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L:
What photos do you mean? I have posted my ggrandparents here, but in private emails, I might have discussed the picture Deb sent me of a mutual ancestor who looks so much like the picture of “the last Tutelo.” If you want the ones here, search for the forum “My Aunt Regina” and you will see my gggrandmother, Mary Potter. Have to look farther for her husband, James Ralston. His mother was my Blackfoot ID, Nancy McLane
We are looking at patterns of emigration beginning at Blackfoot town. The Delaware database is at http://www2.state.de.us/dpa/probate/ If you type in the name, you will see an Ann there in 1795. However, I have read online that you also need to check out Ricords, Rickards, and other variations of this name. There are several of those names too. We are finding several names that begin near Blackfoot Town and do make it to near Blackfoot Cemetery or in other locations that have been mentioned on this forum, such as Shepherdstown, WVA and Mecklenberg, NC,. Ricketts and Mason start in DE and are in Blackfoot cemetery, while a Sankey line does also. Sinkey Cousin is now working on establishing family connections with these Sankeys, which would also be my connection, as I am Sinkey Cousin’s cousin, and a connection to you, if you are connected to the Ricketts who were near my Sinkeys in PA.
I am excited by what is being found. Brenda keeps finding stuff that discusses those emigration patterns that follow these names as they moved out of DE.
Techteach
Brenda,
Seems like many of the Old Side moved south, doesn’t it? My sources indicate that Rev Richard took many of his Octoraro church members with him when he moved to Cub Creek, VA. Seems like we need to get Presbyterian records.
Techteach
It looks like many of these folks went down to the Carolinas from Pennsylvania- or Maryland. [I am interested in the Steel/Steele/Steal name, but can only go back as far as George Steel who shows up on paper in Charles County, MD as an adult c. 1773. Steele is hard as there seem to be a great many of them….]
Does anyone know anything abt. traders Matthew Toole and Robert Steele? I know that Steele traded with the Catawba in SC, but don’t know where he was active before migrating south.
http://members.aol.com/wmbigham/bigham/bighamsc.html
“The earliest settlements of Mecklenburg County centered around seven
Presbyterian churches. Steele Creek Presbyterian was among the earliest and
is generally believed to have been organized about 1760. Steele Creek
Presbyterian Church and its cemetery served as a focal point for all the
settlers of western Mecklenburg County. Most of the early settlers obtained
land grants described by their locations along rivers, streams, and creeks.
Steele Creek flows in a southerly direction west of Steele Creek Church and
was probably named for Robert Steele who operated in the area as an indian
trader as early as 1751. The Steele Creek section of Mecklenburg County was
generally bordered on the west by the Catawba River, on the east by the
present Nations Ford Road, on the south by the Catawba Indian Nation, and
the north by the road leading to Beattie’s Ford. The earliest Bighams are
recorded on land documents about the time Steele Creek Church was organized.”
“….It therefore is apparent that the first settlers in the Steele Creek
area may have been the Indian traders – Robert Steele and Matthew Toole who
both were known to have been in the area as early as 1748. James and Andrew
Armor (Armour) may have followed Steele from Pennsylvania and Virginia and
settled on the east side of the Catawba River near the present South
Carolina line.”
http://members.aol.com/wmbigham/bigham/settlers.html
Brenda, Deb and others:
Found this information. I will post this in two postings. Note in the second posting that Rev. John Thompson (he begins as a Presbyterian preacher in Lewes, DE – Bakers are his daughter and son-in-law.) led people from PA to the Cumberland valley and then down to Iredell County, NC (I think I have been confused here. I think I thought that he died in Mecklenberg County. I need to check. I think it might have been Mecklenberg in Iredell county)
(For others who have not followed some of the stuff that Brenda, Bess and I have been looking at, we have been tracing movements of groups away from Blackfoot Town, DE.)
(From Margaret Gardner Cannefax’s: Cannefax-Gardner and Related Lines pp 95-97 pub. 1972)
The first Scot-Irish settlement in America was on the Eastern shore of Maryland between 1649 and 1669. In 1681 and 1682 five Presbyterian meeting houses were organized by Francis McKamie in Somerset and Calvert Counties. Only twelve Presbyterian churches were known to have existed thruout(sic) the thirteen colonies prior to 1700
By 1695 the Scots were quite numerous in Dorchester and Somerset counties. The movement of people from the region was of enormous significance in the settlement of Northwestern Carolina. George Scot. Laird of Pitlochie wrote in 1685 that a friend divine in Maryland had sent such an encouraging account of the country that many of his acquaintances were preparing to to make the voyage to Baltimore’s Colony. Thruout(sic) the first half of the 18th century thousands of Scots from Northern Ireland engaged in wholesale migration to America, settling before 1730 chiefly in Cecil County, Maryland, New Castle County, Delaware and Chester County, Pa.
The fundamental cause of this movement was economic. Repressive trade laws – rack-renting landlords- famine and the decline of the linen industry were main factors in the overseas movement of these Ulster Scots.
Gradually the Pennsylvania-Maryland frontier was pushed westward toward the foothills of the Alleghenies. By 1729 a sufficient number of pioneers had settled in the Susquehanna Valley to warrant the creation of Lancaster County. Scot-Irish settlers began moving west of the Susquehanna as early as 1721, but were ordered to leave because Indian title to the land had not been extinguished. By 1724 there were quite a few settlers, as James Silver was operating a grist mill in 1724.
Why did the Scot-Irish leave Pennsylvania? One reason was that the price of land was so high. Another was that Pennsylvania was established by English Quakers in 1681. In 1715 the Friends controlled the political and economic life of the colony. The Quakers government was determined to maintain control so they encouraged the Scot-Irish to move to the frontier in order to provide a buffer against possible French and Indian hostilities.
The settlers of the Northwest Carolina frontier were by no means a group of destitute encroachers, many of the Scot-Irish settlers had prospered during twenty years sojourn in Pennsylvania and Maryland. Land Grants occupied such a large proportion of the desirable land by 1762 that there were very few squatters. Roads kept in good repair by the settlers, connecting the settlements and northward thru(sic) Shenandoah Valley to Pennsylvania. Also public ferries were operated across streams. Operation of the ferries and maintenance of the roads were by court appointed prominent men living at widely scattered points to serve as commissioners for the roads.
The principle crops in the Valley were indigo, wheat, rye, hops, barley and hemp. Tradesmen were paid for work in grain. Hops and hemp were what they looked to for profit. Meats were plentiful from the forest. Homesites were located not on the rivers, but along the upper reaches of the numerous creeks. Each homeplace had a fresh water spring to provide water for the family and animals.
Techteach
Continued from above:
In 1734-35 there were more than two-hundred-fifty persons who obtained license to move in to the Cumberland Valley. Among these were John and William Davidson, George , William and John Cathey, Archibald McAlister, James, John, Thomas, and William Patton, John Wilson and Rev. John Thompson. By 1751 the Cumberland Valley population was predominately Scot-Irish, but by 1820 only one-third of the taxables were Scot –Irish. Between 1730 and 1740 they had begun moving southward from the Cumberland Valley and upper Potomac valley in to the Shenandoah region. The fertile valleys of Western Virginia and the Carolinas extended generally from northeast to southwest. Land costs were less here than in Virginia and Pennsylvania. The Valley of Virginia lay between the Allegheny mountains on the west and the Blue Ridge on the east. Up this valley flowed the Shenandoah River to the Potomac at Harpers Ferry.
William Berley, a wealthy planter-merchant of Essex Co. Va. Saw an opportunity to profit from the new settlers. He acquired 118,000 acres of land on the “River Shenando” called the “Manor of Berley.” He sold the “Manor” to new settlers in small tracts. In 1737 Benjamin Borden acquired nearly 100,000 acres in the Valley. The Berley-Borden patents acted as a spur to the Southwest migration of Scot-Irish. The Valley of Virginia filled rapidly after 1736, leading in turn to the migration to the Carolinas.
The Davidsons, Bakers and Thompsons were some of the families who moved on to the Carolinas. The Davidsons settled on the upper reaches of Davidson Creek and established the Centre Presbyterian Church between 1752 and 1755. On November 26 1748 a grant of 650 acres was surveyed for John Davidson “beginning at a black oak on the north side of a creek called Davidson Creek that runneth into the Catawba River on the north side thence 400 poles to a stake thn west 260 poles to a stake thence north 400 poles to a hickory then east 260 poles to the station.” In 1724 a John Davidson settled on Chickaslunga Creek in Susquehanna Valley. Accompanied by William Davidson, he crossed the Susquehanna before 1734 and settled in the vicinity of Letort’s Spring. At the same time Robert was living in the Middle Octoraro Creek settlement (southeastern Lancaster Co. Pa) John Davidson was in West Caln Twp. Chester Co. Pa. And George and Samuel in East Nottingham twp. Chester Co. This was before they migrated to the Valley of Virginia and then on to the Carolinas.
William Davidson and wife Elizabeth, came from Armagh, Legacory Co. Ireland in 1741 and settled at Elkton, Cecil Co Maryland.
Deb – note that these people were from Armagh, Ireland. Richard Sinkey (our Richard) lived near Armagh, PA, did he not?
And a reminder – this Rev John Thompson was father-in-law to Rev/ Richard Sankey. Both were from Lewes, DE where they were Presbyterian ministers and part of New Castle Presbytery. Richard took his family to Prince Edward County VA in 1757 or thereabouts. Both were Old Siders.
This link outlines more information on Rev John Thompson, who was a frontier Presbyterian preacher but also leader of the Old Siders, and the movements of his descendents :
http://www.lpickard.com/thomphist.htm
Lynella – you might notice that Thompson’s children or grandchildren marry Ferguson. Thompson marries Reid. There was a Furguson in Kent county, DE in the late 1700s and Reeds in Sussex County, DE in the mid-1700s.
Techteach
Cindy,
This information is great! Looks like folllowing the Presbyterian Church records from Old Somerset Maryland throughout the frontier may yield a lot of important answers. Some of the Steel/Steeles from this time period that I can’t place certainly seem to show up on these routes. Do you know if there is a good source? What/where are the Presbyterian Archives?
Here is something from the HISTORY OF CECIL COUNTY by Johnston, p. 4, regarding the Indians and the Episcopal Church cemetery, too.
Speaking at first of various groups, the Shawnee, and then the Susquehanna Johnston notes:
“Some of them remained in this part of the country for many years after it was settled by the whites, as is shown by the fact that a few of them were baptised as members of the Episcopal church at North East. There is also reason to believe that at least some of them was employed by the Principio Iron Company; the name of INDIAN JAMES being found upon the books of that company for the year 1726. There was also, as is shown by an old petition on record at the clerk’s office at Elkton, an Indian village called POPPEMETTO, not far from the mouth of Rock Run and probably near the Indian spring, which is not far from the site of the old chapel east of Port Deposit. [I think this is around Octoraro Creek.] But they were a wandering people and frequently migrated from one place to another…” He goes on to say that the Susquehanna Indians retained the land between the Susquehanna River and North East River for many years after they had ceded other lands away, primarily to enjoy fishing rights at the head of the bay…..The Elk, North East, the Octoraro and its tributeries were noted for material culture remains, weapons, utensils, etc.
I know I’ve seen other references to Indian churchyard burials in Cecil and on the Eastern Shore, but can’t remember where at present!!!
Incidently, this is an area [Cecil County, extending up the river into PA] ] that Swede Traders Charles Mounts Anderson, his brother Christopher Mounts/Mounce, John Hans Steelman, Andrew Friend, and others not Swede/Finn like Augustine Hermann [Bohemian] were operating in early on before having to move their business west with their customers.
Brenda:
Here, try this : http://sdss4.physics.lsa.umich.edu:8080/~mckay/amckay/presintr.htm
Sankey’s biography, though, isn’t always linked correctly. You can get there, but in roundabout ways. There are 3 Rev Steels.
Techteach
Rev. Richard Sankey (b. pre 1715-1788)
“…in 1757, with a great part of his congregation, he settled on Buffalo Creek, in Prince Edward County, Virginia. Buffalo Church is one of the oldest churches in the Prince Edward region, and near the church for a long time was a trading place called ‘Londonderry.”
Wonder what the story is on Londonderry?
Oh, this is all excellent! I’m going to have to put together a big chunk of time and pick through this all much more slowly. You guys are doing great! Now I want to look and see what routes my Gunder/Kinder took from PA. Last night I was pilfering files and found another spelling variation on Ricketts. It was Reicketts. I’ll have to find that again as well. I’ll try to get back in here in a while and poke around on these links. Thank you, you guys for filling me in. This is awesome!;) L.
L:
Found a Kinder for you in DE. Read this page
http://www.accessible.com/amcnty/DE/Delaware/delaware74.htm
Techteach
Any chance it was ever spelled GUNTER?
I found this tonight while surfing and wondered because of the Swearingen connection.
http://wwwmindspring.com/~baumbach/gunter/index.html
.
“The Gunter Family of Haywood, Macon, Cherokee, Jackson & Graham Counties, North Carolina ; Bradshaw, Gunter, Reed, Stillwell, Swearingen, Welch
“Hiram and Elizabeth Cornwell Gunter lived in Haywood County, later absorbed into Cherokee and still later into Graham Counties at Stecoah. They were buried in the Panther Creek Cemetery in Stecoah.
Elizabeth Cornwell was born 10 May 1820 in Haywood Co., NC. She married Hiram Gunter on 9 August 1842 in Haywood Co., NC. One of Hiram and Betty’s three sons was named Jesse Cornwell Gunter, and many descendents from that line attribute Jesse Cornwell (b. c1766 VA) of early Buncombe and Haywood Co., NC as her father. Tradition from the line of Jasper Gunter, another son of Hiram and Betty Gunter, was that Betty was a Stillwell. There may be partial truth to both lineages………
Eli (b c1795 NC) was likely a son of Jesse which would make Jesse Elizabeth’s grandfather. Eli (Eley) married Massey Stillwell (b. c1795 NC) in Haywood Co. in 1816. Massey was a daughter of Jeremiah Stillwell and Mary Swearingen. Mary was a daughter of Samuel and Massey Swearingen. Jeremiah died around 1815 and Jesse Cornwell was the administrator of the widow’s allowance for Mary Stillwell, and George Gunter (Hiram’s father) was the executor of the estate (1815 Haywood Co., NC). ……”
Brenda:
Check out http://www.doak.ws/donegal.htm It gives background on Donegal and includes info on another Londonderry. This family went south with Sankey and intermarries with the family, so I am sure that that is why there was a Londonderry in VA.
Techteach
Oh, you guys! This is completely fantastic! How cool is this? Thank you so much for the links. This is something!
I suppose it could have been spelled Gunter, I mean, it started out Gunder and went to Kinder, I wouldn’t doubt it if some stuck with Gunder and inflections made it Gunter in some cases.
Man, I’m going to hate being away for the next week in Miami. But, I’ll try to get time on Carl’s computer while I’m down there.
Thank you, OH SO MUCH!;) Love & Light, Lynella.
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