Today's Tips come from Heather Wilkinson Rojo of the Nutfield Genealogy Blog who shares her tips for researching Scots Irish ancestors.
Next year marks the 300th anniversary of the
first Scots Irish migration to the New World in 1718, and 2019 marks the 300th
anniversary of the settling of Nutfield, New Hampshire by some of these Ulster
refugees. These Scots Irish families
were led by the Reverend James MacGregor of Aghadowey, Northern Ireland. They
settled on land that became Londonderry, and was later divided into the towns
of Derry and Windham, New Hampshire, as well as parts of Manchester, Salem,
Chester and Hudson.
Do you have early Scots Irish ancestors who passed through
Boston in 1718? They weren’t welcome to stay in Puritan Boston, so they
scattered to Nutfield, Maine and Worcester, Massachusetts. The most successful settlement was Nutfield.
They may have settled in Nutfield
(Londonderry) temporarily, or permanently.
Many of these families left records behind, and many of these families
are also planning reunions for the big 300th anniversary
celebrations.
Tip #1
Who were the first Nutfield Grantees (Proprietors) who
arrived with Reverend MacGregor? Check
the following list for these surnames:
From The History of Londonderry : comprising the
towns of Derry and Londonderry, NH, by Rev. Edward L. Parker, 1851, (
page 423) "Those who first composed the settlement [of Londonderry NH],
were the following sixteen men and their families namely--James McKeen, John
Barnett, Archibald Clendenin, John Mitchell, James Sterrett, James Anderson,
Randal Alexander, James Gregg, James Clark, James Nesmith, Allen Anderson,
Robert Weir, John Morrison, Samuel Allison, Thomas Steele and John Stuart.”
Don’t forget that once this land was settled by the Scots
Irish, families soon followed: Moor, Adams, Karr, Aiken, Dickey, Watts, Mack,
Holmes, Nevins, Boyd, Dana, Boice, Conant, McAllister, Patterson, Pinkerton,
Humphrey, Campbell, Duncan, Woodburn, McClearey, White, Willson, McDuffee,
McMurphy, Martin, Fling, Wallace, Dinsmore and others. It became the largest and most successful
Scots Irish settlement in New England.
Some families stayed, others spread out throughout New Hampshire and New
England, and others moved down along the Appalachian mountain chain to
Pennsylvania and beyond to Virginia, the Carolinas, Kentucky and Tennessee.
What are the best books for researching these early Nutfield
settlers?
History of Londonderry, by Rev. Edward Lutwyche Parker, 1851
(referenced above and includes genealogies in the back) and is available online
at the Internet Archive, Google Book Search, and the Hathi Trust for free. Also at Ancestry with a subscription.
Vital Records of Londonderry, by Daniel Annis Gage, 1914
(covers 1719 – 1910) available at the Internet Archive and the Hathi Trust
websites for free. Also available at the
Ancestry website with a subscription. There is also a PDF at the Pelham Library
website
http://www.pelhamnhhistory.org/library/pdffiles/neighbors/vitalrecords/LondonderryVitalRecords.pdf
History of Windham, NH: 1719 – 1883, by Leonard Allison
Morrison, 1883 available at Internet Archive and at Ancestry (subscription
only). This book also has genealogies of
Windham families in the back.
Willey’s Book of Nutfield, by George Franklyn Willey, 1895 available at Internet Archive and the Hathi
Trust websites.
Tip #2
What resources are available online for these early Scots
Irish families in Nutfield?
3) Check the New
Hampshire State and Provincial Papers http://sos.nh.gov/Papers.aspx The index has surnames. These are 40 volumes of town papers, the
Revolutionary War rolls (volumes 14 – 17), other military recors, land grants,
town charters, probate and court records, and the Association Test (required
every male over 21 to sign in 1776).
Provincial papers from the earliest settlement in the early 1600s
through NH state papers in 1800.
Tip #3
Besides books and online resources, what else is available
for researching Nutfield families and the early Scots Irish settlers?
If you contact the Londonderry Historical Society you will
get me! http://www.londonderryhistory.org/
I do the genealogy look ups for
LHS. Here is the “canned letter” you
will receive with your request:
“Genealogy Requests from the Londonderry Historical
Society: We will do a lookup in two
published volumes for the names you submit:
1) The Londonderry Vital Records, 1722 – 1910
and 2) The History of Londonderry by
Rev. E. L. Parker, 1851 (both books are listed above with their online links)
If you need more information you can come to the Londonderry
Leach Library’s historical room and search through our town records, cemetery
files, and other books. This is where
the historical society stores their archives.
Here are additional places where you can find more genealogy
information on your Nutfield ancestors
1) The New Hampshire
Vital Records, 71 South Fruit Street, Concord, NH
2) The New
Hampshire State Library, 20 Park Street, Concord, NH
3) The New
Hampshire Historical Society Library, 30 Park Street, Concord, NH has their
catalog online at http://nhhistory.library.net/ This library holds the original Londonderry
(Nutfield) Presbyterian church records, which might be invaluable for
researching your ancestors. You can also
order research services by email, telephone or mail.
5) Windham, Chester,
Hudson and Manchester (Derryfield) all have excellent historical societies and
local libraries with historical collections.
The only historical society with online resources is the Manchester
Historic Association at http://www.manchesterhistoric.org/ and they have a research center at 129
Amherst Street, Manchester which is open on Saturdays and Wednesdays, and by
appointment. For the other towns, please
query the historical societies for more information, or hire a local
researcher.
6) A handwritten
copy of The Aghadowey Session Book is held at the New England Historic
Genealogical Society. It transcribed
letters and records 1702 - 1725 concerning Rev. James McGregor of Aghadowey who
emigrated to Boston and Nutfield with some of his Presbyterian congregation in
1718. A scan of this book is available
online (members only). It is searchable
by name, or browseable. http://library.nehgs.org/record=b1054126~S0
Tip #4
Many Scots Irish families passed through Londonderry on
their way to Pennsylvania or Appalachia.
The Ulster Presbyterians often did not leave good records. If they are not in the vital records or town
clerk records, you might find them named in the Presbyterian church records in
the library of the New Hampshire Historical Society. If not, here are some things to remember
about Scots Irish research:
The Scots Irish
tended to settle with other Scots Irish – they kept to themselves and
intermarried. Some of the settlers
spread out to Derryfield, Litchfield, Bedford, Antrim, Dublin, and Dunbarton in
New Hampshire (note the Irish names of the towns?). Searching these records might be useful.
Some families left New Hampshire altogether to form
Londonderry, Nova Scotia and Londonderry, Vermont. Search the town history book, vital records, Presbyterian church records, and the town
clerk records of these towns.
If your families left New England, remember that they tended
to travel or meet up with other Scots Irish families and settlements. Pennsylvania had the largest number of Scots
Irish in the 1800s. You can also try to
trace migration routes of other families to see what towns they passed through
or finally settled. You just might find
your family, too.
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Bio
Heather Wilkinson Rojo is the author of the Nutfield
Genealogy blog and an occasional genealogy speaker in New England. She is the editor for the New Hampshire
Mayflower Society, and on the 2020 and Rare Books committees for the General
Society of Mayflower Descendants.
Heather was the former president of the Londonderry, New Hampshire Historical
Society, and a former elementary school technology teacher.
Nutfield Genealogy
Thanks, Heather, for sharing your Scots Irish tips!
Do you have ancestors that were Scots Irish? What methods have you used to locate them?
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Helping you climb your family tree,