Samuel M. Rankin’s A History of Buffalo Presbyterian Church and
Her People, Greensboro, N.C. (1934)—to provide information on the Settlement’s
involvement with the Buffalo Presbyterian Church.24 I supplement the facts provided by
Caruthers, Foote and Rankin with transcribed and published works on the local
Presbytery, documentation from the national Presbyterian Synod, and the limited extant
congregational record of Buffalo Presbyterian Church’s first four decades. A cursory look
at the North Carolina church’s first ministers—Hugh McAden, the itinerant preacher who
held the first church meeting for the Settlement, and David Caldwell, the church’s
ecclesiastical leader between 1764 and 1820—augments my research.25
In chapter four, I provide an overview and summary of the Nottingham
Settlement information I have presented and develop conclusions concerning the
23
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 14. Prior to 1768, the Nottingham congregation
considered itself a part of what was once lower Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Since 1768, it has been
officially part of Cecil County, Maryland.
24
E. W. Caruthers, A Sketch of the Life and Character of the Rev. David Caldwell, D.D.: Near
Sixty Years Pastor of the Churches of Buffalo and Alamance (Greensborough, N.C.: Printed by Swaim and
Sherwood, 1842); and William Henry Foote, Sketches of North Carolina: Historical and Biographical,
Illustrative of the Principles of a Portion of Her Early Settlers (New York: Robert Carter, 1846). Extant
church records for the Buffalo Presbyterian Church (Greensboro, N.C.) are limited to session meeting
records from 1777 to 1788, and do not include membership rolls or marriage information for the eighteenth
century.
25
Without more complete church records for both the West Nottingham Presbyterian Church (in
present day Maryland) and Buffalo Presbyterian Church (in North Carolina), I rely on the three histories
and risk overlooking Settlement members not mentioned in them.
11
community’s identity and possible motivations for their migration from Pennsylvania to
North Carolina. I suggest that the Nottingham Settlement’s pioneering generation
migrated to central North Carolina for one reason—chiefly, the opportunity to own land
and increase property. Appendices include the brief biographies mentioned earlier as well
as supplemental material. A bibliography of works cited and consulted follows.
12
Chapter One
Review of the Literature on Community History
At first glance, the Nottingham Settlement does not look like a ―community.‖
These settlers did not live within the bounds of a village or town, and no extant document
of incorporation or organization survives, if it ever existed. Yet a number of common
experiences defined these individuals and their families as a community in the southern
backcountry during the eighteenth century. Created by historians, the field of community
studies includes an eclectic mix of social science disciplines that analyze social
organizations, their members and their interactions. Historians of the colonial period
utilize the techniques of social history to investigate the composition and relationships of
colonial communities in discrete geographical locations and time periods. Relying on
methods employed in sociology, geography, psychology and archaeology as well as
history, they develop new insights based on common denominators within the
community.1
Early community study projects in the 1970s focused on colonial American
Tidewater communities located on or near the Atlantic coast, especially in New England,
Pennsylvania and Virginia. A decade later, research extended to those communities in the
frontier region known as the backcountry, which includes both the Piedmont and
Mountain regions of the thirteen colonies.
1
For a history of the community study movement during the 1970s, consult Kathleen Neils
Conzens, ―Community Studies, Urban History, and Local History,‖ in The Past Before Us: Contemporary
Historical Writing in the United States, edited by Michael Kammen (Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University
Press, 1980), 270–91. For a more recent understanding of backcountry studies, read Michael J. Puglisi‘s
chapter, ―Muddied Waters: A Discussion of Current Interdisciplinary Backcountry Studies,‖ The Southern
Colonial Backcountry: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Frontier Communities edited by David Colin
Crass, Steven D. Smith, Martha A. Zierden and Richard D. Brooks (Knoxville: University of Tennessee
Press, 1998), 36–55.
13
A community‘s location dictates how the historian will approach its study, the
research methods employed and the likely results. When investigating communities in the
southern backcountry, historians consider varying combinations of key common
denominators, such as property (landownership, material possessions and wealth),
kinship, heritage and religion, which bind the individuals and their families into a
community.
Property (Landownership, Material Possessions and Wealth)
Unlike the New England colonists whose settlements centered on a town or
township, the settlers living in the middle colonies created communities within larger,
more dispersed areas of settlement. The inhabitants of New England communities
generally emigrated to America as groups from adjoining areas in Britain and practiced a
form of communal government based on shared political and religious beliefs that
psychologically bound them to their location. Pennsylvania and Maryland immigrants
with more diverse ethnic backgrounds tended to seek farmland they could afford and
personal opportunities for prosperity first within those colonies and later further south in
Virginia and the Carolinas.
In The Best Poor Man’s Country (1972), historical geographer James Lemon
explores the democratic and independent nature of settlers living in early southeastern
Pennsylvania—how they used the land and their ability to prosper from its use.2 Utilizing
land records and tax assessments, Lemon examines the cultural groups that settled in
Pennsylvania (particularly the counties of Chester and Lancaster), their local
2
James T. Lemon, The Best Poor Man’s Country: A Geographical Study of Early Southeastern
Pennsylvania (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972).
14
governments, and their land use patterns. Lemon maintains that early immigrants (those
arriving before 1750) were ―largely from the middle stratum of western European
society.‖3 Whether German-speaking, English or Scots-Irish, the immigrants who came
to Pennsylvania shared a quest for independence as it was developing in Europe‘s towns
and countryside during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. According to Lemon,
this desire for independence encouraged settlers to regard ―individual freedom and
material gain over that of public interest.‖4 Contrary to William Penn‘s initial concept of
communal farming and a local government that reflected colonial New England‘s
township model, Pennsylvania‘s settlers ―lived on their own farms‖ and created countybased governments.5
Expanding on the independent nature of the ―middling sort,‖ Lemon discusses the
premise that Pennsylvanian society and its practices in land organization (individual
versus community owned) encouraged settlers, regardless of cultural background, to
move freely both within the colony and further south into Maryland, Virginia and the
Carolinas. Motivations for moving varied. Settlers migrated to land occupied by others
who shared a similar language, culture, and religion. Pennsylvania‘s population grew due
to an influx of German-speaking and Scots-Irish immigrants which created greater
demand for farmland. As the amount of land available for purchase decreased, its value
rose.
Lemon also analyzes how Pennsylvanians used the land. Settlers produced a
variety of grain crops, such as wheat and corn, and practiced crop rotation to increase
production. Towns appeared as marketplaces and transportation hubs. Exchanged farm
3
Lemon, Best Poor Man’s Country, 5.
Ibid., xv.
5
Ibid., 219.
4
15
products moved eastward while needed tools, food stuffs and manufactured goods moved
westward. At its outer reaches the exchange system brought Pennsylvania‘s farmers into
the world economy.
Historian James A. Henretta, in ―Families and Farms: Mentalite in Pre-Industrial
America,‖ disagrees with Lemon‘s emphasis on the individual, arguing that ―communityoriented patterns of social interaction‖ and existing lineal family values regarding
landownership and farming ―inhibited the emergence of individualism‖ prior to the midseventeen hundreds.6 Yearly subsistence took precedent over individualistic inclinations.
Maintaining the family‘s economic status and protecting the parents‘ financial security
superseded the sons‘ desires.
The discussion continues in 1980 when Lemon in ―Comment on James A.
Henretta‘s ‗Families and Farms: Mentalite in Pre-Industrial America‘‖ poses that ―the
accumulation of property‖ delineated the leaders (―better sorts‖) from the lesser sorts.7
Lemon expounds on what he considers to be Henretta‘s three premises (individual status
and community, the market and ideology) and concludes that Henretta leans ―toward
detaching families from society.‖8 Henretta, in his reply to Lemon (―ʻFamilies and Farms:
Mentalite in Pre-Industrial America‘: Reply‖), defends his interpretation of the farm
family in pre-1750 America.9 Although he admits that Lemon in his ―Comments‖
adjusted much of what he (Henretta) found unacceptable in Best Poor Man’s County,
6
James A. Henretta, ―Families and Farms: Mentalite in Pre-Industrial America,‖ William and
Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., 35, no. 1 (1978): 5, 26.
7
James T. Lemon, ―Comment on James A. Henretta‘s ‗Families and Farms: Mentalite in PreIndustrial America‘,‖ William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., 37, no. 4 (1980): 689.
8
Ibid., 696.
9
James A. Henretta, ―‘Families and Farms: Mentalite in Pre-Industrial America‘: Reply,‖ William
and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., 37, no. 4 (1980): 696–700.
16
Henretta continues to disagree with Lemon‘s analysis of the farm family, the ―chronology
of historical change,‖ and the effects of the ―cultural environment‖ on their lives.10
In ―Tenancy in Colonial Pennsylvania: The Case of Chester County‖ (1986),
Lucy Simler counters Lemon‘s claims, arguing that tenant farmers were more common in
colonial Pennsylvania than owner farmers, and that economic changes during the
eighteenth century created a surge and subsequent decline in tenancy before the
Revolutionary War.11 Declaring ―smallholding meant upward mobility,‖ she attributes a
decrease in the number of smallholding owners to the lack of opportunity to change
economic status to that of middling farm owner.12 Simler supports her argument with a
study of one township in Chester County, Pennsylvania, utilizing land records, tax
schedules and plat maps to differentiate between tenants and landowners.
George W. Franz, in Paxton: A Study of Community Structure and Mobility in the
Colonial Pennsylvania Backcountry (1989), relies heavily on landownership to determine
the characteristics of one mid-eighteenth-century community in Lancaster County.13 He
claims that conditions in Paxton resulted in an ad hoc community that provided its
inhabitants with ―no sense of communal identity‖ and promoted an ―individualistic
[attitude] at the expense of community solidarity.‖14 He argues that the lack of an
effective political structure, the temperament of the settlers, the style of landownership
10
Henretta, ―‘Families and Farms‘: Reply,‖ 697–98.
Lucy Simler, ―Tenancy in Colonial Pennsylvania: The Case of Chester County,‖ William and
Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., 43, no. 4 (1986): 542–69.
12
Ibid., 563.
13
George W. Franz, Paxton: A Study of Community Structure and Mobility in the Colonial
Pennsylvania Backcountry (New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1989).
14
Ibid., 7, 8; Franz defines Paxton‘s ad hoc community as ―one in which the community structure
and its institutions were minimal and latent and functioned effectively only in times of crisis or in order to
meet a specific problem.‖
11
17
practiced, and the economic and social structure of the community contributed to
members‘ participation in the ―Paxton Boys‖ march on Philadelphia in 1764.15
Although Franz uses extant tax lists, probate and land records as well as
manuscript collections located in Pennsylvania to determine and identify the
community‘s identity, Franz fails to develop a fuller picture of the Paxton community.
Surprisingly, he ignores kinship, the dominant approach in mentor Philip Greven‘s work,
which would have supplemented his emphasis on landownership and prevented him from
presenting a one-dimensional view of Paxton.16 Franz‘s dependence on old secondary
source material weakens his argument further and ignores methods employed by social
historians of the 1980s.
The desire of settlers in the mid-Atlantic region to own land rather than lease it
led to their search for economic independence in the southern backcountry. In Colonial
North Carolina in the Eighteenth Century: A Study in Historical Geography (1964),
historical geographer Harry Roy Merrens paved the way for later geographers to write
about the history of the land, not just the people who occupied it. He proposes that
investigating the changes generated by man upon North Carolina‘s geography
supplements the traditional historical research and supports scholars‘ interpretation of
colonial American history.17 Merrens divides the book into three sections, discussing the
land itself, the people who settled within the colony and their economic practices.
15
This popular protest of the colonial government‘s failure to protect the backcountry from
possible attacks by Native Americans took its name from Franz‘s subject community.
16
This published version of Franz‘s 1974 dissertation was written under the direction of Philip
Greven, whose community study of Andover, Massachusetts, (Four Generations: Population, Land, and
Family in Colonial Andover, Massachusetts) in the early 1970s became one of three works to set the early
standard for community studies. I discuss Greven‘s book on pages 23–24.
17
Harry Roy Merrens, Colonial North Carolina in the Eighteenth Century: A Study in Historical
Geography (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1964).
18
Producing topical (e.g. distribution of settlers, taxables, and crops) and historical
maps from court and probate records, tax lists, travel accounts, customs reports, and
period newspapers and geographies, Merrens examines the history of landownership of
North Carolina, as well as the state‘s geological composition. He tracks the flow of
population into the region and the location of ethnic groups through demographic
information found within colonial records and migration patterns identified by historians.
And, he illustrates how North Carolinians utilized the land—the methods employed to
clear forest, brush and grass; the agricultural practices employed within specific regions
of the colony; and the existence of trading centers (urban versus decentralized trade)
based on location. Because his focus covers the colony as a whole, Merrens does not
investigate the lives of individuals in any one region or community.
Robert D. Mitchell argues in Commercialism and Frontier: Perspectives on the
Early Shenandoah Valley (1977) that ―commercialization influenced land utilization‖ in
backcountry Virginia, transforming communities from subsistence farming to
commercial farming for national and international markets.18 Using land conveyance
records as well as scholarly works, Mitchell examines the landowning practices,
population characteristics, and economic development of the Shenandoah Valley during
the eighteenth century. He addresses the methods of landownership and land speculation,
arguing that ―the economic motivations of frontier settlers‖ went ―far beyond the needs of
immediate sustenance,‖ and proposes that the economic development of the region was
three-fold.19 Subsistence farming provided for the needs of the local community. A
18
Robert D. Mitchell, Commercialism and Frontier: Perspectives on the Early Shenandoah Valley
(Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1977), xi.
19
Ibid., 59.
19
surplus of cash crops (wheat, hemp, tobacco) prompted the creation of county seats and
towns, enabling trade along the Valley. The need to dispose of these surplus commodities
outside of the immediate community led to the improvement of transportation systems
and an increase in trade both nationally and internationally.
Mitchell‘s discussion covers the geography, population, and economics of
communities rather than the situations of their individual inhabitants. As a result he
barely scratches the surface of information available on community life. With the
exception of the American Revolution, Mitchell does not consider the effects of outside
events upon the community‘s commercial development, and his isolated view of
community lacks comparison with similar communities throughout the backcountry.
In The Evolution of the Southern Backcountry: A Case Study of Lunenburg
County, Virginia, 1746–1832 (1974), Richard R. Beeman argues that the culture of the
backcountry in Virginia did not mimic that found in the Tidewater but was no more
backward in its practices than the Tidewater counties that considered themselves more
civilized.20 Using legislative, probate, tax and land conveyance records, local Anglican
Church histories, and Baptist Church minute books, he claims that political, economic
and ethnic differences influenced the Virginia backcountry and created a unique
―southern‖ culture or identity. He supports his claims by examining Lunenburg County
and comparing it to Richmond County in the Tidewater.
Beeman finds that the Lunenburg County authorities and Anglican Church leaders
lacked the power to control the community. The Lunenburg landholding gentry did not
have the same political sway or authority as Tidewater gentry. The ethnically diverse
20
Richard R. Beeman, The Evolution of the Southern Backcountry: A Case Study of Lunenburg
County, Virginia, 1746–1832 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984).
20
backcountry settlers refused to participate in the established Anglican Church and
ignored the attempts of Anglican Church leaders to influence local affairs. These settlers‘
evangelical practices threatened the formal ―Anglican-gentry style of religious and social
organization.‖21 Dissenter congregations ―acted as a substitute for and supplement to the
legal agency of the county court.‖22
According to Beeman, the tobacco culture adopted by backcountry Virginians
demanded that the community fully embrace slave labor and limited the availability of
inexpensive land. The lack of affordable land forced less affluent farmers to migrate,
leaving only landowners with slave labor and creating a ―middle-class, slave-based
society.‖23 Beeman also explores the attitudes of the non-English settlers who migrated
south from Pennsylvania into the county, claiming these Scots-Irish and Germanspeaking settlers chose to live their lives based on their ethnic cultures rather than abide
by the English culture of the Tidewater region.
Several flaws arise within Beeman‘s presentation. In an effort to negate the idea
that the term ―backcountry‖ referred to the cultural backwardness of the region, Beeman
emphasizes how Lunenburg compared with the Tidewater culture rather than fully
exploring the ―frontier‖ nature of the community. Although he calls attention to the use
of slavery, Beeman does not scrutinize further the slave culture which might have
reinforced a major aspect of the emerging ―southern‖ identity.
Relying heavily upon Mitchell‘s chapters on landownership and speculation,
Warren Hofstra maintains in The Planting of New Virginia (2004) that the Shenandoah
Valley landscape evolved from open-country farms to urban-centered communities
21
Beeman, Evolution of the Southern Backcountry, 100.
Ibid., 108.
23
Ibid., 176.
22
21
because of the presence of the particular settlers who migrated there in the early
eighteenth century.24 Employing economic concepts and models as well as land
conveyance and court records and first-hand accounts, he supports his evolution of
landscape thesis by examining the broader political situation, the effects of an ―exchange
economy‖ on the land, the transformation of local government, and the interaction
between land use and the world economy. Specifically Hofstra analyzes the Opequon
community, employing economic concepts pertaining to ―central-place‖ theory which
postulates that a central market location allows trade to evolve from subsistence to
surplus production. In Opequon this change from subsistence farming to commercial
farming (specifically that of wheat and other grain) facilitates the adaptation of an
exchange economy to a cash-oriented society.
Hofstra also analyzes the material culture connected to the community—from the
initial landowners‘ recognition of the qualities of natural resources to their buildings and
belongings—and discusses the colonial government‘s involvement in planting settlers on
family-sized farms (compared to the larger ―plantation‖ holdings in the Tidewater), the
burgeoning economic activity (local, inter-colonial, and imperial), and the incorporation
of economic practices like the slave labor.
Hofstra initially connects landscape transformation to kinship and ethnicity, but
then places less emphasis on the community‘s initial familial and religious affiliations
and relies instead on economic and political circumstances to support his thesis,
providing occasional glimpses of individuals to substantiate the broader context.
Although he acknowledges that African/African-American slaves lived in the Opequon
24
Warren R. Hofstra, The Planting of New Virginia: Settlement and Landscape in the Shenandoah
Valley (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004).
22
community, he only briefly mentions their role in the community‘s increasingly grainbased economy of the latter half of the eighteenth century.
Kinship
When United States historians embraced and shaped the field of community study
as a part of social history less than a decade before the United States Bicentennial, they
initially studied the earliest communities in America. John Demos and Philip J. Greven,
Jr., in two of the better-known community studies published in 1970, focus on New
England towns.25 Although both authors approach their respective seventeenth-century
communities using demography in addition to other social science research methods (e.g.,
economics, social psychology, and anthropology), kinship relationship is a common
factor apparent in both Demos‘ A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony
(1970) and Greven‘s Four Generations: Population, Land, and Family in Colonial
Andover, Massachusetts (1970).
Relying heavily on probate and land conveyance records, Demos and Greven each
explore the importance of the family and its affect on the community.26 While Demos
examines material culture (houses, furniture and clothing), household structure (kinship),
and stages of human development (primarily Erik Erikson‘s eight stages of man) and
their effects on the community ―to know average people in the everyday routine of their
lives,‖ Greven studies multiple generations in one town to determine if changes in
25
John Demos, A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony, 2nd ed. (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2000); Philip J. Greven, Jr., Four Generations: Population, Land, and Family in
Colonial Andover, Massachusetts (Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Press, 1970). The third of these
colonial New England community studies is Kenneth A. Lockridge, A New England Town, the First
Hundred Years: Dedham, Massachusetts, 1636–1736 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1970).
26
Greven also supplements official documents with genealogies produced by Andover family
historians. He does not reflect on the credibility of these genealogies as sources, but accepts them based on
the reputation of the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston where the genealogies reside.
23
demography, landownership and family life are as important to understanding colonial
culture as political events. 27 Both authors argue that early Americans were
geographically mobile as community members were constantly in search of land.
In 1984, Darrett B. Rutman and Anita H. Rutman published A Place in Time:
Middlesex County, Virginia, 1650–1750, a look at kinship relationships and community
associations in a southern Tidewater community.28 The authors argue that unlike New
England‘s communities, residents of colonial Middlesex County based their community
on personal and social interaction rather than religious ideology. To prove this thesis, the
authors created more than twelve thousand biographies covering one hundred years of
social history by ―record stripping‖ or taking discrete pieces of data from multiple
primary sources such as records related to birth, marriage, probate and land
conveyance.29 The Rutmans present their materials as if they were ―visitors to the early
Chesapeake‖ rather than ―an invisible . . . omniscient narrator.‖30 Striving to provide a
different view of a seventeenth-century colonial community, the Rutmans reconstruct
individual lives to understand the community as a whole.
Daniel Snydacker‘s article ―Kinship and Community in Rural Pennsylvania,
1749–1820‖ (1982) explores multiple landowners‘ bequests and their effects in York
County.31 Snydacker suggests that a Pennsylvania landowner‘s options for deciding who
inherited his estate exceeded early historians‘ views that the division of both land and
personal property depended upon whether the oldest male child (primogeniture) or all
27
Demos, Little Commonwealth, xvi; and Greven, Four Generations, 1.
Darrett B. Rutman and Anita H. Rutman, A Place in Time: Middlesex County, Virginia, 1650–
1750, vol. 1 (New York: Norton, 1984).
29
Ibid., 1:31.
30
Ibid., 1:13.
31
Daniel Snydacker, ―Kinship and Community in Rural Pennsylvania, 1749–1820,‖ Journal of
Interdisciplinary History 13, no. 1 (1982): 41–61.
28
24
heirs (partible heritance) received property. Instead, landowners in York County
considered the financial welfare of widows (or widowers) and (minor) children and
weighted their bequests according to the needs of family members, church and neighbors.
Snydacker chose York County because it contained three of Pennsylvania‘s main
immigrant groups and their respective churches: German-speakers and the Lutheran
Church (as well as the Moravian Church); the Scots-Irish and the Presbyterian Church;
and the English and the Society of Friends (Quakers). Using probate records, he
compares the effects of kinship on bequests within five congregations. He advances his
supposition by exploring how landowners within these ethnic and religious groups
(primarily the German-speaking and Quaker groups) distributed their landholdings
among their spouses and children. Snydacker reveals a ―network of obligations‖ that
protected not only those family members who would have been left destitute if excluded
from inheritance but also the community that would have been compelled to provide for
them.32
In Robert Cole’s World: Agriculture and Society in Early Maryland (1991), Lois
Green Carr, Russell R. Menard and Lorena S. Walsh explore the ―yeoman planter
society‖ and the agricultural practices found in the seventeenth-century Tidewater
region.33 Here the authors‘ compile their related findings and together with records
associated with Cole‘s plantation ―show how ordinary people tended their fields, grew
their crops, [and] cared for their livestock‖ before the transformation of Maryland‘s
32
Snydacker, ―Kinship,‖ 50.
Lois Green Carr, Russell R. Menard, Lorena S. Walsh, Robert Cole’s World: Agriculture and
Society in Early Maryland (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991), xvi; For a list of journal
articles and published essays written by the three authors, consult the notes section of Robert Cole’s World
([269]-337). The authors refer often to their previous works on colonial Maryland‘s economic and social
life.
33
25
agriculture into the slave-based society of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.34
The authors investigate not only the agricultural and social practices of the community
surrounding Cole, but also the idea that ―Maryland‘s entry into its ‗golden age‘‖ of the
seventeenth century finds its foundation in the practices of settlers during Cole‘s
shortened lifetime.35
Because Cole left no personal clues about his life, such as diaries or letters, the
authors rely heavily on the existing probate and land conveyance records. Cole‘s early
death provides an unusual wealth of information about the man‘s plantation and the
agricultural practices employed by the guardian of his minor heirs. Additionally, the
estate records kept by the guardian and submitted to the court supply a view of a
Tidewater community based on a dependence on neighbors rather than just immediate
family. To supplement the official records and illuminate further Cole‘s ―world,‖ the
authors compiled brief biographies for the family members, servants and neighbors.
In the southern backcountry, kinship influenced decision-making as well. Peter N.
Moore, in World of Toil and Strife: Community Transformation in Backcountry South
Carolina, 1750-1805 (2007), a study of the Waxhaw region, claims that external events
and forces worked upon the community‘s ―insular‖ nature to change its inhabitants from
subsistence farmers before the Revolutionary War to southern plantation owners
afterward.36 To support his claim, Moore utilizes land conveyance, marriage and
cemetery records to explore the effects of kinship within this backcountry community—
how it molded and influenced the community and then diminished in importance when
34
Carr, Menard, and Walsh, Robert Cole’s World, xvi-xvii.
Ibid., 152.
36
Peter N. Moore, World of Toil and Strife: Community Transformation in Backcountry South
Carolina, 1750–1805 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 2007).
35
26
the second wave of immigrants arrived. Conversely, relying on first-hand accounts,
personal papers, colonial records and published histories, he demonstrates how the lack
of kinship connections affected those considered outsiders like the Catawba Indians, the
―second‖ wave immigrants, African-American slaves and British soldiers and Loyalists
during the Revolutionary War.
Marriage and religious association among the initial wave of settlers to the
Waxhaw area determined where community members purchased land as well as the
extent of their participation in one of Waxhaw‘s Presbyterian congregations. Two
appendices support the author‘s claims regarding kinship and the Waxhaw community.
One appendix reinforces the theory of previously existing connections between settlers
by comparing surnames found in land conveyance records in the Waxhaw community
against baptismal records listed in an Augusta County, Virginia, Presbyterian Church.37 A
second appendix lists marriage partners and their Presbyterian congregation based upon
marriage and cemetery records.
Cultural Heritage
When discussing the characteristics of southern backcountry communities,
historians also consider the extent to which a shared cultural heritage impacts a
community. Issues related to emigration to colonial America and the customs and
practices associated with specific European locations (from which settlers and their
ancestors migrated) affected community life in areas such as education, family life, and
the law and provide context within which to understand individuals‘ decisions.
37
Augusta County, Virginia, is considered an earlier home of the first Waxhaw settlers.
27
Regarding Irish emigration in general (and Scots-Irish emigration specifically) to
colonial America, scholars such as L. M. Cullen and Marianne S. Wokeck generally
agree that eighteenth-century Irish immigration matched that seen by the Irish during the
nineteenth century. Cullen in ―The Irish Diaspora of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth
Centuries‖ (1994) declares that this earlier migration was more complex in number and
destination than that of a later period.38 He claims that the mobility of the seventeenthand eighteenth-century Irish emigrant can be ―explained by a mix . . . of dynamism,
persecution, and poverty.‖39 To support his thesis, Cullen explores the link between those
who immigrated to Ireland and those who left, the reliability of estimates of previous
migration from Ireland to America, the connection between military service and the
desire to migrate, the effects of the linen crisis, and the need for employment. Because
early Irish emigration was largely undocumented, Cullen depends on military record
groups (from both Britain and other European countries) as well as the findings published
in current scholarship on Irish emigration to colonial America.40
While Cullen furnishes possible reasons for emigrating to colonial America,
Marianne Wokeck‘s ―Irish and German Migration to Eighteenth-Century North
America,‖ a chapter in Coerced and Free Migration: Global Perspectives (2002),
proposes that the eighteenth-century German and Irish migration ―reveal[s] the forces
38
L. M. Cullen, ―The Irish Diaspora of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,‖ in Europeans
on the Move: Studies on European Migration, 1500-1800, edited by Nicholas Canny (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1994), 113–49.
39
Ibid., 114.
40
These secondary sources include Bernard Bailyn, The Peopling of North America: An
Introduction (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987) and Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of
America on the Eve of the Revolution (New York: Knopf, 1986); R. J. Dickson, Ulster Emigration to
Colonial America, 1718-1775 (Belfast: Ulster Historical Foundation, 1966); Kerby A. Miller, Emigrants
and Exiles: Ireland and the Irish Exodus to North America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985);
and Marianne Wokeck, ―German and Irish Immigration to Colonial Philadelphia,‖ Proceedings of the
American Philosophical Society, 133, no. 2 (1989): 128–43.
28
that created, shaped, and guided distinctly ethnic waves of voluntary migrants.‖ 41
Comparing the similarities and differences of Irish and German-speaking immigrants,
Wokeck explores the social (single vs. families) and economic (―lower sort‖ vs.
―middling sort‖) status of the immigrants, the manner in which they traveled (pre-paid
passage vs. indentured servitude upon arrival), the informal structure of ―sending
societies‖ (such as the merchants who furnished transportation to America), the existing
connections between parties on both sides of the Atlantic, and the geographical and
governmental circumstances in Europe which either promoted or hindered migration.42
By examining the conditions surrounding emigration to America and the experiences
confronted by both ethnic groups, Wokeck provides a more complete understanding of
what transpired among eighteenth-century Irish and German-speaking immigrants and
how particular experiences influenced the actions of first-generation immigrants as well
as their children and grandchildren.
Settlers characterized as ―Scotch-Irish‖ appear throughout many of the
communities formed in the southern backcountry. The accepted label for people
originally from Northern Ireland is in some dispute. Early Americans used the term
―Irish‖ for anyone who arrived from a port in Ireland regardless of ethnic origin (Irish or
Scots) or religious affiliation (Catholic or Protestant). Since the late seventeenth century,
historians frequently use the term ―Scotch-Irish‖ to identify those immigrants from the
north of Ireland who shared a Scottish, Presbyterian heritage. The term (―Scotch-Irish‖)
41
Marianne S. Wokeck, ―Irish and German Migration to Eighteenth-Century North America,‖ in
Coerced and Free Migration: Global Perspectives, edited by David Eltis (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford
University Press, 2002), 152.
42
Ibid., 394–402. Wokeck bases her findings on scholarly works covering a wide spectrum of
eighteenth-century Irish and German (and Swiss) immigration. See the notes to chapter 5 in Coerced and
Free Migration.
29
gained acceptance by nineteenth-century Ulster-American Protestants as a means to
distinguish themselves ―as different from and superior to the overwhelmingly Catholic,
impoverished, and often Irish-speaking [Great] Famine refugees.‖43 Today European
scholars use the term ―Ulster Presbyterian‖ to differentiate between the inhabitants of
Ireland‘s predominantly Protestant province and the rest of Catholic Ireland. Although
―Scotch-Irish‖ is still used today, the more accepted term is ―Scots-Irish.‖ In order to
distinguish the Scots-Irish ethnically from other British subcultures, modern scholars
have studied the history and characteristics associated with the group.44
Maldwyn A. Jones, a British scholar of American immigration and the
Commonwealth Professor of American History at University College in London from
1977 to 1988, documents in ―The Scotch-Irish in British America‖ (1991) the uniqueness
of the Scots-Irish and their characteristic traits and historical background on both sides of
the Atlantic Ocean.45 Debunking commonly-held suppositions about the Scots-Irish,
Jones adds to James G. Leyburn‘s The Scotch-Irish: A Social History (1962), an older
work on Scots-Irish identity and the ethnic group‘s history, by relying on works
published between 1965 and 1990. Jones reflects on what recent scholars have written
about the Scots-Irish and then provides viable alternatives to strengthen his assertion
regarding the existence of an ethnic group based on ―an autonomous Ulster Scottish
43
Kerby A. Miller, ―‘Scotch-Irish‘ Ethnicity in Early America: Its Regional and Political Origins,‖
in Ireland and Irish America Culture, Class, and Transatlantic Migration (Dublin: Field Day, 2008), 135.
44
Recent scholarship has begun to refute the idea that those who emigrated from Ulster created a
unique ethnic group. For a comprehensive social history discussing the ―Scotch-Irish,‖ read James G.
Leyburn‘s The Scotch-Irish: A Social History (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1962).
David Hackett Fischer‘s Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1989) provides an anthropological view of those considered ―Scotch-Irish,‖ discussing such practices
as language, architecture, sociological practices and attitudes (including family, gender, and death),
religion, food, and dress.
45
Maldwyn A. Jones, ―The Scotch-Irish in British America,‖ in Strangers within the Realm, edited
by Bernard Bailyn and Philip D. Morgan (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991), 284–313.
30
culture, distinct from that of Scotland ... [and] the rest of Ireland.‖46 He explores and
exonerates the creation of the designation ―Scotch-Irish,‖ based on the ethnic group‘s
common geographic, religious and linguistic background, and the term‘s subsequent use
in America. The form of Presbyterianism practiced, the adapted agricultural and
architectural style acquired after immigration, and the impact of their language upon
those around them accords the Scots-Irish the ability to create an ethnic culture distinct
from either Celtic-speaking southern Ireland or the Scots while maintaining ―certain
aspects of their Old World style of life.‖47
Patrick Griffin, on the other hand, uses the term ―Scotch-Irish‖ only to state its
inability to convey who the Scots-Irish are as an ethnic group. In his desire to identify the
Scotch-Irish as those who ―played a formative role in the transition from an English to a
British Atlantic,‖ Griffin disputes the idea that Protestants transplanted to northern
Ireland created a unique ethnic group separate from the rest of the inhabitants of Ireland.
He abandons the use of ―Scotch-Irish‖ and replaces it with ―Ulster Presbyterian‖ in his
The People with No Name: Ireland’s Ulster Scots, America’s Scots Irish, and the
Creation of a British Atlantic World, 1689–1764 (2001).48 Utilizing eighteenth-century
Irish and American Presbyterian Church records, court records, and tax lists, as well as
pamphlets and books published in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Griffin
maintains that Ulster Presbyterian immigrants exemplified the adaptive nature of the
British world during the eighteenth century by discussing their migration from Scotland
to Ireland to America, the influence of Reformed Protestantism upon the choices they
46
Jones, ―Scotch-Irish in British America,‖ 290.
Ibid., 313.
48
Patrick Griffin, The People with No Name: Ireland’s Ulster Scots, America’s Scots Irish, and
the Creation of a British Atlantic World, 1689–1764 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), 1.
47
31
made, and their desire to be considered ―British‖ rather than Irish. He relies heavily on
the influences of the Ulster Presbyterian Church to support his claims.
Along with Griffin, Ned C. Landsman also identifies Ulster immigrants based on
their religious affiliation rather than their supposed Scottish heritage. In ―Religion,
Expansion, and Migration: The Cultural Background to Scottish and Irish Settlement in
the Lehigh Valley,‖ Landsman proposes that ―while cultural backgrounds certainly
played an important role in shaping the kinds of questions that various groups addressed,
and consistently brought specific kinds of issues to the fore, they often left participants an
array of choices and alternatives.‖49 Designating inhabitants of Ulster as ―Irish
Presbyterians,‖ Landsman relies on scholarly works to discuss three premises which
motivated this group—mobility, a ―common participation in empire and expansion‖ and a
Presbyterian identity.50
Both the Scots and Ulster Scots shared a tradition of migration which in turn led
to their willingness to migrate to America and other lands. Landsman speculates that this
mobility stemmed from economic need and financial opportunity for both the lower and
middling classes. The ability to retain pre-existing ties from one community to another
allowed them to create ―interlocking settlements and extended family networks in which
the movements of neighbors and kin among the different locales served as an important
foundation of community.‖51 This network extended into trade between Britain, the
American coast and the backcountry. For Landsman, the Presbyterian Church became an
49
Ned C. Landsman, ―Religion, Expansion, and Migration: The Cultural Background to Scottish
and Irish Settlement in the Lehigh Valley,‖ in Backcountry Crucibles: The Lehigh Valley from Settlement
to Steel, edited by Jean R. Soderlund and Catherine S. Parzynski (Bethlehem: Lehigh University Press,
2008), 106.
50
Ibid., 107.
51
Ibid., 109.
32
important link in this network as well. He characterizes this brand of Presbyterianism as
―one that combined personal piety with a taste for education and letters, and a common
imagery of martyrdom and resistance‖ along with ―a marked degree of moral certainty
about the status of their communities.‖52
Religion
As demonstrated in Griffin‘s and Landsman‘s works, ethnicity and religious
affiliation go hand-in-hand. Scholars commonly associate the Presbyterian Church with
the Scots and Scots-Irish while both the Lutheran and Moravian Churches correlate to
German-speaking people. Religious affiliation may also influence migration patterns,
whether transatlantic or intercolonial. This association also affected community actions
and contributed to successes (or failures).
In The Frontier in the Colonial South: South Carolina Backcountry, 1736-1800
(1997), George Lloyd Johnson, Jr., investigates religion, commercial agriculture and
transportation networks, ―three concurrent forces that contributed to the early
development of cohesive communities.‖53 He examines the Upper Pee Dee River Valley,
which encompasses slightly more than 2,000 square miles, much of which was settled by
Welsh immigrants from Pennsylvania associated with the Baptist Church. Through
church, probate and land conveyance records, Johnson dispels ―the old popular stereotype
that the frontier was primarily settled by a few poor plain and rustic folk.‖54 Johnson‘s
emphasis on a common religious affiliation among the settlers supports his claim that
52
Ibid., 117.
George Lloyd Johnson Jr., The Frontier in the Colonial South: South Carolina Backcountry,
1736–1800 (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1997), [1].
54
Ibid., 31.
53
33
Baptist attitudes based on Calvinistic theology concerning predestination influenced the
community‘s acceptance of slavery, the community‘s antipathy toward lawlessness, and
ultimately the region‘s economic growth.
Recent backcountry studies on religion in North Carolina focus primarily on the
Moravian Church, one of North Carolina‘s larger dissenting denominations. Daniel B.
Thorp in The Moravian Community in Colonial North Carolina: Pluralism on the
Southern Frontier (1989), S. Scott Rohrer in Hope’s Promise: Religion and
Acculturation in the Southern Backcountry (2005) and Jon F. Sensbach in A Separate
Canaan: The Making of an Afro-Moravian World in North Carolina, 1763-1840 (1998)
each utilize the wealth of records kept by central North Carolina Moravians to show their
participation in the southern backcountry.55 Thorp supports his claim that the Moravian
community in North Carolina ―sought to preserve their identities and advance their
interests through peaceful, controlled contact with one another‖ by investigating their
geographical, religious and demographic boundaries and their involvement in the
marketplace, law and politics.56 He notes that the Moravians came to North Carolina to
isolate themselves from the outside world. Yet, they engaged in trade and business on a
limited and controlled basis with neighboring communities, ―chos[ing] willingly to
participate in its [the outside world‘s] legal, political, and economic systems, though they
were determined not to endanger the distinctive culture of their community by doing
so.‖57
55
Daniel B. Thorp, The Moravian Community in Colonial North Carolina: Pluralism on the
Southern Frontier (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1989); S. Scott Rohrer, Hope’s Promise:
Religion and Acculturation in the Southern Backcountry (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2005);
and Jon F. Sensbach, A Separate Canaan: The Making of an Afro-Moravian World in North Carolina,
1763-1840 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998).
56
Thorp, Moravian Community, 4.
57
Ibid., 5.
34
Relying on both Moravian Church records (minutes, correspondence, and
journals) and local county records (land conveyance, tax, marriage and probate), Rohrer
maintains that both before and after the group migrated to North Carolina the Moravian
Church‘s emphasis on evangelism brought outsiders from a variety of ethnic backgrounds
into the initially German-speaking community, which in turn led to the community‘s
gradual assimilation into American culture. Focusing on the country congregations, he
shows the effects of intermixing German-speaking Moravians with Anglo-Americans.
Assimilation through marriage between German and English speakers led to blended
traditions of language, landownership and land distribution. Acculturation also resulted in
the Moravians‘ increased ownership of slaves.
Sensbach focuses solely on the enslaved African/African-Americans‘ experience
as members of the Moravian community before the antebellum period. Based upon both
published and unpublished records found in the Moravian archives, including memoirs,
official diaries kept by the community administrators and short biographies of enslaved
members, Sensbach argues that the status of enslaved African/African-Americans altered
as North Carolina became more southern in its culture. At first, slaves shared a modicum
of religious and social equality with their Anglo-German owners. Some held membership
in the church, and in the early years they ―worked and worshiped side by side‖ with their
Anglo-German brethren.58 By the nineteenth century, encounters with the outside world
introduced racism to the community and divided it into two racial groups.
58
Sensbach, Separate Canaan, xviii.
35
The Nottingham Settlement as a Southern Backcountry Community—A Summary
The literature represented here demonstrates that ―community‖ can be expressed
in a variety of manners. The definition of a southern backcountry community is not
limited to the use of one discipline, but includes a combination of shared experiences
(e.g., landownership and material wealth, kinship, cultural heritage, and religion). The
men and women associated with the Nottingham Settlement, although not formally
organized as such, created a community based on many of the shared experiences
explored in the literature above. Because documentation produced by the Settlement‘s
pioneering generation, such as diaries and church records, does not survive, any
investigation of the Nottingham Settlement‘s pioneering generation must depend on
extant county and colony records. The limited information found in land conveyance,
court, poll tax and probate records, along with family histories, becomes the sole means
of scrutinizing the community as a whole. Historians then must interpret these records
based on the research and analysis provided by modern backcountry scholars and their
writings.
First and foremost, the Settlement was based on landownership and proximity.
Much of what is known about the community‘s make-up and beginning stems from land
conveyance records. Extant copies of the Granville survey books and original land grants
record the designation of thirty tracts of land to the Settlement and in turn establish its
geographical perimeters. Whether individuals and families owned one of the thirty tracts
or purchased land nearby, landownership was one of the factors which determined one‘s
inclusion. County deed books provide evidence of members‘ continued presence in the
area as well as the extent of their landholdings.
36
In keeping with Lemon‘s The Best Poor Man’s Country description of the
independent nature of eighteenth-century Pennsylvania‘s settlers, the Settlement‘s
pioneering generation formed a community based on individual land ownership of large
tracts rather than community ownership organized by township. Lemon also provides
motive for settler‘s relocation to North Carolina in his discussion of the increased
demands for farmland in Pennsylvania and its inherent consequences—decrease of
available land and rising values.59 As well, Simler‘s ―Tenancy in Colonial Pennsylvania,‖
explains the Settlement‘s members‘ land purchasing activity decades after their arrival in
North Carolina. If upward mobility equaled an increase in landholding, then an
opportunity to own more acreage explains, in part, the pioneering generation‘s land
purchasing activity.
The backcountry studies authored by Merrens (Colonial North Carolina in the
Eighteenth Century), Mitchell (Commercialism and Frontier), Beeman (The Evolution of
the Southern Backcountry), and Hofstra (The Planting of New Virginia) provide
economic reasons for the Settlement‘s apparent emphasis on landowning. Merrens
reinforces Settlement members‘ use of landholdings, while Mitchell, Beeman and Hofstra
support the pioneering generation‘s increase in material wealth due to landownership, as
presented in probate records.
Secondly, kinship and acquaintance (both before and after their arrival in North
Carolina) bound Nottingham Settlement families into a community. Without surviving
birth, marriage or death records, historians of the Settlement must rely on family
histories, probate records and land conveyance records to connect members of the
pioneering generation. Both A Place in Time and Robert Cole’s World support the
59
Lemon, Best Poor Man’s Country, 67–69, 87–96.
37
development of the Settlement as a community based on kinship and social connections.
Meanwhile, Snydacker‘s (―Kinship and Community in Rural Pennsylvania, 1749–1820‖)
and Moore‘s (World of Toil and Strife) views on kinship‘s influence on a community
itself fortify the Settlement‘s informal (community) structure.
Thirdly, the Nottingham Settlement‘s pioneering generation shared both a cultural
heritage (Scots-Irish) and religion (Presbyterian Church). The wealth of literature
surrounding both subjects explores the external forces which potentially affected
Settlement members‘ decisions and bound the families into a community.
Due to a lack of extant records for those Scots-Irish who migrated to America in
the eighteenth century, historians must depend on other sources to support claims of
ethnic origin. In the case of the Nottingham Settlement and its pioneering generation,
local and family histories verify members‘ ties to Ulster, Ireland. Both Cullen‘s (―The
Irish Diaspora of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century‖) and Wokeck‘s (―Irish and
German Migration to Eighteenth-Century North America‖) discussions on the Scots-Irish
migration in the 1700s furnish insight into the Settlement‘s pioneering generation‘s (or
preceding generations) reasons for emigrating and the process by which they may have
traveled to America. Authors Jones (―The Scotch-Irish in British America‖), Griffin (The
People with No Name), and Landsman (―Religion, Expansion, and Migration‖) provide a
better understanding of a ―Scots-Irish‖ heritage in the eighteenth century linked to
Presbyterianism and mobility based on economic need and financial opportunity—which
help define the Settlement‘s identity.
While these scholars discuss the effects of Presbyterianism upon the eighteenthcentury Scots-Irish immigrant, their discussions of the Presbyterian Church‘s influence
38
do not cover the experiences of those living in the southern backcountry. A look at other
religious groups in the colonies not only offers a broader view of religion in the southern
backcountry but also endorses the experiences of the Settlement‘s pioneering generation
(as presented in the church-related histories of the Presbyterian Church established by the
Settlement). In The Frontier in the Colonial South, Johnson highlights a South Carolina
Baptist community similar to the Nottingham Settlement—both communities observed a
Calvinistic theology and accepted slavery as an economic institution. Although Thorp
(The Moravian Community in Colonial North Carolina), Rohrer (Hope’s Promise) and
Sensbach (A Separate Canaan) each explore the Moravian Church in North Carolina,
their discussions shed light on the religious climate of the Carolina backcountry during
the pre-Revolution years of the Nottingham Settlement‘s existence.
The extant records for defining the community of the Nottingham Settlement are
limited in nature. Land conveyance, court and probate records, while sometimes
incomplete, document the group‘s existence and the lives of the individuals involved.
Although local and family histories assist in completing some biographical information
for the pioneering generation, the Settlement‘s historians must look to modern
scholarship to bridge the remaining gaps. Studies of southern backcountry communities
(similar to the Nottingham Settlement) not only validate the Settlement as a community
but also enhance and support the actions of the Settlement‘s pioneering generation.
39
Chapter Two
The World of the Nottingham Settlement:
Ireland and America during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
To understand how the Nottingham Settlement became a community requires
understanding the world in which its pioneering generation lived. Members‘ decisions
anchored their foundation in experiences of previous generations and contemporary
events encountered by the members themselves. This chapter provides an overview of the
world of the Settlement‘s pioneering members by exploring the European and American
experience before the mid-1750s when they migrated to central North Carolina.
The Nottingham Settlement shared a common heritage of immigration and
religion as experienced by the eighteenth-century Scots-Irish immigrant, although little is
known about the beginnings of the Nottingham Settlement. Today, its conception and
formation are shrouded in unsubstantiated tradition and conjecture. While local and
family historians continue to disseminate a similar story of the Settlement‘s origins in the
Nottingham Presbyterian Church in Cecil County, Maryland, no charter or compact has
been located.1 Eli W. Caruthers‘s 1842 biography of the Settlement‘s first official church
1
Herald F. Stout, The Clan Finley (Dover, Oh.: Eagle Press, 1956), 25–26; Samuel M. Rankin, A
History of Buffalo Presbyterian Church (Greensboro, N.C.: Jos. J. Stone & Co, [1934]), 14–15; and George
Johnston, History of Cecil County, Maryland, 1881; repr. Baltimore: Regional Publishing Co., 1967, 145–
46. Stout claims that George Finley (1723–1802), brother of Samuel Finley (1715–1766) who ministered at
the Nottingham Presbyterian Church, Cecil Co., Md., from 1744–1761, went ―at the behest of the
Nottingham Company of Cecil [C]o., Md., . . . on an exploration survey to purchase 21,121 acres at the
headwaters of the Cape Fear River, N.C.‖ Whether from oral family tradition or written documentation, one
cannot discern the validity of this statement as Finley does not cite a source to support it. Rankin, in his
quintessential history of the Settlement‘s church, perpetuates the Nottingham Colony‘s story, stating that
members were part of ―a company organized and formed in the bounds of the old Nottingham Presbyterian
Church at Rising Sun [Cecil County], Md.‖ which ―sent out agents and had surveyed and secured rights . . .
to thirty-three plots‖ near the North Buffalo and Reedy Fork Creeks. Rankin does not cite any sources to
support his statements. Prior to 1715, the proprietors of Pennsylvania took advantage of the internal
religious and political struggles of the English Revolution faced by Maryland‘s colonial government and its
40
minister, David Caldwell, represents the oldest account of the Settlement.2 Caruthers, a
minister to the Buffalo Presbyterian Church and a personal acquaintance of Caldwell,
provides a brief description of those who formed the ―Nottingham Company.‖ Caruthers
confirms not only the Settlement‘s status as Scots-Irish, but also identifies its colonial
American origin in southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Maryland; the reasons for its
members leaving Pennsylvania/Maryland; and their religious adherence to Old-Side
Presbyterianism.3
The Scots-Irish before Immigration to Colonial America
Before moving to the Susquehanna Valley region of southern Pennsylvania and
northern Maryland, most members of the Nottingham Settlement, their families or their
near ancestors (parents, grandparents or great-grandparents) lived in either Ireland or
Scotland.4 The designation of Scots-Irish (for those of Scottish heritage living in Ireland)
did not exist until the era of Britain‘s Jacobean kings in the early 1600s, when James VI/I
(1603–1625), the Stuart king-made-heir to Elizabeth I‘s throne, instituted the voluntary
relocating or ―planting‖ of his countrymen (both Scots and English) in the northern third
of Ireland to control the native Irish in the province of Ulster and subdue rebellion against
British rule. This formal colonization program became known as the Irish Plantation of
Catholic landlord Lord Baltimore and granted land to Protestants looking for acreage in the region just
south of the original Pennsylvania-Maryland line (known as the ―Nottingham Lots‖), essentially annexing a
small section of Maryland into Lancaster County. The establishment of the Mason-Dixon Line officially
placed this section of land under Maryland‘s jurisdiction in 1768.
2
E. W. Caruthers, A Sketch of the Life and Character of the Rev. David Caldwell, D.D.
(Greensborough, N.C.: Swaim & Sherwood, 1842), 24. Caruthers maintains that much of Caldwell‘s
personal information came from ―the recollections of his [Caldwell‘s] family, and of the most aged people
in his congregation.‖(9)
3
Ibid., 24–25.
4
See appendix A.
41
A – Antrim
B – Armagh
C – Cavan
D – Donegal
E – Down
F – Fermanagh
G – Derry
H – Monaghan
I – Tyrone
Figure 2. The Counties of Ulster, Ireland. (Drawing by Wendy L. Adams with
assistance by Rachel M. Popma.)
Ulster. To distinguish these settlers from the native Irish, historians sometimes referred to
those born or living in northern Ireland at this time as ―Ulster Scots‖ or more currently
―Ulster Presbyterians.‖ By encouraging the migration of the industrious, but poor,
Protestant Lowland Scots—more specifically, those from the Border-Southwest region of
Scotland—to Northern Ireland, James VI/I hoped to not only stifle the Irish rebels, but
also use the Scots to develop the land and generate income for England.5 Many of these
5
Marilyn J. Westerkamp, Triumph of the Laity: Scots-Irish Piety and the Great Awakening, 1625–
1760 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 19. Modern scholars and historians gravitate toward
42
migrating Protestant Scots embraced a national church that favored presbyterianism over
the king‘s preference for a church governed by episcopacy and the monarchy‘s divineright to rule.6 Although fundamentally at odds with the king, the religious fervor of these
immigrants bolstered the venture‘s purpose by creating stronger anti-Catholic ground
support for the now (Anglican) Protestant monarchy.
In the decades following James VI/I‘s death, the Plantation of Ulster endured
mercurial and sometimes violent changes in Britain‘s government, such as the English
revolt against and subsequent execution of pro-Catholic Charles I (1625–1649); the rule
of a Puritan Parliament during the Interregnum (1649–1660); the monarchy‘s eventual
return to limited power with the restoration of an Anglican Charles II (1660–1685);
James II‘s (1685–1688) attempt to reestablish Catholicism as Britain‘s official religion;
and the Glorious Revolution which finally established a limited Anglican monarchy.
Throughout this period, the English-backed Irish government worked to limit the
using the term ―Scots-Irish‖ instead of Scotch-Irish. Therefore, I will refer to people who claim a heritage
from northern Ireland as ―Scots-Irish.‖ The Lowlands of Scotland refers to the region south of a line
between Glasgow and Edinburgh. Protestants who held no allegiance to the clan system prominent in the
Catholic Highlands in the north generally inhabited this region. The ―Border-Southwest‖ refers to those
counties situated in the southwestern region of Scotland.
6
Gordon Menzies, ed., In Search of Scotland (Lanham, Md.: Roberts Rinehart, 2001), 138;
Lefferts A. Loetscher, A Brief History of the Presbyterians, Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1958, 27; and
D. K. Sanford, Thomas Thomson and Allan Cunningham, The Popular Encyclopedia, Glasgow: Blackie &
Son, 1841, I:303–4. Knox‘s brand of Presbyterianism came to Scotland not as a Reformation movement
unique to the Scots, but as a Protestant movement formed in mainland Europe. Its basic foundations relied
heavily on John Calvin‘s style of local church leadership, which consisted of ―four types of church officers:
pastors, teacher, elders, and deacons.‖ (Loetscher, Brief History, 23). Out of this premise grew the
―presbyterian‖ form of church government developed by the Huguenots in France. Presbyterian Churches
as a collective were governed by the various assemblies of their members. These assemblies existed on
levels matching their purpose. The first level was the local church congregation (also known as a session),
which was governed by a minister and (ruling) elders. Then, the individual sessions located within a
geographical area formed the presbytery, which consisted of representatives from each session (a minister
and one elder). It was the presbytery‘s job to censure the ministers within its realm. On the third level was
the synod, which consisted of the presbyteries within a prescribed region. The synod met no more than
twice a year as a ―court of review‖ over the presbyteries. (The synod, like the presbyteries, consisted of
each session‘s minister and a representative elder.) Lastly, the general assembly, consisting of ―delegates
from presbytery, university and royal burgh in Scotland,‖ met annually and acted as the supreme
ecclesiastical body of the Scottish Church or ―Kirk.‖
43
religious and civil activities of those in Ireland who chose not to affiliate with the
established Church of Ireland. In short, an allegiance to Presbyterianism hindered the
desires of transplanted Scots to establish a peaceful community and develop an
economically profitable existence in Ireland.
In 1689 the succession of Mary II (1689–1694), James II‘s Protestant daughter,
and her Protestant husband and co-regent, William III of Orange (1689–1702), brought
the Scots hope for greater religious tolerance and a more stable future in Ulster.
William‘s journey to Ireland in 1690 to fight his father-in-law at the Battle of the Boyne
established expectations of relaxed religious restrictions that permitted improved
economic opportunities and holding of civil positions by those not affiliated with the
Church of Ireland.7 William, who leaned toward presbyterian religious practices, granted
the Ulster Presbyterians a ―tolerated, dissenter status‖ along with some financial support
from the government. Political stability brought the promise of personal economic growth
as manifested in the burgeoning linen trade.8 With the reign of Queen Anne and her
successor George I in the early 1700s, the Ulster Presbyterians‘ short-lived peaceful coexistence with the established church faded. Although the Act of Toleration granted
dissenters the right to worship outside of the Church of Ireland, remnants of the previous
Test Act still demanded submission to the established Church for legitimate marriages
and as the basis for holding public office.9 Again, the strongly Presbyterian Scots found
7
Westerkamp, Triumph of the Laity, 68–69.
Ibid., 69.
9
Ibid., 138–140.
8
44
that in Ulster opportunities to practice religion and to prosper economically were
restricted.10
For the Ulster Presbyterians, this venture of establishing themselves in the north
of Ireland came with high risks. Before migrating to Ulster, Covenanters (those who
supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland as it existed prior to James VI/I‘s
ascendancy to the English throne) lost landholdings and the ability to support themselves.
Economic conditions deteriorated as crops failed and overpopulation taxed the farmable
land.11 Migrating to Ulster afforded Presbyterian Scots prospects of survival along with
possible financial prosperity, religious autonomy and less restrictive English governance.
Their personal investments in farming and urban endeavors not only aided in their
survival in Ireland, but facilitated the creation of the qualities typically attributed to this
ethnic group. Rather than accept defeat and return to the life left behind in the BordersSouthwest of Scotland, they persevered in Ireland. The need for personal and financial
security led to a willingness to fight for survival, as demonstrated in their determination
to survive the Irish Massacre in 1641 (when pro-Catholic, native Irish attacked
Presbyterian settlements) as well as their military support of William of Orange during
the Battle of the Boyne.12 During the last half of the seventeenth century, the Scots in
Ulster attempted to increase their personal prosperity and social status and flourished in
an atmosphere of relative religious freedom—all achievements to be repeated after some
of them migrated in the eighteenth century.
10
Wayland F. Dunaway, The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania (Chapel Hill: University of
North Carolina Press, 1944), 30–32.
11
T. C. Smout, N. C. Landsman and T. M. Devine, ―Scottish Emigration in the Seventeenth and
Eighteenth Centuries,‖ in Europeans on the Move: Studies on European Migration, 1500-1800, edited by
Nicholas Canny (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), 86.
12
Ibid., 80. Scots maintained a reputation for their ―willingness to combine the sword with the
ploughshare.‖ Communities on both sides of the Atlantic sought and welcomed these ―fighting farmer[s]‖
for military and security purposes.
45
The Nottingham Settlement families were primarily Scots from Ulster to which
any of their surnames attest. The surnames of Settlement families—both those considered
the pioneering generation and those who arrived within the decades immediately
following—confirm the modern tradition that many of the pioneering families originated
from Ulster or retained a Scottish heritage. Of the families who purchased the initial
thirty land grants, family historians believe four of the men (Thomas and Robert Donnell,
and Adam and Robert Mitchell) emigrated from an unknown county in Ulster, although
James, Robert and Thomas McCuiston supposedly arrived from County Derry (a county
in Ulster).13 A specific location in Ulster for the progenitors of American-born John
Cunningham and Samuel Scott cannot be ascertained, while Robert Thompson‘s father,
John Thomson/Thompson (a Presbyterian minister in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia
and North Carolina) lived in County Armagh before migrating to America in the early
eighteenth century.14 Some, such as James Barr and John Blair, came directly from
Scotland; and John McKnight‘s great-grandfather arrived from Scotland sometime in the
mid-seventeenth century.
Because emigration documentation for Settlement families is limited and
migration stories are steeped in family lore, proving a prior connection among these
families or their ancestors in either Ulster or Scotland is unlikely. However, I have
established a geographical region where others with similar surnames lived (from 1650 to
13
Refer to the biographies located in appendix A for immigration information for those listed here.
Birthplace information for John McClintock, Robert McCuiston, and Robert Rankin is unknown at this
time.
14
John G. Herndon, ―The Reverend John Thomson,‖ Journal of the Presbyterian Historical
Society 21 (March 1943): 56; and John G. Herndon, ―The Reverend John Thomson,‖ Journal of the
Presbyterian Historical Society 20 (March, June, September 1942):117. Although family historians
recognize Robert Thompson as the son named ―Roger,‖ Robert‘s relationship to John Thomson/Thompson,
the Presbyterian minister, has not been confirmed definitively at this time. The lack of extant probate
records for either man limits the ability to verify this supposed relationship.
46
1750), and I speculate acquaintance based on general proximity. From information
compiled from published transcripts and abstracts of probate records located in Ireland
(table 2.1), I have found that a majority of the Settlement families probably came from
the northern counties of Antrim, Derry, and Donegal in Ulster.
TABLE 2.1 Surnames Found in the Province of Ulster, Ireland, 1600 to 1750
SURNAMES
SETTLEMENT TRACT
NUMBERS
FOUND IN ULSTER
BARR
[not specified in grant]
not found
BLAIR
No. 25
Counties Derry and Donegal
CALDWELL
No. 25
County Derry
CUNNINGHAM
DENNY
[not specified in grants]
not applicable
Counties Derry& Monaghan
not found
DONNELL
No. 30
County Derry
FINLEY
not applicable
Counties Derry & Tyrone
LACKEY/LEAKEY
No. 1
County Derry
McCLINTOCK
No. 13 & 17
County Derry
McCUISTON/McQUISTON
No. 12, 23, 25 & 28
not found
McKNIGHT/McNITT
No. 6
not found
MITCHELL
No. 7 & 26
Counties Antrim & Derry
NICKS
[not specified in grant]
not found
RANKIN
No. 8 & 9
County Derry
SCOTT
No. 14 & 15
County Derry
THOMPSON
No. 18 & 29
County Derry
Source: Thomas M. Blagg, ed., Indexes to Irish Wills, Vol. 5 (London: Phillimore & Co., 1920); P.
Beryl Eustace, ed., Registry of Deeds Dublin: Abstract of Wills, Vol. I, 1708–1745 (Dublin:
Stationary Office, 1956); and Secretary of State Record Group, Granville Proprietary Land Office:
Land Entries, Warrants, and Plats of Survey, North Carolina Department of Archives and History,
Raleigh (NCDAH) (referred to as ―Granville Grants‖).
Note: The list contains surnames of those recognized as owners of the original thirty Nottingham
Settlement tracts in North Carolina. Additional surnames belong to others of the Settlement‘s
pioneering generation. Because the sample list includes both original landowners and others of the
pioneering generation, table 2.1 reflects the fact that more than one of the Settlement‘s pioneering
generation owned a particular tract (tract No. 25, for example). The names and locations are taken
from published transcriptions and abstracts of late seventeenth- to mid eighteenth-century probate
records located in Ireland.
47
The Scots-Irish Immigrant Experience in Colonial Pennsylvania
Approximately one hundred years following the initial establishment of the Ulster
Plantation, the continuing deterioration of economic conditions in the form of a ―poor
harvest, slumping linen sales, and rising rents and tithes‖ and the unstable religious
conditions in Ulster pushed these transplanted Scots and their children to look for new
opportunities and a better life in the New World in the early eighteenth century.15 The
first major wave of Scots-Irish immigrants (or ―Scotch-Irish,‖ as the Ulster Presbyterians
later became known in America) began in the late 1710s and peaked in 1729.16 While
those emigrating from Ireland to colonial America landed at ports all along the eastern
seaboard, an estimated 10,418 Northern Irish landed in the Delaware Valley (at New
Castle, Delaware, and Philadelphia, for example) between 1730 and 1760.17 Many
subsequently migrated further west into Pennsylvania (and Maryland) or south into the
backcountry. One in five Ulster Presbyterian men and women paid their passages by
indenturing themselves to the ship‘s captain or agents who then sold their indentures to
previously arrived colonists as short-term servants.18 The remaining four out of five
Ulster immigrants heading to America appear to have had sufficient wherewithal to
venture forth without the need to indenture themselves.
15
Patrick Griffin, The People with No Name: Ireland’s Ulster Scots, America’s Scots Irish, and
the Creation of a British Atlantic World, 1689–1764 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), 66.
16
Ibid., 65–97; R. J. Dickson, Ulster Emigration to Colonial America, 1718–1775 (Belfast: Ulster
Historical Foundation, 1966), 19–47; and Marianne S. Wokeck, Trade in Strangers: The Beginning of Mass
Migration to North America (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), 171.
17
Wokeck, Trade in Strangers, 169, 172–75. Estimated amount calculated from numbers provided
in the second column of Wokeck‘s table 4 (172–73). Located south of Philadelphia on the Delaware River,
the port at New Castle was a popular destination for Irish immigrants. In a footnote, Wokeck suggests that
one of the reasons Irish immigrants favored disembarking in New Castle was in order to ―circumvent the
20s duty imposed on servants landed in Philadelphia.‖ (174).
18
Griffin, People with No Name, 93.
48
Figure 3. Southeastern Pennsylvania in early 1700s. (Drawing by Wendy L. Adams
with assistance by Rachel M. Popma. Based on map produced by George M. Reese
attached to the back inside cover of the 1967 reprint of George Johnston‘s History of
Cecil County, Maryland, 1881.)
49
Early eighteenth-century Scots-Irish immigrants first settled within Chester
County.19 The increasing number of immigrants to Pennsylvania‘s southeastern counties
and the growing scarcity of land in the region encouraged Scots-Irish settlers (as well as
German-speakers) to move west and south within the colony along the disputed boundary
between Pennsylvania and Maryland.20 Settlers spread further west into what became
Lancaster and Dauphin Counties and then continued across the Susquehanna River into
present-day York, Adams, Cumberland and Franklin Counties. The flood of newcomers
settling along Pennsylvania‘s frontier caused conflicts with the Native Americans who
had agreed previously to peaceful land negotiations. By the time of the French and Indian
War (1754–1763), Scots-Irish settlers had tired of the Quaker government‘s failure to
protect its inhabitants. The French and Indian War itself exacerbated these feelings as
Pennsylvania‘s Scots-Irish frontiersmen and their families soon found themselves
defending not only their own farms, but also the colony itself.21
Just before the hostilities of the French and Indian War, the families associated
with the Nottingham Settlement also participated in the acquisition of land. Although a
number of the Settlement‘s pioneering generation did not own land in Lancaster County
prior to 1750, four of the men show up in land conveyance records in both Pennsylvania
19
Dunaway, Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania, 50–59.
Ibid., 58–59; and James T. Lemon, The Best Poor Man’s Country: A Geographical Study of
Early Southeastern Pennsylvania (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972), 64–69. Dunaway
claims that the reason so few Scots-Irish settlements remained in Pennsylvania‘s York and Adams Counties
(west of the Susquehanna River) is due to the actions taken by the provincial authorities over the ill will
between the colony‘s German-speaking and Scots-Irish settlers. He states that in 1743, ―the Penns
instructed their agents . . . to sell no lands to the Scotch-Irish throughout this region [York and Adams
Counties], but to make them generous offers of removal to the Cumberland Valley, farther to the
westward.‖ (58). Lemon, on the other hand, maintains that scarcity and cost of land in southeastern
Pennsylvania provoked settlers to migrate to the backcountry.
21
Dunaway, Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania, 119, 145–48. The predominantly Presbyterian
immigrants from Ulster originally headed to the Quaker colony because of its reputation for religious
tolerance. In return, Pennsylvania‘s colonial government, seeing a need for settlers willing to defend its
coastal counties against possible attack by Native Americans, welcomed this ―self-assertive and combative‖
people. (119)
20
50
and Maryland. Samuel Scott inherited acreage in Drumore Township (later known as
Little Britain Township) from his parents, William (died 1743) and Martha Scott (died
1746).22 In 1752, James and Robert McCuiston both held land warrants for acreage in
Pennsboro Township, Cumberland County, west of Lancaster County.23 John McKnight
inherited from his father land in Cecil County, Maryland, part of which he sold in 1745.24
Landowners in the vicinity bearing similar surnames point to possible connections to
those without recorded title to land (table 2.2).
As in Ulster, the Presbyterian Church played a significant role in the Scots-Irish
life in America, and Presbyterian congregations became numerous in Pennsylvania,
Maryland and Delaware. ―Ulster Presbyterianism was conservative, a pristine Calvinism
characterized by an emphasis on individual discipline … maintained by group
surveillance.‖25 In colonial America, the Presbyterian Church‘s session (elected clergy)
governed not only spiritual life but also community life. In the absence of a government
in the wilderness west of Chester County, the local presbytery assumed the role of judge
in civil matters such as libel, property rights and sexual immorality.26
The Nottingham Settlement attracted immigrants from Ulster at a time of
religious unrest. The 1730s in America saw growing discontent within Protestant
denominations. The Great Awakening, a religious revival focused on emotional
experience and expression of one‘s faith, swept throughout the colonies. A decade later,
this movement divided the American Presbyterian Church into two camps—those who
22
23
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Will Book, A:112.
Pennsylvania State Archives, RG-17, Records of the Land Office, Warrant Registers, 1733–
1957.
24
Cecil County, Maryland, Record of Deed, 6:480–481.
Joseph E. Illick, Colonial Pennsylvania: a History (New York: Charles Scribner‘s Sons, 1976),
25
121.
26
James G. Leyburn, The Scotch-Irish: A Social History (Chapel Hill: University of North
Carolina Press, 1962), 293.
51
TABLE 2.2 Surnames Found in Southeastern Pennsylvania and Northern Maryland,
1700 to 1760.
SURNAMES
BARR
BLAIR
CALDWELL
CUNNINGHAM
DENNY
DONNELL
FINLEY
LACKEY/LEAKEY
McCLINTOCK
McCUISTON/McQUISTON
McKNIGHT/McNITT
MITCHELL
NICKS
RANKIN
SCOTT
THOMPSON
FOUND IN SOUTHEASTERN
PENNSYLVANIA
FOUND IN
CECIL COUNTY, MARYLAND
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
not found
Yes
Yes
Yes
not found
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
not found
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
not found
Yes
Yes
not found
Yes
Yes
Yes
Source: Pennsylvania State Archives, RG-17, Records of the Land Office, Warrant Registers, 1733–
1957; Maryland State Archives, Cecil County Court Land Records, volumes 3 (1716–1723)–volume 9
(1758–1762), MD LandRec.net.
Note: The list contains the surnames of those recognized as owners of the original thirty Nottingham
Settlement tracts in North Carolina. Additional surnames belong to others of the pioneering generation.
The list is based on names recorded as either warrantees or patentees on land conveyance records for
Chester, Cumberland, and Lancaster Counties in Pennsylvania and land conveyance records in Cecil
County, Maryland, during the eighteenth century.
held to more conservative and traditional viewpoints, with their emphasis on holy living
(referred to as the ―Old Side‖) and those who embraced a conversion experience and the
―new evangelical attitudes and methods‖ which included an emotional expression of
religious beliefs and practices (known as the ―New Side‖).27 Where the Old Side relied
upon the Presbyterian Church in Ireland and Scotland for leadership in its practices, the
New Side relinquished its dependence on Europe. For a brief time, presbyteries within
the Mid-Atlantic colonies chose sides—Philadelphia with the ―Old Side;‖ New York and
New Castle with the ―New Side.‖ Bitter dissension within and between presbyteries
27
Westerkamp, Triumph of the Laity, 166. Apparently, this ―New Side/Old Side‖ argument was an
extension of a similar one experienced in the 1720s and 1730s in Ulster. See Griffin‘s chapter ―‗Satan‘s
Sieve‘: Crisis and Community in Ulster‖ in The People with No Name for further explanation.
52
created in some Presbyterians a yearning to leave their current residences and build new
congregations.28
The Presbyterian congregations located in the region associated with the
pioneering generation of the Nottingham Settlement were not exempt from this division.
Within Lancaster County, the Presbytery of Donegal (established 1732) encompassed a
number of congregations: Donegal, Paxton, Pequea, Middle Octoraro, Chestnut Level,
Little Britain, and Leacock.29 Although originally under the auspices of the Presbytery of
New Castle (Delaware), the congregation at Nottingham (then considered a part of
Lancaster County and now situated in Colora, Cecil County, Maryland) shared many of
the same ministers as those associated with the Donegal Presbytery due to this
congregation‘s proximity to the Donegal Presbytery congregations and the shortage of
trained ministers in the colonies. A large number of these ministers embraced the views
of the New Side, while some of the congregations resisted this change in practice and
remained with the Old Side. In the case of the Nottingham (Maryland) congregation, the
difference of opinion led to the congregation splitting into two separate churches in
1741—East Nottingham with the Old Side and West Nottingham with the New Side.30
Life in Colonial Rowan County, North Carolina
By the middle of the eighteenth century, both first- and second-generation
immigrants found themselves considering ―greener pastures‖ in the southern
28
Leyburn, Scotch-Irish, 277–81; and Robert Hamlin Stone, A History of Orange Presbytery,
1770–1970 (Greensboro, N.C.: Robert Hamlin Stone, 1970), 4.
29
Griffin, People with No Name, 116. For further information on the history of these
congregations, refer to H. M. J. Klein, ed., Lancaster County, Pennsylvania: A History (New York: Lewis
Historical Publishing Co., 1924), II: 775–796; and Ross I. Morrison, Sr., Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (Morgantown, Pa.: Masthof Press, 2004).
30
Samuel A. Gayley, A Historical Sketch of the Lower West Nottingham Presbyterian Church
(Philadelphia: Alfred Martien, 1865), 24.
53
backcountry. The desire to own land, the lack of available real estate in Pennsylvania and
soaring land prices prompted them to look to the untamed and seemingly vast acreage of
colonial North Carolina to the south.31
Figure 4. The Great Wagon Road. (Drawing by Wendy L. Adams with assistance by
Rachel M. Popma. Based on map found in Parke Rouse, The Great Wagon Road: from
Philadelphia to the South (1973; repr., Richmond, Va.: Dietz Press, 2004), map insert.)
31
Lemon, Best Poor Man’s Country, 65–69.
54
Beginning in 1744, settlers from Pennsylvania traveled into the southern
backcountry on what was essentially a well-worn Indian trail known to European
Americans as the Great Wagon Road. Stretching along the eastern flank of the
Appalachian Mountains (e.g., the Allegheny and Blue Ridge Mountains) from
Philadelphia to Georgia, the road arrived in the central (Piedmont) area of colonial North
Carolina.32 (figure 4) By the early 1750s, the Scots-Irish had joined German-speaking
Moravians, English Quakers and others in the move south from Pennsylvania.33
The North Carolina Piedmont must have looked like Eden to these newcomers.
This region ―differ[ed] in its shape . . . its climate and its plant and animal life.‖34 Unlike
the Carolina coast, the Piedmont was tillable and fertile—especially the land around the
streams which formed the headwaters of the colony‘s major rivers.35 For example, the
land through which the North and South Buffalo Creeks and the Reedy Fork Creek
flowed, where many of the Nottingham Settlement owned acreage, sloped. The soil was
well drained with ―a sandy clay loam, clay, and clay loam subsoil.‖36 Not surprisingly,
the land nearest the creek beds themselves was nearly level and a flood plain.37 Modern
geologists consider this sloping land to have ―moderate potential for crops, low potential
for most urban uses, and moderate potential for woodland,‖ while the flood plains have a
32
Rouse, The Great Wagon Road, vii, 4–5.
Harry Roy Merrens, Colonial North Carolina in the Eighteenth Century: A Study in Historical
Geography (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1964), 67.
34
Rouse, Great Wagon Road, 5.
35
W. Neil Franklin, ―Agriculture in Colonial North Carolina,‖ North Carolina Historical Review 3
(1926): 552.
36
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, Soil Survey of Guilford County,
North Carolina (N.p., 1977), 5.
37
Ibid.
33
55
―low to high potential for crops, low potential for most urban uses, and very high
potential for woodland.‖38
Wooded areas contained ―hardwoods, spruce and white pine.‖39 Abundant
wildlife, such as the now extinct woods buffalo (a smaller version of those found on the
Plains), roamed throughout.40 Much of the land was still sparsely inhabited by Europeans
and Native Americans were being pushed out. In 1752 Bishop August Gottlieb
Spangenberg, a Moravian whose congregation settled several miles west of the
Nottingham Settlement, remarked on the vanishing population of Native Americans in
central and eastern North Carolina.41 The near absence of Native Americans in this area
of North Carolina allowed European settlers access to land and natural resources without
fear of competition or reprisal.
During the mid-1700s, much of the land in central North Carolina, which included
both Tidewater and Piedmont regions, belonged to John, Lord Carteret. The original
Carolina grant from Charles II encompassed all of the land south of Virginia and north of
Florida, from the Atlantic shore to the Pacific Ocean. Because of its size, Charles II (in
1663 and 1665) had divided Carolina into eight shares and entrusted them to eight Lords
Proprietor. Some sixty years later, all but Carteret had relinquished their claims to their
38
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, Soil Survey of Guilford County,
North Carolina (N.p., 1977), 5, 7.
39
Rouse, Great Wagon Road, 5.
40
Ibid., 6.
41
Ibid., 5–6; Marjoleine Kars, Breaking Loose Together: the Regulator Rebellion in PreRevolutionary North Carolina (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002), 11; and ―The
Spanenburg Diary,‖ September 15, 1752, in Adelaide L. Fries, ed., Records of the Moravians in North
Carolina (1922, repr. Raleigh: State Department of Archives and History, 1968), I:36.
56
property. Lord Carteret received full ownership of his claim in 1744, by which time he
had inherited the title of Earl Granville.42
Settlers purchased land from Granville by finding a plot of unclaimed land and
then filing an application that described its location and acreage. Granville‘s agents
verified the land‘s availability, filed the application and issued a survey warrant. 43 After
the survey‘s completion, either Granville‘s agents or the governor‘s secretary prepared a
plat and written description of the property (called a patent) and issued the patent to the
purchaser once all fees were paid. As owner of the land, Granville received the quitrents
(or annual land tax of three shillings sterling per hundred acres purchased) collected from
the purchasers of land grants (in the case of the Nottingham Settlement, a grant equaled
640 acres or one mile square).44 Granville hired land agents in America to collect the
rents.45
Granville‘s proprietorship (approximately 26,000 acres by 1774) through
secondary and tertiary parties created complications which only exacerbated events on
42
Kars, Breaking Loose Together, 28–29; Thornton W. Mitchell, ―The Granville District and Its
Land Records,‖ North Carolina Historical Review, 70 (1993), 103–129; and Margaret M. Hofmann,
Colony of North Carolina 1735–1764: Abstracts of Land Patents, v.I (Weldon, N.C.: Roanoke News Co.,
1982), [iii–iv].
43
Lord Granville‘s Office Entry Books, 1750–51, Secretary of State, Land Office, Lord
Granville‘s Land Office, NCDAH. On March 5, 1750, six men asked Granville‘s agent to survey thirty
640-acre tracts ―on the Waters of the South fork of Saxapahaw River, & the Waters of Buffalo‖ in Rowan
(Guilford) County (then known as Anson County). These men were probably the agents sent ahead to
procure land for the Settlement (as mentioned in Rankin‘s A History of Buffalo Presbyterian Church). The
fact that several of the men requested more tracts surveyed than they claimed in or after 1753 supports this
supposition. Thomas Donnell requested twelve tracts but claimed only two; Robert Rankin requested six
tracts but claimed only one; Robert McCuiston requested three tracts but claimed none of these 640-acres
tracts; William McClintock requested five tracts but does not appear to have claimed any of them himself;
and Thomas McCuiston only claimed one of the two tracts he requested surveyed. The only exception was
John Cunningham, who requested two tracts which he then claimed.
44
Robert J. Cain, ed., Records of the Executive Council, 1735–1754 (Raleigh: North Carolina
Department of Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History, 1988), xxvii; Mitchell, ―Granville
District;‖ and W.N. Watt, The Granville District (N.p.: W. N. Watt, 1992), 51. Cain states ―the size of
individual land grants . . . usually was under 500 acres, and a substantial majority of all grantees received
only one grant.‖(xxvii). Conversely, Mitchell reports Granville directed that grants be ―no larger than 640
or 700 acres.‖ (111).
45
Kars, Breaking Loose Together, 29.
57
the eve of the Revolution. His agents failed to forward gathered quitrents to Granville in
England. Instead, the agents took advantage of their position, ―charging exorbitant fees
for entries and surveys.‖46 Although Granville mandated that his agents issue patents no
more than twelve months after survey, delays occurred frequently. In addition, one of
Granville‘s agents, Henry McCulloh, an absentee land speculator who held acreage
granted by the King, contested some of Granville‘s sales to settlers.47
Figure 5. Depiction of Colonial North Carolina (after 1760). (Drawing by Wendy L.
Adams with assistance by Rachel M. Popma. Based on Bew and Lodge‘s, ―A New and
Accurate Map of North Carolina, and Part of South Carolina with the Field of Battle
between Earl Cornwallis and General Gates‖ (1780), North Carolina Maps,
www.dc.lib.unc.edu (accessed January 5, 2009).)
46
47
Mitchell, ―Granville District,‖ 114.
Ibid., 113; and Kars, Breaking Loose Together, 34–37.
58
The population of the North Carolina Colony in 1755 has been estimated as
84,599, including both whites and blacks.48 Increasing numbers of settlers in North
Carolina‘s Piedmont led to the creation of new counties. In 1749, Anson County
encompassed most of the Piedmont region. In 1753, the colonial government divided
Anson County into several more counties, one of which was Rowan County. Although
towns such as Salisbury (established in 1755 as the county seat of Rowan County),
approximately fifty-two miles to the southwest, the Moravian community of Wachovia
approximately twenty-nine miles to the west, and Hillsborough (incorporated in 1759) in
Orange County approximately forty-two miles to the east provided the nearest
opportunities for trade, Nottingham Settlement members lived in a rural setting away
from any town.49 The Carolina backcountry‘s limited infrastructure offered Settlement
members access to these trading places. Roads and bridges, albeit primitive, became
more plentiful after 1764 when the legislature enabled local courts to establish and
maintain them through taxation or mandatory work parties.50
Settlers engaged primarily in farming, raising both livestock—cattle and hogs that
roamed throughout the countryside—and crops, such as peas, beans, ―Indian‖ corn (or
48
Cain, Records of the Executive Council, xii.
Robert W. Ramsey, Carolina Cradle: Settlement of the Northwest Carolina Frontier, 1747–
1762 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1964), 150, 154; and Kars, Breaking Loose
Together, 17; Alexander R. Stoesen, Guilford County: A Brief History (Raleigh: North Carolina Division of
Archives and History, 1993), 2–7; and MapQuest (http://www.mapquest.com). Alexander R. Stoesen, in
the opening chapter of Guilford County, states that Guilford ―was quiet, isolated, and with a population so
scattered that no town existed‖ before 1785, when county commissioners named the land around the first
courthouse ―Martinville‖ and established the first county seat. (2, 6) Greensboro replaced Martinville as the
county seat when the ―new‖ courthouse opened in 1809. (7) Mileage between Settlement (present-day
Greensboro) and Salisbury, Winston-Salem (Wachovia) and Hillsborough based on driving directions
acquired from MapQuest.
50
Cain, Records of the Executive Council, xxviii–xxx; Kars, Breaking Loose Together, 17; H.
Tyler Blethen and Curtis W. Woods, From Ulster to Carolina: the Migration of the Scotch-Irish to
Southwestern North Carolina (Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Division of
Archives and History, 1998), 42, 44–45; and Hugh T. Lefler and William S. Powell, Colonial North
Carolina: a History (New York: Charles Scribner‘s Sons, 1973), 167, 169.
49
59
maize) and wheat.51 While much of what they produced went toward sustaining the farm
family, the sale of cash crops, such as wheat, and cattle supplemented their subsistence.52
Although many may equate cash crops in the South with tobacco, much of the tobacco
produced in North Carolina for market grew ―mostly in Albemarle and the counties near
the Virginia line.‖53 Therefore, eighteenth-century Piedmont farmers raised small
amounts of tobacco primarily for their own use.
Typically, settlers in North Carolina‘s Piedmont maintained farming practices
similar to those employed throughout the American colonies. First, settlers cleared
enough land to build a house and a split rail fence to encompass the land to be planted.
To remove large trees, settlers ―girdled‖ each one by removing bark around its base,
causing the tree to die.54 Settlers then planted crops throughout the cleared area, working
the soil with hand-held implements such as hoes, sickles and spades, and employing work
animals to draw plows and wagons.55
Access to an apparent overabundance of virgin farm land discouraged
conservation. Due to the fertile nature of this previously uncultivated soil, settlers rarely
needed to fertilize their fields. The present-day practice of crop rotation—varying the
crop planted from year to year—was not routinely employed, but rather ―crops were . . .
51
Unlike today, Anglo colonists used the word ―corn‖ as a generic term for any grain harvested.
Modern American use of the term refers to what colonial Europeans called ―maize‖ or Indian corn.
52
Merrens, Colonial North Carolina, 108–118.
53
W. Neil Franklin, ―Agriculture in Colonial North Carolina,‖ North Carolina Historical Review 3
(1926): 553.
54
Ibid., 547; and Timothy Silver, A New Face on the Countryside: Indians, Colonists, and Slaves
in South Atlantic Forests, 1500–1800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 106. Franklin states
that in 1715 North Carolina‘s colonial government set forth standards for fence making in the colony.
55
Cornelius O. Cathey, ―Agricultural Implements in North Carolina, 1783–1860,‖ Agricultural
History 25, no. 3 (1951): 128.
60
annually planted until the ground cease[d] to produce a sufficient yield.‖56 Therefore,
settlers found themselves continually clearing and planting new acreage.
The crops grown by Piedmont settlers ranged from vegetables and grains
consumed by humans to fodder fed to the stock. Settlers grew peas, a variety of beans and
corn to supply their diets. In the spring they planted around poles the so-called ―bushel
bean,‖ which yielded fruit continually throughout the summer, and harvested beans until
the first frost.57 They also planted a variety of ―garden roots,‖ such as parsnips, carrots,
turnips, potatoes and onions, as well as vegetables regarded as ―salads‖ (cabbage and
lettuces).58
Potentially, two grain crops could be planted each year due to a mild climate and
long growing season. Farmers harvested the first crop, European wheat, by the beginning
of June, and then planted the same field with buck-wheat or Indian corn, which they
harvested sometime before November, depending on the crop. This second crop fed the
livestock, including the horses and poultry.59 Crop yields were usually abundant, and
settlers rarely experienced crop failures.60
Livestock provided the Piedmont settler with both revenue and sustenance.
Generally, cattle and hogs roamed freely on the land and fed on vegetation found in the
fallow fields and forests. Farmers released cattle and hogs from their pens in the morning
and brought them back before nightfall, giving them small amounts of corn and food
56
W. Neil Franklin, ―Agriculture in Colonial North Carolina,‖ North Carolina Historical Review 3
(1926): 547.
57
John Bricknell, The Natural History of North-Carolina. With an Account of the Trade, Manners,
and Customs, of the Christian and Indian Inhabitants. Strange Beasts, Birds, Fishes, Snakes, Insects, Trees,
and Plants, &c. Illustrated with Copper Plates (Dublin, 1743), 16.
58
Ibid., 18.
59
Ibid., 16.
60
Franklin, ―Agriculture in Colonial North Carolina,‖ 555. Franklin reports that the Indian corn
crop failed both in 1758 and 1766.
61
scraps if available.61 The North Carolina colonial government required that settlers mark
(using a series of ear notches) or brand their livestock and register the mark with the local
authorities.62 The Rowan County Minutes of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions
from 1753 to 1762 lists a number of such registrations, although the limited number
recorded suggests that not every settler complied with the government‘s request.
When settlers sold their livestock, they drove (on hoof) their cattle or hogs
north—much like later western cattle drives. While drovers took cattle as far as
Philadelphia markets, settlers also drove hogs into Virginia where the animals were
slaughtered, cured and packed into barrels for shipment to the West Indies.63
Farm labor in the Piedmont included not only the settler himself but also his
family. When needed, neighbors assisted in ―clearing land, building houses, and
harvesting crops.‖64 Occasionally, settlers engaged the labor of orphans, illegitimate
children (of Anglo-European heritage), convicts and paupers indentured into limited
servitude.65 Unlike the larger plantations found near North Carolina‘s Tidewater region,
slave labor constituted little of the work accomplished on Piedmont farms during the
mid-eighteenth century.66 Whether due to lack of wherewithal needed to acquire and
sustain such labor or the limited cash crops grown in the region (which in turn limited the
need for a large work force), enslaved persons of African descent made up a small
61
Franklin, ―Agriculture in Colonial North Carolina,‖ 564; and John Solomon Otto, The Southern
Frontiers, 1607–1860: The Agricultural Evolution of the Colonial and Antebellum South (New York:
Greenwood Press, 1989), 31.
62
Otto, Southern Frontiers, 31.
63
Merrens, Colonial North Carolina, 134–5.
64
Otto, Southern Frontiers, 56.
65
Cain, Records of the Executive Council, xli.
66
Otto, Southern Frontiers, 55.
62
percentage of the backcountry population.67 Although the use of enslaved labor in the
Piedmont increased as the colonial period waned, the African-American population did
not achieve the same proportion of the population as found in the Tidewater.68
The farmer purchased from others what items, food or services he could not
produce on site. Skilled tradesmen, such as blacksmiths, carpenters, coopers, gunsmiths,
millwrights, tanners and weavers, provided services and produced goods to meet the
farmers‘ basic needs.69 Many of these tradesmen accompanied others in their community
to the backcountry and also purchased farms. The burgeoning town of Salisbury and the
Moravian community at Wachovia also provided area farmers with trade goods. These
tradesmen and merchants sold both locally produced and imported items. In payment for
these skilled services, farmers bartered surplus crops and farm produce.70 Although
colonial merchants preferred payment in cash rather than barter, most extended credit to
farmers because of the scarcity of species.71
The family structure and domestic practices within colonial North Carolina
differed little from other colonies in America. Officially, governor-appointed justices of
the peace performed marriages and ―a man was required to give bond that there was no
lawful impediment to the marriage.‖72 Farm families included numerous children (on
67
Cain, Records of the Executive Council, xliii. Cain estimates that enslaved persons of African
descent ―constituted substantially less than 10 percent of the population‖ in the Piedmont (xliii).
68
Marvin L. Michael Kay and Lorin Lee Cary, Slavery in North Carolina, 1748–1775 (Chapel
Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995), 221–2. One hundred two Blacks were listed on the poll tax
1755 list in Rowan County compared with the 1,223 listed in Bertie County in the Albemarle Sound region.
The numbers increased by the 1767 tax at which time 719 Blacks lived in Rowan County, while 1,913
Blacks lived in Bertie County.
69
Johanna Miller Lewis, Artisans in the North Carolina Backcountry (Lexington, Ky.: University
Press of Kentucky, 1995), 2.
70
Lewis, Artisans, 50–51, 72–73.
71
Hugh Talmage Lefler and Albert Ray Newsome, North Carolina: The History of a Southern
State (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1963), 103.
72
Lefler and Powell, Colonial North Carolina, 188.
63
average five to seven) to work the land.73 Settlers built log or frame homes upon their
arrival. In the Piedmont, frame houses quickly became the norm along with brick
structures near the coast and stone buildings.74 By the mid- to late-1700s, settlers (mostly
Scots-Irish) constructed ―hall-and-parlor‖ houses consisting of ―a large living roomkitchen combination (hall) and a small, private bedroom (parlor).‖75
The social strata of colonial North Carolina comprised three levels: those who
owned large estates, such as the plantations found in the coastal counties; those who
owned and worked smaller tracts of land; and those non-landowners, such as farm
laborers, squatters, indentured servants and apprentices. Level of wealth as well as
education and participation in local government determined social standing in colonial
North Carolina.76
Although the Anglican Church was the official church for the colony from 1701
until independence, North Carolina law allowed for a modicum of religious toleration.
The influx of several dissenting denominations (i.e., the Quakers, Baptists, Moravians
and Presbyterians) led to relaxation of the laws governing who could hold public office,
perform marriages and be exempt from militia service.77 To support the established
Church‘s existence and activities in North Carolina, the colonial government authorized
the levying of a local vestry tax on landowners with fifty acres or more.78 Considered a
financial burden by those who preferred supporting their own religious bodies, in 1756
the dissenting settlers in Rowan and neighboring Orange Counties (including Nottingham
73
Lefler and Powell, Colonial North Carolina, 188.
Alan D. Watson, Society in Colonial North Carolina (Raleigh: North Carolina Department of
Cultural Resources, Division of Archives and History, 1996), 48–50.
75
Watson, Society in Colonial North Carolina, 51.
76
Lefler and Powell, Colonial North Carolina, 175–86. For example, the amount of land owned,
as well as personal possessions, clothes and the size and type of house, denoted station in society.
77
Cain, Records of the Executive Council, l-liv.
78
Kars, Breaking Loose Together, 107.
74
64
Settlement members) sent a signed protest to both the King of England and Lord
Granville requesting their exemption ―from being obligated to pay towards support of the
Clergy of the Established Church.‖79 (See appendix B.) To further their argument against
supporting the Church of England, the petitioners stated that this tax hindered other likeminded dissenters from settling in the region. They also reasoned that the limited number
of newcomers lowered the number of men available for the local militia and weakened
their defense from any future attacks from the West (i.e., the French and hostile Native
Americans).80
Colonial North Carolina law stipulated that education be made available through
the Anglican Church.81 The colony also allowed dissenters to provide their own
schools.82 Upon his arrival in Rowan (Guilford) County, the settlement‘s first minister,
David Caldwell, established a ―log school‖ at his home similar to the schools he attended
in Pennsylvania, both to supplement his meager and erratic income from the Buffalo
Presbyterian Church and to educate not only his congregation‘s children but also students
from within and outside of North Carolina.83
During the 1760s, the British Parliament imposed on the American colonies a
series of taxes to pay for the expenses of the French and Indian War. At the same time,
settlers in Rowan and neighboring Orange Counties complained of misuse and over79
English Records, Granville District, Papers from the Marquis of Bath‘s Library in Longleat,
Warminster, Wilshire, England, 1729–1780. (microfilm) NCDAH (referred to as ―English Records‖).
Included in the lengthy list of signatures were the following Nottingham Settlement members—James Barr,
John Cunningham, William Denny, Thomas Donnell, Adam Leakey, John McClintock, James McCuiston,
Robert McCuiston, Thomas McCuiston, John McKnight, Adam Mitchell, George Rankin, Robert Rankin,
and Robert Thompson.
80
Ibid.
81
Watson, Society in Colonial North Carolina, 70.
82
Lefler and Powell, Colonial North Carolina, 191–212.
83
Caruthers, Rev. David Caldwell, 29–40. Caldwell‘s biographer states that many of Caldwell‘s
former students came ―from all the States south of the Potomac‖ and became ―eminent . . . statesmen,
lawyers, judges, physicians, and ministers of the gospel.‖ (30).
65
taxation by the colonial government.84 These complaints included landownership
disputes, excessive purchase costs, ―absentee speculators,‖ bureaucratic corruption and
fraud, devalued paper money and scarcity of (foreign) currency, and the unfair
distribution of the tax burden (i.e., poll and vestry taxes). By the end of the decade, those
calling for the regulation of local governmental control (commonly referred to as
Regulators) took to the political arena, engaging in ―petitions and elections … [and]
forceful popular resistance.‖85 When peaceful measures failed, riots erupted throughout
the backcountry during the late 1760s.86
The Regulators‘ inability to work out their grievances with the government and
Governor William Tryon‘s exasperation with the previous decade‘s civil unrest
culminated in May 1771 at the Battle of Alamance in neighboring Orange County (just
east of the Nottingham Settlement).87 Upon hearing that a large number of armed,
backcountry settlers were headed toward the colonial capitol in New Bern, Tryon moved
military forces west toward Hillsborough to intervene. The two forces met along the
Alamance Creek. In an effort to elude armed confrontation, a delegation led by Reverend
Caldwell entered Tryon‘s camp to pursue a peaceful conclusion to the situation. Among
84
Orange County lies on the eastern border of what is now Guilford County. The extreme eastern
portion of Guilford County was once considered part of ―Orange County.‖
85
Lefler and Powell, Colonial North Carolina, 149.
86
Ibid., 149, 240–44; Kars, Breaking Loose Together, 27–38, 55–68, 133, 142; and Elizabeth A.
Fenn and Peter H. Wood, Natives & Newcomers: The Way We Lived in North Carolina before 1770
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1983), 77–91. For further information on the Regulator‘s
War, see the following: A. Roger Ekirch, “Poor Carolina”: Politics and Society in Colonial North
Carolina, 1729–1776 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1981); James P. Whittenburg,
―Planters, Merchants, and Lawyers: Social Change and the Origins of the North Carolina Regulation,‖
William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 34 (1977): 215–38; E. W. Caruthers, Revolutionary Incidents and
Sketches of Characters (Philadelphia: Hayes & Zell, 1854); and John S. Bassett, ―The Regulators of North
Carolina (1765–1771),‖ in Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1894
(Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1895), 141–211.
87
Kars, Breaking Loose Together, 108, 197–201, 207. The British government appointed William
Tryon royal governor of North Carolina in 1765. He stayed in North Carolina until his appointment as
governor of the New York Colony in June 1771.
66
this delegation of three was Robert Thompson, a Nottingham Settlement member.
Following Caldwell‘s return to the Regulators‘ camp to convey the governor‘s demands,
Tryon ordered the execution of Thompson, who had been detained as a hostage.88
Tryon‘s army won the ensuing skirmish and spent the summer in the Piedmont
destroying crops and farms of suspected Regulators as punishment for refusing to
acquiesce to the government.89 A minor outcome of Tryon‘s victory over the Regulators
was the division of Rowan County in 1771—out of which came Guilford County, the
county where the Settlement‘s pioneering generation lived.
Events of the seventeenth and early to mid-eighteenth centuries influenced and
shaped the Nottingham Settlement‘s pioneering generation before and after their
migration to the North Carolina backcountry. The social, religious and political climate of
colonial North Carolina during the Settlement‘s first two decades affected their lives,
impacting their decisions and actions. By the early 1770s, the Nottingham Settlement‘s
pioneering generation had lived in Rowan (Guilford) County for nearly twenty years.
Many of the purchasers of the initial thirty Granville grants had died before the mid1770s, and successive generations became more prominent in county records and local
histories.90 The creation of Guilford County coincided with this shift in public
participation as land conveyance and court records increasingly cited second and third
generation landowners in place of those who arrived in the 1750s.
88
Kars, Breaking Loose Together, 199–201.
Ibid., 203–4.
90
Of the twenty-one individuals included in the sample, nine died before the mid-1770s (of these
nine, five were initial purchasers of the original Granville grants reserved for the Nottingham Settlement).
See appendix A for specific names and death dates.
89
67
Chapter Three
Characteristics of the Nottingham Settlement’s Pioneering Generation
When the Nottingham Settlement‘s pioneering generation arrived in North
Carolina, they exhibited traits and participated in activities characteristic of communities
found throughout colonial America. But eighteenth-century communities were more than
individuals and families living near one another or in an urban setting.1 Generally,
colonial communities included people residing within a geographical area who shared
common characteristics. The Settlement‘s pioneering families demonstrated their
membership in such a community in four ways—landownership, material possessions
and wealth, social customs, and religion.
I base the following analysis on biographical information gathered for a sample of
the pioneering generation. The twenty men and one woman included in this sample
represent purchasers of the initial Granville land grants as well as others related to them.
(A full biography for each of these individuals appears in appendix A.2) Land
conveyance, court and probate records supplied much of the biographical information
collected. Local and family histories supplemented what the county records provided.
Property—Landownership
In the eighteenth century landownership meant an opportunity for economic
advancement, security and independence. The scarcity and high cost of farm land in
1
See the historiography (chapter one).
When ascertainable, each biography includes pertinent dates (birth, marriage and death), and
names (parents, spouse(s) and children) as well as one‘s involvement in the county and one‘s material
wealth at time of death.
2
68
Pennsylvania by the 1730s influenced individuals and families to migrate south to
Virginia and the Carolinas in search of inexpensive, fertile land. Those associated with
the Nottingham Settlement were no exception to this quest.
Historians of the Settlement claim that agents representing a group of families in
southern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, traveled to North Carolina and requested the
survey of thirty-three tracts of land in Rowan (Guilford) County.3 Upon scrutiny of
colonial North Carolina records this claim retains validity. On March 5, 1750, Lord
Granville‘s (John, Lord Carteret) Land Office Entry Book records six requests totaling
thirty ―640 acre tracts, on the Waters of the South fork of Saxapahaw River, & the Waters
of Buffalo.‖4 Five of the six men requesting tracts later claimed much of the land they
entered. This ―company‖ of men included Thomas Donnell with twelve entries; John
Cunningham with two entries; Robert Rankin with six entries; Robert McCuiston with
three entries; William McClintock with five entries; and Thomas McCuiston with two
entries.5 In 1752, Thomas Donnell asked that two additional 640-acre tracts be entered
under his name. Others of the pioneering generation also made similar entries. The
following year (1753), four additional men made entries. Robert Thompson entered 640
acres in ―Orange-Rowan [County] . . . Beginning at ye N. E. Corner of No. 28 . . .
Joyn[ing] No.18 . . .‖6 John Nicks and James Barr entered one 640-acre tract each.7
3
E. W. Caruthers, A Sketch of the Life and Character of the Rev. David Caldwell, D.D.
(Greensborough, N.C.: Swaim & Sherwood, 1842), 24; For further explanation, see chapter 2, footnote 1 of
this study.
4
Lord Granville‘s Office Entry Books, 1750–51, Secretary of State, Land Office, Lord Granville‘s
Land Office, North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh (NCDAH) (referred to as ―Lord
Granville‘s Office Entry Books, 1750–51‖).
5
Ibid.
6
Lord Granville‘s Office, Rowan County, Entries 1752–53, Secretary of State, Land Office, Lord
Granville‘s Land Office, Entry Books and Memoranda of Entries, 1750–63, NCDAH (referred to as ―Lord
Granville‘s Office, Rowan County, Entries 1752–53‖), Entry number 6. ―No. 18‖ and ―No. 28‖ appear to
refer to those entries of the thirty Nottingham Settlement tracts.
69
George Finley‘s entry for two 640-acre tracts appears in the Entry Book several pages
later.8
The land entries not only demonstrate the contemporaneous presence of
Settlement members, but also confirm the proximity of members‘ landholdings to each
other—many of which lay within a section of central present-day Guilford County
approximately sixteen miles wide and nine miles long.9 The initial six entries of thirty
tracts appear in succession in the order book. The first entry (Thomas Donnell‘s) provides
a general description of the vicinity, while the remaining five entries list only the name of
the person entering the land, the number of tracts entered, the amount of acreage and the
location as ―described as above.‖ Although the men who reserved the tracts or their
families (i.e., Cunningham, Rankin, and the two McCuistons) eventually purchased four
of the six entries, two of the men relinquished several of their tracts to other Settlement
families after purchasing the tracts they wanted. Donnell, who had entered twelve tracts
in 1750, purchased only six of these grants from Granville between December 1753 and
December 1762. McClintock‘s tracts appear to have been claimed in part by his kinsman,
John McClintock, as no ―William‖ McClintock appears in the Granville Proprietary Land
Office records after this initial entry.10 (table 3.1)
7
Lord Granville‘s Office, Rowan County, Entries 1752–53, Entry numbers 102 and 103.
Ibid., Entry number 157.
9
U.S. Geographical Survey, ―Greensboro Topographical Map,‖ http://www.trails.com (accessed
June 8, 2009). Calculation of width and length of combined landholdings based on current USGS
topographical map of Guilford County, N.C.
10
For further accounting of the land grants purchased from Granville by these men, refer to the
individual‘s biographical information found in appendix A.
8
70
TABLE 3.1 The Nottingham Settlement‘s Thirty Tracts and the Purchasers.
Tract Number
Name of Purchaser(s)
Acreage
Date(s) Purchased
No. 1
No. 2
No. 3
No. 4
No. 5
No. 6
No. 7
No. 8
No. 9
No. 10
No. 11
No. 12
No. 13
No. 14
No. 15
No. 16
No. 17
No. 18
No. 19
No. 20
No. 21
No. 22
No. 23
No. 24
No. 25
Adam Leckey
[not designated]
[not designated]
a
[Thomas Donnell]
Thomas Donnell
John McKnight
Adam Mitchell
Robert Rankin
Lydia Rankin
[not designated]
[not designated]
Thomas McCuiston
John McClintock
Samuel Scott
Samuel Scott
[not designated]
John McClintock
Robert Thompson
[not designated]
James Brittain
[not designated]
[not designated]
Jane McCuiston
[not designated]
Thomas McCuiston
John Blair
David Caldwell
Robert Donnell
Robert Mitchell
Thomas Beals
James McCuiston
Robert Thompson
Thomas Donnell
392
--?
650
639
631
640
620
--600
640
640
640
-640
640
-584
--700
-550
285
420
605
640
June 1758
--?
August 1759
November 1756
December 1753
June 1758
January 1761
--November 1755
December 1753
December 1753
December 1753
-December 1753
November 1756
-July 1760
--July 1760
-June 1758
November 1761
January 1765
December 1753
October 1762
December 1753
December 1753
August 1760
December 1753
389
504
640
640
650
December 1753
August 1762
December 1753
December 1753
December 1753
No. 26
No. 27
No. 28
No. 29
No. 30
Those Purchasers with Undesignated Tracts:
No. (?)
No. (?)
No. (?)
No. (?)
No. (?)
560
b
James Barr
c
George Black
d
John Cunningham
John Cunningham
John Nicks/Nix
Sources: Granville Grants; George Black, 504 acres, Rowan (August 27, 1762), Granville Grants;
and Fred Hughes, Guilford County, N.C.: a Map Supplement (Jamestown, N.C.: Custom
House, 1988), 52–53.
Note: Further information for each of the tracts can be found within appendix A. Tracts marked
―not designated‖ indicate that at the time of survey, the tract number was not included in the
official description.
a
Brackets indicate that although none of the grant documentation found specifically use this
designation for a tract, local historians consider Donnell the owner of this tract.
71
b
The following names are absent from the top list because no number designation appeared in the
description of their Granville grant even though they purchased their first grants in December 1753.
c
Black‘s tract adjoined Samuel Scott‘s two tracts, supporting the possibility of his purchasing a
Nottingham Settlement tract.
d
Cunningham appears twice because he purchased two land grants (640 acres each) on the same day.
The Nottingham Settlement pioneering generation began purchasing Granville
land grants for the entered thirty 640-acre tracts in early December 1753.11 In a 1934
history of the Presbyterian Church organized by Settlement members, Samuel M. Rankin
lists nineteen names of men whom he considered to be initial owners of the thirty tracts—
James Barr, Thomas Beals, George Black, John Blair, John Cummings, John
Cunningham, Robert Donnell, Thomas Donnell, Hugh Foster, John McClintock, James
McCuiston, Robert McCuiston, Thomas McCuiston, Adam Mitchell, Robert Mitchell,
John Nicks, Robert Rankin, Samuel Scott and Andrew Wilson.12 Of these nineteen
names, at least three cannot be confirmed as an initial purchaser of one of the thirty
tracts.13 Also, Thomas Beals (listed by S. M. Rankin) was a practicing Quaker, while
John Blair purchased his tract from the settler who first purchased it.14
11
Secretary of State Record Group, Granville Proprietary Land Office: Land Entries, Warrants,
and Plats of Survey, NCDAH (referred to as ―Granville Grants‖). Photocopies of the original grants along
with a surveyor‘s drawing of the land in question can be accessed at NCDAH.
12
Samuel Rankin, A History of Buffalo Presbyterian Church and Her People, Greensboro, N.C.
(Greensboro, N.C.: Jos. J. Stone & Co, [1934?]), 22.
13
George Black possibly purchased one of the thirty tracts in 1762. He sold it in 1767 to Thomas
Donnell. Although Hugh Foster purchased Granville land grants in Rowan County during this time, most of
his grants were located south of the Settlement near Salisbury. Granville grants in Andrew Wilson‘s name
could not be found in the Granville Grants.
14
William Wade Hinshaw, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy (Baltimore:
Genealogical Publishing Co., 1969), I:487, 490, 525; and Rowan Co. Record of Deeds (referred to as
―Rowan Co. Deeds‖), 4:647–49. Society of Friends records confirm that Thomas Beals and his family were
practicing members in good standing of the New Garden Monthly Meeting, located to the west of the
Nottingham Settlement landholdings. Quaker chronicler William Wade Hinshaw states in a short history of
the New Garden Monthly Meeting that Thomas Beals was one of that group‘s original members. Quaker
records do not indicate that this family left the Society of Friends for another faith (i.e., the Presbyterian
Church). Since one characteristic of a Settlement member includes an association with the Presbyterian
Church, Beals‘ association with the Society of Friends excluded him from the sample.
72
The proximity of these men‘s tracts supports the idea that landownership created a
sense of community for the pioneering generation, their children and grandchildren. (See
figure 1.) Most of the original landowners of the thirty tracts bestowed their tracts on one
or more of their children. In two instances, widowed daughters-in-law of the pioneering
generation purchased in the names of their children one of the original thirty tracts from
Granville.
In 1760, Jane/Jean (Ruth) McCuiston, widow of Robert McCuiston and daughterin-law of James McCuiston, purchased tract No. 23 for her two daughters (Ruth and Jane)
as part of their inheritance from their deceased father.15 In 1761, Lydia (Steele) Rankin,
widow of George Rankin (1729–1760) and daughter-in-law of Robert Rankin, purchased
tract No. 9 for her sons, Robert (1759–1840) and John (1757–1850).16 When early settlers
sold their tracts, fellow community members occasionally purchased them, as
demonstrated by George Black selling his tract to Thomas Donnell in 1764.17
Landownership included an added civic responsibility. Colonial North Carolina
law required landowners (or ―freeholders‖), when summoned by the sheriff or justice of
the peace, to participate in the court system as jurors.18 Nottingham Settlement‘s
landowners participated frequently as jurors in both grand and petit juries within Rowan
15
Jane McCuistion, 700 acres, Rowan (July 29, 1760), Granville Grants; and Rowan Co. Deeds,
4:528–529; and North Carolina Supreme Court, Case NC 364, Thompson vs. Blair (from Guilford Co.),
November 1819, NCDAH. Although she later denied it, court documents confirm that Jane McCuiston
Blair, widow of Robert McCuiston and mother of Ruth and Jane McCuiston (Robert‘s heirs) purchased this
tract for her daughters.
16
Lydia Rankin, 620 acres, Rowan (January 30, 1761), Granville Grants.
17
Rowan Co. Deeds, 6:374–75.
18
North Carolina, Laws of North Carolina (New Bern, N. C.: Printed by James Davis, 1755), 25;
and Marjoleine Kars, Breaking Loose Together: The Regulator Rebellion in Pre-Revolutionary North
Carolina (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002), 68–69. Kars states that juries were
―handpicked by the sheriff, an office held in rotation by the justices themselves.‖ (68) Thomas Donnell
served as a justice of the peace in Rowan County between 1757 and 1762. Based on Kars‘ statement, one
may conclude that the Settlement‘s pioneering generation appeared as jurors during this time in part due to
Donnell‘s status as justice.
73
County between 1754 and 1762.19 Before his death in 1762, John Cunningham appears in
Rowan County jury lists for both grand and petit courts from 1754 to 1762 as well as the
grand jury in Wilmington (May 1755) and the Superior Court for Rowan and Anson
Counties in 1760.20 Thomas Donnell, before his term as a justice of the court in Rowan
County from 1757 to 1762, served as a juryman in Rowan County in the years prior
(1754 to 1756).21
Property—Material Possessions and Income
Prosperity became one aspect of Settlement life that all members experienced
before the deaths of the pioneering generation. Wealth reached such levels that
neighboring communities recognized the Nottingham Settlement‘s prosperity. In 1772,
Moravian minister George Soelle, of the Wachovia community west of the Nottingham
Settlement‘s lands, traveled through Buffalo Settlement (as the Nottingham Settlement
community became known) and remarked in his journal that ―all the residents here were
Presbyterians, rich and well-satisfied.‖22
Settlement members acquired their wealth primarily through farming, although
several of the pioneering generation supplemented their agricultural incomes with other
occupations. David Caldwell served as pastor to the Settlement‘s Presbyterian
19
Refer to appendix A; and Rowan County Minutes of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions
(referred to as ―Rowan Co. Minutes‖), 3:294–95; 4:37–38; 3:358. The one exception is David Caldwell
who arrived in the community after 1762. He appears in the Rowan County court records as a juror in 1771,
1772 and 1774.
20
Rowan Co. Minutes, 1:45; 2:59, 91, 102, 193, 201, 220, 238, 267, 294.
21
Ibid., 2:45, 80, 91, 154, 179, 185, 207, 219, 221, 222a, 223, 238, 239, 245, 248, 249, 253, 265,
279, 280, 286, 321, 365, 391, 430, 433, 435; and Kars, Breaking Loose Together, 69. In colonial North
Carolina, the governor appointed justices of the peace. Generally, one‘s wealth or social connections
played a part in one‘s appointment.
22
―Soelle‘s Diary,‖ August 1772, in Adelaide L. Fries, ed., Records of the Moravians in North
Carolina (1922, repr. Raleigh: State Department of Archives and History, 1968), I:799.
74
congregation and established a school.23 The listing of woodworking tools in the estate
inventory for George Rankin, first husband of Lydia (Steele) Rankin Forbis, suggests that
he worked as a carpenter before his death.24 Both John Cunningham and Thomas Donnell
petitioned the county court for permission to run taverns on their respective ―plantations‖
beginning in 1756.25 These same two men (Cunningham and Donnell) also profited from
the county offices they held—Cunningham as a constable and Donnell as a justice of the
peace.26 Both offices afforded opportunities for acquiring additional income. Responsible
for law enforcement as well as administering tax collection, constables collected fees for
services rendered to the court and paid only thirty percent of their annual taxes.27
Although justices of the peace received no direct compensation, they gained ―insider
knowledge of economic opportunities‖ acquired through their position.28
Although no documentation remains detailing the pioneering generation‘s
financial situations before their arrival in Rowan (Guilford) County, the wills of those
examined in this study suggest their ability to acquire material possessions and wealth.29
This wealth manifested itself in three ways—the accumulation of land, access to currency
and the increased presence of enslaved persons in members‘ households.
23
Caruthers, Rev. David Caldwell, 14, 20, 22; and Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 114.
Inventory of George Rankin (1760), Rowan County Estate Records, NCDAH.
25
Rowan Co. Minutes, 2:97, 100.
26
Ibid., 2:112, 255, 387. Three others also served terms as constable—John McClintock in 1762
(as a replacement for Cunningham when he died during his term), John Nicks/Nix in 1755 and Robert
Thompson in 1759.
27
Alan D. Watson, ―The Constable in Colonial North Carolina,‖ The North Carolina Historical
Review 68, no. 1 (1991): 8, 13.
28
Kars, Breaking Loose Together, 69. Kars defines this ―insider knowledge‖ as ―which business
was likely to fail, [and] where a road would soon be built.‖
29
For specific information on the individuals discussed in this study, refer to appendix A. At the
end of each biography is a summary of the possessions, land and funds bequeathed to the individual‘s heirs
based on extant will and inventory (when available). Although this summary is not a complete listing for
that individual, it indicates the reported extent of his wealth at his death.
24
75
The Settlement‘s pioneering generation enhanced their original landholdings by
purchasing neighboring tracts of land—either from Granville‘s agents or other settlers.
Even those men who died within the first two decades of their arrival in Rowan
(Guilford) County purchased additional land. For example, within three years of his two
initial Granville grants, John Cunningham, who died in 1762, bought two additional
tracts of land (equaling 657 acres).30
Several settlers purchased land and then sold it—sometimes at a profit; sometimes
not. Thomas Donnell, who entered twelve of the original thirty Settlement tracts, bought
and sold approximately 3,328 acres between 1759 and 1787.31 An example of Donnell‘s
ability to profit from his entrepreneurial endeavors was his purchase of George Black‘s
504-acre Granville grant (possibly one of the original thirty tracts) for five shillings
sterling in January 1767. Twelve years later in 1778, Donnell divided this 504-acre tract,
first selling 254 acres of it to son Robert for £200 while John White purchased the
remaining 293 acres for £293.32
Besides adding to their personal wealth, the pioneering generation may have
purchased more tracts of land than they could personally maintain as a means of securing
30
John Cunningham, 640, Rowan (December 3, 1753), Granville Grants. The additional tracts
included 320 acres purchased from Giles Tillet, March 1756, in Orange County, North Carolina (Orange
Co. Record of Deeds, 1:222–23), and 337 acres purchased from Isaak Timmons, April 1756, in Orange
County (Orange Co. Record of Deeds, 1:223–24).
31
Tho. Donald, 640 acres, Rowan (Dec. 3, 1753), Granville Grants; Tho. Donnell, 640 acres,
Rowan (Dec. 3, 1753), Granville Grants; Tho. Donnell, 400 acres, Rowan, Granville Grants; Rowan Co.
Deeds, 7:55–57; Thomas Donnel, 650 acres, Rowan (August 10, 1759), Granville Grants; Rowan Co.
Deeds, 4:591; Rowan Co. Deeds, 1:110–111; Thos. Donnell, 392 acres, Rowan (December 21, 1761),
Granville Grants; Rowan Co. Deeds, 5:481–82; Rowan Co. Deeds, 6:374–75; Guilford County Record of
Deeds (referred to as ―Guilford Co. Deed‖ from this point), 1:432–3, 429–430; Rowan Co. Deeds, 7:70–71;
and Guilford Co. Deeds, 1:110–111, 4:356–57. For additional examples, refer to appendix A. The section
titled ―WEALTH DURING LIFETIME, LAND‖ provides an explanation of the land bought and sold by
each individual.
32
Rowan Co. Deeds, 6:374–75; and Guilford Co. Deeds, 1:432–33, 429–430.
76
their progeny‘s financial future—whether at one‘s death, the child‘s majority or, in the
case of a female, marriage (table 3.2). For example, John McClintock purchased two
TABLE 3.2 Amount of Land Purchased, Sold and Bequeathed.
No. of Acres
Purchased
No. of Acres
Sold to Their Children
(from total amount sold)
No. of Acres
Bequeathed
Barr, James
Blair, John
Caldwell, David
Cunningham, John
389
1190
1668
1937
0
0 of 550
0 of 226
0 of 0
(389)
(640)
(1442)
1937
Denny, William
Donnell, Robert Sr.
Donnell, Thomas
640
2007
3956
0 of 0
0 of 1357
1259 of 2627
(640)
(650)
(1329)
864
0 of 0
(864)
Leakey/Lackey, Adam
McClintock, John
392
1280
0 of 0
440 of 1113
402
(167)
McCuiston, James Sr.
2053
200 of 1193
(440+)
McCuiston, Robert Sr.
McCuiston, Thomas Sr.
McKnight, John
Mitchell, Adam
993
1790
639
631
0 of 0
0 of 1190
0 of 0
400 of 401
(993)
(600)
639
(230)
Mitchell, Robert
Nicks/Nix, John
Rankin, George/Lydia
Rankin, Robert
Scott, Samuel
560
1290
620
1760+
2100
0 of 150
0 of 430
0 of 0
480 of 1120
unclear
(410)
(860)
(620)
(1000+)
820
2589
0 of 750
1839
Finley, George
Thompson, Robert
Source: Appendix A. (See individual biographical information under WEALTH DURING
LIFETIME and WEALTH AT DEATH for specific references regarding each man‘s landholdings.)
Note: The men listed here all purchased land throughout their lives in North Carolina and either
sold the land they purchased in order to increase their wealth or bequeathed their land acquisitions
to their heirs. In those instances where wills or probate information could not be located, the number
of acres bequeathed appears within parentheses to denote the unsubstantiated nature of this number.
A plus sign (+) indicates that the number may possibly be larger than discovered in land conveyance
records. For example, Robert Rankin‘s will mentions 1000 acres of land as well as additional
unspecified amounts of acreage; yet Guilford County records do not account for this extra land.
Granville grants of 640 acres each (equaling 1,280 acres). Although he sold 673 acres to
others in the community, McClintock also sold 440 acres to his four sons, leaving the
77
remaining acreage for his wife‘s use until her death (at which time the land would be
sold, and the money received divided between his four male heirs).33
Thomas Donnell also sold land to his sons, who were each in their mid-twenties at
the time of the sale.34 Of the 3,956 acres purchased within his lifetime, Donnell sold
1,259 acres to sons James (320 acres in 1769), John (347 acres in 1772) and Robert (254
acres in 1778) and son-in-law Alexander McKnight (392 acres in 1761).35
Decedents bequeathed varying amounts of currency to their heirs. At a time when
specie (coinage) was scarce in the colonies, the presence of both local (e.g., the British
and colony-based pound) and foreign currency (e.g., the Spanish doubloon) in probate
records indicates access to specie during the pioneering generation‘s lifetime.36 James
McCuiston, Sr., bequeathed varying amounts of shillings and pounds to several of his
sons, daughters and grandchildren within a timeframe of his choosing (i.e., son Thomas
was to receive ―Twenty shill[ings] Current money of North Carolina . . . three months
after my [James Sr.‘s] deceases . . .‖).37 John Blair granted each of his children ―five
shilling sterg.‖ (with the exception of son John who inherited the bulk of the estate after
33
John McClintock, 640 acres, Rowan (December 4, 1753), Granville Grants; Rowan Co. Deeds,
1:175, 203; Rowan Co. Deeds, 2:323–325; Guilford Co. Deeds, 3:183, 4:453–54, 5:401–2, 6:302, 389,
9:86–87; and Will of John McClintock (1807), Guilford Wills. Son John purchased 100 acres in 1785; son
William, 100 acres in 1797; son Robert, 100 acres in 1797; and son Samuel, 140 acres in 1806.
34
Appendix A. Son James was twenty-five years old in 1769. Son John was twenty-four years old
in 1772. And, son Robert was twenty-six years old in 1778.
35
Tho. Donald, 640 acres, Rowan (Dec. 3, 1753), Granville Grants; Tho. Donnell, 640 acres,
Rowan (Dec. 3, 1753), Granville Grants; Tho. Donnell, 400 acres, Rowan, Granville Grants; Rowan Co.
Deeds, 7:55–57; Thomas Donnel [sic], 650 acres, Rowan Co. (August 10, 1759), Granville Grants; Rowan
Co. Deeds, 4:591; Rowan Co. Deeds, 1:110–11; Thos. Donnell, 392 acres, Rowan (December 21, 1761),
Granville Grants; Rowan Co. Deeds, 5:481–82; Rowan Co. Deeds, 6:374–75; Guilford Co. Deeds, 1:432–
33, 429–30; Rowan Co. Deeds, 7:70–71; and Guilford Co. Deeds, 1:110–11, 4:356–57.
36
Hugh Talmage Lefler and Albert Ray Newsome, North Carolina: The History of a Southern
State, 2nd ed. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1963), 103.
37
Will of James McCuiston (1766), Rowan County Wills, 1743–1971, NCDAH (referred to as
―Rowan Wills‖).
78
his mother‘s death). 38 And, the final inventory report for John Cunniningham‘s estate in
July 1763 listed ―£607.11.5 besides the 40 Dollars in Silver 8 Doubloons & 1 Chakun.‖39
In 1759, less than a decade after the pioneering generation purchased land in
North Carolina, Rowan County poll tax lists showed the presence of enslaved men and
women of African descent in Settlement households.40 It is unclear if these enslaved
persons accompanied Settlement members from Pennsylvania and Maryland. The
Settlement‘s increasing enslaved population becomes more evident when comparing the
1759 poll tax lists to the 1768 poll tax list administered by Thomas Donnell.41 (table 3.3)
Both the 1759 and 1768 lists provide the full names of those men residing in the county
and enumerate the enslaved persons present in the households as ―negro.‖
TABLE 3.3 Example of Increased Ownership of Enslaved Persons in Settlement
Households.
Settlement Members
Enslaved persons
1759
David Caldwell
William Denny
Thomas Donnell
Adam Leckey
John McClintock
James McCuiston
John Nicks/Nix
Robert Rankin
Samuel Scott
1768
1
0
0
0
2
0
0
1
2
1
0
0
0
2
0
0
will
18
2
n/a
1
3
1
n/a
2
6
probate year
1824
1770
--1801
1807
1766
--1795
1777
Source: Linn, Rowan County Tax Lists 1757–1800, 22–35, 73–75.
38
Will of John Blair (1772), Guilford County Wills, 1771–1968, NCDAH (referred to as
―Guilford Wills‖).
39
Rowan Co. Minutes, 2:470.
40
Jo White Linn, ed, Rowan County, North Carolina, Tax Lists 1757–1800: Annotated
Transcriptions ([Salisbury, N.C.]: Linn, 1995), vii–viii, 22–35. In an overview of the tax system, Linn
states that ―taxes on [North Carolina] land . . . were discontinued in the 1720s‖ and replaced with a poll tax
by the1750s. (vii) The taxables included every white man over the age of sixteen and all those of African
descent (male and female over the age of fourteen.
41
Ibid., 73–75.
79
Occasionally, the lists include the enslaved person‘s name as well. Furthermore,
Settlement members listed in their wills several of the enslaved persons mentioned in the
two (poll) tax lists. The appearance of a small but increasing number of enslaved persons
bespeaks both the landowner‘s increased need for field hands and household servants as
well as his ability to afford adding to the number of enslaved persons already living
within his household.
Social Customs — Family Dynamics, Kinship, Inheritance Patterns and Literacy
A study of the family dynamics of those associated with the Nottingham
Settlement‘s pioneering generation provides a glimpse into the community‘s
composition. For example, the age distribution and size of households upon their arrival
in North Carolina‘s backcountry offers insight into the Settlement‘s attitudes regarding
land purchases. Of the twenty-one settlers selected for this study, eleven were forty years
or older when they purchased land in Rowan (Guilford) County, North Carolina. The
remaining ten were between twenty-two and thirty-seven years old (table 3.4). The more
mature settlers, such as John Blair, the three McCuiston brothers and the two Mitchell
brothers, brought their teenage and adult progeny with them.42 The presence of older
children in a household amounted to free labor—labor needed for clearing land and
building a farmstead. Settlers with younger children (infants and those under the age of
ten), such as James Barr, John Cunningham and George and wife Lydia Rankin, had the
added burden of caring for and raising children while attempting to improve their land.
42
Refer to appendix A for specific information regarding the ages of each man‘s children.
80
TABLE 3.4 Age and Size of Families When They Migrated to North Carolina in the
1750s and 1760s.
Barr, James
Blair, John
Caldwell, David
Cunningham, John
Denny, William
Donnell, Robert Sr.
Donnell, Thomas
Finley, George
Leakey/Lackey, Adam
McClintock, John
McCuiston, James Sr.
McCuiston, Robert Sr.
McCuiston, Thomas Sr.
McKnight, John
Mitchell, Adam
Mitchell, Robert
Nicks/Nix, John
Rankin, George (Lydia)
Rankin, Robert
Scott, Samuel
Thompson, Robert
Approx. Age
of Settler
Number of
Children
< 30
< 50
40
< 25
< 40
< 25
41
22
unknown
40
53
48
49
< 30
41
49
37
26 (Lydia = 22)
< 40
< 28
32
1 of 5
8 of 8
0 of 9
0 of 3
(6) of 6
(5) of 5
5 of 11
(2) of 6
0 of 0
(5?) of 7
9 of 9
9 of 9
(3) of 3
(3?) of 6
6 of 6
4 of 4
6 of 8
0 of 2
(5?) of 6
(4?) of 4
(3?) of 10
Accompanying
Siblings
unknown
unknown
unknown
(1?)
2
1
1
0
unknown
0
2
2
2
1
1
1
unknown
5
0
0
0
Source: Refer to appendix A for detailed information regarding names, dates and other information
pertinent to this chart.
Note: Because birth dates and individual arrival dates (in North Carolina) are not firm, the ages of each
man and woman listed as well as the number of children born before their arrival is approximate.
Numbers within parentheses denote a possible number that cannot be certified.
The size of one‘s family may have played a part in the settler‘s desire to increase
his landholdings. For example, Robert Thompson, who purchased numerous tracts of
land between 1755 and 1766 (equaling 2,589 acres), reportedly sired nine children (six
sons and three daughters) after his marriage to Ann Ferguson in 1750.43 He likely
43
Robert Thompson, 464 acres, Rowan (November 11, 1755), Granville Grants; Robert
Thompson, 640 acres, Rowan (November 9, 1756), Granville Grants; Robert Thompson, 350 acres, Rowan
(August 2, 1760), Granville Grants; Guilford Co. Deeds, 1:15–17; Robert Thompson, 605 acres, Rowan
(August 2, 1760), Granville Grants; Rowan Co. Deeds, 4:495–96, 4:496–97, 6:501–2; and Donna Martin,
―Wright & Kivett Connections,‖ http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com (accessed March 13, 2009). Of the five
tracts (each of varying sizes totaling 2,589 acres) Thompson purchased during this time, he retained 1,839
acres until his death in 1771. Martin reports that the Thompson household included a child born to
81
accumulated land based on the amount of free labor available to him (in the form of his
progeny) as well as a means of providing for his children‘s dowries and inheritances—
provisions that served his family well after his untimely death in 1771.44
Although the Nottingham Settlement included families with no apparent
connection to the rest of the community, kinship bound several of the pioneering
families—both before and after their migration south. Foremost among those ties were
close familial connections between the members. Several sets of siblings, such as the
McCuiston, Donnell, and Mitchell brothers, purchased Granville land grants. However,
connections based on marriage such as George Finley, the brother-in-law of John
Cunningham, bound individuals to the community.45
Intermarriage among the pioneering families extended existing relationships
within the community. In some instances, cousins married. For example, within both the
McCuiston and Mitchell families, marriage between first cousins appears to have been an
accepted tradition. Two of James McCuiston‘s daughters married his brother Robert‘s
two sons—Sarah married Walter McCuiston; and Dorcas married John McCuiston.46
Three of Adam Mitchell‘s six children intermarried with three of Robert Mitchell‘s four
children.47 The children of the pioneering generation also married into neighboring
Settlement families—both those owning one of the thirty Granville tracts and others
residing nearby. Although eighteenth-century North Carolina birth, marriage and death
Thompson‘s wife in a previous marriage. Therefore, although Thompson may have only sired nine
children, he would have been financially responsible for ten.
44
Martin, ―Wright & Kivett Connections.‖ Reportedly, Thompson‘s youngest child was only four
years old when Thompson was executed before the Battle of Alamance in 1771.
45
For more information on these men and their families, consult appendix A. Each of the brief
biographies found there provides (when available) a list of the subject‘s parents, spouse(s), children and inlaws.
46
Appendix A.
47
Appendix A.
82
records are scarce, community and family histories uphold the connections made between
Settlement families before the American Revolution.48
Some, like John McKnight, who owned land in Cecil County, Maryland, before
migrating to North Carolina, were not related to the community by marriage or blood ties.
McKnight may have been a previous acquaintance of the other pioneering families while
they lived in Pennsylvania or Maryland. Other unrelated members included those who
arrived in the Settlement after 1760, such as the Settlement‘s first full-time minister,
David Caldwell. Caldwell‘s biographer, Eli W. Caruthers, states that ―many of them
[Nottingham Settlement members] had known him from his childhood.‖49 Robert
Thompson‘s relationship to the Settlement may also have been based on acquaintance.
Accompanied by his wife and children, Thompson‘s father, Presbyterian minister John
Thomson, traveled throughout the middle colonies before migrating first to Virginia and
then to Rowan County, North Carolina.
The Settlement‘s inheritance patterns found in the wills of the pioneering
generation show that the head of a household first provided for his wife‘s welfare before
mentioning his children or other heirs. While some men discussed the widow‘s situation
in general terms, other heads of household provided a list of items to be left to her and
sometimes included instruction regarding the management of her bequest. (For example,
childless Adam Leakey left wife Martha not only his land but also any personal property
she desired, including ―one negro girl named Fillis . . . also all the household and kitchen
furniture . . . also her choice of the one half of all my lybria [sic] of books, . . . her choice
48
49
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 22–43; and appendix A.
Caruthers, Rev. David Caldwell, 24.
83
of two hed [sic] of the best horses I have . . .‖)50 Usually, the will stipulated that the
widow‘s use of the family home and its land was contingent upon her continued status as
widow. If she remained the decedent‘s widow until her death, the estate (i.e., one of the
sons) provided for her livelihood. If she remarried, she lost the right to any of the
provisions granted in the will.51
The Settlement‘s pioneering generation saw wealth as belonging to the family.
Therefore widows lost the right to their husband‘s personal and real estate (unless the
husband provided for her in his will) and married daughters, who had already received
their portion in the form of a dowry, received nominal bequests. Because of this tradition,
the family home (or plantation) where the parents resided generally passed to a son
whether before or after the death of the father or the widow. If there were other sons, they
inherited what land remained unless it was sold and the proceeds divided among the
heirs.52 John McKnight appears to be an exception to this practice. Instead of bequeathing
his plantation to one son, he direct that it be divided equally between his two sons Robert
and William. He even provided for his unborn child (if a son), directing that his ―land
[then] be divided into three equal parts.‖53
50
Will of Adam Leckey, Guilford County Record of Wills (referred to as ―Guilford Co. Wills‖),
A:219–220.
51
Will of John Blair (1772), Guilford Wills; Will of David Caldwell (1824), Guilford Wills; Will
of John Cunningham (1762), Rowan Wills; Will of William Denny (1770), Rowan Wills; Will of Adam
Leckey, Guilford Co. Wills, A:219–220; Will of John McClintock (1807), Guilford Wills; Will of James
McCuiston (1766), Rowan Wills; and Will of John McKnight (1771), Guilford Wills. Note that although
John McClintock provides a detailed bequest to his wife Catrine, he does not list her first in his will.
Rather, the first bequest distributes real estate to his sons.
52
Will of John Blair (1772), Guilford Wills; Will of William Denny (1770), Rowan Wills; Will of
Adam Leckey, Guilford Co. Wills, A:219–220; Will of John McClintock (1807), Guilford Wills; Will of
John McKnight (1771), Guilford Wills. Sometimes, a son received a portion of the estate upon his majority
or marriage rather than at his father‘s death. Whether this son was the first-born is not discernible due to the
paucity of birth and death records for mid- to late-eighteenth century North Carolina.
53
Will of John McKnight (1771), Guilford Wills; and John McNight, 639 acres, Rowan
(November 9, 1756), Granville Grants. McKnight apparently only owned one tract of land in North
Carolina (the Granville land grant of 639 acres purchased in 1756) at the time of his death. As well, the
84
Land was not the only possession bequeathed to Settlement members‘ heirs.
Heads of households also provided their heirs with a wide variety of gifts ranging from
currency to items considered necessities. Besides access to their spouse‘s ―goods and
chattels,‖ widows sometimes received gifts of a personal nature. John Cunningham
bequeathed to wife Isabell ―her own riding saddle.‖54 Males of the family received
money, farm animals, tools, clothing worn by the decedent and books. Bequests made to
daughters often depended on their marital status at the time of the will‘s execution.
Unmarried daughters generally received household items or monetary gifts—either for
use as their marriage dowry or as financial support until they wed. To his unmarried
daughters Margaret and Jane, John Cunningham bequeathed not only his land (to be
divided equally among his widow, the daughters and the unborn child his wife carried)
but also granted each girl a ―riding saddle.‖55 William Denny instructed son James (one
of his executors) ―to give to each of my Daughters, that are now unmarried, [the] Sum
[of] Thirty po[un]d lawful money of North Carolina, & a Spinning Wheel.‖56 Denny
further directed James in how to distribute each daughter‘s amount using a graduated
schedule—Hannah was to receive her bequest in half-increments one year apart over a
two year period; Agnes was to receive her bequest in half-increments, the first given
three years after Denny‘s decease and the rest the following year; and Jean was to receive
her bequest in half-increments, the first five years after Denny‘s decease and the rest the
following year.57 Married daughters received nominal gifts. John McClintock‘s two
request that his wife provide his sons with a Christian education leads one to believe that his children might
yet be minors. Both factors could explain why the land was divided instead of bequeathed to one son.
54
Will of John Cunningham (1762), Rowan Wills.
55
Will of John Cunningham (1762), Rowan Wills.
56
Will of William Denny (1770), Rowan Wills.
57
Will of William Denny (1770), Rowan Wills.
85
married daughters (Isabella Dick and Nansey Ballinger) each received ―one dolar‖ upon
his death in 1807.58
Wills also conveyed the decedent‘s wishes regarding the raising of his children.
John McKnight, who apparently wrote his will when his children were young, wanted
them to receive more than monetary and physical gifts. McKnight admonished his widow
to ―give my Children a Christian Education.‖59
As indicated in McKnight‘s will, literacy appears to have been an important skill
in the lives of Nottingham Settlement members. Of the twenty purchasers of the original
thirty tracts and those of the pioneering generation who arrived afterward, at least sixteen
could write their names. The clarity of these signatures implies a level of literacy beyond
that of a rudimentary education.60 At least one of the men (Adam Leckey) owned a
library of books.61
The arrival in 1765 of David Caldwell, who graduated from the College of New
Jersey (later known as Princeton University) meant that subsequent generations had the
opportunity for a formal education. Besides fulfilling his primary duty to the Settlement
as its religious leader, Caldwell supplemented his meager and unreliable church salary by
establishing an academy.62 Reminiscent of the ―Log College‖ of William Tennent of
Neshimy, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and other academies like it established by
58
Will of John McClintock (1807), Guilford Wills.
Will of John McKnight (1771), Guilford Wills.
60
Copies of the Granville grants and wills support this statement. For specific individual leases
and wills, refer to the citations provided in appendix A.
61
Guilford Co. Wills, A:219.
62
Caruthers, Rev. David Caldwell, 29.
59
86
Presbyterian ministers throughout Pennsylvania and other colonies, Caldwell offered his
students a classical education.63
Religion
The Presbyterian Church played an important role in the lives of members of the
Nottingham Settlement. Members‘ willingness to sign the 1756 petitions to the King and
Granville requesting a suspension of the vestry tax (table 3.5) demonstrates not only their
allegiance to the practices of the Presbyterian Church but also their recognition of the
church‘s importance within their lives.64 In the King‘s copy of the petition, supplicants
state that they were ―originally your [the King‘s] Liege people & Mostly Originally from
the North of Ireland, Trained & brought up under Presbyterian Church Government‖ who
had ―Mostly Resided some time in the Northern Provinces of Pennsylvania Jerseys &
New York & where we were Exempted from paying [toward] supporting any Clergy save
our own.‖65 They continued, ―[we] came here [North Carolina] in Hopes of Enjoying like
Freedom.‖66 The petition also demonstrates an organized Presbyterian presence from
relevant areas of Pennsylvania during the Settlement‘s early history.67
63
Wayland F. Dunaway, The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania (Hamden: Archon Books,
1762), 220–224; and Caruthers, Rev. David Caldwell, 29–40. Caldwell‘s biographer states that Caldwell
operated a ―classical school.‖ (29) Although he does not expound on the subjects taught by Caldwell,
Caruthers states that many of Caldwell‘s students became ―eminent, as statesmen, lawyers, judges,
physicians, and ministers of the gospel.‖ (30).
64
English Records, Granville District, Papers from the Marquis of Bath‘s Library in Longleat,
Warminster, Wilshire, England, 1729–1780. NCDAH (referred to as ―English Records‖). See a
transcription of Rowan County petitioners‘ signatures in appendix B for a complete list of names.
65
English Records.
66
Ibid.
67
Ibid. The petition addressed to Granville states ―As All our Said Three Countys [sic] are Chiefly
Inhabited by Dissenters, where is [sic] Ten Large Congregations Settled in So Many Bodies Together & are
Yet Destitute of the Ordinances of the Gospel, Our Ministers being Discouraged from Settling here.‖
87
TABLE 3.5 Partial List of Rowan County Signatures on the 1756 Vestry Tax
Petitions
...
James Donnell
William Brown
William Denny
Samuel ___lson
James Barr
John McKnight
Robert Rankin
Thomas McClure
George Rankin
Adam Mitchel
John MClintock
Robert Er[v]on
David Brown
William Robinson
Thomas Brally
Adam Lecky
C______ Mcdad
John Mcadow
James M_adow
William Mcban
Charles Burnney
James MCuiston
Robert MCuiston
Tho. MCuiston
Hugh Brally
John Cunningham
Benj Starratt
John Mcgowan
Robt. Thompson
Robt. Doke
James Mathews
Will Mathis
James Mathew Jun.
Gustaves MCuistion
James McCuistion Junr.
Thomas Donall
James Minnis
...
Source: English Records.
Note: This partial list of names provides a better understanding of the possible surnames associated with
the Nottingham Settlement in the 1750s. Surnames of those purchasing one of the thirty original
Granville tracts are in bold print. Refer to appendix B for a complete transcription of Rowan County
signatures.
Community and family historians agree that before the Settlement‘s pioneering
generation migrated to North Carolina they were associated with Presbyterian Churches
in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (including that section of Cecil County, Maryland,
which Pennsylvania once claimed as part of Lancaster County).68 Whether this
association pertained to one particular church or a group of churches in
Pennsylvania/Maryland could not be ascertained.69 In the early eighteenth century,
Lancaster County‘s boundaries encompassed a much larger area than its current
68
The churches in question existed under the auspices of the Donegal and New Castle
Presbyteries.
69
Although a few records for the Presbyterian Church in Lancaster County (Pennsylvania) and
Cecil County (Maryland) have survived over the past three centuries, they are limited in scope and details.
For example, some Donegal Presbytery records survive but generally pertain to discussions on ministers
and other official business). The Presbytery records do not provide a detailed listing of church
memberships. For most of the congregations in this area, eighteenth-century records are non-existent. A
search of The Presbyterian Historical Society‘s archives held no session (congregation) records prior to
1800 for churches located in southern Lancaster County or northern Cecil County. Therefore, I cannot
confirm to which congregations Settlement members belonged before their relocation to North Carolina.
88
dimensions, and Presbyterian congregations such as Chestnut Level, Middle Octorara,
Little Britain and Nottingham lay within approximately 20 miles of each other.70 (figure
3) But, the networks created by the limited number of clergy who traveled from
congregation to congregation within neighboring presbyteries may have connected the
Settlement‘s families.
Nottingham Presbyterian Church figures significantly in the traditions associated
with the Settlement‘s establishment. Historian Samuel Rankin names this church, located
near present-day Rising Sun, Cecil County, Maryland, as the church whose members
proposed relocating families to North Carolina.71
Under the auspices of the New Castle Presbytery, the Scots-Irish families who
migrated into the once predominantly English Quaker settlement of Nottingham (known
as the Nottingham Lots) established the Nottingham Presbyterian Church in Maryland
sometime before 1724.72 During the early 1740s, the church split into two congregations
due to the ecclesiastical differences created by George Whitefield‘s preaching during the
Great Awakening. Those remaining with the Old Side became known as the ―first
70
MapQuest, http://www.mapquest.com (accessed December 2008). Mileage based on distance
between Chestnut Level, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and Rising Sun, Cecil County, Maryland
(approximately 16 miles.).
71
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 14–15. See chapter 2, footnote 1 of this essay regarding
the Nottingham Lots and the later establishment of the Mason-Dixon Line. Since its physical relocation to
Colora (Cecil County), Maryland, in 1800, the Nottingham Church has been known as the West
Nottingham Presbyterian Church.
72
Samuel A. Gayley, An Historical Sketch of the Lower West Nottingham Presbyterian Church
(Philadelphia: Alfred Martien, 1865), 10–11, 16–17, 27. During the early eighteenth century, Presbyterian
congregations located in Maryland and neighboring Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, looked to the New
Castle Presbytery for assistance in obtaining ministers as well as settling disagreements within the
congregation. In 1732, the Donegal Presbytery (associated with congregations in Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania) was organized; the Nottingham congregation chose to affiliate with those congregations
located in Lancaster County due to their proximity. This affiliation lasted until the Old Side/New Side
controversy split the congregation into two—those adhering to the Old Side tradition maintained a
connection with the Donegal Presbytery, while the other congregation (referred to as the ―second
congregation‖) reestablished ties with the New Castle Presbytery whose constituencies supported New Side
practices.
89
church,‖ while those following the New Side designated themselves as the ―second
church.‖73 Although the Old Side/New Side schism plaguing the Presbyterian Church
resolved itself in 1758, the two Nottingham congregations did not reunite officially until
1792.74 In 1796, the combined congregation, now known as the West Nottingham
Presbyterian Church, relocated approximately four miles to its present site in Colora,
Cecil County, Maryland.75
Connections between the Nottingham Settlement‘s pioneering generation and the
Nottingham (Pennsylvania/Maryland) congregation remain elusive due to the lack of
extant eighteenth-century session records for the two congregations. Therefore, a link
between the Nottingham congregations and the Nottingham Settlement‘s pioneering
generation can only be based on conjecture. In an 1865 history of the West Nottingham
Presbyterian Church, author Samuel Gayley when discussing the church‘s activities
mentions members with similar surnames to those associated with the Nottingham
Settlement in North Carolina—although the relationship between those sharing surnames
in both locations is not clear.
Two ministers known to Presbyterians in the Nottingham
(Pennsylvania/Maryland) area also may have played roles in the lives of Settlement
families before their move to North Carolina. John Thomson, who served Presbyterians
living in southeastern Pennsylvania as early as 1729, upheld the Old Side‘s stance on
traditional Presbyterianism, while Samuel Finley, the minister of the Nottingham
(Pennsylvania/Maryland) New Side congregation from 1744 to 1761, was a strong
73
Gayley, Historical Sketch, 28.
Ibid., 33–34, 41.
75
Ibid., 41.
74
90
proponent of the New Side movement.76 Additionally, both men had close family
members—Thomson‘s son Robert and Finley‘s younger brother George—who purchased
Rowan (Guilford) County Granville land grants in the 1750s.
Upon John Thomson‘s (abt. 1690–1753) emigration to America in 1715, the
Ulster Scot held offices in the Philadelphia Synod of the American Presbyterian Church
and ministered first throughout the New Castle and Donegal Presbyteries.77 In 1730 he
served as moderator for the Nottingham Presbyterian Church, ministering off-and-on
between Nottingham and two neighboring Pennsylvania churches (Middle Octorara and
Chestnut Level) until he and his family departed for Virginia in 1744, where he
ministered to various Presbyterian congregations throughout that colony.78 By 1751,
Thomson had moved to western Rowan County (the section which became Iredell
County in 1788), North Carolina, where he preached to a number of Presbyterian
congregations in the area.79 Thomson died in Rowan County in 1753.80
Samuel Finley (1715–1766) served as the minister of Nottingham
(Pennsylvania/Maryland) Presbyterian Church when the church‘s congregation split in
1746. Originally from County Armagh, Ulster, Ireland, Finley in 1734 migrated with his
extended family to America. He received his formal education at William Tennent‘s Log
College in Pennsylvania and was ordained in the Presbyterian Church in 1740. A
76
Gayley, Historical Sketch, 12–13, 29–31.
John G. Herndon, ―The Reverend John Thomson,‖ pt.1, Journal of the Department of History of
the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. 20 (March, June, September 1942): 116–118. Thomson‘s
biographer determined that Thomson himself always signed his surname without the ―p,‖ but that his
descendants consistently used ―Thompson‖ during their stay in Virginia and from that time forward.
Thomson graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1710 or 1711 and was licensed by the Armagh
Presbytery (Ireland) in 1712.
78
Gayley, Historical Sketch, 13; and Herndon, ―Reverend John Thomson,‖ 20: 132, 134–37, 155.
79
Herndon, ―Reverend John Thomson,‖ pt. 2, Journal of the Department of History of the
Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. 21 (March 1943): 44. One of the congregations associated with
Thomson is Fourth Creek Church.
80
Ibid., 21: 45.
77
91
contemporary of Whitefield, Finley advocated the New Side‘s ideology concerning the
supremacy of a conversion experience over a scholarly knowledge of the Christian faith.
While at Nottingham (Pennsylvania/Maryland), he established (circa 1744) an academy.
In 1761, his academic pursuits led him to be named the president of The College of New
Jersey (now known as Princeton University). Finley died five years later.81
Apparently, members of the Nottingham Settlement in North Carolina did not
suffer long without the ministrations of a Presbyterian clergyman. As early as 1755, the
Synod of Philadelphia sent Reverend Hugh McAden, a missionary from Pennsylvania, to
minister to Presbyterians in North Carolina.82 McAden, a New Side adherent,
encountered the Settlement in late August 1755.83 Historian William Henry Foote reports
that McAden preached at the home of Adam Mitchell.84 McAden wrote in his journal
―‗the people [at Adam Mitchell‘s] seemed solemn and very attentive, but no appearance
of the life of religion.‘‖85 The worshipers‘ lack of enthusiasm and McAden‘s New Side
leanings support Samuel Rankin‘s claim that members of the Nottingham Settlement
supported the Old Side in the controversy.86
In 1756, Nottingham Settlement families organized as a Presbyterian
congregation. This congregation would later become known as the Buffalo Presbyterian
Church (currently located within the Greensboro city limits).87 Presbyterian missionaries
ministered to the congregation until fellow Pennsylvanian Reverend David Caldwell was
81
Samuel Finley, 1715–1766, Biographical Vertical Files (RG 414), Presbyterian Historical
Society (PHS), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
82
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 19.
83
William Henry Foote, Sketches of North Carolina: Historical and Biographical, Illustrative of
the Principles of a Portion of Her Early Settlers (New York: Robert Carter, 1846), 165, 167.
84
Ibid., 167.
85
Foote, Sketches of North Carolina, 167. McAden‘s quotes excerpted from a journal he kept
during his first trip through North Carolina.
86
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 19.
87
Ibid., 19.
92
installed as their first full-time minister in 1768.88 That same year, congregant Adam
Mitchell—the same man visited by McAden thirteen years before—sold one acre to John
McKnight and William Anderson, ―trustees for the Presbyterian Congregation on the
Waters of N. Buffalo . . . for use of a Presbyterian Meeting House to those that are
members of the Synod of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania & New York Synod. . . .‖89 The
land cost the trustees twenty shillings.90
Rev. David Caldwell served as the Buffalo Presbyterian Church‘s minister until
he retired in 1820, four years before his death. (See appendix A.) Educated in America,
Caldwell excelled in his studies first at a classical school run by a Mr. Smith in eastern
Pennsylvania and then at the College of New Jersey. 91
Caldwell did not shy away from working on behalf of his congregation during the
political conflicts troubling colonial North Carolina. In 1771, at the height of the
Regulation movement over unfair taxation, Caldwell approached Royal Governor
William Tryon hoping to ―use his influence in effecting a conciliation‖ between the
governor and the regulators rallying nearby.92 Unfortunately, Caldwell‘s efforts failed.
The Battle of Alamance soon ensued and Robert Thompson, one of the men
accompanying Caldwell into Tryon‘s camp, was executed. Tryon had retained Thompson
as a prisoner after Caldwell returned to the Regulators‘ encampment to broker peace
88
Caruthers, Rev. David Caldwell, 24; and Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 19, 113.
Caldwell‘s biographer claims that members of the Nottingham Settlement were acquainted with Caldwell
when they lived in Pennsylvania and that Caldwell had committed to come as the community‘s minister
after he finished his academic studies and subsequent ordination. Caldwell held dual preaching positions at
this time—the second being with the nearby Alamance Presbyterian Church, a New Side congregation.
89
Rowan Co. Deeds, 7:72.
90
Ibid., 7:72.
91
Caruthers, Rev. David Caldwell, 18–19.
92
Ibid., 148–49. Caldwell had an interest in reconciling the two factions as ―. . . a larger portion of
the men in [Caldwell‘s] congregation were Regulators.‖
93
between the two groups. When Thompson attempted to leave Tryon‘s camp without
permission, Tryon reportedly shot and killed him.93
During the Revolution, Caldwell ―exhorted his hearers . . . to value their liberties
above every thing else and to stand up manfully in their defence.‖94 Caldwell‘s
biographer, Caruthers, claims that Caldwell‘s reputation as a patriot had reached General
Charles, Lord Cornwallis, before that British officer‘s arrival in the vicinity of the
Nottingham Settlement for the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in 1781.95 During this
battle, the British army occupied Caldwell‘s house, destroying his library as well as his
sermons and church records in his possession at the time.96
Before the nineteenth century, the Buffalo Presbyterian Church fulfilled another
role for the Settlement‘s pioneering generation (auxiliary to its primary purpose of
providing religious sustenance). It also supervised the moral conduct of its members.97
Extant session minutes and records of the church cover a limited timeframe (1777 to
1788) and predominantly mention descendants of the pioneering generation rather than
those first members. One exception regarding James Barr hints of the role played by the
church in its regulatory capacity. In October 1779, Barr was brought before the Session
(the pastor and ruling elders) for defaming the Christian character of John Chalmber [sic]
as well as for reportedly being intoxicated ―two or three Months since.‖ 98
93
Caruthers, Rev. David Caldwell, 153.
Ibid., 183.
95
Ibid., 209.
96
Ibid., 223.
97
Buffalo Presbyterian Church, Greensboro, North Carolina. Session Minutes and Records,
Volume 1, June 8, 1768–April 2, 1796, NCDAH (referred to as ―Buffalo Session Minutes‖). The limited,
surviving session minutes record witness depositions for libel cases covering possible sexual misconduct,
theft, lying, murder and even witchcraft,
98
Ibid.; Lefferts A. Loetscher, A Brief History of the Presbyterians, Philadelphia: The
Westminster Press, 1958, 27; and D. K. Sanford, Thomas Thomson and Allan Cunningham, The Popular
Encyclopedia, Glasgow: Blackie & Son, 1841, I:303–4.
94
94
A few of the Nottingham Settlement‘s pioneering generation served the
congregation in a leadership capacity. Samuel M. Rankin lists Adam Mitchell, Thomas
Donnell, Sr., George Rankin and Robert Rankin as men who held the church office of
―ruling elder.‖99 As a ruling elder, these men would have possessed a good deal of
influence within the congregation. As members of the congregation‘s Session, ruling
elders presided over cases brought before the church to either censure or exonerate
church members.
The pioneering generation of the Nottingham Settlement, although a diverse
group of individuals, exhibited similar traits and experiences. Pioneer John McClintock
in many ways exemplifies a typical Settlement member. Reportedly born in Ireland, the
forty-year-old McClintock settled in Rowan (Guilford) County, North Carolina, in
December 1753, when he purchased two Granville land grants designated as Nottingham
Settlement tracts. One of the tracts he sold to another settler (Robert Erwin/Erwine).
Sections of the other he sold to his sons as part of their inheritance. He used this land to
establish and increase his personal wealth. As a landowner, he served on county court
juries several times within a decade of arriving in North Carolina, and also replaced a
fellow member as constable in 1762. His material possessions and wealth (as
demonstrated in his 1807 will) grew to include not only his land but also three enslaved
persons of African descent, farm stock, household furniture, and two hundred dollars
cash.
99
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 122–25. Because of the lack of extant church records for
the eighteenth century, Rankin relied on family traditions to create of list of ruling elders for this time
period.
95
McClintock‘s family included seven children—five of whom may have been born
before the family‘s arrival in North Carolina in 1753 and may have provided him with
additional labor for developing his land. While he did not migrate to North Carolina with
any known siblings, at least one of his children married into another Settlement family.
Upon his death, McClintock provided for his family by dividing his estate among his
wife and children. As with others in the Settlement‘s pioneering generation, he was able
to sign his name legibly (indicating a level of literacy), and he was affiliated with the
Buffalo Presbyterian Church (though he does not appear to have served in a leadership
capacity).
Although some fellow members sired more children, purchased more land or died
within a decade of their arrival in North Carolina, McClintock‘s life demonstrates the
range of collective characteristics and traits found within the Settlement. Whether
intentional or not, these common denominators shape the Nottingham Settlement‘s
identity and allow present historians to better recognize those associated with this
eighteenth-century backcountry community.
96
Chapter Four
The Nottingham Settlement as a Community
In the mid-eighteenth century, a group of families settled in the northeast portion
of what was once Rowan County, North Carolina. Today local and family historians
recognize these families as members of the Nottingham Settlement (also known as the
Nottingham Colony).1 No document survives to tell historians whether or not Settlement
families intended to create a community based on some written or verbal pact made
before or after migrating south. Regardless of whether such arrangements existed, a
number of the pioneering generation left southeastern Pennsylvania and northern
Maryland during the early 1750s and purchased land grants in central North Carolina
from Lord Granville’s leasing agents.
The Nottingham Settlement community stems not from corporate structure or
formal boundaries, but rather from shared characteristics identified in previously studied
eighteenth-century backcountry communities. Some traits were held by few members.
Other characteristics were shared widely and remained constant throughout the
community. Known traits of men of the pioneering generation include kinship ties,
similar ethnic background and social customs, landownership in the same locale, and
Presbyterian Church membership.2
1
For the purpose of this study, any reference to the families associated with the Nottingham
Settlement refers to those families who fit within the perimeters of the majority: i.e., Scots-Irish and
Presbyterian. Because of the community’s rural setting and unrestricted boundaries, families with
dissimilar characteristics and traits also lived in the community. For example, at least two practicing
Quakers (Thomas Beals and James Brittain) purchased one of the original thirty tracts of land designated as
part of the “Nottingham Settlement.” These dissimilar families have been excluded.
2
See biographical information in appendix A.
97
With few exceptions, local and family historians identified the Settlement’s
members as having Scots-Irish backgrounds, showing parallel migration patterns from
Scotland to Ulster, Northern Ireland (mostly in County Derry).3 This Scots-Irish heritage
was defined by a century of religious, economic and political strife that occurred after the
planting of predominantly Presbyterian, Lowland Scots in Northern Ireland, following
King James I’s succession to the English throne. Intended both as a means of subduing
one defiant people (the Roman Catholic Irish) and alleviating the poverty and religious
bickering of another (the Presbyterian Scots), the Irish Plantation scheme suited the
transplanted Scots’ desire for religious and economic independence.
Based on the location of Settlement families in southeastern Pennsylvania (and
north central Maryland) prior to their move to North Carolina, Settlement members or
their immediate ancestors probably entered the colonies at New Castle, in what is now
Delaware. Family history accounts of nuclear and extended families emigrating together
from Ulster and the community’s access to cash afterward (in North Carolina) suggests
that members paid their ship passage before leaving Ireland rather than having to resort to
indenturing themselves in order to finance their passage to America as many young
single immigrants had to do.4
Settlement families were acquainted with one another prior to their arrival in
North Carolina, and family members intermarried (sometimes within the same families).
The social and family connections shared by the pioneering generation before their
arrival in North Carolina stemmed from their geographical proximity while residing in
3
At least two men emigrated to America directly from Scotland.
Because information regarding the emigration of the Settlement’s members (their fathers or
grandfathers) is insufficient to determine the circumstances of their arrival in America, one must speculate
on the members’ immigration experience.
4
98
southern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and northwestern Cecil County, Maryland.
Presbyterian residents of these areas were familiar with each other through the
Presbyterian clergy who ministered to and traveled among them.
The heads of Settlement families owned adjoining tracts of land in the part of
Rowan County now known as Guilford County. Those tracts lay along a stretch of land
approximately sixteen miles wide and nine miles long on or near Buffalo and Reedy Fork
Creeks, tributaries of the Haw River.5 Members of the pioneering generation leased thirty
640-acre tracts from the agents of John Carteret, Lord Granville, which had been reserved
by six men from Pennsylvania’s Lancaster County and Maryland’s Cecil County in 1750.
Eleven men claimed sixteen of the thirty tracts in December 1753 after their arrival in
North Carolina. This generation also purchased nearby tracts to augment their
landholdings.
Social norms established throughout eighteenth-century America held also for the
Nottingham Settlement’s pioneering generation. Upon his death, the head of the
household provided for the care of his wife, supplying her with shelter and a livelihood
until either she remarried or died. Both sons and daughters received bequests in land,
“moveables” or money upon their father’s death.6
The Settlement’s pioneering generation valued literacy. With few exceptions,
household heads could sign their names legibly. Providing subsequent generations
(particularly their sons) educational opportunities was a priority in the community as
5
Earlier settlers to this area also knew the Haw River as the Saxapahaw River.
“Moveables” refers to any personal, household or farm item not permanently attached to the land
or buildings, for example clothing, furniture, farm tools, and crops already harvested.
6
99
reflected by the success of Reverend David Caldwell’s academy which offered its
students a classical education.7
Nottingham Settlement members were religious people associated with the
Presbyterian Church. This adherence to Presbyterianism had led prior generations from
Scotland to Ireland and then to Pennsylvania, and later to North Carolina. Although a
schism produced by the Great Awakening in the mid-1740s had divided Presbyterian
congregations in Pennsylvania and may have led to their relocation, the Settlement
formed a congregation (now known as the Buffalo Presbyterian Church) within five years
of migrating to North Carolina and in 1768 built a meeting house on land once owned by
a Settlement member.8 Their official status in the colony as dissenters led them to petition
the King and Lord Granville for exemption from the vestry tax that supported the
established Church of England.
Although each family’s wealth prior to their migration to North Carolina is
unknown, it is clear that household heads had the means to purchase Granville land
grants and also additional land for which they paid cash. At a time when specie was
scarce in North Carolina, the presence of local and foreign coins indicates that the
Settlement’s pioneering generation was relatively wealthy and successful in increasing
7
E. W. Caruthers, A Sketch of the Life and Character of the Rev. David Caldwell, D.D.: Near
Sixty Years Pastor of the Churches of Buffalo and Alamance (Greensborough, N.C.: Swaim & Sherwood,
1842), 29. While he does not mention specifically children of the Nottingham Settlement attending
Caldwell’s school, Caruthers provides a veiled reference to this probability as its operation was “necessary .
. . for the improvement of the community at large.” (29) Caruthers also states that Caldwell school
“continued, with two or three short interruptions, until he was disqualified by the infirmities of age.” (29)
8
Ibid., 24; and Samuel M. Rankin, A History of Buffalo Presbyterian Church and Her People,
Greensboro, N.C. (Greensboro, N.C.: Jos. J. Stone & Co, [1934?]), 19, 113. Presbyterian congregations
divided between those who remained true to the more traditional viewpoints of the church (“Old Side”) and
those who embraced a conversion-oriented Christianity (“New Side”). From all accounts, the congregation
created by the Nottingham Settlement’s families (which became the Buffalo Presbyterian Church)
supported the Old Side. Although several of the families must have come from Samuel Finley’s New Side
church (Nottingham Presbyterian Church) in Cecil County, Maryland, the Old Side families apparently
outnumbered the New Side supporters within the Settlement’s membership.
100
their wealth.9 Land transactions support the members’ use of the several forms of legal
tender found within the Colonies.10 The wills of the pioneering generation provide insight
as well. The listing of “book debts” suggests that surplus goods sold to others were paid
for in cash or that surplus money was available to loan. Some household heads
maintained libraries, presumably purchased during their time in the South.
Several of the Settlement’s pioneering generation owned slaves. Unlike colonial
North Carolina’s coastal landowners, those living in the Piedmont utilized limited slave
forces.11 Where Settlement households initially included one or two enslaved persons of
African descent, a few among the pioneering generation later increased the number of
enslaved persons in their possession. The existence of more than one enslaved person in a
household denotes the family’s financial ability to acquire and maintain such labor.
Motives for Migrating to North Carolina
The Nottingham Settlement migrated south to the backcountry for several
reasons. Any combination of these reasons may have persuaded the families to leave
Pennsylvania and Maryland. The most important factor was the opportunity to purchase
farm land and increase their income. The prospect of owning productive land in
Pennsylvania and Maryland dwindled during the eighteenth century. By mid-century,
much of the good land had already been purchased and improved by earlier immigrants.
9
Hugh Talmage Lefler and Albert Ray Newsome, North Carolina: The History of a Southern
State, 2nd ed. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1963), 103.
10
Many times these transactions would state the colony from which the currency required or used
came (e.g., Pennsylvania, Virginia or North Carolina).
11
Harry Roy Merrens, Colonial North Carolina in the Eighteenth Century: A Study in Historical
Geography (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1964), 76–79. Merrens’ tables and maps
demonstrate the low number of enslaved persons residing in the Carolina backcountry versus those found in
Tidewater counties.
101
The land that was for sale was either too expensive or of poor quality. The continual
influx of immigrants from Europe only added to the already strained real estate market.
The southern backcountry, and North Carolina in particular, provided prospective
landowners with greater opportunity. Under Granville’s land grant program, purchasers
could obtain virgin farm and timber land for a moderate price. Although Granville
restricted the number of acres a man could purchase, the average size of a tract in Rowan
County measured about 640 acres.
In the eighteenth century, landownership was often equated with economic
independence and sometimes wealth. Owning large amounts of farm acreage allowed the
Settlement’s pioneering generation to shift from subsistence farming to growing cash
crops, such as wheat, and raising livestock that could be sold at market. The acceptance
of slave labor in the southern backcountry supported this move to commercialization.
Several minor events affecting the inhabitants of Pennsylvania also may have
influenced the Settlement families’ decisions to migrate to North Carolina. As early as
1716, Pennsylvania’s government encouraged immigrants to settle on land originally
allocated to the Maryland colony. Lancaster County then asserted control over the settlers
residing in this region. The demarcation of the Mason-Dixon Line in 1768 ended the
decades-old dispute over the boundary between the two colonies, thereby placing a small
section of then southern Lancaster County within the jurisdiction of Cecil County
(Maryland). Some of the Settlement’s families lived in this section of Lancaster County
and may have realized that the impending resolution of the boundary dispute, regardless
of when it occurred, might not support their desire to remain under the auspices of the
102
Pennsylvania government. As well, insecurity of land titles and increasing demand of
taxes in this disputed region urged Settlement families to consider migrating.
The reasons for founding the Nottingham Settlement remain elusive and
intriguing. The limitations of the extant documentation regarding the Nottingham
Settlement and its participants restrict historians from discerning which factors most
affected the pioneering generation’s decisions to migrate. Until the discovery of further
evidence, historians must rely on the currently available documentation and supplement it
innovatively with substantiated family histories.
In the past, local and family historians have had to rely on limited histories to
explain the actions of early Guilford County residents. Samuel M. Rankin’s Buffalo
Presbyterian Church history attempted to fill in gaps left by family genealogies generated
before the 1930s.12 Although Rankin’s efforts provided family researchers with a
foundation for understanding these settlers’ actions, his interpretation of the available
historical records only scratched the surface. Since the publication of Rankin’s
quintessential work, little has been published investigating further the Settlement’s
existence.
My community study supports much of what Rankin presented seventy years
before as well as expounds further on areas Rankin ignored. Now family historians can
expand their current views of Nottingham Settlement members beyond that of just birth
and death facts. By presenting information on practices regarding land ownership,
society, religion and wealth, this study encourages historians to broaden their
12
See Samuel M. Rankin, A History of Buffalo Presbyterian Church and Her People, Greensboro,
N.C. (Greensboro, N.C.: Jos. J. Stone & Co, [1934?]).
103
interpretations of how Settlement members may have lived as well as how they interacted
with each other and the larger communities in which they existed, whether in North
Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maryland or Ireland.
Without comprehensive and systematic documentation, historians gain from the
application of other methods to reveal the nature of a community and the possible
motives of its members. From a survey of scholarly works on the backcountry it is
possible to recognize that the Nottingham Settlement’s pioneering generation exhibited
traits and practices similar to those found in other communities located in the colonial
South. Knowledge of events which affected the Scots-Irish immigrant’s life in colonial
Pennsylvania and North Carolina affords insight into the pioneering generation’s
behavior and mindset. Most importantly, the analysis of gathered biographical
information from a sampling of the pioneering generation provides a catalog of common
experiences and actions from which the nature and experience of the Settlement’s
community comes to light and becomes alive. The combination of all methods of
research enables the creation of a community identity similar to other backcountry
communities and yet unique to the Nottingham Settlement.
104
Appendix A
Brief Biographies for a Selection of the Pioneering Generation
The following men and women represent a small sample of the pioneering
generation that created the Nottingham Settlement community. I have chosen them based
on one of the following criteria: (A) the person or her spouse purchased one of the
original thirty Granville land grants;1 (B) the person is of the pioneering generation and
appears prominently within the lives of one or more of those original land purchasers; (C)
either Samuel Rankin or Fred Hughes considered the person to be one of the original
purchasers of the thirty tracts.2 Unless otherwise marked, all were associated with the
Buffalo Presbyterian Church and buried in the old section of the Buffalo Presbyterian
Church Cemetery.3
To provide easy and consistent access to information in the following biographies,
I have created a format based loosely on one employed by the authors of Robert Cole’s
World.4 As in Robert Cole’s World, I have italicized the names of (other) pioneers of the
Nottingham Settlement to demonstrate the kinship relationships between community
families. For better identification of those bearing the same given name and surname, I
have included birth and death dates when available. I have abbreviated the names of
states and countries as well as the following as a means of reducing the size of each
1
As named on the Granville lease itself.
Samuel M. Rankin, A History of Buffalo Presbyterian Church and Her People, Greensboro, N.C.
(Greensboro, N.C.: Jos. J. Stone & Co, [1934]), 22–31; Fred Hughes, Guilford County: A Map Supplement
(Jamestown, N.C.: Custom House, 1988), 51–52.
3
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 22–31; and Raymond Dufau Donnell, comp., Buffalo
Presbyterian Church and Cemetery, Greensboro, North Carolina (Greensboro, N.C.: Guilford County
Genealogical Society, 1994).
4
Lois Green Carr, Russell R. Menard and Lorena S. Walsh, Robert Cole’s World: Agriculture and
Society in Early Maryland (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991), 241–67.
2
105
entry—Co. = County; abt.= about; aft.= after; bef. = before; m. = married. Guilford Co.,
Orange Co., Rowan (Guilford) Co., and Rowan Co. refer to locations in North Carolina.
Many of the Nottingham Settlement‘s pioneering generation left little trace of
themselves or their lives. To supply a broader understanding of this sample of settlers, I
first rely on personal information given in such sources as land conveyance, probate and
official county records as well as secondary sources published between the midnineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. I supplement this meager gleaning of information
with family genealogical information found in self-published books and on Internet Web
sites.
SHORT LIST OF SOURCES
Granville Grants
Secretary of State Record Group, Granville
Proprietary Land Office: Land Entries, Warrants,
and Plats of Survey. North Carolina Department of
Archives and History, Raleigh
Guilford Co. Deeds
Guilford Co. Record of Deeds
Guilford Co. Wills
Guilford Co. Record of Wills
Guilford Wills
Guilford County Wills, 1771–1968, North Carolina
Department of Archives and History, Raleigh
Orange Co. Deeds
Orange Co. Record of Deeds
Orange Co. Minutes
Orange County Minutes of the Court of Pleas and
Quarter Sessions
106
Rankin Genealogical Papers
Rankin, Samuel Meek (1864–1939) Genealogical
Papers, Southern Historical Collection, University
of North Carolina Library.
Rowan Co. Minutes
Rowan County Minutes of the Court of Pleas and
Quarter Sessions
Rowan Co. Deeds
Rowan Co. Record of Deeds
Rowan Estate Records
Rowan County Estate Records, North Carolina
Department of Archives and History, Raleigh
Rowan Co. Wills
Rowan Co. Record of Wills
Rowan Wills
Rowan County Wills, 1743–1971, North Carolina
Department of Archives and History, Raleigh
James Barr (?–1805?)5
BORN: in Petinian, Lanarkshire, Scotland.6 IMMIGRATED: possibly between 1743 and
1754, probably abt. 1746.7 DIED: reportedly in Pittsylvania Co., Va.8 BURIAL:
unknown. FAMILY BACKGROUND. FATHER: unknown. MOTHER: unknown.
5
Although I have not been able to confirm it, evidence suggests that a second, unrelated ―James
Barr‖ lived in Rowan County during the time that a James Barr obtained a Granville land grant in
December 1753. Family historians claim that the James Barr associated with the Nottingham Settlement
community died in Pittsylvania Co., Va., in 1805, based on the pension record of son James (see footnote
8). After comparing the signature on the land grant against the signature on the 1785 will found in Rowan
Co., I have concluded that the two were made by two different men bearing the same name. Therefore the
1785 Rowan Co. will and its accompanying estate inventory will not be included here. James Barr, 389
acres, Rowan (December 1, 1753), Granville Grants; Will of James Barr (1785), Rowan Wills; Estate
Inventory for James Barr (1792), Rowan Estate Records.
6
K. Kennedy, ―Elton-Jones-Kennedy-Brazzil,‖ http://www.rootsweb.com (accessed October 7,
2008).
7
Ibid.
8
LaVerne Rogers, ―Re: James, Robert and John,‖ http://genforum.genealogy.com (accessed
October 7, 2008). Annie Walker Burns, North Carolina Pension Abstracts of Soldiers of the Revolutionary
War: War of 1812 and Indian Wars (Washington, D. C.: Annie Walker Burns, n.d.), 9:21. Pension records
for James Barr (Jr.), S31537, state that his father, James Barr, Sr., was living in Pittsylvania Co., Va., in
1781.
107
SIBLINGS: unknown. MARRIED Agnes (surname unknown) (abt. 1719–1796).9
CHILDREN. SONS: David (1743–1811); Robert (1754–1838), who m. Isabell Allison
in 1776; John (1755–1820); James (1762–1841).10 DAUGHTER: Jean (1755–?), who m.
(1) (given name unknown) Walker and (2) Adam Scott, the grandson of Samuel Scott.11
PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: level of literacy unclear; Barr‘s signature appears
on his 1753 Granville Grant, indicating an ability to write his name.12 OCCUPATION:
farmer. CHURCH ACTIVITY: brought before the Session of North Buffalo on October
22, 1779, for defaming the Christian character of John Chalmber [sic] and for reportedly
being drunk ―two or three Months since.‖13 PUBLIC CAREER. COUNTY OFFICES:
appointed as constable for one year in 1757.14 MINOR OFFICES: served on grand jury in
November 1754.15 ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: gave evidence in John McClintock‘s
suit against Hugh Foster.16 WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. LAND: obtained a
Granville land grant containing 389 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for three shillings
proclamation money (and fifteen shillings and seven pence yearly rent) on December 1,
1753.17 WEALTH AT DEATH. LAND AND PERSONAL PROPERTY: unable to
determine. No record of a will or estate inventory has been located.
9
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 22; and Donnell, Buffalo Cemetery, 6.
Kennedy, ―Elton-Jones-Kennedy-Brazzil.‖
11
Ibid.; and Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 22. Some Barr family historians believe other
children may exist, but do not list their names.
12
James Barr, 389 acres, Rowan, Granville Grants.
13
Buffalo Presbyterian Church, Greensboro, North Carolina, Session Minutes and Records,
Volume 1, June 8, 1768-April 2, 1796, North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh.
14
Rowan Co. Minutes, 2:159, 204. Due to the lack of clarity on the microfilm for the ―Minutes,‖ I
have listed here the page numbers for the ―Minutes‖ as provided by Jo White Linn in Abstracts of the
Minutes of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions, Rowan County, North Carolina, 1753-1762
(Salisbury, N.C.: Linn, 1977) and Abstracts of the Minutes of the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions,
Rowan County, North Carolina, 1763-1774 (Salisbury, N.C.: Linn, 1979).
15
Rowan Co. Minutes, 1:45.
16
Ibid., 1:198.
17
James Barr, 389 acres, Rowan, Granville Grants; Rowan Co. Deeds, 3:280.
10
108
John Blair (abt. 1700–abt. 1772)18
BORN: possibly in Scotland. 19 IMMIGRATED: possibly about 1746, Baltimore Co.,
Md. 20 DIED: in Guilford Co. FAMILY BACKGROUND. FATHER: unknown.
MOTHER: unknown. BROTHER: James (?–1776), who m. Mary (surname unknown).21
MARRIED Martha Blythe? (?–aft. 1772), possibly in Scotland or Ire. bef. 1738.22
CHILDREN. SONS: Hugh (abt. 1718–abt. 1783), who m. Mary Dawson in Ulster, Ire.;
William (abt. 1726–?); Andrew (abt. 1729–?); Joseph (abt. 1732–?); Thomas (1738–
1825), who m. Jane/Jean (Ruth) McCuiston, widow of Robert McCuiston, son of James
McCuiston; James (abt. 1740–?), who m. Ann Hays; and John (abt. 1742–1778), who m.
Jean (surname unknown).23 DAUGHTERS: Martha Jane (abt. 1735–?), who m. John
Pyatt. 24 ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: possibly emigrated with wife and older children
from northern Ire.25 PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: level of literacy unclear; his
signature appears on his will, indicating an ability to write his name.26 OCCUPATION:
18
Guilford Co., Record of Wills, A:27; In A History of Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 23, Rankin
claims that the ―John Blair‖ who purchased one of the land grants from Thomas McCuiston in 1756 was
married to Jean and had four sons (Thomas, John, Andrew and Jonathan) and two daughters (Jean and
Martha); while Lucy Echels Blair, compiler of John Blair of Guilford County, North Carolina and Some of
His Descendants (Lamesa, Tex., 1979), claims that it was John Blair, Sr., father of Rankin‘s John Blair,
who purchased the land. Two ―John Blairs‖ have wills recorded in the Guilford Co. Record of Wills, Book
A—John Sr.‘s in 1772 and his son‘s in 1778. Based on the contents of these wills, I have surmised that
John Blair, Sr., not his son, initially purchased land in Rowan (Guilford) Co. in the 1750s. Therefore I rely
more heavily on Blair‘s text rather than Rankin‘s. Variant spelling of surname includes BLEAR.
19
Blair, comp., John Blair, 10.
20
Ibid.; and Rowan Co. Deeds, 4:647–49. Indenture between Thomas McCuiston and John Blair
recognizes Blair as being from Baltimore Co., Maryland.
21
Blair, John Blair, 9.
22
Tom Buchanan, ―The Buchanan Family Database‖ http://awt.ancestry.com (accessed July 16,
2007). Family history states that all of the sons were born before 1756, which implies that John and Martha
married before coming to North Carolina.
23
Blair, John Blair, 14; and Guilford Co. Wills, A:27. Although the will (dated October 8, 1770)
names no other children besides John Jr. as John Sr.‘s heirs, it does refer to the existence of other children.
24
Blair, John Blair, 14–28; Buchanan, ―Buchanan Family Database;‖ and Guilford Co. Wills,
A:27. Although the will (dated October 8, 1770) names no other children besides John Jr. as John Sr.‘s
heirs, it does refer to the existence of other children;
25
Blair, John Blair, 25.
26
Will of John Blair (1772), Guilford Wills.
109
―planter‖ (farmer).27 PUBLIC CAREER. COUNTY OFFICES: unknown. MINOR
OFFICES: unknown. WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. LAND: purchased 550 acres
(recognized as No. 25 of the thirty Nottingham Settlement tracts) in Rowan (Guilford)
Co. from Thomas McCuiston Sr. for five shillings in November 1761, and sold the same
tract to Reverend David Caldwell for five shillings sterling in January 1765; purchased
640 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. from James McCuiston Sr. for five shillings in
November 1761.28 ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: a John Blair of Williamsburg, Va., also
purchased 298 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. from Robert Jones, Jr., Sussex Co., Va.29
WEALTH AT DEATH. LAND: left unspecified number of acres to son John.30
PERSONAL PROPERTY: the extent of his property is unknown, although the will
specifies that ―five shillings sterling‖ be given ―to each and every one‖ of his children.31
David Caldwell (1725–1824)32
BORN: in Lancaster Co., Penn.33 DIED: in Guilford Co.34 FAMILY BACKGROUND.
FATHER: Andrew Caldwell.35 MOTHER: Martha (surname unknown).36 SIBLINGS:
27
Guilford Co. Wills, A:27.
Rowan Co. Deeds, 4:647–49, 6:39
29
Ibid., 3:502–3. It is unclear whether this is the same John Blair who purchased land from
Thomas McCuiston in 1761.
30
Guilford Co. Wills, A:27.
31
Ibid., A:27.
32
E. W. Caruthers, A Sketch of the Life and Character of the Rev. David Caldwell, D.D.
(Greensborough, N.C.: Swaim & Sherwood, 1842), 10; and William Henry Foote, Sketches of North
Carolina: Historical and Biographical, Illustrative of the Principles of a Portion of Her Early Settlers
(New York: Robert Carter, 1846), 234.
33
Caruthers, Rev. David Caldwell, 10.
34
David Andrew Caldwell, David Caldwell, 1725–1824: Pennsylvania Colonial Pioneer,
Princeton Scholar, North Carolina Educator and Physician, Presbyterian Minister, Revolutionary War
Patriot, and a Founding Father of the Bill of Rights (San Jose, Calif.: David Andrew Caldwell, 2000), 25.
35
Caruthers, Rev. David Caldwell, 10.
36
Ibid., 10.
28
110
Andrew (?–?); Alexander (?–abt. 1782); John (?–?).37 MARRIED Rachel Craighead (?–
abt. 1825), daughter of Alexander Craighead (?–1776), Presbyterian minister in
Mecklenburg Co., N.C., in 1766.38 CHILDREN. SONS: Samuel C. (?–abt. 1767), who
m. (1) Abigail Bane Alexander and (2) Elizabeth Lindsey; Alexander (?–?), who m.
Sarah Davidson; Andrew (?–?),who never m.; Thomas (?–?), who m. Elizabeth Doak in
1813; David (?–?), who m. Susan Clark in 1811; John Washington (?–?), who m. (1)
Martha Davis in 1800 and (2) Margaret Cabe in 1822; James Edmund (?–?), who never
m.; Robert C. (?–?), who m. (1) Maria B. Latta in 1823, (2) Marjorie Woodburn in 1850
and (3) Mary Clancy in 1855.39 DAUGHTER: Martha ―Patsy‖ (?–1792), who never m.40
PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: graduated from the College of New Jersey in
1761. 41 OCCUPATION: house carpenter (apprenticed in youth); college tutor and
―assistant teacher in the department of languages‖ at Princeton University; farmer;
Presbyterian minister and church leader (1768–1820); educator.42 ADDITIONAL
COMMENTS: came to Rowan (Guilford) Co. as early as 1765 after the Presbytery of
New Brunswick, N.J., ordained him; established a ―log cabin‖ academy (abt. 1767),
which provided a classical education to students from throughout the South who would
become lawyers, judges, ministers and physicians.43 PUBLIC CAREER. COUNTY
OFFICES: named overseer of the road from McDowell‘s ford to Caldwell‘s saw mill.44
MINOR OFFICES: served as a juror in Rowan Co. court in August 1771 and August
37
38
Caruthers, Rev. David Caldwell, 11–12.
Ibid., 26, 28; Foote, Sketches of North Carolina, 242; and Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church,
38.
39
Foote, Sketches of North Carolina, 195–196; Caldwell, David Caldwell, 25; and Rankin, Buffalo
Presbyterian Church, 38.
40
Ibid.
41
Caruthers, Rev. David Caldwell, 19.
42
Ibid., 14, 20, 22; and Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 114.
43
Caruthers, Rev. David Caldwell, 22, 30–31.
44
Rowan Co. Minutes, 4:30.
111
1774; served on jury to determine location of a road from the North side of the South fork
of the Yadkin River to Salisbury in August 1772; assisted in determining the location of
road leading to the Fork Road in November 1772.45 WEALTH DURING LIFETIME.
LAND: purchased 550 acres (recognized as No. 25 of the thirty Nottingham Settlement
tracts) in Rowan (Guilford) Co. from John Blair for five shillings sterling in January
1765; purchased 480 acres in Rowan Co. from James Martin and wife Jane for £100
proclamation money in February 1769, and sold 226 acres of the same tract in Rowan Co.
to James Smith for five shillings sterling in December 1773; obtained 638 acres in Rowan
Co. from the State of N.C. in November 1785.46 WEALTH AT DEATH. In his will,
dated March 14, 1822, Caldwell listed the following property to be distributed among his
wife and children—LAND: the tract of land (amount of acreage not specified) Caldwell
bought from the Mabans which adjoins son David‘s land; the land upon which Caldwell
resided and the adjoining tract called ―Meadow‖ (amount of acreage not specified); and a
tract of land called ―Dreely Place‖ (amount of acreage not specified).47 PERSONAL
PROPERTY: ten enslaved males (Bill, Sam, Washington, Tom, Joe, George, Tim, Eade,
Charles, and Israel) and eight enslaved females (Kate, ―Chartolle,‖ Ally, Margaret, Beck,
Patts, Lilet?, and Betty) of African descent; four beds, bedroom furniture and furniture to
furnish a room; ―Borehaves & Vansweadens works‖ (unclear whether works of art or
some other item); Caldwell‘s book collection (specifically his collection of Hebrew
books); farm stock (including a mule) and tools; $650 as well as any money owed
Caldwell in Lancaster Co., Penn. (presumably some sort of inheritance). For the care of
45
Rowan Co. Minutes, 3:294–95; 4:37–38; 3:358; 3:379.
Rowan Co. Deeds, 6:39, 7:74, 8:196–98, 10:238.
47
Guilford Co. Wills, B:184.
46
112
three invalid children (Alexander, Edmund and Patsey) he left ―$40.00 four thousand
dollars.‖48
John Cunningham (1725–1762)49
BORN: probably in Lancaster Co., Penn.50 DIED: in Rowan (Guilford) Co. FAMILY
BACKGROUND. FATHER: John Cunningham (1685 in Ulster, Ire.–1759 in Hanover
Twp., Lancaster Co., Penn.).51 MOTHER: unknown. BROTHERS: William Cunningham
(1720–1753) of Lancaster Co., Penn.; and Humphrey Cunningham (abt. 1730 in
Lancaster Co., Penn.–1806 in Buncombe Co., N.C.).52 MARRIED Isabell (surname
unknown) (abt. 1725–?), in Penn.53 CHILDREN. SON: John (after November 1762–?),
who m. (1) Margaret Donnell, daughter of James Donnell (possibly a brother of Thomas
and Robert Donnell) in 1786, (2) Mary Mitchell, daughter of Adam Mitchell, in 1799, and
(3) Mary/Polly Findley, granddaughter of George Finley, in 1818.54 DAUGHTERS:
Margaret (?–?), who m. (1) John Work and (2) Patrick McGibboney; and Jane/Jean (?–?),
who m. William Wilson in 1774.55 ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: the will confirms that
son John had not been born and that his daughters were still young at the time of
48
Guilford Co. Wills, B:184. The will is unclear if Caldwell meant to write $44,000.00 or some
other monetary denomination.
49
Peggy Conley, ―Peggy Leyva-Conley, Hendersonville, Tennessee (Suberb of Nashville).
Formerly of Hollister, CA,‖ http://wc.rootsweb.com (accessed February 22, 2007).
50
Ibid.
51
Ibid.
52
Ibid.
53
Rowan Co. Wills, A:41. Some claim Isabell‘s maiden name was Findley, based on her
husband‘s will wherein he leaves his apparel to one George Findley, the only apparently non-family
member in the will. More likely, George Finley is John Cunningham‘s brother-in-law, as George married
one Elizabeth Cunningham.
54
Ruth F. Thompson and Louise J. Hartgrove, comp., Abstracts of the Marriage Bonds &
Additional Data, Guilford County, North Carolina: Volume I, 1771–1840 (Greensboro, N.C.: Guilford
County Genealogical Society, 1995), 40; Rankin Genealogical Papers; and Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian
Church, 34.
55
Rankin Genealogical Papers.
113
Cunningham‘s death.56 PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: level of literacy unclear;
his signature appears on his Granville land grants and his will, indicating an ability to
write his name.57 OCCUPATION: farmer; petitioned in October 1755 ―to keep a Tavern
at his own Plantation,‖ receiving permission in January 1756.58 PUBLIC CAREER.
COUNTY OFFICES: appointed as a constable for Rowan Co. under Thomas Donnell, in
1761 for one year.59 MINOR OFFICES: served as a juror for Rowan Co. grand and petit
courts from 1754 to 1762, the grand jury in Wilmington in May 1755, and the Superior
Court for Rowan Co. and Anson Co. in 1760; was a litigant against Hugh Foster in 1757
in which Cunningham received £7 19s 5p as an award against him; and posted security
for a bond in 1758.60 WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. LAND: obtained two Granville
land grants each containing 640 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for three shillings
proclamation money (and twenty shillings and seven and a half pence yearly rent) per
tract on December 3, 1753; leased for one year 640 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. which
adjoined Henry Ballinger‘s land to Ballinger for £50 (Virginia money) in July 1755;
purchased 320 acres in neighboring Orange Co. from Giles Tillet for £5 in March 1756;
and purchased 337 acres in Orange Co. from Isack Simmons for £10 in April 1756.61
WEALTH AT DEATH. In his will, dated March 8, 1762, Cunningham listed the
following to be divided into equal parts between his wife, two daughters and unborn
child—LAND: bequeathed his land to this (unborn) son.62 PERSONAL PROPERTY:
56
Rowan Co. Wills, A:41.
Will of John Cunningham (1762), Rowan Wills; and John Cunningham, 640 acres, Rowan
(December 3, 1753), Granville Grants.
58
Rowan Co. Minutes, 2:97.
59
Ibid., 2:319, 361
60
Ibid., 1:45, 2:59, 91, 102, 193, 201, 220, 238, 267, 294.
61
John Cunningham, 640, Rowan (December 3, 1753), Granville Grants; Rowan Co. Deeds,
3:168–71; Rowan Co. Deeds, 2:112–15; and Orange Co. Deeds, 1:222–24.
62
Rowan Co. Wills, A:41.
57
114
three riding saddles; his wearing apparel (to George Findley); £617 11s 5p along with
$40 in silver, eight doubloons and one Chakun.63
William Denny (1713–1770)64
BORN: County Tyrone, Ulster, Ire.65 IMMIGRATED: possibly 1736.66 DIED: in Rowan
(Guilford) Co. FAMILY BACKGROUND. FATHER: unknown. MOTHER: unknown.
BROTHER: James (1715–1790 in Guilford Co.), who m. Mary Agness Aldren.67
SISTER: Elizabeth (1718–?), who m. William Paisley in 1768, Rowan Co.68 MARRIED
Anne (surname unknown).69 CHILDREN. SONS: James (1740–1779), who m. Mary
Donnell, daughter of Robert Donnell Sr.; and William (1746–1823), who m. Margaret
Paisley.70 DAUGHTERS: Jean (1739–?), who m. Robert Rankin in 1755, Rowan
(Guilford) Co.; Hannah (1742–?); Agnes (1745–?), who m. James Donnell, son of
Thomas Donnell, in 1765; Catrine (?–?) and Margaret (?–?).71 PRIVATE CAREER.
EDUCATION: level of literacy unclear; his signature appears on his will, indicating an
ability to write his name.72 OCCUPATION: farmer. PUBLIC CAREER. MINOR
OFFICES: served as a juror on Rowan Co. petit court in November 1755 and as a juror
63
Rowan Co. Wills, A:41; and Rowan Co. Minutes, 2:470. Cunningham named Thomas Donnell
as one of his executors along with his wife, Isabell, and William Denny. Inventory of Cunningham‘s estate
entered in Rowan Co. Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions in July 1763.
64
Rowan Co. Wills, A:31–32; and Frances Laleman, ―Winds of Time,‖
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com (accessed June 20, 2008).
65
Laleman, ―Winds of Time.‖
66
Ibid. Based on information provided in ―The Guilford Genealogist‖ (14, no. 1), family historians
believe that Denny may have come to America with his siblings, one of whom (James Denny) arrived in
Boston, Massachusetts.
67
Laleman, ―Winds of Time.‖
68
Ibid.
69
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 29.
70
Ibid.; Rowan Co. Wills, A:31–32; and Laleman, ―Winds of Time.‖
71
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 29; Rowan Co. Wills, A:31–32; and Laleman, ―Winds of
Time.‖
72
Rowan Co. Wills, A:31–32.
115
on Rowan Co. superior court in September 1762; assisted Robert Thompson, Thomas
Donnell and Robert Erwin in laying off one acre of John Cunningham’s estate for a
public mill.73 ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: named co-executor for John Cunningham’s
estate along with Cunningham‘s wife and Thomas Donnell.74 WEALTH DURING
LIFETIME. LAND: purchased a 640 acre tract in Rowan (Guilford) Co. from Robert
Rankin in April 1755.75 PERSONAL PROPERTY: In 1759, the Rowan County tax list
records one enslaved person of African descent along with William Denny as a taxable.
By 1768, the number of taxables increases to four, including Denny, son William, and
one enslaved male and one enslaved female of African descent.76 WEALTH AT
DEATH. In his will, dated August 13, 1766, Denny listed the following to be bequeathed
to his wife, two daughters and unborn child—LAND: land in Rowan (Guilford) Co. and
Orange Co. PERSONAL PROPERTY: one enslaved male (Tom) and one enslaved
female (Dina) of African descent; an annuity of twenty bushels of corn and ten bushels of
wheat (for wife Anne), one cow, tools, plow and tackle, one horse, three spinning wheels,
and £90 40s (N.C. currency).77
73
Rowan Co. Minutes, 2:91, 426, 427.
Rowan Co. Wills, A:41.
75
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 29.
76
Jo White Linn, Rowan County, North Carolina Tax Lists 1757-1800: Annotated Transcriptions
(Salisbury, N.C.: Linn, 1995), 24, 73.
77
Rowan Co. Wills, A:31–32.
74
116
Robert Donnell Sr. (1728?–1816?)78
BORN: unknown.79 IMMIGRATED: unknown. DIED: supposedly Rockingham Co.,
N.C. FAMILY BACKGROUND. FATHER: William H. MacDonnell (1681 in Glencoe,
Argyll, Scotland–1730 in Kent Co., Del.80 MOTHER: Mary Boyle (1687 in Leinster,
County Wicklow, Ire.–?).81 BROTHER: Thomas Donnell.82 MARRIED Mary (surname
unknown).83 CHILDREN. SONS: Robert; John; Thomas; William, who married Martha
Denny, daughter of William Denny. DAUGHTERS: Mary, who m. (1) James Denny (?–
1779), son of William Denny, and (2) John McAdoo in 1782; Margaret.84 PRIVATE
CAREER. EDUCATION: level of literacy unclear; his signature appears on his
Granville land grants, indicating an ability to write his name.85 OCCUPATION: farmer.
PUBLIC CAREER. COUNTY OFFICES: unknown. MINOR OFFICES: unknown.
WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. LAND: obtained a Granville land grant containing
560 acres (identified as No. 26 of the thirty Nottingham Settlement tracts) in Rowan
(Guilford) Co. for three shillings proclamation money (and twenty-two shillings and five
78
Ernest Donnell, ―Ernest Donnell,‖ http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com (accessed October 4, 2008).
Rankin (Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 24, 42) advocates the existence of another ―Robert Donnell‖ living
in Rowan (Guilford) Co. during this time. Both men supposedly married women named ―Mary‖ and owned
land in the area. Because no definitive birth or death dates exist for either man, it is difficult to determine
which facts belong with whom. Whether Rankin is correct or not, I have endeavored to list here only
information that I have judged to be accurate for this Robert Donnell. The Donnell name took varying
forms and spellings, such as Donall, Daniel, Donald and even MacDonald and MacDonnell, both in Ireland
and America. Donnell family tradition reports that ―in 1790 the Donnell families had a great reunion, and
one of the old men laughingly said, ‗What do you suppose has become of the ―O‖ we cast overboard at sea
by this time?‖; indicating that the family name might have been ―O‘Donald‖ before they emigrated from
Ireland. Rankin Genealogical Papers.
79
Donnell, ―Ernest Donnell.‖ Traditionally, family historians have claimed Robert Donnell was
born in Ulster, Ireland, but recent family historians now believe he was born in Mill Creek Hundred,
Delaware.
80
Ibid.
81
Ibid.
82
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 24.
83
Ibid.
84
Rankin Genealogical Papers.
85
Robert Donnell, 560 acres, Rowan (December 1, 1753), Granville Grants.
117
pence yearly rent) on December 1, 1753, and sold this tract to Robert Mitchell for £11 7s
in October 1762; received 650 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. from Thomas Donnell on
August 10, 1759; obtained a Granville land grant containing 490 acres in Rowan
(Guilford) Co. for ten shillings sterling (and nineteen shillings and seven and one-half
pence yearly rent) on December 21, 1761, and sold this tract to William Truesdale for
£20 in April 1764; purchased 307 acres in Guilford Co. from James Duff and wife for
£153 15s in April 1774, and sold the same tract to John Foster for £170 in February
1778.86 WEALTH AT DEATH. LAND and PERSONAL PROPERTY: unable to
determine. No record of a will or estate inventory has been located.
Thomas Donnell (1712-1795)87
BORN: unclear.88 IMMIGRATED: unclear.89 DIED: reportedly in Guilford Co.90
FAMILY BACKGROUND. FATHER: William H. MacDonnell (1681 in Glencoe,
Argyll, Scotland–1730 in Kent Co., Del.91 MOTHER: Mary Boyle (1687 in Leinster,
County Wicklow, Ire.–?).92 BROTHERS: Robert Donnell Sr. (1728?–1816?).93
MARRIED Jane Latham (abt. 1716–1784), in 1743, Philadelphia, Penn.94 CHILDREN.
SONS: James (1744–1811), who m. Agnes Denny, daughter of William Denny; John
86
Robert Donnell, 560 acres, Rowan (December 1, 1753), Granville Grants; Rowan Co. Deeds,
5:1–2; Robert Donall, 490 acres, Rowan (December 21, 1761), Granville Grants; Rowan Co. Deeds, 5:479–
481; Rowan Co. Deeds, 4:591; and Guilford Co. Deeds, 1:257–58, 420.
87
Rankin Genealogical Papers.
88
Ibid.; and Donnell, ―Ernest Donnell.‖ Traditionally, family historians have claimed Thomas
Donnell was born in Ulster, Ireland, but recent family historians now believe he was born in Mill Creek
Hundred, Delaware.
89
Rankin Genealogical Papers claim he emigrated in 1737. See footnote 90.
90
Although Rankin (Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 24) gives 1795 as Donnell‘s death date, a
search of Guilford Co. Wills as well as the Guilford Wills housed in the North Carolina State Archives
suggests that Thomas Donnell either did not leave a will, or that it was misplaced or possibly destroyed.
91
Donnell, ―Ernest Donnell.‖
92
Ibid.
93
Rankin Genealogical Papers.
94
Ibid.
118
(1748–1822), who m. (1) Hannah Meek in 1771 and (2) Elizabeth Denny (1762–1847),
niece of William Denny, in 1781; William James (1749–1822), who m. (1) (name
unknown) and (2) Agnes/Nancy Denny, niece of William Denny; Robert (1752–1816?),
who m. Elizabeth Donnell, daughter of Robert Donnell, in 1776; Thomas (1754–1843),
m. Margaret King in 1786; Andrew (1757–1835), who m. (1) Agnes Brawley/Braly
(1759–1815), daughter of John Brawley, in 1779, and (2) Mary Creswell (1756–1829) in
1799; George (1759-1839), who m. Isabella Kerr, daughter of David Kerr, in 1784;
Alexander (1760–?); and Latham (1762–1828), who m. Charlotte (Mitchell) Ervin,
daughter of Adam Mitchell.95 DAUGHTERS: Hannah (1746–1823), who m. (1)
Alexander McKnight (1722–1774), brother of John McKnight, and (2) George Denny,
nephew of William Denny, in 1777; Jane (abt. 1761–1828), who m. William Scott, son of
Samuel Scott.96 ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Of Thomas and Jane‘s approximately
eleven children, the first four children were born in Penn., while the rest (starting with
Robert in 1752) were born in N.C. PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: level of
literacy unclear; his signature appears on his Granville land grants, indicating an ability to
write his name as well as read and write.97 CHURCH ACTIVITY: acted as a ruling elder
at some time.98 OCCUPATION: farmer; in 1756, petitioned the court for ―license to keep
Tavern at his Plantation.‖99 PUBLIC CAREER. COUNTY OFFICES: a justice of the
court in Rowan Co. from 1757 to 1762.100 MINOR OFFICES: summoned to serve on the
Rowan Co. grand jury in November Term 1754; served on a jury in July 1755; listed on
95
Rankin Genealogical Papers; Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 24–25; and Laleman,
―Winds of Time.‖
96
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 24–25; and Laleman, ―Winds of Time.‖
97
Tho. Donald, 640 acres, Rowan (Dec. 3, 1753), Granville Grants.
98
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 124–25.
99
Rowan Co. Minutes, 2:100.
100
Ibid., 2:179, 185, 207, 219, 221, 222a, 223, 238, 239, 245, 248, 249, 253, 265, 279, 286, 321,
365, 391, 430, 433, 435.
119
the petit jury for the November 1755 and 1756 Superior Court sessions; chosen for grand
jury of the Rowan, Salisbury, November Superior Court in 1759 and petit juries in
1756.101 ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: served as co-executor of George Rankin‘s
will.102 WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. LAND: obtained two Granville land grants
each containing 640 acres (one possibly designated as No. 30 of the thirty Nottingham
Settlement tracts) in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for three shillings proclamation money (and
twenty-five shillings and seven and one-half pence yearly rent) on December 3, 1753;
obtained a Granville land grant containing 400 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for ten
shillings sterling (and sixteen shillings yearly rent) on August 10, 1759, and sold this
same tract to Francis Cummings for £60 in January 1766; obtained a Granville land grant
containing 650 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for ten shillings sterling (and twenty-six
shillings yearly rent) on August 10, 1759, and conveyed this tract to Robert Donnell Sr.
on August 10, 1759; obtained a Granville land grant containing 392 acres in Rowan
(Guilford) Co. for ten shillings sterling (and fifteen shillings and eight and one-half pence
yearly rent) on December 21, 1761, and sold this tract to Alexander McKnight for five
shillings sterling in April 1764; and one Granville land grant containing 700 acres in
Rowan (Guilford) Co. in December 1762; purchased 504 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co.
from George Black for five shillings sterling in January 1767, and sold 254 acres of this
tract to son Robert for £200 in May 1778 and 293 acres of this tract to John White for
£293 in May 1778; sold 320 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. to James Donnell for five
shillings sterling in January 1769; sold 347 acres in Guilford Co. to John Donnell for £50
in May 1772; sold twenty-five acres in Guilford Co. to William McGready for £12 in
101
102
Rowan Co. Minutes, 2:45, 80, 91, 154, 280.
Ibid., 2:299.
120
November 1787.103 PERSONAL PROPERTY: appeared on the both 1759 and 1768
Rowan County tax lists—the latter lists him, sons John and William, and one enslaved
male of African descent (Junor).104 WEALTH AT DEATH. LAND and PERSONAL
PROPERTY: unable to determine. No record of a will or estate inventory has been
located.
George Finley (1723-1802)105
Born: in Parish Mullaghabrac(?), County Armagh, Ulster, Ire.106 IMMIGRATED:
1734.107 DIED: in Guilford Co.108 FAMILY BACKGROUND. FATHER: Michael
Finley (1683–1747) of Mullaghabrac, County Armagh, Ulster, Ire.109 MOTHER: Ann
O‘Neill (?–1758).110 BROTHERS: Samuel Finley (1715–1766), minister of the West
Nottingham Presbyterian Church in Cecil Co., Md., (1744–1761).111 BROTHER-INLAW: possibly John Cunningham (1725–1762).112 MARRIED Elizabeth Cunningham
in June 1752.113 Children. SONS: Josiah (?–?), who m. Alsey (surname unknown);
James (1754–1832), who m. Elizabeth Brisbane in 1778; George (1757–1833); who m.
103
Tho. Donald, 640 acres, Rowan (Dec. 3, 1753), Granville Grants; Tho. Donnell, 640 acres,
Rowan (Dec. 3, 1753), Granville Grants; Tho. Donnell, 400 acres, Rowan, Granville Grants; Rowan Co.
Deeds, 7:55–57; Thomas Donnel [sic], 650 acres, Rowan Co. (August 10, 1759), Granville Grants; Rowan
Co. Deeds, 4:591; Rowan Co. Deeds, 1:110–11; Thos. Donnell, 392 acres, Rowan (December 21, 1761),
Granville Grants; Rowan Co. Deeds, 5:481–82; Rowan Co. Deeds, 6:374–75; Guilford Co. Deeds, 1:432–
33, 429–430; Rowan Co. Deeds, 7:70–71; and Guilford Co. Deeds, 1:110–11, 4:356–57.
104
Linn, Rowan County, North Carolina Tax Lists 1757-1800, 24, 73.
105
Herald F. Stout, comp. and ed., The Finley Clan, 2nd ed. (Dover, Oh.: Eagle Press, 1956), 1:25.
106
Ibid.
107
Ibid.
108
Ibid., 1:26.
109
Ibid., 1:14.
110
Ibid.
111
Ibid., 1:24–26; Nancy Maxwell, ―George Finley of Reedy Fork,‖ Guilford Genealogist 17, no.
3 (1990): 148; and Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 29–30.
112
John Cunningham‘s will named Finley as a recipient of part of Cunningham‘s personal estate.
While no connection between Finley‘s wife and John Cunningham can be substantiated, the will and her
maiden name provide ample grounds for speculation.
113
Stout, Finley Clan, 1:25.
121
(1) Margaret (surname unknown) and (2) Mary Bishop-Ross in 1806; Joseph (1759–
1823), who m. Sarah Ann Walker in 1779; Robert (1760–1825),who m. Mary
McConnell; and John (1762–1819), who m. Martha McConnell in 1782.114
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: family history claims he went to North Carolina on behalf
of ―the Nottingham Company of Cecil County, Md.‖ to purchase acreage for them.115
PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: unknown. OCCUPATION: farmer. PUBLIC
CAREER. COUNTY OFFICES: appointed overseer of road, Orange Co., N.C., in
December 1759.116 MINOR OFFICES: served as petit juror for the November Salisbury
Court in 1759.117 WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. LAND: obtained a Granville land
grant containing 404 acres in Orange Co. for three shillings proclamation money (and
sixteen shillings and two pence yearly rent) on March 6, 1755; obtained a Granville land
grant containing 460 acres in Orange Co. for ten shillings sterling (and eighteen shillings
and fifteen pence yearly rent) on December 16, 1762.118 WEALTH AT DEATH.
PERSONAL PROPERTY: unknown. No record of a will or estate inventory has been
located.
114
Stout, Finley Clan, 1:25–26, 49–50.
Ibid., 1:25–26.
116
Orange Co. Minutes, December 1759, 207. The western portion of Orange Co. was included in
the creation of Guilford Co. in 1771.
117
Ibid., September 1759, 201.
118
Rowan Co. Deeds, 2:128–30; and George Findley, 460 acres, Orange (December 16, 1962),
Granville Grants.
115
122
Adam Leakey/Lackey/Leckey (?–1800)119
BORN: unknown. IMMIGRATED: unknown. DIED: in Guilford Co.120 BURIED:
Alamance Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Greensboro, Guilford Co.121 FAMILY
BACKGROUND. FATHER: William Leckey (?–1756).122 MOTHER: Rebecca(?)
(surname unknown) (?–aft. 1756).123 BROTHERS: Alexander Leckey (?–?); Samuel
Leckey (?–?); Robert Leckey (?–?).124 SISTERS: Catrine (Leckey) Burney (?–?); Mary
(Leckey) Burney (?–?); Jesse (Leckey) Porter (?–?).125 MARRIED Martha (surname
unknown) (?–1820).126 CHILDREN. No children mentioned in the will.127 PRIVATE
CAREER. EDUCATION: level of literacy unclear; his signature appears on his
Granville land grants and he owned a library, indicating an ability to write his name as
well as read and write.128 CHURCH AFFILIATION: Buffalo Presbyterian Church and
possibly the Alamance Presbyterian Church. OCCUPATION: farmer. PUBLIC
CAREER. MINOR OFFICES: served on a jury in October 1758, on the grand jury in
January 1761, and again in April 1762.129 WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. LAND:
obtained a Granville land grant containing 392 acres (designated No. 1 of the thirty
Nottingham Settlement tracts) in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for ten shillings sterling (and
119
Guilford Co. Wills, A:219–20; and Mary A. Browning, ed., Guilford County Cemeteries,
Volume II, Eastern Section (Greensboro, N. C.: Guilford County Genealogical Society, 1993), 158. Will
entered into Guilford Co. February Court 1801, although cemetery tombstone supposedly states ―January
21, 1800.‖
120
Browning, Guilford County Cemeteries, II, 158.
121
Ibid.
122
Lancaster Co., Penn., Will Book, B:139.
123
Ibid. Although William Leckey‘s will names his wife as ―Rebecca,‖ it does not state
specifically that she is Adam‘s mother.
124
Ibid.; and Guilford Co. Wills, A:219–20.
125
Ibid.
126
Ibid., A:219.
127
Adam Lacky, 392 acres, Rowan Co., Granville Grants; and Guilford Co. Wills, A:219–220.
128
Guilford Co. Wills, A:219.
129
Rowan Co. Minutes, 2:249, 250, 385, 408.
123
fifteen shillings and eight pence yearly rent) on June 24, 1758.130 ADDITIONAL
COMMENTS: provided part of £200 required as bond for the estate of William
Brown.131 WEALTH AT DEATH. In his will, dated December 28, 1800, Leckey listed
the following property to be distributed among his wife, nephews and nieces—LAND: a
plantation containing 402 acres. PERSONAL PROPERTY: a library, $210 and five
shillings and one enslaved woman (―Fillis‖) of African descent.132
John McClintock (1713–1807)133
BORN: in Ulster, Ire.
134
IMMIGRATED: unknown. DIED: in Guilford Co.
135
FAMILY
BACKGROUND. FATHER: possibly William (?–?).136 MOTHER: unknown.
SIBLINGS: unknown. MARRIED Isabel/Isabella (surname unknown) (?–1824), before
coming to Rowan (Guilford) Co. in 1753.137 CHILDREN. SONS: John (?–?), who m.
Isabella Starrett; William (?–?), who m. Sarah Weatherly; Samuel (?–?), who m. Anne
138
Stafford; Robert (1766–?).
DAUGHTERS: Isabella (1768–1818), who m. James Dick;
Nansey/Nancy (?–?), who m. John Ballinger; and Margaret (?–?), who m. Samuel
139
Thompson, son of Robert Thompson.
PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: level of
130
Adam Lacky, 392 acres, Rowan Co., Granville Grants.
Rowan Co. Minutes, 2:247
132
Guilford Co. Wills, A:219.
133
Cindy Bishop, ―Bishop/Fentress Families,‖ http://rootsweb.com (accessed October 7, 2008).
134
Ibid.
135
Ibid.
136
Secretary of State, Land Office, Lord Granville‘s Land Office: Office Administrative Papers,
Box 192, North Carolina State Archives. In March 1750, Granville‘s surveyor assigned six tracts to a
William McClintock. These six tracts combined with twenty-four additional tracts (assigned to five other
men) to create the original tracts surveyed for the Nottingham Settlement. Apparently, William did not
claim these tracts in 1753, as no land grant exists with his name on it. It is probable that this William was
John McClintock‘s father or brother.
137
Attached statement from executor, Will of John McClintock (1807), Guilford Wills.
138
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 25; and Bishop, ―Bishop/Fentress Families.‖
139
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 25, 31; and Bishop, ―Bishop/Fentress Families.‖
131
124
literacy unclear; although his signature appears on both Granville land grants, indicating
an ability to write his name, his will bears his mark rather than a signature.140
OCCUPATION: farmer. PUBLIC CAREER. COUNTY OFFICES: replaces John
Cunningham (Sr.) as a constable in 1762.141 MINOR OFFICES: served on Rowan Co.
grand jury in 1757, 1758 and 1761.142 ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: filed suit against
Hugh Foster in October 1757.143 WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. LAND: obtained
two Granville land grants containing 640 acres each (one tract designated No. 13 of the
thirty Nottingham Settlement tracts and one tract designated No. 17 of the thirty
Nottingham Settlement tracts) in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for three shillings proclamation
money (and twenty-five shillings and seven and one-half pence yearly rent) per tract on
December 4, 1753; sold 640 acres (No. 17) to Robert Erwin/Erwine for five shillings in
April 1758; sold 100 acres (from No. 13) to son John for five shillings in February 1785;
sold eighteen acres (from No. 13) to Edward Maglamery for £20 in February 1788; sold
fifteen acres (from No. 13) to James Stafford for £10 in February 1793; sold 100 acres
(from No. 13) to son William for five shillings in May 1797; sold 100 acres (from No.
13) to son Robert for five shillings in November 1797; sold 140 acres (from No. 13) to
son Samuel for five shillings in August 1806.144 WEALTH AT DEATH. In his will,
dated December 29, 1806, McClintock divides his estate among his wife and children—
LAND: remaining land (unspecified amount). PERSONAL PROPERTY: two enslaved
140
John McClintock, 640 acres, Rowan (December 4, 1753), Granville Grants; and Will of John
McClintock (1807), Guilford Wills.
141
Rowan Co. Minutes, 2:387.
142
Ibid., 2:193. In John Cunningham‘s suit against Hugh Foster in October 1757, McClintock
served as one of the jurors.
143
Ibid., 2:198.
144
John McClintock, 640 acres, Rowan (December 4, 1753), Granville Grants; Rowan Co. Deeds,
1:175, 203; Rowan Co. Deeds, 2:323–25; and Guilford Co. Deeds, 3:183, 4:453–54, 5:401–2, 6:302, 389,
9:86–87.
125
men (Anthony and Fob) and one enslaved woman (Jin) of African descent; farm stock,
household furniture, and two dollars cash.145
James McCuiston Sr. (1700-1765)146
BORN: in County Derry, Ulster, Ire.147 IMMIGRATED: August 1735, landing in New
Castle, Del.148 DIED: in Rowan (Guilford) Co. BURIED: on the family farm. FAMILY
BACKGROUND. FATHER: John (1674–1715).149 MOTHER: Isabella Crelon (1678–?)
in January 1699.150 BROTHERS: Thomas McCuiston (1704–abt. 1758); Robert
McCuiston (1710–1765); and Alexander (?–?). SISTERS: Margaret (?–?); and Ann (?–
?).151 MARRIED Janett/Jennett/Jenut Sarah Behol (1706–1783) in 1726, County Derry,
Ulster, Ire.152 CHILDREN. SONS: Robert (1728–1758?), who m. Jane Ruth (1739–
1823) in 1754, possibly Hartford Co., Md.; Thomas (1731–1783), who m. Ann Moody
(1732–1819) in 1756, Rowan (Guilford) Co.; Gustavius/Gustavus (1733–1793), who m.
Mary (surname unknown); James (1737–1812), who m. Catherine Jane Tennant.153
DAUGHTERS: Jane (1735–1802) who m. Thomas Flack; Sarah (1739-?), who m. Walter
McCuiston, son of brother Robert McCuiston, Sr., in 1768; Lavina/Levina (1742–?), who
145
Will of John McClintock, Guilford Wills.
Variant spellings of this surname include McQuiston, McQuesten, McCuistion, McCueston,
Huston, and McCutcheon.
147
Leona Bean McQuiston, comp., The McCuiston, McCuiston and McQuesten Families, 1620–
1937 (Louisville: Standard Press, 1937), 318.
148
Gloria D. McCuistion, ―Descendants of John McCuiston,‖
http://www.gmccuistion.com/john1855 (accessed June 20, 2008).
149
Ibid. Family historians claim that this John McCuiston was born in Parish Dungiven, County
Derry, Ulster, Ireland, and he died in Londonderry, County Derry, Ulster, Ireland.
150
Ibid. Family historians claim that this Isabella Crelon McCuiston was born in Parish Bovevagh,
County Derry, Ulster, Ireland.
151
Carleen M. Daggett, Noah McCuistion: Pioneer Texas Cattleman (Waco, Tex.: Texian Press,
1975), 87; and Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 25.
152
McQuiston, McCuiston, McCuiston and McQuesten Families, 323; and McCuistion,
―Descendants of John McCuiston.‖
153
McCuistion, ―Descendants of John McCuiston.‖
146
126
m. John Nelson; Mary (1744–?); and Dorcas (1746–?), who m. John McCuiston, son of
brother Thomas McCuiston.154 PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: level of literacy
unclear; his signature appears on his will, indicating an ability to write his name.155
OCCUPATION: farmer. PUBLIC CAREER. MINOR OFFICES: served as a juror on
both grand and petit juries (Rowan County court) from 1754 to 1755 and from 1760 to
1761. An entry in 1761 lists him as a co-securer in the administration of Robert Hudgins
estate (in the sum of £300).156 WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. LAND: obtained a
Granville land grant containing 420 acres (designated No. 28 of the thirty Nottingham
Settlement tracts) in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for three shillings proclamation money (and
sixteen shillings and nine and one-half pence yearly rent) on December 18, 1753;
obtained a Granville land grant containing 640 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for ten
shillings sterling (and twenty shillings and seven and one-half pence yearly rent) on
February 22, 1759, and sold 200 acres of this tract to son James for £50 in January 1765;
purchased 640 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. from Joseph Ozborn/Ozbun for £40 in
September 1758, and sold this tract to John Blair for five shillings in November 1761;
obtained a Granville land grant containing 353 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for ten
shillings sterling (and fifteen shillings and one and one-half pence yearly rent) on August
28, 1762, and sold this tract to Robert McCuiston of Cumberland Co., Penn., for £20 in
November 1764.157 WEALTH AT DEATH. In his will, dated October 18, 1765,
154
McCuistion, ―Descendants of John McCuiston;‖ McQuiston, McCuiston, McCuiston and
McQuesten Families, 323, 330; and Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 25. Family lore claims that the
eldest child of James McCuiston was born and died in Ireland. Four of the daughters married after arriving
in Rowan County, with at least one of them marrying an offspring of a Colony member.
155
Rowan Co. Wills, A:122.
156
Rowan Co. Minutes, 2:59, 79, 294, 372, 374.
157
James McCuiston, 420 acres, Rowan (December 18, 1753), Granville Grants; James
McCuiston, 640 acres, Rowan (February 22, 1759), Granville Grants; Rowan Co. Deeds, 4:9–10, 662–64;
127
McCuiston mentions the following—LAND: plantation which he lived; 440 acres.
PERSONAL PROPERTY: one enslaved man (Gim) of African descent; ―movables and
chattels,‖ and twenty shillings.158
Robert McCuiston/McQuiston/McQuestion Sr. (1710–1765)159
BORN: probably in County Derry, Ulster, Ire.160 IMMIGRATED: August 1735, landing
in New Castle, Del.161 DIED: in Rowan (Guilford) Co.162 FAMILY BACKGROUND.
FATHER: John (1674–1715).163 MOTHER: Isabella Crelon (1678–?) in January 1699.164
BROTHERS: James (1700–1765); Thomas (1704–abt. 1758); and Alexander (?–?).165
SISTERS: Margaret (?–?); and Ann (?–?).166 MARRIED Ann Denny (1714–aft. 1765),
daughter of Walter and Margery Denny, before 1739 in possibly Lancaster Co., Penn.167
CHILDREN. SONS: James (1736–1804), who m. Margaret Trindle in 1762; John
(1741–bef. 1800), who m. Dorcas McCuiston, daughter of brother James McCuiston, in
1768; Walter (1743–1825), who m. Sarah McCuiston, daughter of brother James
McCuiston, in 1768; Moses (?–?), who m. Elizabeth (Nelson?); and Robert (?–?);
DAUGHTERS: Margery (1739–1740), who m. John Trindle; Jean/Jane (1745–?), who m.
James Finley, nephew of George Finley, in 1763, and John Gilkey in abt. 1775; Sarah
James McCuistion, 353 acres, Rowan (August 28, 1762), Granville Grants; Rowan Co. Deeds, 6:257; and
Rowan Co. Deeds, 6:272.
158
Rowan Co. Wills, A:122.
159
McCuistion, ―Descendants of John McCuiston.‖
160
Ibid.
161
Ibid.
162
Rowan Co. Wills, A:112.
163
McCuistion, ―Descendants of John McCuiston.‖ Family historians claim that this John
McCuiston was born in Parish Dungiven, County Derry, Ulster, Ireland, and he died in Londonderry,
County Derry, Ulster, Ireland.
164
Ibid. Family historians claim that this Isabella Crelon McCuiston was born in Parish Bovevagh,
County Derry, Ulster, Ireland.
165
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 25–26.
166
Ibid., 25; and Daggett, Noah McCuistion, 87.
167
McCuistion, ―Descendants of John McCuiston.‖
128
(1747–?), who m. Robert Cherry in 1769; and Mary (1749–?), who m. John Coots in
1769.168 PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: level of literacy unclear; his signature
appears on his will, indicating an ability to write his name.169 OCCUPATION: farmer.
PUBLIC CAREER. COUNTY OFFICES: unknown. MINOR OFFICES: unknown.
WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. LAND: purchased 640 acres in Rowan (Guilford)
Co. from Thomas McCuiston for five shillings in April 1758; purchased 353 acres in
Rowan (Guilford) Co. from James McCuiston for £20 in November 1764.170 WEALTH
AT DEATH. In his will, dated November 18, 1765, McCuiston mentions the
following—LAND: his plantation. PERSONAL PROPERTY: ―all . . . Estate Debts and
moveabels;‖ £141 and 20s as well as one ―guney.‖171
Thomas McCuiston Sr. (1704–abt. 1758)172
BORN: in County Derry, Ire.173 IMMIGRATED: August 1735, landing in New Castle,
Del.174 DIED: in Rowan (Guilford) Co. FAMILY BACKGROUND. FATHER: John
(1674–1715).175 MOTHER: Isabella Crelon (1678–?) in January 1699.176 BROTHERS:
James McCuiston (1700–1765) and Robert McCuiston (1710–1765); and Alexander (?–
168
McCuistion, ―Descendants of John McCuiston.‖; Rowan Co. Wills, A:112; Fredric Z.
Saunders, ―Ancestry,‖ http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com (accessed October 4, 2008); and Stout, Finley Clan,
1:14–15, 43.
169
Will of Robert McCuistion (1766), Rowan Wills.
170
Rowan Co. Deeds, 4:182–84, 6:257. During this time two Robert McCuistons purchased land
in Rowan Co. Because the indenture made with James McCuiston in 1764 states that Robert was from
Cumberland Co., Penn., it is possible that Robert McCuiston Sr. did not purchase the land from Thomas
McCuiston, but rather Robert McCuiston (d. 1758?) the son of James McCuiston Sr.
171
Rowan Co. Wills, A:112; and Will of Robert McCuistion (1766), Rowan Wills.
172
McCuistion, ―Descendants of John McCuiston.‖
173
Ibid.
174
Ibid.
175
Ibid. Family historians claim that this John McCuiston was born in Parish Dungiven, County
Derry, Ulster, Ireland, and he died in Londonderry, County Derry, Ulster, Ireland.
176
Ibid. Family historians claim that this Isabella Crelon McCuiston was born in Parish Bovevagh,
County Derry, Ulster, Ireland.
129
?).177 SISTERS: Margaret (?–?); and Ann (?–?).178 MARRIED Jane (surname unknown)
(?–1800) in abt. 1730.179 CHILDREN. SONS: James (?–?); Thomas Jr. (?–?); and John
(?–?).180 PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: level of literacy unclear; his signature
appears on his Granville land grants, indicating an ability to write his name.181
OCCUPATION: farmer. PUBLIC CAREER. COUNTY OFFICES: unknown. MINOR
OFFICES: unknown. WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. LAND: obtained a Granville
land grant containing 640 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for three shillings proclamation
money (and twenty-five shillings and seven and one-half pence yearly rent) on December
3, 1753, and sold this tract to Robert McCuiston for five shillings in April 1758; obtained
a Granville land grant containing 600 acres (designated No. 12 of the thirty Nottingham
Settlement tracts) in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for ten shillings sterling (and twenty-four
shillings yearly rent) on November 9, 1755; and possibly obtained a Granville land grant
containing 550 acres (designated No. 25 of the thirty Nottingham Settlement tracts) in
Rowan (Guilford) Co. for ten shillings sterling (and twenty-two shillings yearly rent) on
June 24, 1758, and sold this tract to John Blair for five shillings in November 1761.182
WEALTH AT DEATH. PERSONAL PROPERTY: unable to determine. No record of a
will or estate inventory has been located.
177
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 25–26.
Ibid., 25; and Daggett, Noah McCuistion, 87.
179
McCuistion, ―Descendants of John McCuiston.‖
180
Ibid.
181
Thomas McCustion, 640 acres, Rowan (December 3, 1753), Granville Grants.
182
Thomas McCustion, 640 acres, Rowan (December 3, 1753), Granville Grants; Rowan Co.
Deeds, 4:182–84; Tho. McCuistion, 600 acres, Rowan (November 9, 1755), Granville Grants; Thomas
McCuiston, 550 acres, Rowan (June 24, 1758), Granville Grants; and Rowan Co. Deeds, 4:647–49. Note—
it is unclear whether this ―Thomas‖ McCuiston purchased the Granville land grant of 550 acres on June 24,
1758. At least three men named ―Thomas McCuiston‖ lived in the Nottingham Settlement area during this
time—both of Thomas‘s brothers as well as himself named their sons ―Thomas.‖ Also, this Thomas‘s death
date is approximate. He may have died much later than 1758.
178
130
John McKnight “IV” (?–1771)183
BORN: in Cecil Co., Md. DIED: in Rowan (Guilford) Co. FAMILY BACKGROUND.
FATHER: John McKnight (1687–1733). MOTHER: Dorothy Wallace (?–?).
BROTHERS: Alexander McKnight (?–?); and James McKnight (?–?).184 ADDITIONAL
COMMENTS: John McKnight‘s ancestors appear to have arrived in America as early as
the mid-seventeenth century—his great-grandfather, John McKnight (I), having come
from Scotland to Somerset Co., Md. Both of his younger brothers moved to N.C. with
him—Alexander and his family to Rowan (Guilford) Co. and James and his family to
Mecklenburg Co., N.C.185 MARRIED Catrine (surname unknown) (?–?). CHILDREN.
SONS: John Robert (1758–1801), who m. Lydia Lee; William (?–?), who m. Mary
Cummins, in 1802.186 DAUGHTERS: Elizabeth (1756–1838) who m. Andrew Wilson in
1794; Catrine (?–?), who m. James Denny, son of George Denny, in 1801; Hannah (?–?);
and a child born after McKnight‘s death (1771–?).187 PRIVATE CAREER.
EDUCATION: level of literacy unclear; his signature appears on his will, indicating an
ability to write his name.188 OCCUPATION: farmer. CHURCH: as a trustee of the
Buffalo Presbyterian Church, took part in the purchasing of land from Adam Mitchell for
the purpose of building a church.189 PUBLIC CAREER. MINOR OFFICES: served on
the county grand jury in January 1762.190 WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. LAND:
obtained a Granville land grant containing 639 acres (designated No. 6 of the thirty
183
Will of John McKnight (1771), Guilford Wills.
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 31.
185
Texarado McKnight Peak, The McKnight Family and their Descendants: Also the Wallace,
Alexander and English Families (Austin, Tex.: Texarado McKnight Peak, 1969), 43–44, 46–47, 53, 69–71.
186
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 31.
187
Ibid.; and Peak, McKnight Family, 71.
188
Will of John McKnight (1771), Guilford Wills.
189
Rowan Co. Deeds, 7:72.
190
Rowan Co. Minutes, 2:385.
184
131
Nottingham Settlement tracts) in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for ten shillings sterling (and
twenty-five shillings and seven pence yearly rent) on November 9, 1756.191 WEALTH
AT DEATH. In his will, dated August 12, 1770, McKnight mentions the following—
LAND: his plantation. PERSONAL PROPERTY: work horses; plow; plow irons; four
cows; and movables.192
Adam Mitchell (1712-1794)193
BORN: possibly in Chester Co., Penn.194 DIED: possibly Guilford Co. FAMILY
BACKGROUND. FATHER: unknown. MOTHER: unknown. BROTHER: Robert
Mitchell (1713-1775).195 ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: In 1637, his Mitchell ancestors
emigrated from Scotland to Ireland. The family then sailed to America in 1682 and
settled in Chester Co., Penn., in the 1720s.196 MARRIED Mary (surname unknown)
(1713-1794).197 CHILDREN. SONS: Adam (1745-1778), who m. Agnes Ross, widow of
James Ross, in 1764; Robert (1746-1790), who m. (1) Percilla Harris and (2) Sarah
Shipley; John (1747-1775); James (1748-?), who m. Rebecca Mitchell, daughter of
brother Robert Mitchell, in 1769; and Joseph (1749–?), who m. Mary (Mitchell) Ross,
daughter of brother Robert Mitchell, after 1791.198 DAUGHTER: Jennetta (1746-1767),
who m. Adam Mitchell, son of brother Robert Mitchell, in 1766.199 PRIVATE
191
John McNight, 639 acres, Rowan (November 9, 1756), Granville Grants.
Will of John McKnight (1771), Guilford Wills; and Guilford Co. Wills, A:250. Although
written in August 1770, McKnight‘s will was not probated until May 1771.
193
Harry E. Mitchell, The Mitchell-Doak Group: History, Biography, Genealogy (1966), 126.
194
David Bowles, Spring House, vol. 1, The Westward Sagas (San Antonio, Tex.: Plum Creek
Press, 2006), 144.
195
Mitchell, Mitchell-Doak Group, 126.
196
Bowles, Spring House, 144.
197
Mitchell, Mitchell-Doak Group, 126.
198
Ibid., 126, 136; and Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 26.
199
Ibid.
192
132
CAREER. EDUCATION: unclear.200 CHURCH ACTIVITY: As a member of the
Buffalo Presbyterian Church, he served as a ruling elder in it early history.201
OCCUPATION: farmer. PUBLIC CAREER. COUNTY OFFICES: unknown. MINOR
OFFICES: unknown. MISCELLANEOUS: in 1755 listed as a witness providing
evidence in a court case.202 WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. LAND: obtained a
Granville land grant containing 631 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for three shillings
proclamation money (and twenty-five shillings and three and one-half pence yearly rent)
on December 4, 1753, and sold 400 acres of this tract to John Mitchell in April 1774.203
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: On October 16, 1768, Mitchell sold one acre of this land
to the ―Trustees for the Presbyterian Congregation on the waters of the N. Buffalo &c of
the same Province & County . . . for the use of a Presbyterian Meeting House to those
that are members of the Synod of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania and New York Synod‖ for
twenty shillings.204 WEALTH AT DEATH. PERSONAL PROPERTY: unknown. No
record of a will or estate inventory has been located.
Robert Mitchell (abt. 1713-1775)205
BORN: possibly in Chester Co., Penn.206 DIED: in Guilford Co. FAMILY
BACKGROUND. FATHER: unknown. MOTHER: unknown. BROTHER: Adam
200
Adam Mitchel, 631 acres, Rowan (December 4, 1753), Granville Grants. The name at the
bottom of land grant indenture made December 3, 1753, is not his own signature, but rather ―his Adam A
mihel mark.‖
201
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 122.
202
Rowan Co. Minutes, 2:80.
203
Adam Mitchel, 631 acres, Rowan (December 4, 1753), Granville Grants; Rowan Co. Deeds,
3:266–68; and Guilford Co. Deeds, 1:281–82.
204
Rowan Co. Deeds, 7:72; and William L. Saunders, ed., The Colonial Records of North
Carolina (Raleigh: Josephus Daniels, Printer to the State, 1890), 1:281–82.
205
Bowles, Spring House, 144; and Guilford Co. Wills, A:229.
206
Bowles, Spring House, 144.
133
Mitchell (1712-1771?).207 ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: In 1637, his Mitchell ancestors
emigrated from Scotland to Ireland. The family then sailed to America in 1682 and
settled in Chester County, Penn., in the 1720s.208 MARRIED Margaret (surname
unknown).209 CHILDREN. SON: Adam (1745–1802), who m. (1) Jennetta, daughter of
brother Adam Mitchell, in 1766, and (2) Elizabeth McMachen in 1769.210 DAUGHTERS:
Jean (1743–?), who m. John Anderson in 1773; Mary (1747–?), who m. (1) John Ross,
Jr., in 1768 and (2) Joseph Mitchell, son of brother Adam Mitchell, after 1791; and
Rebecca (1750–?), who m. James Mitchell, son of brother Adam Mitchell, in 1769.211
PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: unclear as his will is signed with ―his mark‖
rather than his signature.212 OCCUPATION: farmer. PUBLIC CAREER. COUNTY
OFFICES: unknown. MINOR OFFICES: unknown. WEALTH DURING LIFETIME.
LAND: purchased 560 acres (No. 26 of the thirty Nottingham Settlement tracts) in
Rowan (Guilford) Co. from Robert and Mary Donnell for £11 10s in October 1762; sold
150 acres in Guilford Co. to Henry Ross for £75 in November 1774.213 WEALTH AT
DEATH. In his will, dated November 6, 1775, Mitchell mentions the following—LAND:
his land. PERSONAL PROPERTY: unspecified number of horses, cows and sheep;
movable chattels; £28; and unspecified amount in book debts.214
207
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 26.
Bowles, Spring House, 144.
209
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 26.
210
Ibid.; Mitchell, Mitchell-Doak Group, 136; and Brent H. Holcomb, Marriages of Rowan
County, North Carolina, 1753–1868 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1986), 284.
211
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 26.
212
Will of Robert Mitchell (1775), Guilford Wills.
213
Rowan Co. Deeds, 5:1; and Guilford Co. Deeds, 1:284–86.
214
Guilford Co. Wills, A:229.
208
134
John Nicks/Nix (1716-1781) 215
BORN: in St. Peter‘s Parish, Talbot Co., Md.216 DIED: in Guilford Co.217 FAMILY
BACKGROUND. FATHER: George Blake Nicks (1689 in London, Kent, Eng.–?).218
MOTHER: Phoebe Price (?–?).219 SIBLINGS: unknown. MARRIED Margaret Quinton
Edwards (1717–?) in 1736, in Md.220 CHILDREN. SONS: Quinton (1740–1813),
unmarried; George (1756–1838); and John (1758–1825), who m. Margaret Doaks.221
DAUGHTERS: Margaret (abt. 1734–?), who m. Moses Short; Phoebe (1738-1811), who
married Robert Samuel Brashears; Elizabeth (1741–?), who m. George Purcell; Rebecca
(1742–?), who m. George Ford; Sarah (1742–1819), who m. William Spruce.222
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: came to N.C. from Md. after stopping in Culpepper Co.,
Va.223 PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: level of literacy unclear; his ―mark‖
appears on his Granville land grants instead of a signature.224 OCCUPATION: farmer.
PUBLIC CAREER. COUNTY OFFICES: served as constable for the lower settlement
on Saxopahaw (Haw River) in Rowan (Guilford) Co.225 MINOR OFFICES: served on
petit jury in March 1754.226 WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. LAND: obtained a
Granville land grant containing 650 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for three shillings
proclamation money (and twenty-six shillings yearly rent) on December 4, 1753, and sold
215
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 26; and Karen Blagg, ―J&N Blagg‘s Roots,‖
http://rootsweb.com (accessed October 7, 2008).
216
Blagg, ―J&N Blagg‘s Roots.‖
217
Ibid.; and Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 26.
218
Blagg, ―J&N Blagg‘s Roots.‖
219
Ibid.
220
Ibid.; and Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 26.
221
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 26; and Blagg, ―J&N Blagg‘s Roots.‖
222
Ibid. Rankin claims Nicks had three other daughters, one named ―Nancy‖ and two unnamed
daughters who married Bazell Brasher and Isaac Brasher; Blagg disputes these.
223
Blagg, ―J&N Blagg‘s Roots.‖
224
John Nix, 640 acres, Rowan (July 29, 1760), Granville Grants.
225
Rowan Co. Minutes, 2:59, 112.
226
Ibid., 1:36.
135
to James Denny for £200 in June 1762; obtained a Granville land grant containing 640
acres in Orange Co. for ten shillings sterling (and twenty-five shillings and seven and
one-half pence yearly rent) on July 29, 1760; sold 230 acres in Guilford Co. to James
Denny for £100 (currency of Va.) in March 1772.227 WEALTH AT DEATH.
PERSONAL PROPERTY: unknown. No record of a will or estate inventory has been
located.
Lydia (Steele) Rankin Forbis (abt. 1733–bef. 1789)228
BORN: Newton Parish, County Derry, Ulster, Ire.229 IMMIGRATED: abt. 1746.230
DIED: Guilford Co.231 FAMILY BACKGROUND. FATHER: John Steele.232
MOTHER: Lydia (unknown).233 SIBLINGS: unknown. MARRIED (1) George Rankin
(1729 in Letterkenny Parish, County Connegal, Ulster, Ire.–1760), son of Robert Rankin,
in July 1755, Lancaster Co., Penn.; (2) Arthur Forbis (abt. 1723–1789) after 1760 in
Rowan (Guilford) Co.234 CHILDREN. SONS: John Rankin (1757–1850), who m.
Rebecca Rankin, daughter of John Rankin and Hannah Carson, in 1786; and Robert
Rankin (1759–1840), who m. (1) Mary ―Polly‖ Cusick in 1781, and (2) Mary Moody in
227
John Nicks, 650 acres, Rowan (December 4, 1753), Granville Grants; Rowan Co. Deeds,
5:395–396; John Nix, 640 acres, Rowan (July 29, 1760), Granville Grants; and Guilford Co. Deeds, 1:139–
140, 146–49.
228
Terry Albers, ―Meacham, Vinson, Whitt, Rankin, Albers & Extended Families,‖
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com (accessed October 4, 2008).
229
Ibid.
230
Ibid.; and A. Gregg Moore and Forney A. Rankin, The Rankins of North Carolina: A
Genealogy and History of Those Who Can Trace Their Ancestry to One of the Several Rankin Families
Native to the Tar Heel State ([Marietta, Ga.: A. Gregg Moore], 1997), 2:677.
231
Albers, ―Meacham & Extended Families.‖
232
Ibid.
233
Ibid.
234
Ibid.; Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 37–38; Rowan Co. Wills, A:141; and Moore and
Rankin, Rankins of North Carolina, 2:677.
136
1803.235 DAUGHTERS: Ann Forbis (?–aft. 1789); Lydia Forbis (?–aft. 1789), who m.
George Donnell, son of Robert Donnell, bef. 1789; Jennet Forbis (?–aft. 1789), who m.
Hance McCain/McCane in 1787; and Elizabeth Forbis (?–aft. 1789).236 PRIVATE
CAREER. EDUCATION: unclear. OCCUPATION: housewife. PUBLIC CAREER.
COUNTY OFFICES: not applicable. MINOR OFFICES: not applicable. WEALTH
DURING LIFETIME. LAND: claimed (for her sons) the Granville land grant surveyed
for deceased husband George in 1756 containing 620 acres (No. 9 of the thirty
Nottingham Settlement tracts) in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for ten shillings sterling (and
twenty-four shillings and ten pence yearly rent) on January 30, 1761.237 PERSONAL
PROPERTY: received one-third of ―household goods and movable estate . . . together
with one third part of the benefit of the Plantation whereon I [George Rankin] Dwell
during her Natural Life.‖ These household goods and movables included farm
implements (one plough and tackle, one hoe, two sickles), farm animals (five horses,
three bulls, seventeen cows, five sheep and ―some‖ hogs), woodworking tools (one
nailing hammer, one auger, seven moulding planes, one pair of coopers compasses, one
broad-axe, one cross-cut saw), furniture (one candlestick, one spinning wheel, one reel,
one chest, one looking glass, one dresser), and kitchen-ware (two pots, four pewter
dishes, eight pewter plates, five wooden trenchers, eight knives and forks, one churn, one
flesh fork), and a variety of barrels, half barrels, hogsheads, and half bushels as well as
one Bible and seven other books. After the collection of debts due to Rankin, sale of
crops and personal items, George Rankin‘s estate valued at £100 7s 2p (before the
235
Rowan Co. Wills, A:141; and Albers, ―Meacham & Extended Families.‖
Ibid.; Jane Smith Hill, An Annotated Digest of Will Book A, Guilford County, North Carolina,
1771–May Court 1816 (Winston-Salem, N.C.: Jane Smith Hill, 2005), 49; and Rankin, Buffalo
Presbyterian Church, 37–38.
237
Lydia Rankin, 620 acres, Rowan (January 30, 1761), Granville Grants.
236
137
subtraction of the debts owed and incurred by the estate, which equaled £10 18s 11p).238
WEALTH AT DEATH. PERSONAL PROPERTY: unknown. No record of a will or
estate inventory has been located for Lydia Forbis.
Robert Rankin (?-1795)239
BORN: probably Ulster, Ire. IMMIGRATED: unknown. DIED: in Guilford Co.240
FAMILY BACKGROUND. FATHER: unknown. MOTHER: unknown. SIBLINGS:
unknown. MARRIED Rebecca (surname unknown).241 CHILDREN. SONS: George
(1729–1760), who m. Lydia Steele; Robert (?–?); and John (?–?). DAUGHTERS:
Rebecca (?–?); Isabel (?–?); and Mary (abt. 1766–bef. 1795), who m. Andrew Wilson.242
PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: level of literacy unclear; his signature appears on
the original Granville land grants and his will, indicating an ability to write his name.243
CHURCH ACTIVITY: As a member of the Buffalo Presbyterian Church, served as a
ruling elder in its early history.244 OCCUPATION: farmer. PUBLIC CAREER. MINOR
OFFICES: in 1758, listed as a member of the jury in Richard Crunk v. Joseph Pevey.245
238
Rowan Co. Wills, A:141; and Inventory of George Rankin (1760), Rowan Estates Records.
Guilford Co. Wills, A:316. During this time period in Rowan (Guilford) Co., North Carolina,
there reportedly lived two ―Robert‖ Rankins—both of whom settled in central North Carolina between
1750 and 1760. The other ―Robert Rankin‖ was born around 1736 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and
married Jean Denny (daughter of William Denny).
240
Guilford Co. Wills, A:316.
241
Moore and Rankin, Rankins of North Carolina, 2:677.
242
Ibid.; and Guilford Co. Wills, A:316. Rankin‘s will named three children—George, Mary and
Isabel. Although the George Rankin who married Lydia Steele died thirty-five years before this Robert
Rankin wrote his will, it is possible that Robert Rankin referred to son George‘s heirs when he bequeathed
part of his estate to ―my son George.‖ Also, the tract of Granville land leased by Lydia (Steele) Rankin in
lieu of deceased husband George Rankin (1729–1 760) adjoins the Granville land leased by Robert Rankin
(?–1795).
243
Will of Robert Rankin Sr. (1795), Guilford Wills; and Robert Rankin, 640 acres, Rowan (June
24, 1758), Granville Grants.
244
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 122.
245
Rowan Co. Minutes, 2:220.
239
138
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: witnessed signing of Robert Mitchell‘s will in 1775.246
WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. LAND: obtained a Granville land grant containing
480 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for three shillings proclamation money (and nineteen
shillings and two and one-half pence yearly rent) on December 1, 1753, and sold this
tract to son George Rankin for five shillings sterling in April 1755; obtained a Granville
land grant containing 640 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for three shillings proclamation
money (and twenty-five shillings and seven and one-half pence yearly rent) on December
3, 1753, and sold this tract to William Denny for five shillings sterling in April 1755;
obtained a Granville land grant containing 640 acres (designated No. 8 of the thirty
Nottingham Settlement tracts) in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for ten shillings sterling (and
twenty-five shillings and seven and one-half pence yearly rent) on June 24, 1758.247
WEALTH AT DEATH. In his will, dated May 30, 1795, Rankin mentions the
following—LAND: 1,000 acres of land, plus an additional unspecified amount of
acreage. PERSONAL PROPERTY: his ―movables,‖ including a desk, carpenter tools, a
big Bible, his books, his razor and wearing apparel, and one enslaved man (―Sambo‖) and
one enslaved woman (―Rhoda‖) both of African descent.248
Samuel Scott (?–1777)
BORN: Lancaster Co., Penn. DIED: in Little Britain Twp., Lancaster Co., Penn.249
FAMILY BACKGROUND. FATHER: William Scott (?–1739).250 MOTHER: Martha
246
Guilford Co. Wills, A:229.
Rowan Co. Deeds, 2:102–104, 70–73, 86–88, 67–70; and Robert Rankin, 640 acres, Rowan
(June 24,1758), Granville Grants.
248
Guilford Co., Record of Wills, A:316.
249
Lancaster Co., Penn., Will Book, C:468.
250
Ibid., A:112.
247
139
(unknown) (?–1745).251 SISTERS: Elizabeth (?–aft. 1745), who m. (given name
unknown) Buchanan; Mary (abt. 1725–aft. 1745), who m. James A. Donnell bef. 1753;
Margaret (?–aft. 1745), who m. John Gilchrist.252 ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Sister
Margaret married William Gilchrist of Lancaster Co., Penn. In 1762, this William
Gilchrist purchased 640 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. (originally belonging to John and
Isabel McClintock) from Robert Erwin and then sold the land to son John Gilchrist who
settled in Guilford Co.253 MARRIED Mary (unknown) (?–aft. 1777) bef. 1750. 254
CHILDREN. SONS: Samuel, Jr. (?–1810); John (?–aft. 1777, in possibly Lancaster Co.,
Penn.), who m. Margaret (surname unknown); and William (1750-1801), who m.
Rebecca Russell abt. 1777 in Lancaster Co., Penn.255 DAUGHTER: Margaret (?–?).256
PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: level of literacy unclear; his signature appears on
his Granville land grants, indicating an ability to write his name.257 OCCUPATION:
farmer. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Shortly after settling in Rowan (Guilford) Co.,
Samuel returned to Lancaster Co., Penn. Of the three sons, John remained in Lancaster
Co., Penn., while Samuel and William returned to Rowan (Guilford) Co.258 PUBLIC
251
Lancaster Co., Penn., Will Book, A:112.
Ibid.; and Darrel LaMar Wakley, ―DarrelLaMarWakley,‖ http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com
(accessed October 4, 2008). Wakley states that this James A. Donnell (abt. 1725–bef. 1753) died in Cecil
Co., Maryland, and is the son of William Donnell, Sr.
253
Rowan Co. Deeds, 2:323–325, 4:933–935; and Vickie Harris, ―Harris, McKenzie, Dedrick and
Ramsey Families,‖ http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com (accessed October 4, 2008). While William Gilchrist‘s
son John and John‘s family had lived on this property as of 1766, William Gilchrist did not deed the land to
John Gilchrist until 1788.
254
Lancaster Co., Penn., Will Book, C:467.
255
Ibid., C:467–68; Guilford Co. Wills, A:332–33, 352–54; and Harris, ―Harris and Families.‖
Name of children listed in Samuel Scott‘s will. A will exists in Guilford Co.‘s Record of Wills for a John
Scott who died in 1774. Family historians generally accept that Samuel Scott‘s son John was the one who
wrote the aforementioned will. Because Samuel Scott‘s will (dated 1777) grants son John the land in
Lancaster Co. and names son John as his executor, I have not included any information found within the
1774 will for John Scott.
256
Lancaster Co., Penn., Will Book, C:467–68. Name of children listed in Samuel Scott‘s will.
257
Samuel Scott, 640 acres, Rowan (December 4, 1753), Granville Grants.
258
Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 27, 41; and Lancaster Co., Penn., Will Book, C:467.
252
140
CAREER. COUNTY OFFICES: unknown. MINOR OFFICES: unknown. WEALTH
DURING LIFETIME. LAND: obtained a Granville land grant containing 640 acres in
Rowan (Guilford) Co. for three shillings proclamation money (and twenty-five shillings
and seven and one-half pence yearly rent) on December 3, 1753; obtained a Granville
land grant containing 640 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for three shillings proclamation
money (and twenty-five shillings and seven and one-half pence yearly rent) on December
4, 1753; purchased 640 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. from Francis Corbin in 1756;
purchased ―One Hundred and Eighty Acres of Land and the Allowance of Six Acres P.
Cent for Roads and Highways‖ (formerly owned by Daniel McMichael) in Little Britain
Twp., Lancaster Co., Penn. from the sheriff there.259 WEALTH AT DEATH. In his will,
dated April 5, 1777, in Lancaster Co., Penn., Scott mentioned the following—LAND:
640 acres in Guilford Co. (N.C.) and the plantation in Penn. PERSONAL PROPERTY:
two enslaved men (Abraham and Bob) and four enslaved women (Silvey, Nancy, Moll,
Kavy?) of African descent; two beds; one chest of drawers; one spinning wheel and reel;
iron pots; pewter kitchen/dining implements; one tea kettle; one tea table; one dressing
table; furniture; one large Bible; apparel; silver shoe and knee buckles; one horse (valued
at £30); one mare; two saddles; two bridles; one cow; six sheep; and £500 (Pennsylvania
money).260
259
Samuel Scott, 640 acres, Rowan (December 3, 1753), Granville Grants; Samuel Scott, 640
acres, Rowan (December 4, 1753), Granville Grants; Rowan Co. Deeds, 3:419–421; ―John Hay, Sheriff to
Samuel Scott,‖ Lancaster Co., Penn., Deed Book, K:110; and Lancaster Co., Penn., Will Book, C:467.
260
Lancaster Co., Penn., Will Book, C:467.
141
Robert Thompson (1723–1771)
BORN: possibly in Lewes, Del.261 DIED: at Alamance, Orange Co. FAMILY
BACKGROUND. FATHER: Rev. John Thomson (1690–1753).262 MOTHER:
unknown.263 BROTHERS: John (abt. 1716–1791); Abraham (abt. 1718–aft. 1772).264
SISTERS: Esther (abt. 1713–1770), who m. (1) Samuel Crockett (1683–abt. 1750) and
(2) William Sayers (abt. 1730–1784); Mary (abt. 1715–1761), who m. Robert Baker, Jr.
(?–1759); Sarah (abt. 1720–?), who m. Rev. Richard Sankey; ―Girl (name unknown) 1,‖
who m. John Graham; ―Girl (name unknown) 2,‖ who m. John Finley, Jr.; Jane (abt.
1726–?), who m. (1) Douglas Baker (abt. 1720–1765) and (2) William Watson; Ann (abt.
1728–abt. 1778), who married James Cunningham, Sr., of Charlotte Co., Va., in 1747;
Margaret (abt. 1730–?),who m. John Shields; Elizabeth (abt. 1732–1776), who m. (1)
Samuel Baker (?–1758) and (2) Charles Harris (?–1776); and Hannah (1735–abt. 1769),
who married Roger Lawson (1731–1803).265 MARRIED Ann Ferguson (abt. 1730–?) in
1750, Amelia, Va.266 CHILDREN. SONS: Samuel (1755–1801), who m. Margaret
McClintock, daughter of John McClintock; Robert (1757–1792); Thomas (1759–1837);
Ephraim (1761–1834); John (1765–1792), who m. Elizabeth Mitchell; and Jason (1767–
261
John G. Herndon, ―The Reverend John Thomson,‖ Journal of the Presbyterian Historical
Society 20:120.
262
Ibid., 21:56..Most Thompson family historians accept that this ―Robert Thompson‖ is the son
of the John Thomson who migrated from Prince Edward Co., Va., and settled in Rowan Co., N.C., in 1750.
Although family histories for John Thomson/Thompson list a ―Roger‖ and no ―Robert‖ for one of the three
sons, most identify the Robert Thompson who died as a Regulator martyr before the Battle of Alamance in
1771 as Rev. John Thomson‘s son.
263
Ibid., 21:55. The name of John Thomson‘s first wife, by whom he sired twelve children, is
unknown.
264
Ibid., 21:56.
265
Herndon, ―The Reverend John Thomson,‖ 21:55–57.
266
Ibid., 21:56.
142
1833).267 DAUGHTERS: Mary (bef. 1750–?); Rebecca (1752–1840); Letitia (1753–
1830); and Lavinia (1763–1836).268 PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: level of
literacy unclear; his signature appears on his Granville land grants, indicating an ability to
write his name.269 OCCUPATION: farmer. PUBLIC CAREER. COUNTY OFFICES:
served as constable for a year in 1759.270 MINOR OFFICES: sat as a court juror in
1757.271 ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: was an outspoken Regulator, a movement that
encouraged political and economic reform within North Carolina and was a precursor to
the coming Revolutionary War. A martyr in the Regulator Rebellion of 1766-1771, he
was executed by colonial governor William Tryon on May 16, 1771, preceding the Battle
of Alamance.272 WEALTH DURING LIFETIME. LAND: obtained a Granville land
grant containing 464 acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for ten shillings sterling (and
eighteen shillings and seven pence yearly rent) on November 11, 1755; obtained a
Granville land grant containing 640 acres (―known by the name of No. 18‖ ) in Rowan
(Guilford) Co. for ten shillings sterling (and twenty-five shillings and seven and one-half
pence yearly rent) on November 9, 1756; obtained a Granville land grant containing 350
acres in Rowan (Guilford) Co. for ten shillings sterling (and fourteen shillings yearly
rent) on August 2, 1760, and sold this tract (which included a mill on the Haw River) to
William Patrick for £90 before 1771; obtained a Granville land grant containing 605
acres (designated No. 29 of the thirty Nottingham Settlement tracts) in Rowan (Guilford)
267
Donna Martin, ―Wright & Kivett Connections,‖ http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com (accessed
March 13, 2009); and Rankin, Buffalo Presbyterian Church, 31. Rankin lists only three children for
Thompson—Samuel, John and a daughter (name not provided).
268
Ibid. Mary Thompson is thought to be Ann Ferguson‘s daughter from a previous marriage and
therefore Robert Thompson‘s step-daughter.
269
Robert Thompson, 464 acres, Rowan (November 11, 1755), Granville Grants.
270
Rowan Co. Minutes, 2:255.
271
Ibid., 2:169.
272
Marjoleine Kars, Breaking Loose Together: the Regulator Rebellion in Pre-Revolutionary
North Carolina (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 2002), 195, 199–201.
143
Co. for ten shillings sterling (and twenty-four shillings and two and one-half pence yearly
rent) on August 2, 1760, and in April 1761 sold 200 acres of this tract to David Edwards
for £20 and another 200 acres of this tract to George Hiett for £15; purchased 530 acres
in Rowan (Guilford) Co. from Robert Gamble for £40 in November 1766.273 WEALTH
AT DEATH. PERSONAL PROPERTY: unknown. No record of a will or estate
inventory has been located.
273
Robert Thompson, 464 acres, Rowan (November 11, 1755), Granville Grants; Robert
Thompson, 640 acres, Rowan (November 9, 1756), Granville Grants; Robert Thompson, 350 acres, Rowan
(August 2, 1760), Granville Grants; Guilford Co. Deeds, 1:15–17; Robert Thompson, 605 acres, Rowan
(August 2, 1760), Granville Grants; and Rowan Co. Deeds, 4:495–96, 4:496–97, 6:501–2.
144
Appendix B
Complete List of Rowan County Signatures on 1756 Vestry Tax Petition1
William Willey
James Smith
James Mclough
John Conger
John Smith
John Knox
Aaron Vancleave
William Moor[i]s
John Robeson
Henry Sloan
David R__[sava]ll
William Robeson
George Smith
Joshua Whitehead
Issack McCullough
William Lynn
John Drake
Allan Robenet
Andrew Smith
Benjamin Drake
Jesper Robent
Mathew Hanen
Daniel Mince
JamesHays
Jonathan Hunt
Eli[a]s Brock
James Miler
John Hunt
Jerimiah Baly
John Smith
Hanery Dowland
Jas. Carson
Jacob Vanpool
John South
William Robe[r]son
Robert Patrick
Benjamin Morrell
Samuel Lowery
William Patrick
Abraham Prise
James Elleson
John Patrick
Benjamin R__savall
Benj. Roberson
Peter Kuykendil
Richard Anderson
Alexander Dug_hlis
Benjamin Hard_ing
Cornelius Anderson
John Biggs
Jonathan David
Josiah R___avall
John Gardner
J____ Brown
Jacob McKinney
Samuel Shin_
James Brown
1
English Records, Granville District, Papers from the Marquis of Bath’s Library in Longleat,
Warminster, Wilshire, England, 1729–1780 (microfilm, North Carolina Department of Archives and History,
Raleigh).
145
Jonathan Conger
Richard Morbey
John Davis
Thomas Dalherd
William Brown
Tho. MCuiston
Willm Denny
Hugh Brally
Samuel __lson
John Cunningham
James Barr
Benj. Starratt
John McKnight
John Mcgowan
Robert Rankin
Robt. Thompson
Thomas McClure
Robt Doke
George Rankin
James Mathews
Adam Mitchel
Will Mathis
John McClintock
James Mathew Jun.
Robert Er[v]on
Gustaves MCuiston
David Brown
James McCuistion Junr
William Robinson
Thomas Donall
Thomas Brally
James Minnis
Adam Lecky
James Donnell
C___ Mcdad
_____ his mark __
John Mcadow
James M_adow
William Mcban
Charles Burnney
James MCuiston
Robert MCuiston
146
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Curriculum Vitae
Wendy Lynn Adams
EDUCATION
November 2009
Master of Arts in History (Public History)
Indiana University (Indiana University/Purdue University
at Indianapolis), Indianapolis, Indiana
 Academic focus on eighteenth-century history and the
Scots-Irish immigrant
 Thesis: “The Nottingham Settlement: A North Carolina
Backcountry Community”
August 2001–May 2005
Continuing Education (Professional Writing)
Bethel College, Mishawaka, Indiana
 Completed courses in editing, marketing, novel writing
and writing for newspaper and magazines.
May 1990
Master of Library Science
Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
 Academic focus on technical services, primarily
cataloging and acquisitions
May 1985
Bachelor of Arts (Christian Ministries with Church Music)
Asbury College, Wilmore, Kentucky
 Academic focus on Christian education and choral and
instrumental music
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
September 2009–Present
Cataloger, Northwest Territory Project (part-time,
temporary)
Indiana Historical Society, Collections, Indianapolis,
Indiana
 Serve as member of project team to digitize a
Northwest Territory collection of original lateeighteenth and early-nineteenth century manuscripts.
 Primarily responsible for creating metadata based on
interpretation of original manuscripts and existing
collection guide and entering metadata into an Excel
spreadsheet for later upload into CONTENTdm (by
others).
June 2009–August 2009
Editorial Assistant (part-time, temporary)
Indiana Historical Society, Family History Publications,
Indianapolis, Indiana
 Proofread and verified facts within articles prior to
publication in THG: Connections and Online
Connections.
 Authored articles for inclusion in THG: Connections
and Online Connections.
 Provided additional research to support facts stated
within articles, when necessary.
November 2008–Present
Collections Assistant (part-time)
Conner Prairie Living History Museum, Fishers, Indiana
 Provide data entry support, adding new records and
updating existing online catalog records for the
Museum‟s artifacts using the Past Perfect database
program.
 Assist Conservation Technician with preventative
conservation (dust and dirt removal) of historic homes
on the Museum‟s campus.
 Perform a variety of miscellaneous tasks associated
with the management of the collection, including
relocation of artifacts on premises and preparing
artifacts for receiving and removal.
 Maintain the Museum‟s research library, implementing
inventory of collection, cataloging and processing new
and previously unprocessed books, cleaning up online
catalog (PastPerfect) and planning reorganization of
library‟s shelves and book location.
August 2007–August 2008
Editorial Assistant (Paid Graduate Intern, IUPUI)
Indiana Historical Society, Family History Publications,
Indianapolis, Indiana
 Proofread and verified facts within articles prior to
publication in THG: Connections and Online
Connections.
 Authored articles and wrote miscellaneous material for
inclusion in THG: Connections and Online
Connections.
 Provided additional research to support facts stated
within articles, when needed.
 Provided editorial support, when required.
 Served as exhibitor coordinator for Midwestern Roots
2008, a genealogy conference sponsored by the Indiana
Historical Society in August 2008.
August 2006–May 2007
Collection Assistant (Paid Graduate Intern, IUPUI)
Indiana State Museum, Collection Management and Textile
Conservation, Indianapolis, Indiana
 Updated and augmented existing online catalog records
for silver flatware and furniture (chest of drawers and
desks) collections using the MIMSY database program.
 Researched historical provenance for artifacts in the
collection.
 Assisted Textile Conservator in preparing textiles for
exhibit by surveying and assessing artifact‟s condition;
stabilizing and repairing when necessary; and
constructing a variety of storage and exhibit mounts.
These included a Quaker bonnet, 1830s man‟s day coat,
day dresses, athletic shoes, early twentieth-century
women‟s boots, WWI army uniforms, and various
household textiles (coverlets and pillowcases).
August 2005–May 2006
Public History Intern (Paid Graduate Intern, IUPUI)
Indiana Supreme Court, Chief Justice‟s Chambers,
Indianapolis, Indiana
 Assisted with educational outreach programs, providing
historical research and developing handouts and support
materials.
 Researched projects slated for publication using
archival documents related to nineteenth-century
Indiana Supreme Court actions.
 Compiled and co-edited In Memoriam: Glimpses from
Indiana's Legal Past (2006), a 328-page collection of
Indiana biographies based on memorials published in
the Indiana Supreme Court‟s official court proceedings
spanning from 1865 to 2001.
 Transcribed early nineteenth-century documents from
Indiana‟s Polly Strong antislavery case for publication
on the Indiana Supreme Court‟s “Courts in the
Classroom” Web page.
 Created flat-panel exhibits based on state court history.
August 1990–May 2005
Assistant Librarian (Cataloger)
Bethel College, Mishawaka, Indiana
 Supervised and performed all aspects of copy and
original cataloging for book, audio-visual and other
non-book formats using recognized library standards.
 Hired, trained and supervised the work of part-time
student workers.
 Provided reference services using traditional and
computer-oriented tools.


Assisted in the Library‟s transition from card catalog to
online catalog.
Facilitated Library‟s change from Dewey Decimal
Classification System to Library of Congress
Classification System.
December 1989–April 1990 Library Assistant/Practicum Student
Education Library, Indiana University, Bloomington,
Indiana
 Processed new book and audio-visual acquisitions.
October 1986–December 1987 Director of Christian Education
Ann Street United Methodist Church, Beaufort, North
Carolina
 Planned, coordinated and implemented educational and
musical activities and programs for children and youth.
PROFESSIONAL VOLUNTEER SERVICE
2005–2007
Conner Prairie Living History Museum
Fishers, Indiana
 Assisted Museum Registrar by entering individual
collection files into computer database using Past
Perfect.
 Participated as costumed interpreter for the Christmas
candlelight tour (December 2006).
2005–2007
Morris-Butler House
Indianapolis, Indiana
 Participated in preliminary reinterpretation planning for
possible servant‟s room (Spring 2005).
 Assisted with annual Valentine‟s Day dinner (2006–
2007), serving tables and cleaning up.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
June 17, 2008
“Collections Preservation Workshop,” Indiana Historical
Society, Marion, Indiana.
April 21, 2008
“Managing Photograph Collections,” Indiana Historical
Society, Indianapolis, Indiana.
March 1-3, 2007
“Collections Camp: Caring for Furniture” (AASLH
Professional Development Series), Shakertown, Kentucky.
PUBLICATIONS
Adams, Wendy L. “Abstracts of the Montgomery County Legal Documents in the Barnes
Manuscripts Collection , 1851–1910.” The Hoosier Genealogist: Connections 48,
no. 1 (forthcoming, 2010).
Adams, Wendy L. “Jasper County, Voters Listed in Poll Book for Fourth Precinct,
Rensselaer, Indiana, 1932 Primary.” Online Connections
(http://www.indianahistory.org), (forthcoming, January 2010).
Adams, Wendy L. “Lawrence County Index to Account Book of Hade Bridwell,
Blacksmith, Perry Township, 1873–1878.” Online Connections
(http://www.indianahistory.org), (forthcoming, January 2010).
Immel, Mary Blair. “List of Names in a Pamphlet Commemorating the LaFuze Family
Centennial Reunion.” Edited by Wendy L. Adams. Online Connections
(http://www.indianahistory.org), (forthcoming, January 2010).
Adams, Wendy L. and Melinda Moore Weaver. “Court Papers: Abstracts of the Delaware
County Legal Documents in the Barnes Manuscripts Collection, 1864-1892.” The
Hoosier Genealogist: Connections 49, no. 1 (2009): 25–32.
Adams, Wendy L. and Melinda Moore Weaver. “Jackson County, Members of the
Jackson County Medical Society, 1876–1936.” Online Connections
(http://www.indianahistory.org), 2008.
Adams, Wendy L. and Melinda Moore Weaver. “The „Jefferson Chronicles‟: Statewide
Articles in the Indianapolis Daily Sentinel 1869–1872, Part 2: Name Index from
Selected Articles.” Online Connections (http://www.indianahistory.org), 2008.
Adams, Wendy L. and Rachel M. Popma. “Legal Documents: Abstracts of the Hamilton
County Legal Documents in the Barnes Manuscripts Collection, 1839, 1865–
1871.” The Hoosier Genealogist: Connections 48, no. 1 (2008): 26–27.
Bonner, Mrs. S. A. “Decatur County History: A 1901 „History of the Greensburg
Presbyterian Church‟.” Edited by Wendy L. Adams. The Hoosier Genealogist:
Connections 48, no. 1 (2008): 28–337.
Adams, Wendy L. “Fulton County, Journal of James K. Stinson, 1875-1881.” Online
Connections (http://www.indianahistory.org), 2007.
Dorrel, Ruth. “Vanderburgh County, Marriage Register of Justice of the Peace Eben C.
Poole, 1910.” Introduction by Wendy L. Adams. Online Connections
(http://www.indianahistory.org), 2007.
Adams, Wendy L. and Elizabeth R. Osborn. In Memoriam: Glimpses from Indiana's
Legal Past. Indianapolis: Indiana Supreme Court, 2006.