An Historical Account of the Settlements of Scotch Highlanders in America

by J. P. MacLean

From the three centers, Worcester, Londonderry and Wiscasset, the Scotch-Irish penetrated and permeated all New England; Maine the most of all, next New Hampshire, then Massachusetts, and in lessening order, Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island. They were one sort of people, belonging to the same grade and sphere of life. In worldly goods they were poor, but the majority could read and write, and if possessed with but one book that was the Bible, yet greatly esteeming Fox's "Book of Martyrs" and Bunyon's "Pilgrim's Progress." Whatever their views, they were held in common.

The three doors that opened to the Scotch-Irish emigrant, in the New World, were the ports of Boston, Charleston and New Castle, in Delaware, the great bulk of whom being received at the last named city, where they did not even stop to rest, but pushed their way to their future homes in Pennsylvania. No other state received so many of them for permanent settlers. Those who landed in New York found the denizens there too submissive to foreign dictation, and so preferred Pennsylvania and Maryland, where the proprietary governors and the people were in immediate contact. Francis Machemie had organized the first Presbyterian church in America along the eastern shore of Maryland and in the adjoining counties of Virginia.

The wave of Quaker settlements spent its force on the line of the Conestoga creek, in Lancaster county. The Scotch and Scotch-Irish arriving in great numbers were permitted to locate beyond that line, and thus they not only became the pioneers, but long that race so continued to be. In 1725, so great had been the wave of emigration into Pennsylvania, that James Logan, a native of Armagh, Ireland, but not fond of his own countrymen who were not Quakers, declared, "It looks as if Ireland were to send all her inhabitants hither; if they continue to come they will make themselves proprietors of the province;" and he further condemned the bad taste of the people who were forcing themselves where they were not wanted. The rate of this invasion may be estimated from the rise in population from twenty thousand, in 1701, to two hundred and fifty thousand in 1745, which embraced the entire population of that colony. Between the years 1729 and 1750, there was an annual arrival of twelve thousand, mostly from Ulster. Among the vessels that helped to inaugurate this great tide was the good ship "George and Ann," which set sail from Ireland on May 9th, 1729, and brought over the McDowells, the Irvines, the Campbells, the O'Neills, the McElroys, the Mitchells, and their compatriots.

Soon after the emigrants landed at New Castle they found their way along the branches of various rivers to the several settlements on the western frontier. The only ones known to have come through New York was the "Irish settlement" in Allen township, Northampton county, composed principally of families from Londonderry, New Hampshire, where, owing to the rigid climate, they could not be induced to remain. It grew but slowly, and after 1750 most of the descendants passed on towards the Susquehanna and down the Cumberland.

As early as 1720 a colony was formed on the Neshaminy, in Bucks County, which finally became one of the greatest landmarks of that race. The settlements that commenced as early as 1710, at Fagg Manor, at Octorara, at New London, and at Brandywine Manor, in Chester County, formed the nucleus for subsequent emigration for a period of forty years, when they also declined by removals to other sections of the State, and to the colonies of the South. Prior to 1730 there were large settlements in the townships of Colerain, Pequea, and Leacock, in Lancaster County. Just when the pioneers arrived in that region has not been accurately ascertained, but some of them earlier than 1720. Within a radius of thirty-five miles of Harrisburgh are the settlements of Donegal, Paxtang, Derry, and Hanover, founded between 1715 and 1724; from whence poured another stream on through the Cumberland Valley, across the Potomac, down through Virginia and into the Carolinas and Georgia. The valley of the Juniata was occupied in 1749. The settlements in the lower part of York County date from 1726. From 1760 to 1770 settlements rapidly sprung up in various places throughout Western Pennsylvania. Soon after 1767 emigrants settled on the Youghiogheny, the Monongahela and its tributaries, and in the years 1770 and 1771, Washington County was colonized. Soon after the wave of population extended to the Ohio River. From this time forward Western Pennsylvania was characteristically Scotch-Irish.

These hardy sons were foremost in the French and Indian Wars. The Revolutionary struggle caused them to turn their attention to statesmanship and combat,—every one of whom was loyal to the cause of independence. The patriot army had its full share of Scotch-Irish representation. That thunderbolt of war, Anthony Wayne,[6] hailed from the County of Chester. The ardent manner in which the cause of the patriots was espoused is illustrated, in a notice of a marriage that took place in 1778, in Lancaster County, the contracting parties being of the Ulster race. The couple is denominated "very sincere Whigs."

It "was truly a Whig wedding, as there were present many young gentlemen and ladies, and not one of the gentlemen but had been out when called on in the service of his country; and it was well known that the groom, in particular, had proved his heroism, as well as Whigism, in several battles and skirmishes. After the marriage was ended, a motion was made, and heartily agreed to by all present, that the young unmarried ladies should form themselves into an association by the name of the 'Whig Association of Unmarried Young Ladies of America,' in which they should pledge their honor that they would never give their hand in marriage to any gentleman until he had first proved himself a patriot, in readily turning out when called to defend his country from slavery, by a spirited and brave conduct, as they would not wish to be the mothers of a race of slaves and cowards'"[7]

Pennsylvania was the gateway and first resting place, and the source of Scotch-Irish adventure and enterprise as they moved west and south. The wave of emigration striking the eastern border of Pennsylvania, in a measure was deflected southward through Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, reaching and crossing the Savannah river, though met at various points by counter streams of the same race, which had entered the continent through Charleston and other southern ports. Leaving Pennsylvania and turning southward, the first colony into which the stream poured, was Maryland, the settlements being principally in the narrow strip which constitutes the western portion, although they never scattered all over the colony.