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Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania Germannic & Scotch Irish Ancestors
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As soon as the English government allowed settlement of Old Orange County, Virginia, around 1735, many of our ancestors poured into that area, which became Augusta County. This included a large portion of Virginia west of the Appalachains, which we know as the Shenandoah Valley, all of West Virginia and more! Later, as more people arrived, Augusta was divided, then those counties were divided, until we have the many counties we know today. At the same time others moved south into Maryland, or stayed near the Philadelphia area for some years, before moving on.
We find that the families who settled this area primarily arrived at the Philadelphia port, in the 1600's and 1700's in very large numbers. In some cases they stayed a few days, and in others a generation or more. They were mainly Scotch Irish and Germannic.
What is Scotch Irish? This is an extremely simplified explanation to a complex question that started the problems in Northern Ireland still ongoing today. Please do further research on this subject.
These Scottish people settled in Northern Ireland (Ulster) at the urging of the English Government. Ireland was a primarily Catholic country and the English wanted Protestants there. However, the Church of England was the official church and these Scots were Presbyterians. They had problems with the Irish and problems with England and were treated so badly that many did not survive, and when the opportunity came they rushed to America even if that required them to become endentured (contracted for a period of years) servants to get here!
Scotch Irish Presbyterians believed that they should read and study the Bible for themselves, and so were generally better educated than some other immigrants. They appear often in the legal and military records.
What is Germannic? These people came from a large area of Europe, including areas now known as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and others in between. Kings, Princes, etc, were constantly fighting, changing the boundaries, and the people suffered extremely in all these areas, and they, too, poured out for a chance at a new life in America. These people had an additional difficulty, in that the bulk of the earliest settlers were English speaking, including the English Government.
It is difficult for us to realize the kind of suffering and deprivations that people lived with in those times. With conditions they had suffered, to come here to free, or nearly free land, food available for the gatherer, home building materials everywhere, the wild area called Orange, and then, Augusta County, Virginia was truly heaven.
Interstate 81 nows runs near the "The Old Wagon Road" that was the easiest route to these lands. Following the valleys as much as possible, they flowed south and west, branching off, following streams and bottom lands to their heart's dream. They stopped at what became Berkeley, Page, Madison, Rockingham, Rockbridge, etc. and some moved on to Greenbrier and other westerly counties, or on into North Carolina.
This was, of course, just the start, as they continued to move, but we won't follow those details here, only that the descendants lines will show that they DID keep moving! Greenbrier Co. is where the branches of many of these families connected to result in many of the descendants on these pages, as well as some who moved down from York Co., Pennsylvania, to Maryland, then followed the National Road about the time it was built, and came to Ohio. We still have a few ancestors that we haven't found, and sad to say, many that we will never be able to find!
Remember, even if a surname appears only 1 time on your family tree, if it is your direct line you are that surname just as much as the one that was tagged onto you when you were born! Only chance kept you from having any one of the surnames in your direct line.
Surnames: There are several surname groups in these pages, instead of having all on 1 page. The Links below will take you to the Surname Ancestor, with links to the other surnames in that group. I have used West Virginia if it ended up that way, but that could vary due to imported material.
Ancestors of my husband Walter Bernard "Bernie" Clark are marked WBC and my ancestors are marked CJAC, if anyone cares! If you find errors on my pages,I am happy to do corrections if you share information. DO NOT COMPLAIN, if you are too busy to correct the matter! If you are too busy, you should not be reading my work!!! This is a non profit educational project that will never be complete, and will never be perfect, as I am the highly imperfect (signed) Carolyn Joyce Anderson Clark, from Fallsburg