Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Celebrating Women's History Month-A "Stormy" Arrival

Day 27-The Blog Prompt for today, provided by Lisa Alzo at The Accidental Genealogist is:
 Do you know the immigration story of one or more female ancestors? Do you have any passenger lists, passports, or other documentation? Interesting family stories?

The most interesting immigration story that I have found is that of my Eargle Family.

John Micheal Eargle, my 7th great grandfather, was born in 1702 in Germany. He left his country to travel to Rotterdam, Holland and then sailed aboard the ship Upton bound for Charleston, SC in 1752.
According to the Upton's passenger list and Land Grant Documents John, his daughter Eve and his two sons John Micheal, Jr. and Micheal came with him.
There is no mention of his wife.
The Upton arrived in Charleston on 14 Sept.1752. It sounded like a typical immigration story until I read about what happened in Charleston the evening they arrived!

 The South Carolina Gazette Reported the following on  September 19, 1752. :

"A ship is just arrived from Rotterdam with German Servants in perfect Health (not one of them having died in passage). Among st them are Tradesmen of all sorts which will be indented on very reasonable terms. By Austin & Laurens" 
"On the 14th in the evening, it began to blow very hard, the wind being a NE and the sky looked wild and threatening. It continued blowing from the same point, till about 4 o'clock in the morning of the 15th, at which time it became more violent and rained, increasing very fast fill about 9, when the flood came in like a bore, filling the harbour in a few minutes. Before 11 o'clock, all the vessels in the harbour were on shore, except The Hornet, a Man-O-War, which rode it out by cutting away her mainmast; all wharfs and bridges were ruined, and every house and store upon them beaten down and carried away, with all the goods therein, as were many houses in the town., and abundances of roofs, chimneys, etc., almost all the tile or slated houses were uncovered and great quantities of merchandize, etc., in the stores on the bay street damaged by their doors being burst open". 



South Carolina Gazette
19 Sept. 1752
© AccessibleArchives.com



 South Carolina Gazette, Charles-Town, October 30, 1752: 
"Whereas the ship UPTON, Captain Gardiner, has been driven upon a marsh near Wappon Creek by late storm, and it will be necessary that a channel be dug through the marsh of 80 or 100 feet long and about 35 feet wide, and 5 or 6 feet deep. Any person both able and willing to undertake such a business, are desired to offer their proposals to Austin and Laurens". 


 Eve Eargle and her family had survived sailing across the ocean from Germany to Charleston only to experience one of the worse storms that Charleston had seen.! 
Eva and her family eventually settled in the Dutch Fork area of South Carolina.where her father was given a Land Grant of 250 acres. 



What do you know about your immigrant ancestors?
Thanks so much for stopping by!

Helping you climb your family tree,


4 comments:

  1. Wow, great sleuthing work! How did you think to look in the Gazette? Or is that generally one of the places you always go to? And you found 2 great articles. I'm glad your family wasn't on The Hornet. Even though the Upton apparently had to be dug out of the marsh, they had a somewhat less frightening journey.

    I'm learning that many of my ancestors arrived in Charleston, also, often between 1570 and 1580. There were a number of land grants, and I see your ancestors also had one. Do you know any good books that explain who qualified for these land grants, who gave the grants, who decided the size of the grants, and so forth? There seem to have been a lot of grants, and I've never pursued that question . . .

    Exciting post!

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    Replies
    1. Most of this came from the web and from other family researchers. Sorry I haven't found any good books to share with you.

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  2. Loved your post and the depth of your research, awesome work!

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