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Home , Aghadowey, County Londonderry, Kilrea, Macosquin, Maghera (parish), Magilligan

1718The Migration

FROM TO NEW ENGLAND

1718 1718

FOREWORD INTRODUCTION

he Scotch-Irish are the bedrock t was not by means the irst migration of of the United States. Their people from Ulster to America, but it T deeds have shaped the nation, I was probably the irst that was organised from the Declaration of Independence to successfully to bring groups of settlers from the moon landings and beyond. They have one deinite catchment area, and importantly, provided leadership out of all proportion Perhaps the most important single these were people who wanted to continue to to their numbers, whether as politicians, live together in the new land. soldiers, business people, inventors or clergy. year in the story of the relationship Most people will never have heard of the 1718 Seventeen out of 44 Presidents of the migration, in which signiicant numbers of United States could claim Scotch-Irish roots. between Ulster and America is families from the north of travelled The contribution of the Scotch-Irish on sailing ships to BOSTON in America, goes far beyond famous deeds and famous 1718 and thence to found towns and communities people, however. It is their character and in America, at irst in MASSACHUSETTS, ideals, especially their love of freedom, that NEW HAMPSHIRE and MAINE, and then have had the greatest impact, for they have onwards throughout the continent. literally deined what it is to be an American. While having special relevance to the areas Every great story has a beginning, and for most directly afected – the BANN and FOYLE the Scotch-Irish the story begins with the valleys and adjoining districts, along with 1718 migration from Ulster. New England in the United States – 1718 and the events of that year have importance for Ulster and North America and the special IAN CROZIER relationship between the two. CHIEF EXECUTIVE In 2018, we in Ulster along with colleagues ULSTER-SCOTS AGENCY and distant relatives in New England have Newburyport, Massachusetts. Where the Merrimack River meets the Atlantic Ocean. © Carol Neuschul (Flickr Creative Commons). the opportunity to mark a very important, but largely forgotten tercentenary.

1689 1700 1701 1704 1714 1718 1718-19 1719 1720 1722 1729

Siege of Rev. James Rev. James The Rev. A succession Petition to Arrival in Arrival in Rev. Edward Arrival in McGregor Woodside Part of the McGregor Woodside Nutield was Death of Woodside McGregor provisions William of bad Governor Boston of Boston of Fitzgerald Boston of moved to became joined sailed to incorporated McGregor ordained ordained of the Test Holmes harvests Samuel William McGregor leads a party Woodside Dracut, minister of contingent his fellow London as a town (5 March) minister of minister of Act were emigrated began in Shute and Mary and the of migrants, and further Massachusetts Brunswick, spent the emigrants in (January), (21 June) and Dunboe Aghadowey extended from Ulster (26 March) carrying Aghadowey mainly from families (October), Maine winter at Nutield, New having been the name was to Ireland Rev. contingent the Foyle from the spending (November) Casco Bay Hampshire dismissed as changed to to Boston William (early Valley, to Bann Valley the winter (April) minister of Londonderry Boyd and August) Worcester, (September); ministering Brunswick the petition Massachusetts they soon there (September to Shute (possibly move on to 1719) (21/25 July) August) Merrymeeting Bay, Maine 4 5 1718 1718

BACKGROUND TO THE STORY EARLIER LINKS BETWEEN ULSTER AND AMERICA

n 28 July 1689, a boy named The period following the end of the For many members of the establishment, t the beginning of the eighteenth Another native to emigrate to JAMES McGREGOR is reputed Williamite war in Ireland was to prove Presbyterians were regarded as more of a century Ulster people may only America at this time was WILLIAM Oto have climbed to the top of the hugely disappointing for Presbyterians. threat than Catholics, especially because Ahave had a limited knowledge of HOLMES who, as a young man, moved to tower of St Columb’s Cathedral and ired Having fought for King William, Ulster’s of their numerical superiority over America, but it was certainly not unknown New England; subsequently he returned the cannon that signalled the breaking Presbyterians expected their loyalty to be Anglicans in Ulster. No less a igure than to them. The irst attempt to transplant to Ireland and was ordained minister of of the boom – the barrier that had been rewarded by the government. However, to JONATHAN SWIFT is believed to have families from Ulster to America took place Strabane in December 1692. In 1714 Holmes placed across the by Jacobite their considerable frustration they found been the author of a publication which in the mid 1630s. This venture was led by resigned as minister of Strabane and again “The inclination of the Ulster Scots to look for troops – which led to the lifting of the themselves excluded from full access to declared that Ulster Presbyterians were a four Ulster-Scots ministers who had fallen sailed for New England. In the following emancipation across the Atlantic was manifested siege of Londonderry. As many as 30,000 political and civil power as a result of ‘more knavish, wicked, thievish race than foul of the civil and religious authorities year he became pastor of a congregation as early in 1636, when the Eagle Wing set out people as well as a garrison of 7,000 men the Penal Laws that were passed by the even the natural Irish of the other three on account of their Presbyterian beliefs. in Chilmark, Martha’s Vineyard. His son from Lough for New England with a had been packed into the city for over three Anglican-dominated Irish Parliament. provinces’. In the circumstances, it is hardly They commissioned the building of a ship, Robert was a ship’s captain with trading company of would-be emigrants. By the end of the months and it is reckoned that 15,000 of surprising that Presbyterians were restive Eagle Wing, and set sail in September 1636. connections to Ireland. Father and son seventeenth century there were small settlements of them died of fever or starvation, or were Presbyterians were particularly aggrieved and ready to look beyond Ireland for Due to severe storms, however, the ship was are believed to have played a pivotal role Ulster Scots in America, especially on Chesapeake killed in battle. The siege was an event of when the provisions of the Test Act were alternative places to live and worship. forced to turn back. in promoting New England as a land of Bay, but there was nothing like a general immense importance in the lives of many of extended to Ireland in 1704. Henceforth opportunity to audiences in Ulster. movement prior to 1718.” the subsequent 1718 emigrants, McGregor those wishing to hold public oice would By the the city of Londonderry among them. Memories of this time were have to produce evidence that they had and town of were part of Another igure who seems to have been T. W. Moody, ‘The Ulster Scots in carried with them to the New World and taken communion in the ; a transatlantic trading network that important in this regard was ARCHIBALD Colonial and Revolutionary America’, passed down through the generations. this efectively disbarred Presbyterians connected America, Ireland and Britain, MACPHEADRIS who actively sought out Studies, vol. 34 (1945) from public appointments. Furthermore, and individuals and families began to take families from Ulster for New England. marriages conducted by Presbyterian advantage of these links to emigrate from Probably from , MacPheadris ministers were not considered valid and Plaque in First Derry Presbyterian Church to those who resigned Ulster to the New World. Among these established a successful business in from the Londonderry Corporation as a result of the Test Act children born of such marriages were early emigrants was Donegal-born Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where his regarded as illegitimate. REV. FRANCIS MAKEMIE who left for home – now called the Warner House – Maryland in 1683. His pioneering ministry still stands. earned him the title, ‘Father of American Presbyterianism’.

Londonderry’s historic walls St Columb’s Cathedral Above: Old Meeting House, Ramelton, Warner House, Portsmouth and Makemie blue plaque Right: Makemie statue in Philadelphia 6 7 1718 1718

REV. WILLIAM BOYD AND THE PETITION TO GOVERNOR SHUTE

n the early 1700s, Presbyterians in The signatories, including nine ministers On his arrival in Boston in July 1718 Boyd Ireland felt under pressure on a of the gospel, can be identiied as coming negotiated with the authorities there. Inumber of fronts. In addition to from an area centring on the Bann Valley, They were quite keen to have new settlers, the religious and legal hindrances noted in counties Antrim and Londonderry – especially people used to farming and already, there were economic diiculties as a region that had strongly afected by frontier life; the colonial government well, with a large number of 21-year leases migration from Britain, especially from thought that Ulster settlers could be placed falling in and higher rents being demanded. Scotland, and where there was strong on the outer reaches of their colony. Boyd Added to that, there was a succession of bad support for the Presbyterian Church – made a favourable impression on those harvests in the 1710s, and the manufacture with others from further south and west. whom he met. The Puritan divine, REV. of linen had become less proitable. There were 319 signatories to this petition, INCREASE MATHER, wrote that Boyd of whom only a handful did not write their was a man distinguished ‘by the Exemplary In early 1718, men who were dissatisied with own names. holiness of his Conversation, and the the situation in Ireland signed an elaborate Eminency of his Ministerial Gifts’. petition, still in existence, and sent it to The man delegated to carry the petition Boston. The petition, dated 26 March 1718, to New England was REV. WILLIAM was addressed to SAMUEL SHUTE, the BOYD. Born in 1685, he was possibly the Governor of Massachusetts, and those who son of Rev. Thomas Boyd, the minister of subscribed to it were anxious Aghadowey who had been in Londonderry during the siege of 1689. William Boyd to assure his Excellency of our sincere studied at the universities of Edinburgh and and hearty inclination to transport and in 1707 was licensed by the ourselves to that very excellent Route Presbytery. On 31 January 1710 he and renowned plantation upon our was ordained minister of . obtaining from his excellency suitable encouragement.

Rev. William Boyd returned to Ireland in 1719 and in 1725 was ordained minister of Monreagh Presbyterian Church Petition to Governor Samuel Shute from ‘Inhabitants of the North of Ireland’ (26 March 1718). Monreagh, Donegal. He remained minister of this congregation until his death in 1772. Courtesy of the New Hampshire Historical Society. He was buried in nearby churchyard where his gravestone can still be seen.

8 9 1718 1718

MAP SHOWING THE MAIN AREAS IN ULSTER AFFECTED REV. JAMES McGREGOR OF AGHADOWEY BY THE 1718 MIGRATION TO NEW ENGLAND n the spring and early summer of In 1701 James McGregor was ordained McGregor could see no future in Ireland 1718 families in Ulster were getting minister of Aghadowey. He had been born and decided to take both his family and Iready to depart for New England. c. 1677, probably in , County others from his congregation to America. To some observers, the desire to emigrate Londonderry, the son of David McGregor. In his farewell sermon delivered on the eve ATLA NTIC was comparable to a raging fever. The As noted previously, he was in Londonderry of departure, he stated that he and his lock OCEAN Anglican bishop of wrote of an in 1689 during the siege. He followed the were leaving Ireland: ‘unaccountable humor that has possessed customary path to the Presbyterian ministry, the generality of the people’. receiving his higher education in Scotland, to avoid oppression and cruel bondage, probably at Glasgow University. He was able to shun persecution and designed ruin, Lough Swilly The advocates of the planned emigration to preach in Gaelic and was appointed by the to withdraw from the communion of Dunboe tended to be Presbyterian ministers, the Synod of Ulster to address Irish-speaking idolators and to have an opportunity COLERAINE natural leaders of their communities. congregations in a number of places. of worshipping God according to the Somerset As highlighted already, it was the pastor dictates of conscience and the rules of Ballymoney

Macosquin Bann River of Macosquin who carried the petition By the mid 1710s the Aghadowey His inspired Word. Ramelton Burt Aghadowey to Boston. It was one of his ministerial congregation was in serious inancial LONDONDERRY colleagues from the Bann Valley who diiculties and McGregor himself was owed would come to be regarded as a Moses-type some £80 in stipend, a colossal sum of Taughboyne Boveedy igure in the story of the 1718 migration. money for the time. Monreagh River Foyle LONDONDERRY ANTRIM

DONEGAL Strabane

Ardstraw

TYRONE

From Charles K. Bolton’s Scotch Irish Pioneers (1910)

Clogher

FERMANAGH

One of the most important documents relating to the period of the 1718 migration is the Aghadowey session book, which begins in 1702 and runs up to 1761 and which provides a fascinating insight into the congregation. The volume is preserved in the library of the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland in Belfast. Image courtesy of PHSI and Aghadowey Presbyterian Church. 10 11 1718 1718

THE ARRIVAL IN NEW ENGLAND FAMILIES IN LONDONDERRY, NEW HAMPSHIRE

e can safely say that upwards residents, and were not delighted at having The population of Nutield grew rapidly in s well as these inspiring leaders, and daughter travelled with James and other a neighbouring parish. Their son William of 100 families, perhaps more ‘hordes of Irish’ arriving. the years that followed as families who had we know a surprising amount family members and neighbours to New Gregg, born in Ireland c. 1695, became the W than 500 people (some estimates settled elsewhere as well as newcomers from A about some of the people who England. JANET MCKEEN, daughter of principal surveyor who laid out property lots have put the igure at 1,000 individuals), In spite of what the 1718 migrants hoped, Ulster moved there. In 1722 the community travelled with them. The heads of the John McKeen was a young girl when she in the new settlement of Londonderry. departing from Coleraine and from they were not able to stay together in a renamed their settlement Londonderry, founding irst families in Londonderry left Ballymoney; her memories of arriving Londonderry, arrived in Boston from community; they were obliged to split up symbolically linking their new home to the were JAMES MCKEEN (brother-in-law in America were recorded around 1785 by OCEAN-BORN MARY was born in 1720 mid-summer to early autumn, 1718. and move separately to various locations. siege city. of James McGregor), JOHN BARNETT, her granddaughter Elizabeth (Dinsmore) on board the ship on which her parents, (According to tradition they are said to One group of about 20 families stayed ARCHIBALD CLENDINNEN, Thom. Janet remembered 16 people without James and Elizabeth Wilson, were travelling have arrived in ive ships, though the actual in their ship, the Robert, and went on up McGregor continued as minister of JOHN MITCHELL, JAMES enough money to emigrate who had to America. The story goes that a pirate number of vessels is not known for certain.) the coast to Casco Bay, Maine, where Londonderry until his death from fever on STERRETT, JAMES ANDERSON, indentured themselves to her father, and she attacked their vessel, and threatened all unfortunately they were shortly frozen 5 March 1729. A few months later McGregor RANDALL ALEXANDER, JAMES recalled that the travellers sang Psalms when on board with death, but the newborn It is also safe to say that once the Boston in, and spent a very miserable winter in was succeeded by 70-year-old MATTHEW GREGG (another brother-in-law of they arrived in Boston on the Sabbath. baby’s cries excited his pity; he said if they authorities realised the full implications of desperate conditions. In the spring, they CLERK, a battle-scarred veteran of the McGregor), JAMES CLARK, JAMES named the child Mary, after his mother, what was happening they grew increasingly sailed to the mouth of the Merrimack siege of Londonderry who had resigned as NESMITH, ALLEN ANDERSON, JAMES GREGG, married to Janet Cargill he would spare the whole ship. Not only concerned. Though Shute had been River and moved inland to an area 30 miles minister of Kilrea, , and ROBERT WEIR, JOHN MORRISON, (a sister of McGregor’s wife Marion), was that but he gave the child a bolt of green encouraging enough to Boyd’s overtures, north of Boston, then called Nutield. travelled to Londonderry, New Hampshire. SAMUEL ALLISON, THOMAS born in Scotland c. 1670, and moved with his brocade material for her wedding dress. and promises had been made, no area of STEELE and JOHN STUART. parents to Macosquin, County Londonderry, Mary Wilson spent the rest of her life in land had actually been set aside. McGregor had spent the winter preaching He went on to marry McGregor’s widow. c. 1690. He was a linen draper and tailor, and Londonderry, New Hampshire. in Dracut, Massachusetts, and he and his Clerk died in 1735 and, as he had requested, JAMES MCKEEN and his brother JOHN it is said that he met his wife to be when The Puritans in Massachusetts, in the inal party joined the Nutield group in April was carried to his grave by old comrades from were well-to-do merchants in Ballymoney, she came into his shop to be measured for “My impression is that these leading families analysis, were never going to be too keen 1719. It is recorded that he preached a the siege of Londonderry. . They apparently sought wedding clothes. She told the young man were men of some education and substance, on Ulster Presbyterians, for doctrinal and sermon while standing under an tree refuge in Londonderry during the that she was unwillingly being married to and might have made their mark anywhere.” historical reasons. Moreover, they had little beside Beaver Pond; it is certain that on Williamite War and survived the siege an older man called Lindsay, to whom her Rev. T. H. Mullin, enough in the way of spare supplies of food, that day he was preaching to people who there. John died shortly before the planned parents owed money; the couple eloped that Aghadowey: A Parish and its Linen Industry even for emergency support for existing had been his hearers in Aghadowey. departure in 1718, but his widow, three sons evening and were married by the curate of (1972)

The migrants took with them their Lowland Scots tongue, and Matthew Clerk was no exception, as the following excerpt from one of his sermons shows:

“Just like Peter, aye mair forrit than wise, ganging swaggering about wi’ a sword at his side; an’ a puir han’ he mad’ o’ it when he cam’ to the trial, for he only cut of a chiel’s lug, an’ he ought to ha’ split down his head!”

A view of Boston, 1720 Rev. Matthew Clerk from E. L. Parker’s History of Londonderry (1851) Headstone to David and Jennet Cargill from Aghadowey in Forest Hill Cemetery, Detail from the headstone of Rev. James McGregor in Forest Hill Cemetery. East Derry, New Hampshire. Courtesy Heather Wilkinson Rojo. Courtesy Heather Wilkinson Rojo.

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OTHER ULSTER SETTLEMENTS IN NEW ENGLAND CANADA CANADA

mong the other places in New Some of those who left Worcester settled England settled by immigrants a few miles away at Sutton where REV. MAINE A from Ulster was Worcester, JOHN MCKINSTRY began his ministry Massachusetts, which at that time would c. 1720. McKinstry seems to have been have been considered a frontier settlement. a son of Roger McKinstry who lived Bangor REV. EDWARD FITZGERALD, near Edinburgh, but led Scotland as a described as ‘of Londonderry’, but about Covenanter in the 1660s. John was born whose background nothing else is known, apparently in Broadisland, County Antrim, led a group of families here in the late and graduated from the University of Belfast summer of 1718. It seems that many of the Edinburgh with an MA degree. early Ulster settlers in Worcester were from Merrymeeting Bay the Foyle Valley, comprising adjoining Voluntown, Connecticut, had so many Kennebec River portions of counties Donegal, Londonderry Ulster settlers that the English protested and Tyrone. A number of families can be against allowing them to have their own Brunswick Freeport traced to Ardstraw in Tyrone as well as other minister. However, in 1723 REV. SAMUEL parishes in this region. DORRANCE, who had been associated VERMONT Casco Bay with the presbytery of Coleraine in Ireland, Similar to the experiences of Ulster settlers became minister of this community. elsewhere, the reaction of the English Another Ulster minister in Connecticut NEW Puritans in Worcester was hostile with was REV. JAMES HILLHOUSE, from a some of the locals even going so far as to family settled at Freehall near , HAMPSHIRE burn down the new arrivals’ Presbyterian who became pastor of New London in 1722. PORTSMOUTH meeting house, which was in the process Derry Londonderry of being built. As a result, many of these Windham families moved on elsewhere. Colrain Dracut Lowell A headstone in Worcester commemorates surely the oldest of the 1718 migrants. The NEW YORK STATE M ASSACH USETTS BOSTON inscription to JOHN YOUNG notes that WORCESTER he died in 1730 at the age of 107, meaning Sutton that he must have been in his mid-90s at the time of his departure from Ireland. The inscription also records that he was from the ‘Isle of Bert’ – Burt in . CONNECTI CUT RHODE ISLAND Voluntown ULSTER SHOWN TO THE SAME SCALE New London Chilmark PENNSYLVANIA MARTHA’S VINEYARD

NEW JERSEY ATLA NTIC NEW YORK OCEAN

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SETTLEMENTS IN MAINE

amilies leaving Ulster in 1718 also Woodside’s time in Maine was unhappy, Jane Macfadden of Georgetown about 82 Years settled in areas of coastal Maine. however, and ‘after many and grievous of Age testifyeth and Saith that She with her F At the beginning of September calamities’ he set sail from Boston for late husband Andrew Macfadden lived in the the Maccallum, captained by James Law, London in 1720. In a petition to the King Town of Garvo in the County of Derry on the ban arrived in Boston from Londonderry. On in 1723 he claimed to have brought over Water in Ireland belonging to one Esqr Fullinton board were 20 or so families, with REV. to New England some 40 families which being a pleasant place and call’d Summersett and JAMES WOODSIDE, a Scotsman who had together comprised over 160 individuals. about Forty Six Years ago my Husband and I been ordained minister of Dunboe in 1700, removed from Ireland to Boston and from Boston probably among them. About a week later Amongst the earliest Ulster settlers in we moved down to Kennebeck-River and up the the ship left Boston and carried its passengers Maine, probably arriving on the Maccallum, River to Merry Meeting Bay and set down on to Merrymeeting Bay, Maine. Here the were ANDREW McFADDEN and his a point of Land laying between Cathance River migrants were induced to settle by Robert family. He and his wife Jane named a and Abagadussett River … As my husband was Temple, originally from Cork (Ireland), daughter, as well as their new home on aclearing away the Trees to Merry-Meeting Bay who went on to encourage many more Merrymeeting Bay, after Somerset on he Said it was a very pleasant place and he thought families from Ireland to move to Maine. the banks of the . it was like a place call’d Summersett on the ban Water in Ireland where they lived and that he In November 1718 the people of Brunswick For a number of years archaeological would give it the Name of Summersett after that called Woodside to be their minister. Here investigations have been carried out in Ireland which he did and it hath gone by the he built a ‘garrison house, fortify’d with in Maine by the Maine Ulster-Scots Name of Summersett ever Since … palisadoes & two large bastions’, which Project, which was established in 2005 proved a vital place of refuge during an by the St Andrews Society of Maine. Jane McFadden’s deposition, 19 June 1766 Indian attack in 1722. In 2010 explorations began at the site of the McFadden homestead, now owned by a direct descendant, Brad McFadden.

Excerpt from Cyprian Southack’s The River Bann at Somerset, looking towards The Cutts Archaeological excavations at the McFadden homestead ‘New England coasting pilot’ (c. 1734) 16 Courtesy Library of Congress. 17 1718 1718

THE DINSMOOR FAMILY REMEMBERING THE STORY TODAY FIND OUT MORE

he roots of the Dinsmoor A generation later, a nephew DAVID Our great grandsire fam’d and rever’d t is hoped that the 2018 tercentenary will give us the The 1718 Migration website (www.1718migration.org.uk) (or Dinsmore) family can DINSMORE and his family left In Londonderry lies interr’d! opportunity to focus local and international attention The 1718 Society Facebook group T be traced to Ballywattick, Ballywattick and emigrated to join them There at his heid wi’ kind regard Ion migration, possibly even re-shaping the way we near Ballymoney, and before that to in New Hampshire, arriving in 1745. Clearly We’d pile some stanes look at these most traumatic events. We need to recognise Charles K. Bolton, Scotch-Irish Pioneers in Ulster and America (1910) Achenmead near the River Tweed in family ties mattered a great deal, and Renew the turf and right the swaird the loss experienced by those who were left behind, and also R. J. Dickson, Ulster Emigration to Colonial America (1966) Scotland. JOHN DINSMOOR, known people kept in touch in these early years, That co’ers his banes! acknowledge the numbers of emigrants and all the potential by later generations in America as ‘Daddy even though communication would have that was lost to Ulster. Patrick Griin, The People with No Name: Ireland’s Dinsmoor’, landed in Maine in the early been so diicult. When we our ancient line retrace Ulster Scots, America’s Scots Irish and the creation of a British Atlantic 1720s. Here he built a house, but was He was the irst o a our race Many of the details about the lives and relationships of the World, 1689-1764 (2001) Cauld Erin ca’ his native place captured by native Americans of the Years later, a grandson of ‘Daddy emigrants have been completely forgotten in Ulster, and Brian Lambkin & Patrick Fitzgerald, Migration in Irish History, O’ name o’ Dinsmore! Penobscot tribe; he was released by the Dinsmoor’, ROBERT DINSMOOR are preserved only in America, in local publications and 1607-2007 (2008) chief, and made his way to Londonderry, (1757–1836), known as the ‘rustic bard And irst that saw wi’ joyfu’ face family histories. 2018 provides the opportunity for people James G. Leyburn, The Scotch Irish: A Social History (1962) New Hampshire, to join friends and of Londonderry’, made contact with a Columbia’s shore. to re-connect not only with the stories of the emigrants, Richard K. MacMaster, Scotch-Irish Merchants in Colonial America (2009) former neighbours in Ulster. He then sent distant relative, Silas Dinsmoor of Mobile, Though death our ancestors has cleekit but also to learn about shared ancestors. for his wife and children from Ireland. Alabama, and addressed to him a poem An’ unner clods them closely steekit Alister McReynolds, Kith and Kin. The continuing legacy of the in the Scots that their mutual ancestors Their native tongue we yet wad speak it If we follow up on Dinsmoor’s suggestion and in some way Scotch-Irish in America (2013) had spoken. It seems that even so late as Wi’ accent glib ‘mark the place’, this will help people on both sides of the Kerby A. Miller, Arnold Schrier, Bruce D. Boling, David N. Doyle, the early nineteenth century the Scots And mark the place their chimneys reekit Atlantic remember that we are all ‘brithers sib’. Irish Immigrants in the Land of Canaan: Letters and Memoirs from language would have been familiar to Like brithers sib. New Hampshire descendants; certainly Colonial and Revolutionary America, 1675-1815 (2003) Dinsmoor’s verse is in perfectly good Scots. [Sib is Scots for kin or related] T. H. Mullin, Aghadowey: A Parish and its Linen Industry (1972)

oots tourism is often thought of as a recent phenomenon. However, the desire to R cross the Atlantic in search of one’s ancestors has a long pedigree. LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON wrote in 1889 about the joy he experienced in realising his Aghadowey Presbyterian Church and the blue plaque to McGregor ‘great desire to visit the old home of the early Dinsmores, in Ballywattick, the abode for many generations of their descendants. All the other Dinsmores there, in their several generations, were, in diferent degrees of consanguinity, my relatives. … Through the windows I looked forth upon ields familiar to, and trodden by, my ancestors two hundred and more years ago, and which had been sacred to their descendants almost to the present year. The ires have gone out upon its ancient This booklet has been produced alongside a report into the 1718 Migration story hearthstone. … the beating storms, the bufeting winds commissioned by the Ministerial Advisory Group – Ulster Scots Academy, with additional and tempests, shall assail no more forever the Dinsmores support from Tourism NI. The report was prepared by Dr Linde Lunney (Royal Irish Academy) at that old homestead …’. and Dr William Roulston (Ulster Historical Foundation), along with John Edmund, Alister McReynolds and Maurice Blease. We acknowledge the assistance of Valerie Adams, Keith Beattie, Colin Brooks, Ian Crozier, Dr Paddy Fitzgerald, Rebecca Graham, Boyd Gray, Richard Holmes, Michelle Knight-McQuillan, Dr Brian Lambkin, Rosemary Lightbody, Alison McCaughan, Rev. Jim McCaughan, Brad McFadden, David McMeekin, Brian McTeggart, Leonard Allison Morrison, pictured in 1887 Brian Mitchell, Helen Perry and Heather Wilkinson Rojo.

18 18 19 “There is like to be a great desolation in the Northern parts of this kingdom by the removal of several of our brethren to the American plantations. No less than six ministers have demitted their congregations, and a great number of people go with them; so that we are alarmed with both ministers and people going of.”

A Presbyterian minister in Ulster writing in the Spring of 1718

© Ulster-Scots Agency 2016 www.ulsterscotsagency.com