This book began as Jean
Stephenson's effort to validate
the family tradition that her
great-great-grandparents
emigrated from Belfast to South
Carolina under the leadership of
Covenanter Presbyterian minister
William Martin in 1772. The
author was not only able to
authenticate the crux of the
story, but, in the process, to
place nearly 500 Scotch-Irish
families in South Carolina on the
eve of the Revolutionary War.
The impetus for the
colonization was the combination
of exorbitant land rents in
Northern Ireland, sometimes
provoking violent resistance, and
the offer of free land and
inexpensive tools and provisions
tendered by the colonial
government of South Carolina. For
instance, each Scottish
Covenanter was entitled to 100
acres for himself and 50 acres
for his spouse, and an additional
50 acres for each child brought
to South Carolina. Faced with
this crisis and opportunity,
Reverend Martin persuaded his
parishioners that they had
nothing to lose by leaving
Ulster, and before long he was in
charge of a small fleet of
vessels bound for South Carolina.
This story is recounted by Ms.
Stephenson from the records of
the South Carolina Council
Journal and tax lists,
passenger lists, church
histories, and other sources
housed at the South Carolina
Department of Archives and
History.
Genealogists will want to pore
over the land evidences assembled
by the author from entries found
in the Council Journal,
namely, authorizations, survey
abstracts, wills, deeds and other
records which demonstrate where
each family settled, or was
entitled to settle. The families,
which are grouped under the
vessel they traveled in, are
identified by the name of the
household head, names of spouse
and children, number of acres
surveyed, county, location of the
nearest body of water and the
names of abutting neighbor, and
the source of the information.
For the reader's convenience,
there is not only an index of the
persons found in the list of
survey entries and a separate
subject index, but also a table
of spelling variants. A work of
exacting scholarship,
Scotch-Irish Migration to South
Carolina, 1772 is a crucial
source on settlement of the
Palmetto State on the eve of the
American Revolution.
This volume is available on
our Family Archive CD
7517.
Format: Paper
Pages: 137 pp.
Genealogy
Early Church History
Published: 1971
Reprinted: 2008
Price: $19.50
ISBN: 9780806348322
Item #: CF9428