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Subject: [DNA-R1B1C7] Check out Emigration of Scotch and Scotch-Irish toAmerica
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:44:26 EST
_Emigration of Scotch and Scotch-Irish to America_
(http://www.libraryireland.com/ScotchIrishSeeds/IX.php) THE emigrants to this country from Scotland
and Ireland had so many things in common, and they mingled so naturally and
constantly wherever they settled, that it is impossible to trace, with any
accuracy, the separate streams of emigration. An approximation is all that will
be attempted.
During the bloody persecutions which prevailed in Scotland many of her best
citizens were banished to America. Some of them were transported as felons
because they would not violate their consciences; this was the only crime
alleged against them by their accusers. Others fled because they saw no prospect
in the future that in their native land they would be permitted to enjoy those
modes of worship which they believed most in accordance with God's word;
while still others were attracted to the New World by the prospect of improving
their temporal affairs, which had been impaired or wholly ruined by the fines
and imprisonments to which they had been subjected.
After the disastrous battle of Dunbar (1650), a large number of prisoners
were sent to the Plantations, as they were called, to be sold for slaves. A like
disposition was made of many who took part in the Pentland rising and the
battle of Bothwell Bridge. The oppressed congregations also furnished many
colonists, who, denied all religious freedom at home, fled to this country. A
large number of these Presbyterians settled, from the years 1670 to 1680, on the
Elizabeth River, Virginia, and in the lower counties of Maryland, and
established several churches at least twenty years before the close of the century.
Several Scottish noblemen and gentlemen, who had been active in their
opposition to the prelatic measures of their sovereign, and so incurred his
displeasure, conceived the design of providing a home for their persecuted brethren
in America, and in 1682 they contracted with the lords-proprietors of
Carolina for a large landed property. In the same State, and previous to the year
1670, "several hundred able-bodied men formed a settlement on the west bank of
the Ashley River and named it Charles' Town." _[1]_
(http://www.libraryireland.com/ScotchIrishSeeds/IX.php#1) As early as 1662 a company of persons driven
from Virginia by religious persecution settled on Albemarle Sound. They
supposed they would be protected in their civil and religious rights, but no
sooner did the Episcopal Church acquire the necessary prestige and power than
dissenters were taxed for its support, and were disfranchised if they failed to
conform. Thus were they socially and politically degraded by intolerant laws
designed to prop up Episcopacy, and to escape from this injustice they removed
to another colony. This settlement and a previous one on Chowan River were
visited by Governor Berkley of Virginia in 1663, who appointed William
Drummond, a Scotch Presbyterian, the first governor of the colonies settled in North
Carolina. At his death (1667) the colonists numbered about five thousand.
The congregations of Marlborough and Bladensburg, Maryland, were composed of
Presbyterians who left Scotland during the persecution in the reign of James
II. East Jersey subsequently received a considerable emigration, chiefly
induced to remove there by George Scot of Pitloche, who had suffered everything
short of death for his nonconformity. In his appeal to his countrymen to
emigrate he dwelt especially upon the privilege they would have of enjoying their
own modes of worship; and this appeal was seconded by letters from their
friends who had previously settled in the province. Other companies of Scotchmen
found homes in Delaware and along the York and Rappahannock Rivers in
Virginia; while, as we have seen, a large number of colonists had entered the
southern colonies, landing either at Wilmington or Charleston. Those who remained
in Charleston united with Congregationalists from New England, who were
already settled there, in forming an Independent church, but the pastors for many
years belonged to the Church of Scotland. This church was gathered probably as
early as 1682. In 1695 we know that a gift of one thousand pounds was made
to it by Governor Joseph Blake. The French Huguenot church was established in
1686, and was the first purely Presbyterian church in South Carolina. Other
churches were formed within a few years. A letter from South Carolina
published in London (1710) states that there were at this time five Presbyterian
churches in the colony, and the records show that a donation of three hundred
acres of land was made in 1717 for the support of a Presbyterian minister on
Edisto Island.
North Carolina was also largely indebted to these early Scotch colonists for
many of her most useful and honored citizens. As early as 1729, and again in
1736 and 1739, there were large arrivals of emigrants, who occupied the
fertile plains along the Cape Fear River. The rebellion of 1745 caused many
Highlanders to leave their native land. Shiploads of them are said to have landed
at Wilmington, and from thence they made their way into the interior of North
and South Carolina. Some of these were voluntary exiles, but the most of them
had fled from Scotland to avoid persecution, and even death itself. For many
years the Gaelic language was retained among them, and was employed by their
preachers in all public services.
As early as 1698 a colony of French Presbyterians (Huguenots), numbering more
than one thousand persons, settled upon the Santee and Cooper Rivers, South
Carolina. The emigration of Huguenots continued for many years, and various
colonies were formed in the State. From these have descended some of the most
worthy citizens in the South. Previous to the year 1700 seventy families of
Swiss Presbyterians landed in the same State, and being largely mechanics and
merchants made their permanent residence in Charleston.
Though the emigration from Scotland began at an earlier period than that from
the north of Ireland, it never assumed the magnitude nor the organized form
of the latter, especially from the years 1715 to 1750. During these years
America received very large accessions to its Protestant population, most of
whom were Scotch-Irish, and in hearty sympathy with the Presbyterian Church. So
great were the numbers from Ireland who sought refuge in this country that
the civil magistrates "deplored the hallucination" which seemed to have seized
the inhabitants, and which led them in such multitudes to forsake their
adopted land.
There were three causes impelling the inhabitants of Ulster to desert a
country which they had reclaimed from barbarism. These were religious bigotry,
commercial jealousy and the oppressive measures employed by landlords.
Of the first little requires to be said in this connection. In the course of
the previous history we have seen what evils were inflicted upon nonconfo
rmists by an intolerant government, instigated by still more intolerant bishops.
It may be well, however, to add here, and more in confirmation of previous
statements than by way of elucidation, what Mr. Froude _[2]_
(http://www.libraryireland.com/ScotchIrishSeeds/IX.php#2) has said on this subject: "The
Protestant settlers in Ireland at the beginning of the seventeenth century were of
the same metal with those who afterward sailed in the Mayflower
--Presbyterians, Puritans, Independents--in search of a wider breathing-space than was
allowed them at home. By an unhappy perversity they had fallen under the same
stigma, and were exposed to the same inconveniences. The bishops had chafed
them with persecutions. . . . The heroism with which the Scots held the northern
province against the Kilkenny Parliament and Owen Roe O'Neil, was an
insufficient offset against the sin of nonconformity. . . . This was a stain for
which no excellence could atone. The persecutions were renewed, but did not cool
Presbyterian loyalty. When the native race made their last effort under
James II. to recover their lands, the Calvinists of Derry won immortal honor for
themselves, and flung over the wretched annals of their adopted country a
solitary gleam of true glory. Even this passed for nothing. They were still
dissenters, still unconscious that they owed obedience to the hybrid successors
of St. Patrick, the prelates of the Establishment; and no sooner was peace
re-established than spleen and bigotry were again at their old work. Vexed with
suits in the ecclesiastical courts, forbidden to educate their children in
their own faith, treated as dangerous to a State which but for them would have
had no existence, and deprived of their civil rights, the most earnest of
them at length abandoned the unthankful service. ... If they intended to live as
freemen, speaking no lies and professing openly the creed of the
Reformation, they must seek a country where the long arm of prelacy was still too short
to reach them. During the first half of the eighteenth century, Down, Antrim,
Tyrone, Armagh and Derry were emptied of Protestant inhabitants, who were of
more value to Ireland than California gold-mines." _[3]_
(http://www.libraryireland.com/ScotchIrishSeeds/IX.php#3)
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