Scotch-Irish-L Archives
Archiver > Scotch-Irish > 2010-03 > 1269988380
From: Ruth McLaughlin <>
Subject: Re: [S-I] Migration of 1718 group from Casco Bay to Northampton Co.,PA
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:39:09 -0400
References: <245ad2a1003301145y63bbdf26w1501dbee4e74d28b@mail.gmail.com><1755110630.306501269976213585.JavaMail.root@sz0165a.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net>
In-Reply-To: <1755110630.306501269976213585.JavaMail.root@sz0165a.westchester.pa.mail.comcast.net>
That concept of 'chain migration' is something that *has to* be
thought about but trying to get a handle on some connections in
American history, for the moment in terms of theorizing seems
infinitely easier than late 17th-early 18th c. County Londonderry!!
<groan> The for-sure common ancestor of the so-called Group 26 Smiths
within the Northeastern Smith Project who came to America in 1718 is a
Thomas Smith, born Derry 1688.
You've had a lot of DNA experience, Linda — does a 66 out 67 match
imply, in your mind, that the intersect would be within a certain
number of generations?
All the TN connection seems to be very East TN—Carter and Sullivan and
seemingly from NC more than VA.
There is a Jarvis Smith family who oral history says may have come to
Wilkes Co. NC from York Co. PA and established iron bloomery. Could
this family be the family we need to find a connection to —or not? A
road we have to go down and hopefully have already found a willing DNA
testor which will save time barking up a wrong tree. This Jarvis
family also clearly has connections within Carter Co. TN! Jarvis and
his siblings and many of his sons including Caleb fought in the
Revolutionary War, including all of them fighting in the Battle of
Kings Mountain, 1780. Jarvis' will is extant and a team member (we are
lucky to have a strong team) is going to try and see the original in
the next two weeks where its now resides in Raleigh.
But what catches my eye, Linda, is your reference to land records.
Will be back in time to wonder about that and the indexes etc... to
find a land grant that had been lost—somebody was looking out for you!
If it weren't for DNA, we would know nothing of related Smiths in
Tennessee. I'm into matches in Australia too, but for my Ulster
Croziers. The Aussies just don't have paper trails and I do, and so
how to connect?! Arrrgh!
Ruth
On Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 3:10 PM, <> wrote:
>
> Hi Ruth, thanks for this information! I alas have not researched anyone in this Casco Bay to PA
> migration, though it is believed many left New England for Pennsylvania in the early 1700s. Not only was
> the climate improved, but Pennsylvania offered freedom of religion and, in the early 1700s, welcomed them.
> So wonder is any remained. Once in PA, the next generation moved down the wagon road into Virginia. Many VIrginianas moved to Tennessee after the Revolution, esp. eastern TN. Depending on the area of TN,
> they might have gotten a grant due to military service in North Carolina. Virginia soldiers received land in
> the future Kentucky, not TN. But by the time the soldiers came to TN, eastern TN was largely in private
> hands so the military grants are in the middle and west, with some federal land grants as well. I had to do
> some research in the area. I'm no expert. A lot of the indexes are microfimed and in LDS, but in the end
> we had to use an expert to search the original North Carolina landgrants, which he found. The grant
> was missing from the TN state copy. The guy charged us $3 or some such amount to send us the grant.
> (not $300 like we were charged for a probate packet once....grrrrrr.....).
>
> However your experience where a surprising DNA match sets you off on another direction is somewhat
> typical. In my one situation, where we were looking for matches to Virginia (To TN) settlers from the 1770s,
> our match was to an Australian! He had excellent proof of descent from a man in a town in Tyrone. We
> knew about this man but no proof of relationship till the DNA match half the way around the world.
>
> It's possible that the Londonderry family sent other sons to America independently of Casco Bay. This is called 'chain migration'. So you cannot create a link between Casco Bay and TN because the link is back
> to Ireland.
>
> With a common name like Smith a good DNA match is really appreciated.
>
> Linda Merle
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