Site Search & Directory »

McGoughs in Pre-Revolutionary America: Robert and Sarah Matilda Carson McGough by Hugh McGough

Robert McGough, was born in 1725 in county Down, according to A Glimpse Of The Past: Descendants of Robert McGough (b 1725, Northern Ireland), a comprehensive compilation of the genealogy of this branch of the McGoughs, by Carolyn McGough Rowe. Carolyn Rowe's book is a prodigious work that contains the pedigrees of hundreds of the descendants of Robert and Matilda Carson McGough. Much of the information on this page is from her book.

Most sources say that the name of Robert's wife was Sarah Matilda Carson McGough, but some sources say her name was Mary. Robert E. Parrott, in his beautifully written book, Pisgah's Earth—The Story of Mary McGough Armstrong (1793–1885) and Her Family (1992), refers to her as "Matilda (sometimes called Sarah)." On this page, I call her Matilda or Sarah Matilda.

The family of Robert and Matilda Carson McGough sailed in 1773 from Newry, county Down, Northern Ireland, to Charleston, South Carolina, when their oldest son John was almost 12 years old, and their five younger children were 9, 7, 6, 5, and 3. They were part of a group of about 40 relatives and neighbors. Robert was 48 years old in 1773 when he migrated from Ireland with has family and neighbors.

An account of the emigration of the Robert McGough family from Ireland to North Carolina is in McGough Family, Research Obtained from E. M. Sharp (Retired Methodist Pastor of First Methodist Church, Aberdeen, Mississippi—1945), published on the excellent but now defunct Clan McGough website. (To go to an archived copy of this source, go to WaybackMachine; in the the Take Me Back box enter: http://www.clan-mcgough.com/history.htm; and, in the calendar, click on the blue circle around August 10, 2009.) Reverend Sharp gives the year of travel from Ireland as 1771. Most sources say 1773.

Brian Davis is on the staff of the Office of the VP/CIO at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA. In earlier years, he had volunteered his time as the coordinator of the Walker County, Alabama, US GenWebProject. His well prepared and presented family genealogy includes Robert McGough and Sarah Matilda Carson and their descendants. His Davis-Freeman family genealogy has been published as part of the publicly acccessible information on Brian Davis' section of the University of Virginia Education website. It is a model of a good family website. (Click on Relatives of Brian Edward Davis.)

A list of the descendants of Robert Alexander McGough (father of Robert McGough) will be found at this web site.

Newry to Charleston

The McGoughs, along with related Carsons, McDowells and Pattersons, probably left Newry, Ireland, on June 19, 1773, and arrived at Charleston, South Carolina, aboard the Elliott on August 18, 1773. The Elliott was advertised as a 300 ton sailing vessel that could carry 200 passengers, and as the fastest sailing vessel owned in Ireland. The ship was owned by Newry interests. On April 23, 1773, she was advertised as sailing from Newry directly to Charleston on May 25. (Ships seldom left on the advertised sailing date.) The South Carolina Advertiser and General Magazine published a notice of the arrival of the Elliott in Charleston on August 20, 1773. This was the only direct voyage advertised from Newry to Charleston in 1773. Several other ships and routes are possible, including ships from Belfast which made a call at Newry. See: Ulster Emigration to Colonial America 1718–1775 by R. J. Dickson (1966), especially pages 236 and 263.

Corroboration of a sailing date from Newry of June 19, 1773, is found in Chapter 2—The Family of Thomas Gibson(?) Carson Sr:

"8     William A. Carson, Sr., was born on 15 Oct., 1735 in County Down, Ireland (other sources say County Tyrone). He emigrated from Newry, County Down, Ireland to Charleston SC, sailing from Newry on 19 June, 1773, with his family members, the McGough family, and the McDowell family, who had been neighbors of the Carsons in Ireland."

There were no direct sailings from Newry to Charleston in 1771, but three from Newry to Baltimore to Charleston: the Betsy, advertised to sail on March 1, 1771; the Jenny and Polly, advertised to sail on May 10–20, 1771; and the Brig Venus, advertised to sail on July 1, 1771. (Dickson, pages 243–5). Carolyn McGough Rowe, in A Glimpse of the Past: Descendants of Robert McGough, says at page 4:

"I have looked diligently in the South Carolina records, but I have found no documentation of the McGough family coming into the port at Charleston, SC."

Carole E. Scott gives an account of this McGough family on The McGough Family Page. She says the family was Scots-Irish. The primary basis for this conclusion seems to be that the family was Presbyterian when they emigrated to the United States and that many of the persons with whom they emigrated were also Presbyterian and had Scots names. She does not trace any earlier move of the family from Scotland to Ireland, but implies that, before emigrating from Ireland, the family may have moved from Ireland to Scotland and then back to Ireland. See also The Carsons and the McGoughs—From Ireland to America in Jones - Taylor - Macon County, Georgia - Biography Carson Family on the Macon County Georgia USGenWeb Archives.

A note accompanying a genealogy of the Robert McGough family that I found on the Internet said:

"They came to America from Newry, Co. Down, in 1773, arriving at Charleston, SC. They either left or arrived 19 or 30 June. The voyage lasted three months. They arrived with a group of related Carsons and McDowells, and were not indentured. Religious and/or economic persecution were possible causes for their emigration."

Carolyn McGough Rowe also points out at page 4 of her book:

"Another account as related by Robert E. Parrott in his book: Pisgah's Earth: The Story of Mary McGough Armstrong (1793–1885) and her Family, 1992, relates that the McGoughs came to America in the 1760s into Pennsylvania and then migrated down into Mecklenburg County, NC in 1773."

Robert E. Parrott's book is a work of high quality and enjoyable to read. There is a copy in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City (Family History and Biographies, US/CAN 929.273 Ar58p, 249 pages). Parrott considers alternative routes by which the Robert McGoughs may have traveled from county Down, Ireland, to Mecklenburg county, North Carolina; but actually says that the ocean route from Ireland to Charleston is the more likely route. Here is part of what he says on pages 2 to 4:

"In the 1760s, when Robert McGough and his wife Matilda (sometimes called Sarah) decided to immigrate in search of opportunity and prosperity, they were following other McGoughs who had left County Down and Armagh as early as the 1730s. According to research done in the 1930s, relatives of the young couple (among them, one 'Alexander McGough') came with other Ulster folk to Pennsylvania (present day Chester County, near the Delaware-Maryland boundary line) as passengers on the ship Paoli in the spring of 1736, sailing from Belfast. Among other fellow passengers on that voyage were families with names which were to figure in Mary Armstrong's history generations later—Kennedy, Jack, Stephens, Woods+, Obserson, Russell, Lapsley+, McGee and McAfee.* These early McGoughs of the Paoli crowd became part of a hardy migration which moved from Pennsylvania to neighboring Delaware and southwest into Virginia and North Carolina—or directly from Pennsylvania to Virginia and into Kentucky. ...

*For authority, Parrott footnotes History of the Kennedy-Callen-Armstrong Families, by Mae Armstrong Davis, an unpublished manuscript written around 1939. Here is a part of a posting by Lucy Grisham on genforum. on April 11, 2004: "Kennedys of New Castle Del./Province of Penn—Does anyone tie into the Kennedys who came to America in 1736 on ship 'Paoli' to New Castle Delaware and from there to Province of Penn which territory covered all of New Jersey and was known as Sussex? I am particularly looking for lineage of Jonathan Kennedy who was Associate Justice, Northhampton County who had at least three sons, Hugh, John and Robert. The passenger list of this 'Paoli' includes families: McGee, Hamilton, Penn, Jack, McGough, Woods, Stephens, McAfee, Lapsley, Oberon, and Russell to name a few. The McAfees and McGoughs are some of my other lines as well as the Hamiltons. Others intermarried into the Kennedy family and the Armstrong family who are said to have come over at the same time."

For information on the Lapsleys and Woods in Virginia, go to: Augusta County Resources, click on Chalkley's Chronicles—Online transcription of court records 1745–1800, and check the index pages at the end of each of the three volumes for Lapsley and Woods. See also: Joseph Lapsely Sr. Capt on Liebrich/Leebrick Families in America.

"The exact date of the [Robert and Matilda] McGoughs' voyage has not been discovered [Parrott estimates 1767], nor has the identity of the vessel. However, regular passage running from Newry to Philadelphia or Charleston was made on several ships owned by local Newry firms. These are likely possibilities. For example the 300 ton Newry Packet made a voyage (advertised in the Belfast News Letter) beginning April 21, 1767, and another beginning February 20, 1770; the captain (Master) was 'Ch. Robinson, well acquainted with the trade.' The ship's agents were John Dickinson, Hamilton Pringle, and John Robinson, merchants. The same firm of merchants (plus John Hoops and Joshua Adams) also owned the Newry Assistance, another 300 ton vessel mastered by William Cheeves; it left Newry on April 22, 1768, and again on February 20, 1769. The Newry Assistance was advertised in 1771 as 'a prim ship, with as good a record as any in the emigration trade,' despite its transport of several convicts sent to the Colonies as white labor. ...

"In the middle years of the great Ulster migration (1731–1769), the destination of ships increasingly became Charleston, South Carolina, rather than Philadelphia, or New York or New Castle, Delaware. In fact, in the latter 1760s, Charleston displaced New York as the second most important destination point (after Philadelphia) for north-of-Ireland emigrant ships.

"A tradition in the family of John McGough, Mary's uncle, suggests that Robert and Matilda and their children came with a large contingent of relatives (40 in all) to Charleston, recalling that they quickly left the area because of British oppression. Anti-British feeling was strong. According to the same memory, Robert settled his family beyond the Saluda River in the Abbeville District (present-day Abbeville, Edgefield, Laurens, and Newberry Counties). This was 'backcountry South Carolina,' where the brutal Cherokee War had ended in 1760. If the Charleston tradition is accepted, it is likely that the McGoughs then immigrated to nearby Mecklenburg County, North Carolina ('the Yadkin Valley') a few years later.

"The same tradition indicates that accompanying the McGoughs from Ireland was the Carson family from County Armagh—Thomas and Margaret Mill Carson and their seven children, all McGough kinfolks. There is a strong possibility that Matilda McGough (wife of Robert Senior, Mary Armstrong's grandmother) was born a Carson, sister or niece of Thomas. A kinship with the Carsons lasted for many years on the frontier, including a distant tie with Christopher 'Kit' Carson, the western scout.

"However, there are indications (principally from Mary Armstrong's memory, as told to her granddaughter Mae Armstrong) that the McGoughs and Carsons (and other families) landed not at Charleston but farther north on the upper Delaware coast near Pencader Hundred and New Castle, not far from the Pennsylvania line. Some of the Paoli McGoughs and other kinfolk may already have moved there from Chester County, following their initial voyage in 1736. The Carsons had relatives (kinspeople of Thomas and William, brothers) living at Pencader Hundred. New Castle on the Delaware River was even then a well established town, for in 1651 Peter Stuyvesant had built Fort Casimir nearby. Named for the County Down seaside town which lay at the foot of Slieve Donard (highest of the Mourne mountains), New Castle had been home for the prosperous McWhorter family since approximately the 1730s, when Ulsterman Hugh McWhorter, a linen merchant, had emigrated from County Armagh with has father Alexander. McGoughs had known McWhorters in Ireland for generations, when the name was spelled McWhirter or McWirter, possibly with strong Danish (Viking) ancestry.

"The presence of the McWhorter connection in New Castle (and North Carolina) may have been the magnet which drew Robert and Matilda to the Colonies."

Parrott says that after Hugh McWhorter died in New Castle Delaware in 1749, his widow Jean and at least five of her children moved to Mecklenburg county, near Charlotte, North Carolina. One of the sons of Hugh and Jean McWhorter, Elbart, was to become Mary McGough Armstrong's maternal grandfather.

Although he regards the sea voyage to Charleston from Ireland as the most likely route, Parrott says that one way the McGough family may have arrived in Mecklenburg, North Carolina, was by the "Great Philadelphia Wagon Road," the route by which most Scots-Irish reached Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and Abbeville, South Carolina, in the 1700s. For a good discussion of this route, with a map, see: The Scots-Irish in the South Carolina Backcountry—The Great Wagon Road: The Journey of a Scots-Irish Family to the Settlement of the Waxhaws by Charles Vaughan. For a larger version of the map, see Map—Great Philadelphia Wagon Road. See also The Scots-Irish From Ulster and The Great Philadelphia Wagon Road and Upstate has mark of Irish ancestry. For a look at factors leading up to the migration, see The Migration of the Scots-Irish to Southwestern NC by Matthew A. C. Newsome.

McGoughs Settle in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina

Not long after their arrival in Charleston, South Carolina, the Robert McGough family who had left county Down in 1773 settled in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina. On October 24, 1773, two months after their ship probably arrived, Robert McGough purchased land in Mecklenburg county from Patrick Jack.* In consideration of £80, Robert McGough bought "150 acres on both sides of McAlpine Creek, joining Robert Elliott and Samuel Jack's land, to where the said Patrick Jack now dwells." Witnesses to the deed were James Tate, Samuel Jack and Edward Sharp. The property was in the Providence Presbyterian Church community:

"Providence Presbyterian Church is one of the oldest Christian congregations in Mecklenburg County. Indeed, Alexander Craighead, the noted minister of Colonial Mecklenburg, regarded it as 'one of his houses.' The first meetinghouse was a simple log structure which was erected in 1767 and stood to the east of the cemetery overlooking a rock spring. William Richardson, pastor of the Waxhaws Presbyterian Church and son-in-law of Alexander Craighead, preached the first sermon in the edifice as the initial minister at Providence." Providence Presbyterian Church.

[*Patrick Jack was probably related to the Jack family that came from Belfast to New Castle in 1736, aboard the Paoli, with McGoughs also on board. Patrick Jack himself was apparently in Chambersburg, Pennsyvania, before 1730, was married there in about 1728. He shows up on the tax list for Sadsbury, Chester county, Pensylvania, in 1724. (Chester County Penna tax lists, 1718–1750 (LDS film 1 449 238). He emigrated from Pennsylvania to North Carolina in about 1760, spent his first two years in North Carolina in Rowan county, North Carolina, and then moved to Mecklenburg county. For a history of Patrick Jack and his family, see: The Jack Family from Sketches of Western North Carolina, Historical and Biographical by C. L. Hunter (1877) (chapter I, Mecklenburg County) on the Project Gutenberg EBook Project. There are dozens of family trees on Ancestry.com and World Family Tree with information on Patrick Jack and his family. See also: Jack Family of Mecklenburg County and Jack Family in Sketches of Western North Carolina, Historical and Biographical by C. L. Hunter (part 2 out of 6).

Patrick Jack was born on September 19, 1700, in Ballykelly, Londonderry, Ireland. He married Lillis (sometimes Lillia or Lillie) McAdoo. (One source says the marriage was in Chambersburg, Franklin county, Pennsylvania, in 1728; the same source says Lillis McAdoo was born in Chambersburg in 1704, and their son, James Jack, was born in Chnambersburg in 1731.) Patrick Jack died on October 5, 1780, in Charlotte, N. C. Here is an excerpt from "Weldon and related families" on Ancestry. com: "Patrick Jack b 1700 ob 1780 patriot too old to serve in ranks as did all of his sons. When ill in bed. Tories burned his house & the exposure caused his death" citing the Josiah V. Thompson Record Book, volume 27, page 459.)

The father of Patrick Jack was also named Patrick Jack. The father was born on December 3, 1678, in Cannon Gate, Edinburgh, Scotland, and died in Chester, Pennsylvania, on January 30, 1726 (administration of his estate was opened in 1727); and his mother was Eleanor (or Ellen) Elizabeth Jervis, who was born in about 1679 in Londonderry, Ireland, married Patrick Jack in 1699 (December 4, 1699, in Ballykelly), and died in Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1750. [Wilda Kay Scott 031503. FTW says: "After Patrick and Ellen married, they settled on a small farm in Ardstraw, County Tyrone, Ireland, near Newton Limavaddy, 1711, emigrating later to the New World and settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where they died."

The children of Patrick Jack and Eleanor Jervis were:

James Jack, born May 2. 1705, in Ballykelly, Londonderry, Ireland
Charles Jack, born in Franklin, Pennsylvania
Patrick Jack, borh in 1700 in Ballykelly, Londonderry, Ireland
Robert Jack, born on May 19, 1706, in Ballykelly, Londonderry, Ireland
Andrew Jack, born December 24, 1706-1707, in Ballykelly, Londonderry, Ireland
Samuel Jack, born on 1708 in Ballykelly, Londonderry, Ireland
John Jack, born on May 14, 1710, in Ireland
Matthew Jack, born on May 17, 1711, in Ardstraw, Tyrone, Ireland

The parents of the senior Patrick Jack were Jacob J. Jacques, who was born on May 19, 1650, in Chesney, Eure-et-Loire, France, and died in 1720 in Ireland; and Nancy Farquhar, who was born on August 4, 1657, in Chesney, Eure Et Loire, France, and died on November 1689 in Cannongate, Edinburgh, Scotland. Jacob and Nancy were married on April 7, 1678 in Cannongate, Edinburgh, Scotland. The father of Jacob J. Jacques was Guillaume (William) Jacques who was born on September 16, 1635, Chesnay, Eure Et Loire, France, and died on May 16, 1713, in Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland. The family has been traced back to the fifteenth century—to Roger James who was born in Utrecht, Holland, in about 1440. See: Our Jack Family Tree.

Here is an excerpt from the page on The Ancestors of Fred and Kay Curry:

"He (Patrick Jack) was a hotel keeper on South Trade Street, about a block from where the Mecklenburg Declaration was signed on May 20, 1775. Patrick Jack moved from Chambersburg, PA, to Charlotte, NC, where his 5 sons participated in the Revolutionary War. When the British Officer, Lieuteneant-Colonel Banastre Tarleton, came to Charlotte, North Carolina, he said his first task was to burn 'old Jack's house' because he and his sons caused him more trouble than anyone else. Patrick Jack narrowly escaped the British soldiers. He was moved from his sick bed and hidden in the forest by his sons. His house was then burned down. There was a marker symbolizing this location in 1925. It may still be there now. ...

"Research: According to Colony of North Carolina 1735–64, Abstracts of Land Patents Volume One by Margaret M. Hofmann,Patrick Jack on 22 February 1764 purchased 200 acres in Mecklenburg County on the North side of the Catwabo River on McAlpin Creek, joining James Davis and Samuel Jack. Crown to 7066 page 41 of the Patent Book 17."

Here is an excerpt from the page on the Jerry Gordon Family on Ancestry.com:

"THE JACK FAMILY

"The beginning of the Revolutionary War one of the most worthy and patriotic citizens of the little town of Charlotte, N. C., was Patrick Jack. He was a native of Ireland, and emigrated with several brothers to America about 1730.

"Patrick Jack married Lillis McAdoo of the same race, who is represented as 'one of the best of women'—amiable, charitable and truly pious. Her name was softened into 'Lillie' by her descendants.

"The descent of Patrick Jack is traceable to noble ancestry, one of whom was a ministerial sufferer in the reign of Charles II of England in 1661. In that year this despotic monarch ejected from their Benefices or Livings, under Jeremy Taylor, thirteen ministers of the Presbytery of Logan in Northern Ireland for their nonconformity to the Church of England. Among the honored names of these thirteen ministers were Robert Wilson, a connection of Pres. Andrew Jackson, Robert Craighead, ancestor of Rev. Alexander Craighead the first settled pastor of Sugar Creek Church in Mecklenburg County; Thomas Drummon, near relation of Wm. Drummond, first Royal Governor of North Carolina; Adam White of Tennessee; and William Jack, ancestor of Patrick Jack of Charlotte, N. C. Chas. Jack, of Chambersburg, Pa., and others, found in ten or twelve states of the union.

"Patrick Jack came first to Pennsylvania, then to Rowan County, North Carolina, then to Mecklenburg County, and lastly to Charlotte, where he remained till his death. Patrick Jack had four sons, James, John, Samuel and Robert, and five girls—Charity, Jane, Mary, Margaret and Lillis. James, the eldest son, married Mary Barnett, who is said to have been the first white child born between the Yadkin and Catawba rivers. James Jack was the noted Captain Jack who carried the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence to Philadelphia. Another son married Margaret Houston. Of the other two sons we can give no account. The married names of Patrick Jack's daughters were, Mrs. Charity Dysart, Mrs. Jane Barnett, Mrs. Mary Alexander, (I am persuaded this was a son of Hezekiah Alexander), Mrs. Lillis Nicholson, and Mrs. Margaret Wilson, (wife of Samuel Wilson, Sr.)

"By industry and fine business judgment Patrick Jack acquired quite a handsome property. About the years 1774–5 he and his eldest son James united in business and became the owners of some of the finest blocks in Charlotte. On one of these lots, the corner next to the court-house, Patrick Jack and Capt. James Jack resided when the delegates from the Militia Districts of the county assembled on the 19th and 20th of May, 1775, and kept a house for public entertainment.

"Patrick Jack was a 'born' Irishman, and by his ready wit and general good humor, not only added to the reputation of his house, but exerted a powerful influence in inculcating and sustaining his exalted principles of patriotism. The home of Patrick Jack was a favorite place of resort for students of the college known as 'Queen's Museum', and other ardent spirits of town and country who met to discuss the stirring issues of that critical period, forboding as they did the approach of a mighty revolution. And as has been remarked, the delegates from the Militia Districts were entertained at the House of Patrick and James Jack on their assembling in Charlotte on the 19th and 20th of May, 1775, when the memorable Articles declaring their independence were drawn and approved. The Colonial Congress was then in session at Philadelphis and Mecklenburg wished respectfully to present her resolutions before that body. Travelling was dangerous and slow. A man must be found who was brave, intelligent and determined. Captain James Jack was selected, and nobly did he fulfill his mission. On horseback he began his journey, (tradition says with the document in his bootsole.) County Court being in session at Salisbury, he halted there."]

A 1789 map of Mecklenburg County shows "McCalpins Creek" about 10 miles south by southeast of the then small town of Charlotte. To see the map, go to Mecklenburg County Page and click on "1789 map of the county." The creek is called McAlpine on modern highway maps, and runs along the southeast edge of metropolitan Charlotte. A History Of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County by Dr. Dan L. Morrill, of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, is a great resource.

The town of Charlotte, and the county of Mecklenburg, were named after Princess Charlotte Sophia, from Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Germany, who became King George III’s wife in 1761. Notes about Scotch-Irish and German Settlers in Virginia and the Carolinas by William L. Anderson III.

Mecklenburg county is on the north side of the border between North Carolina and South Carolina. The principal city in Mecklenburg county is Charlotte. Modern road atlases show the highway miles between Charlotte and Charleston as 207. Mecklenburg is in an area known as the Piedmont of North and South Carolina. At the southern end of the Carolina Piedmont is Abbeville, South Carolina, which is about 20 miles east of the border between South Carolina and Georgia. As the crow flies, Abbeville is about 130 miles southwest of Charlotte.

Beginning about 1730, the Carolina Piedmont became one of the major regions of Scots-Irish settlement in America. See The Scotch Irish—A Social History, by James G. Leyburn (The University of the North Carolina Press 1962), pages 210–223. The bulk of the settlers in the Carolina Piedmont were "transfers" from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, who moved south to where land was still cheap and plentiful.

Scots-Irish settlement of Mecklenburg county began about 1760. Settlement of another major concentration of Scots-Irish in the area, Waxhaws, just south of Mecklenburg county and just south of what is now the border with South Carolina, began about 1750. Settlement of the Long Canes (Abbeville) area of South Carolina began about 1765.

Among the modern North Carolina counties receiving the largest number of Scots-Irish settlers were Mecklenburg (and Orange county, out of which it was carved), Rowan, Iredell, and Cabarrus. (Leyburn, page 214). Leyburn says, at page 218, that Mecklenburg was "one of the greatest centers of Scotch Irish concentration" and notes:

"Mecklenburg County, around Charlotte, was to make a name for itself in 1775 by its call for independence from Britain, and, during the Revolutionary War, by the sturdy fight of its Scotch-Irishmen against the redcoat."

Available on the web is a detailed modern map of Mecklenburg County (a long download). The U. S. Census Bureau website has a good map of modern North Carolina counties.

Children of Robert and Sarah Matilda McGough

A World Family Tree, volume 61, tree 1771, says that Robert McGough's father was Robert Alexander McGough, 1673–1713. This is the most complete genealogy of this family I have found on the Internet; see also volume 65, tree 118; and volume 68, tree 45.

Here is a brief biography of each child of Robert and Sarah Matilda McGough. (An asterisk before a name indicates the person was part of the 1773 immigration from Newry to Charleston.)

*Robert McGough

Birth: 1725, Northern Ireland (Birth year is sometimes given as 1729; sometimes as 1713)

Death: January 1779, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina

Religion: Presbyterian, Blue Stocking

(So far as I can determine, what is meant by a "Blue Stocking Presbyterian" is in the eye of the beholder. To my eye (or ear), "blue-stocking Presbyterian" connotes strict observance of rigorous rules of conduct, based on the Bible, with perhaps a whiff of intolerance for those who are perceived to be less disciplined or less attuned to the scriptures; literacy, especially in knowledge of the Bible; and puritanism, in the dictionary sense of "characterized by a rigid morality"; and "narrow sectarianism." In the eighteenth century, "bluestocking" was a derogatory expression for a female intellectual.)

Spouse: *Sarah Matilda Carson. Born about 1729 in county Down.

Children:

*John McGough was born August 21, 1761, in county Down, Northern Ireland, and married Elizabeth Carson in Abbeville, South Carolina no later than 1782, possibly before 1780. (The IGI shows the date and place of the marriage as 1782 and North Carolina.) Abbeville district records show that Elizabeth Carson married a McGough before 1780. Old 96 and Abbeville Districts, South Carolina—Marriages—1774–1890.

M220 McGOUGH, Unknown C625 CARSON, ELIZABETH 80 B (before 1780).

This index also shows:

M200 McGAW, Unknown C625 CARSON, ELIZABETH

(McGaw in this entry should be McGough. There were, however, McGaws from county Antrim in Abbeville at this time. Mary Patterson, who was born in Newry, county Down, Ireland, in about July, 1757, married William McGaw in Abbeville district on October 5, 1775; and her sister, Sarah Patterson, who was born Ireland about 1759, married John McGaw, also in Abbeville, in about 1777. The 1779 census of Ninety-Six district, South Carolina, showed both John and William Mcgaw. See below. The record of the will of the John McGaw who married Sarah Patterson says "also McGough." The will was signed on February 15, 1805, and filed for probate in Abbeville on August 6, 1805. Named as executor was Sarah McGough. Also named as an executor was Samuel Patterson. The ten children were designated as McGaws. The Patterson & Pattison family association : a contribution of genealogical records to old in the research on the names of Patterson or Pattison and various other ways in which the name is spelled, author unknown, 1963–1967?, 847 pages.)

Here is an entry from page 163 of Roster of Revoloutionary Soldiers in Georgia Vol. III on Ancestry.com (McCall, Mrs. Howard H. Roster of Revolutionary Soldiers in Georgia. Vol. III. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004):

JOHN McGOUGH, b. in Ireland, 1750 (sic—should be 1761); d. 1847 White Plains, Greene Co., Ga. Served in the S.C. Militia from Abbeville Dist. Received bounty land in Ga. Married Elizabeth Carson, dau. of Wm. Carson and Margaret Mill of Abbeville Co., S.C. (See will of Wm. Carson, 1802.)

Child:

1. Robert, b. S.C., Mar. 28, 1786; d. in Ga. Soldier of War of 1812. Married 1810 Sandall Cabaniss. They had ten children.

Carolyn McGough Rowe, in her comprehensive history of this family, A Glimpse Of The Past: Descendants of Robert McGough (b 1725, Northern Ireland), provides, at page 9, a summary of the military record of John McGough in the American Revolution, and, at page 10, lists the 12 children of John McGough and Elizabeth Carson.

Elizabeth Carson McGough was born on June 25, 1764, in county Down, Northern Ireland, and died on April 23, 1847, in Greene county, Georgia. (The IGI says she was born in Newry, and that her father was William Carson.) Her husband, John McGough, died on October 17, 1847, also in Greene county, Georgia. John and Elizabeth had 12 children. For their descendants, see: John McGough in World Family Tree volume 14, tree 2086; volume 49, tree 1756; and volume 50, tree 2489. The IGI and Family Search's Ancestral File shows that Robert McGough, Sr., and Elizabeth Cunningham (???) were the parents of John McGough who was born in Ireland on August 21, 1761, and died in White Plains, Greene county, Georgia, on October 17, 1847.

John McGough, the oldest child of Robert and Matilda Carson McGough, was 17 years old when his father died at the end of 1778 or the beginning of 1779. John fought in the Revolutionary War. Some family historians say that he fought at the battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania on September 11, 1777, and Saratoga, New York, from October 7 to October 17, 1777, where Benjamin Lewis McGough reports that John was a hero. If true, he would have been just past his sixteenth birthday. After earlier service under General Horatio Gates, he served under General Nathaniel Greene after Greene replaced Gates in December, 1780. Greene came to the American army camp at Charlotte, North Carolina, on December 2, 1780, and took over the command. John McGough fought at the battles of Camden (August 16, 1780), Fishing Creek (August 18, 1860), Kings Mountain (October 7, 1780, near the North and South Carolina border, near Mecklenburg county), Cowpens (January 17, 1781), Guilford Court House (March 15, 1781) where he suffered two sabre cuts, Fort Ninety-Six* (May 22 to June 20, 1781) (The British abandoned Ninety-Six in July, 1781, and moved to the coast. This signaled the end of British control of the interior. The Southern Campaign was over.), and Eutaw Springs (September 8, 1781, the bloodiest engagement of the war). On October 19, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown. On November 30, 1782, the independence of the United States acknowledged by Great Britain. British troops evacuated Charleston in December, 1782.

*The Star Fort at Ninety Six, South Carolina, was a major British outpost during the Revolutionary War. In May of 1781, American forces lead by Nathaniel Greene laid siege to the fort using the brilliant Polish engineer Koseciuszko. Progress was slow. When a British relief column approached in mid-June, the Americans left. The British destroyed the fort and abandoned the area.

*Ninety Six district district was created as an original judicial district in 1769. It superseded the old county system that had been in place since the 1600's. In 1785 Ninety-Six Judicial district was divided into six counties: Abbeville, Edgefield, Laurens, Newberry, Spartanburg and Union. These were nonfunctional (no government), and served only as geographical divisions. In 1798, all judicial districts were abolished, and their county divisions became districts, so at that time, Ninety Six was abolished by being divided into Abbeville, Edgefield, Laurens and Newberry districts. In 1897 Greenwood county, where Fort Ninety-Six is now located, was created from Abbeville and Edgefield counties. South Carolina – Formation of Counties – Timeline. See also The SCGenWeb Project TM—The Evolution of South Carolina's Old Districts and Counties—Section Three: Old Districts & Counties by Victoria Proctor. The modern McCormick County also includes part of the old Abbeville district. See the Long Cane Webpage.

John McGough is listed in the Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution by Bobby Gilmer Ross (Genealogical Publishing Co. 1985), page 625, where his service is more modestly described:

"McGough, John. He served under Captain Francis Moore and Gen. Sumter. A.A. 5059A; T171" (available on Ancestry.com under the title: Roster of South Carolina Patriots in the American Revolution.)

John McGough may have been wounded at the Battle of Saratoga during the Revolutionary War. An inquiry by a Maud McGough on November 22, 1895, to the U. S. Record and Pension Office (War Department) asked about service of John McGough in the War of Revolution. The question was whether John McGough "is to be found on list of wounded at battle of Saratoga (October 17, 1777), also whether there is record of men serving with Cav, troops under Col Wm Washington." (U.S. Index to General Correspondence of the Record and Pension Office, 1889-1904, file #433998, on Ancestry.com. The records show that on November 29, 1895, the request of Miss Maud McGough for a list of Cavalry troups serving under Colonel W. Washington was noted. File #484387.)

Probably about the time of his marriage, John deeded to his brother Robert his interest in the 150 acres on McAlpin's Creek in Mecklenburg county that their father had bought on October 24, 1773.

John's wife, Elizabeth Carson, was born in county Down on June 25, 1764. She came to America from Newry to Charleston on the same ship as had John McGough. John and Elizabeth settled in Abbeville, South Carolina, and their first child, Sarah, was born there on July 15, 1783. At least two other of their children were born there, Robert L. McGough, born on March 28, 1785, and Margaret (Peggy) McGough, born on April 11, 1787. A son, William, was born on February 12, 1789, almost certainly in Abbeville. John McGuough (sic), with 2 free white males under 16, who would be his sons Robert and William, and 4 free white females, is listed in the 1790 census of Ninety-Six District, Abbeville County, South Carolina; as are Samuel Patterson Jr. (with three free white females), Alex and James Patterson, John Carson (with two free white males over 16, one under sixteen, and five free white females) (page 58), and Alex McDowell (page 59). (See my page: McGoughs in the 1790 Census of the United States.) Reverend E. M. Sharp, in the article cited above, says "The 1790 census shows John McGough living next door to his father-in-law, William Carson, in the Hard Labor Section of Abbeville County." By March 18, 1791, the John McGough family had moved about 60 miles southwest to White Plains, Greene county, Georgia. Their daughter, Martha McClelland McGough, was born in Greene county on March 18, 1791, and several later children were born there.

*Isabella McGough was born on May 13, 1764 (or November 8, 1764) in county Down, Ireland. No later than 1784 (probably on June 24, 1782, which is erroneously given by one source as the date of death of John Carson), she married John Carson in Edgefield county (Abbeville district), South Carolina. John Wesley Carson was the son of Thomas Carson and Margaret McDowell, and was born in Newry, county Down, on May 24, 1760; he died in Crawford county, Georgia, on May 5, 1823. Carolyn McGough Rowe says Isabella died in 1823, the same year as her husband. Carson family sources, however, say Isabella drew land in the Georgia lottery of 1827 as the widow of a revolutionary soldier. The Saga of the Carson Family of Brazos County, Texas

*Robert McGough, who was born on December 1, 1765, in county Down. Robert apparently remained on the original family property in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, until December 13, 1786, when he sold the McGough family's interest in the 150 acres on McAlpin's Creek. At about this time, he married Agnes "Nancy" McWhorter who was born in Charlotte, Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, on June 8, 1766. Their marriage was probably in about 1785 in Mecklenburg county. They moved to Fort Augusta, Richmond county, Georgia, where their first child, John McGough, was born in 1787. They moved to Christian county Kentucky around 1806. A Polly McGough (whose proper name was Mary McGough) married James Harrison Armstrong in Christian county, Kentucky, on December 5, 1815. Witnesses were William Armstrong and Robert McGough. (Kentucky Marriage Records, Christian county, 1797–1825, page 91, on Genealogy.com.) James McGough married Sally Holowell in the same county on February 6, 1812, with Robert McGough as a witness. Elizabeth (Betsey) McGough, the daughter of Robert McGough, married Joseph McGee in the same county on November 27, 1816. In 1819, the Robert McGough family moved to Dallas county, Alabama, where they lived the rest of their lives. See the excellent essay by Robert E. Parrott on the website: Dallas County Families—short histories and migration patterns of some early families (under Dallas County, Alabama, Genealogy) under the heading: The Armstrong, Woods, Kennedy, McGough, and McGee Families. (The essay is set out in my page: McGoughs in the 1820 Census of the United States under Dallas county, Alabama.) See also the posting on Rootsweb by Robert Parrott: [ALDALLAS-L] ROLL CALL: Armstrong, Woods, Kennedy, McGough, McGee. Robert McGough died on October 26, 1827, in Summerfield, Dallas county, Alabama, and is buried there in the Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian Church cemetery. Agnes died there on March 8, 1843, and is buried with her husband. They had seven children. See The Will of Robert McGough (1827) on my web page Odds and Ends. See also Ancestors of Betty Sue Freeman, Generation 6; Generation No. 7. For their descendants, see: Robert McGough in World Family Tree volume 52, tree 1492.

*William McGough, who was born in county Down, probably about 1767. He was living in Greene county, Georgia, about 1792, with sporadic removals to Abbeville, South Carolina, in times of Indian trouble. He acquired land in Greene county before 1791. The 1780 census of South Carolina lists William McGough in "Abbeville 8" (and William McGaw in "Abbeville 3"). The Reconstructed 1790 Census of Georgia, Greene county, page 108, on Genealogy.com, lists William McGough in Greene county, Georgia. The IGI lists Robert McGough, Sr., and Eleanor Cunningham as parents of William McGough born in 1767 in Down, Ireland. In another IGI listing, the mother is named as Sarah Matilda Carson; and in another listing, as Mary Carson. The latter listing gives William's year of death as 1823.

The 1800 US census lists a William McGough in South Carolina, Abbeville county, Series M32, roll 47, book 1, page 8a) in a family of 4 with free white males to 10 - 2; to 16 - 0; to 26 - 0; to 45 - 1; 45 and older - 0; free white females to 10 - 0; to 16 - 0; to 26 - 1; to 45 - 0; 45 and older - 0. (William McGaw is also listed in Abbeville county with a family of 10.)

The Index to The Headright and Bounty Grants of Georgia, 1756–1909, shows a grant of 305 acres in Greene county, Georgia, to William McGough in 1792.

"January 18, 1791 - William McGough of Abbeville County, South Carolina sells to Zachariah Robertson of Greene County, for $326.00, 163 acres of land on Beaverdam of Richland Creek. This deed shows an even earlier date for William's acquisition of land in Green County, though he was living in Abbeville District, South Carolina at the time of the sale in 1791. ...

"November 23, 1792 - Thomas Grey of Green County, Ga. sells William McGough one Negro woman named Silvey. Witness to this deed was John Carson, possibly the husband of Isabella McGough, but more likely the son of Thomas Carson of Green County who also lived on Beaverdam of Richland Creek."

Reverend Sharp's article has data regarding several other deeds to and from William McGough in Greene county, Georgia. A deed to him on December 11, 1797, of 100 acres in Greene county, Georgia, says that he resided in Greene county. Deeds to him of property in Greene county, Georgia, in 1799 and 1800, show that he was living in Abbeville, South Carolina. McGough Family, Research Obtained from E. M. Sharp, Retired Methodist Pastor of First Methodist Church, Aberdeen Miss. 1945 on the now defunct Clan McGough website. (To go to an archived copy of this source, go to WaybackMachine; in the the Take Me Back box enter: http://www.clan-mcgough.com/history.htm; and, in the calendar, click on the blue circle around August 10, 2009.)

The Abbeville census for 1800 shows William with a wife and two children under 10. Sharp tells us that the census of Greene county, Georgia, for the year of 1820, shows William McGough and his wife "living near his brother John McGough." The census showed both William and his wife were above 45 years of age, and that there were no others in the household.

By the time he died in the latter part of 1823 in Jones county, Georgia, William McGough had accumulated a fortune. He left no will, and the administrators of his estate were his wife, Nancy, who had been born in South Carolina in 1785 (???), and two sons, Thomas Carson McGough, who had been born on November 23, 1799, and James Carson McGough, who had been born about 1802. Both sons were born in South Carolina. The fact that Carson was the middle name of both of these sons supports the hypothesis that William's wife Nancy was a Carson, although that was also his mother's maiden name. One source says William McGough married Nancy Carson on April 18, 1779. (See Re: William McGough and Nancy Carson - SC/GA). She may have been the Annie Carson who emigrated with her parents from Ireland in 1773. See William Carson   Born: ABT 1735.

*Sarah McGough, who was born in 1768 in county Down, Ireland. On June 11, 1785, in Round Oak, Jones county, Georgia, she married Adam C. Carson who was born in county Down (or Tyrone), Ireland, in 1765, and died at age 77 on October 8, 1842, in Jones county, Georgia. Sarah died in 1818, having given birth to nine children. The IGI lists Robert McGough and Sarah Matilda Carson as the parents of Sarah McGough born about 1769 in Down, Ireland; the birth of Sarah Isabella McGough to the same parents on May 13, 1764; and her death in 1823. Another IGI entry reports the year of death as 1818. One IGI entry mistakenly says that she married Adam Carson in 1874 in Ireland.

*Mary McGough, born about 1769 or 1770. (The family history on Charles & Susie McGough's Home page says 1773.) She married John Sharp, son of Edward Sharp of Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, probably about 1789. Mary apparently died shortly after marriage, perhaps in her first childbirth. Edward Sharp soon married a second time, to Eleanor Cunningham, daughter of Roger and Mary Cunningham, of McAlpine Creek, Providence Presbyterian Community, Mecklenburg county, North Carolina. The IGI lists Robert McGough, Sr., and Sarah Matilda Carson as parents of Mary McGough who was born in about 1771 in Down, Ireland, and died in 1788. Another IGI listing shows Mary's parents to be Robert McGough and Mary Carson.

Connection with County Monaghan, Ireland?

The fact that McGoughs, under the name Mhigh Eotach or Mac Eochy, moved from county Monaghan to county Down in the latter half of the twelfth century, and gave their name to the townland of Ballymageogh and one of the Mountains of Mourne, Slievemageogh, makes it probable that the origins of this McGough family were in Ireland rather than Scotland, even though their religion at the time of immigration to America was Presbyterian. Ballymageogh and Slievemageogh in county Down are about 22 kilometers (13 miles) east by southeast, or 20 kilometers (12 miles) east and 10 kilometers (6 miles) south, of the town of Newry. See Where the Mountains of Mourne Sweep Down to the Sea — Ballymageogh and Slievemageogh in County Down.

The tradition is that, before emigrating, this family lived in villages at the base of mountains near Newry, county Down. Edward McGough of Texarkana, Texas, a descendant of Robert McGough of county Down, published in his excellent but unfortunately now defunct website, Clan McGough, a 29 page sketch of the history of this family: McGough Family, Research Obtained from E. M. Sharp, Retired Methodist Pastor of First Methodist Church, Aberdeen Miss. 1945. (To go to this source, go to WaybackMachine; in the the Take Me Back box enter: http://www.clan-mcgough.com/history.htm; and, in the calendar, click on the blue circle around August 10, 2009.) I quote the first paragraph of Sharp's history of the family, and part of the second:

"The McGoughs definitely came from County Down, North Ireland, 1771. What their histories prior to coming to North America is not known. The family had long settled in County Down in villages along the base of the mountains. This information comes from a very old lady by the name of Bridgett McCoy with whom I corresponded in 1950. Her home at the time was Dorsey, Mullagrass, Cullahany Post Office, County Armagh, Ireland. She had lived for many years in the area of County Down where the McGoughs had lived. She states: 'I know there was an old race of people named McGough and other people who left Ireland nearly 200 years ago. Some of them worked in England and their home in Ireland was along the mountains close to Newry. There are some descendants still there, but I am the nearest friend, none of the young people seem to know anything about these older people.'

"Our oldest ancestor was Robert McGough, Sr., who with his wife who is traditionally called Matilda Carson McGough, left County Down with forty others, neighbors and kinsman by the name of Carson and McDowell. They sailed from the sea port of Newry on the way to Charleston, South Carolina. It was the year of 1771. After a stormy voyage that is said to have lasted three months, they finally landed at Charleston, more dead than alive."

As stated above, 1773 seems to be the actual year of departure.

There were McGeoughs living near Newry around 1773. The marriage of Anne McGeough, daughter of Samuel McGeough of Newry, to Owen O'Malley of Melcomb, county Mayo, in April of 1777, is recorded at pages 287 and 340 of Irish Marriages in Walker's Hibernian Magazine. Griffith's Valuation of 1864 shows a Patrick McGough in the townland of Cloghanramer and a James McGeogh in the townland of Damolly, both in the parish of Newry. See my table in McGoughs, McGeoughs, and McGeoghs in Ireland in the 1820–30s and 1850–60s: By County, Parish, and Townland, lines 80 and 81. There is today a James McGeough at 1 Tullyah Road, Beleeks, Newry. He is a member of The British Charollais Sheep Society. On November 16, 2001, Niall and Niamh McGeough of 12 Carragh Dea, Belleck, Newry, county Down, applied for a permit to construct a two-storey domestic dwelling. (Louth County Planning Applications). Anthony McGeough occupies a home a 64 Edenappa Road, Edenappa, Jonesborough, Newry.

Mecklenburg County to Abbeville District, South Carolina

Robert McGough died five years after he bought land on McAlpine Creek in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina. On October 29, 1778, he signed his last will and testament in which he says he is "in perfect memory of mind though weak in body." He left the home in which he was living and fifty acres to his wife "for the term of her widowhood," and after her death or marriage, to his sons, John and Robert. The will was witnessed by John McGough and John Jack. He died in late 1778 or early 1779, at age 53. He was survived by his wife Matilda. His will was probated in January, 1779.

Here is an entry from North Carolina Wills, A Testator Index, 1665–1900 by Thornton W. Mitchell (Corrected and revised edition in one volume, Genealogical Publishing Company, 1992), page 340: McGough, Robert. county: 065. c.1778. Recorded copy: WB-B/57. Original: AR. Here is an entry from An Abstract of North Carolina Wills, 1760-1800, Mecklenburg County, page 187):1778, McGough, Robert, John, Robert.

About eight years after his father's death, on December 13, 1786, Robert McGough, the second son of Robert and Matilda Carson McGough, deeded all the ownership of the McGough family in the 150 acres on McAlpin's Creek in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, to William Smith. Robert's mother, and widow of his father, Robert, Matilda Carson McGough, had probably died before this. About this time, Robert married Agnes "Nancy" McWhorter and moved to Fort Augusta, Richmond county, Georgia. Augusta was on the Savannah River, about fifty miles south of the Abbeville district of South Carolina.

Robert's older brother, John McGough, had married Elizabeth Carson and settled in the Abbeville district no later than 1782. Robert's older sister, Isabella, had married John Carson no later than 1784, and settled in the Abbeville district (Edgefield county). Their first child, Thomas Carson, was born on May 13, 1789, in Edgefield county, South Carolina. By 1791, Robert's younger brother, William, was living in the Abbeville district.

Leyburn, at page 219, says that the influx of Scotch-Irish settlers around Abbeville began in 1761, but before 1761 there were three Scotch-Irish families on the Savannah River near Abbeville (citing The History of South Carolina by William Gilmore Simms (New York 1860), page 120). Some of the Carsons who emigrated from Ireland in 1773 settled in the Abbeville district, as did several of the McGough children. They probably joined relatives who were already there. See Scots-Irish in the South Carolina Upcountry by Brandon Smith.

An early settler of the Abbeville district was John Hearst, an ancestor of William Randolph Hearst. On October 26, 1766, John Hearst (Hearse) was allowed 400 acres in Belfast township "at or near the Long Canes." He and his son John are listed among passengers who arrived in Charleston from Ireland aboard the Earl of Hillsborough. (The Earl of Hillsborough sailed from Belfast on Christmas Eve, 1766, and did not arrive in Charleston until February 19, 1767. See: South Carolina Ships' List by Victoria Proctor.) The final grant, after a survey was completed, was entered in the Council Journal of October 2, 1767. He was paid a bounty of £252, indicating he had brought a large number of emigrants with him. John Hearst's will was probated in Abbeville district on August 23, 1782. See: John Hearst of the Long Canes.

John's son, also John Hearst, who was born in Ireland, was granted 100 acres near his father's 400 acres near Long Canes Creek. (Other sources say, I believe mistakenly, that the son, John Hearst, was born in 1750 in Long Cane, Abbeville county, South Carolina. See the pedigree of Sarah Jane Talkington on Ancestry.com.) John Hearst, the son, married Martha Carson, daughter of William A. and Margaret Mills Carson, who came to American in 1773 aboard the Elliott. (The date of birth given for the first of birth of their first child, however, is either wrong, or the date of Martha's travel to America is wrong.) The first of their nine children, Margaret Hearst, is said to have been born in Abbeville on September 6, 1772. The will of William A. Carson, dated October 16, 1801, and proved in Abbeville district on April 3, 1802, names Martha Hearst as his daughter. (One of the witnesses to the will was James Patterson.) Other children mentioned by William Carson include Margaret Patterson, Elizabeth McGough, and Mary Patterson. John Hearst, William McGough, and John Gray jointly signed an inventory of the estate of William Rowan filed in the Abbeville district on August 10, 1805. Administrators of the estate were James Carson, John Carson, and William McGough. The citation was published at Long Cane Church. James Carson was mentioned as next of kin. Abstracts of Old Ninety-Six and Abbeville District Wills and Bonds by Pauline Young (Southern Historical Press 1950), pages 70 and 277. See John Hearst of the Long Canes.

John Hearst signed the call of March 22, 1797, to the Cedar Springs and Long Cane congregations, to Mr. Alex Porter, of the Associate Reformed Presbytery of the Carolinas and Georgia, to be their pastor and "to come unto us and take the charge and oversight of our souls." Cedar Springs records from Abbeville part 1. Among the early members of the congregation were Samuel Patterson and James Patterson.

For a good description of the early settlement of the Abbeville district, see The Settlement of the Back Country, an excerpt from History of South Carolina from Its First Settlement in 1670 to the year 1808, Volume 1, by David Ramsay, MD (Preface dated "Charleston, December 31st, 1808"), published in 1858, by W. J. Duffie, Newberry, S. C. (Reprinted in 1959, by the Reprint Company, Spartanburg, SC):

"In the year 1756 Patrick Calhoun, with four families of his friends, settled on Long Cane in Abbeville. On his arrival there were only two families of white settlers, one named Gowdy the other Edwards, in that southwestern extremity of the upper country. The progress of settlement which commenced in or about 1750, was so very slow, for five years, that in the beginning of 1756, the whole number of families scarcely exceeded twenty. In that and the three following years, there was a great influx of inhabitants from the middle provinces."

There were massacres of settlers in this area by the Cherokee Indians on February 1, 1760, and by the Creek Indians in 1763. See The Long Cane Massacre, as described in The Scotch-Irish, and their First Settlements on the Tyger River.

For a map that shows the relative locations of Long Cane Creek and Hard Labor Creek, and shows the location of Patterson Bridge and McComb's mill on Long Cane Creek, go to The Hard Labor Section and portions of old Abbeville and Edgefield Districts. The map is a copy of the original map created by Emmett Irwin Davis from the book "The Hard Labor Section" by H. T. Cook.

The Ninety-Six National Historical Site, where John McGough was with the American Army in May and June, 1781, is less than 25 miles east of Abbeville. The Eutaw Springs Battlefield, where he was in September, 1781, is in Orangeburg county, South Carolina, on the south shore of Lake Marion, about one mile east of Eutawville. Eutawville is about 170 miles east of Abbeville. John McGough was presumably mustered out of the American Army in 1782. In that year, or earlier, he married Elizabeth Carson, the daughter of William Carson (born October 15, 1735, in county Tyrone) and Margaret E. Mills (born in 1732 in county Tyrone), and the granddaughter of Thomas Carson. The marriage records in Abbeville show that "M220 McGough, Unknown" married "C625 Elizabeth Carson" there in 1780. The McGough Family Page.

"A Map of the Province of South Carolina", drawn in 1773 (the 2552k map under Carolina Places on the website of The South Carolina Genealogy Forum (SCRoots)), shows the "Ninty-Six Precinct," the "Ninty-Six Courthouse," and nearby creeks and rivers. Long Cane Creek, shown running north to south, is to the west of Ninty-Six Courthouse, a little more than 15 British statute miles at its closest point. Fort Boon (shown on a 1776 map as Boon's Fort) is shown on a creek to the east of Long Cane Creek (near property marked "Lawsens"), which Creek drains into Long Cane Creek. Long Cane Creek joins Johns Creek in the village of New Bordeaux (a Huguenot settlement founded in 1764*), and the two streams become the Little River that flows southwest to the Savannah River. A village to the southeast of New Bordeaux is Londonderry (sic; should be Londonborough, also known as Boonesborough†). Hard Labour Creek, running north to south, cuts through the west edge of the plat of Londonborough, and then joins Stevens Creek which flows southwest into the Savannah River. For a large selection of maps, including three charts of the Abbeville district in 1820, go to Carolina Places on the website of The South Carolina Genealogy Forum (SCRoots). The charts of the Abbeville district show a Patterson's mill on Hard Labour Creek.

*For the names and a brief history of the original settlers of New Bordeaux, see The Huguenots of Abbeville by Steven J. Coker from the Transactions of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina, No. 5. pp 76-78, Charleston, South Carolina, 1897.

†Boonesborough Township (1763) was surveyed in 1762 by Patrick Calhoun and named for Governor Thomas Boone. This 20,500 acre township was laid out west of Ninety-Six as a buffer between white and Cherokee lands. In 1763 Scots-Irish families began to settle in the area near Long Cane, Park's and Chickasaw Creeks. The headwaters of Long Cane Creek are 500 feet south; the Cherokee Path crossed the township boundary one mile south. For a good article on Londonborough by John C. Grier, go to the Long Cane/Abbeville Research Archives.

For more on the history of the Abbeville district of South Carolina, and the residence of John and Elizabeth McGough there, see my page: Presbyterian Emigrations from Ulster to South Carolina; the Cahans Exodus from Ballybay to Abbeville in 1764.

Abbeville to Greene County, Georgia

As mentioned above, John McGough and his wife, Elizabeth Carson, McGough settled in Abbeville, South Carolina, and their first child, Sarah, was born there on July 15, 1783. At least two other of their children were born there, Robert L. McGough, born on March 28, 1785, and Margaret (Peggy) McGough, born on April 11, 1787. A son, William, was born on February 12, 1789, almost certainly in Abbeville.

John and Elizabeth Carson McGough, moved from Abbeville, South Carolina, about 60 miles southwest to White Plains, Greene county, Georgia, sometime after the census of 1790. Their daughter, Martha McClelland McGough, was born in Greene county on March 18, 1791, and several later children were born there.

Perhaps because of his service in the army during the Revolutionary War, during which he was wounded, John McGough was granted land in Greene county, Georgia, near White Plains. He probably took possession about 1791. The Remnant Tax Digest of Georgia for 1792, 1793, and 1794, published in Early Records of Georgia, volume two, Wilkes County, shows John McGough with 200 acres in Wilkes county. Nearby in the same index are 650 acres (and one slave) owned by Joseph Carson and 200 acres owned by John Carson. (Wilkes county and Greene county adjoined each other from the time Greene county was created in 1786 until Taliaferro county was created in 1825.

John McGough's brothers, Robert, who was born on December 1, 1765, in county Down, and William, who was born about 1767 in county Down, were also given grants of land in the same area, and all three brothers ultimately moved to Georgia. The Index to The Headright and Bounty Grants of Georgia, 1756–1909, shows a grant of 214 acres in Greene county to John McGough in 1797, of 200 acres in Wilkes county to Robert McGough in 1785, and of 305 acres in Greene county to William McGough in 1792.

On December 13, 1786, Robert McGough deeded the 150 acres on McAlpin's Creek in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, to William Smith. His brother John McGough had previously deeded his interest to Robert:

"Robert McGough of Greene County, Georgia, to William Smith of Mecklenburg Co. Deed dated Dec. 13, 1786, conveying 150 acres on McCoppins Creek, being the part willed to the grantor by his father (unnamed), together with a part deeded grantor by his brother, John McGough. Recorded deed book #13, page 724." Quoted from The Georgia Genealogical Magazine (volume 3) in The McGough Family Page.

Soon after John McGough moved to Georgia, trouble broke out with the Indians, and he moved his family back to Abbeville, South Carolina, and remained there for about a year until peace was made. His daughter Matilda McGough (who married Marshall Cunningham Sharp in Greene county, Georgia, on November 30, 1819) was born on one of the family's returns to Abbeville on July 17, 1799. John then moved back to his former home in Georgia. He farmed his land, owned several slaves, left many descendants, and died on October 17, 1847, at the age of 86, at his home near White Plains, Georgia. He was buried in the McGough family cemetery on his farm; as was his wife Elizabeth Carson McGough, who died there on April 23, 1847. John's gravestone, erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution, is marked "JOHN McGOUGH, A North Carolina Revolutionary Soldier." Elizabeth's grave is marked by a crude stone marker.

Abbeville to Christian County, Kentucky

Before 1786, Kentucky was a district attached to the colony of Virginia. The district had been seeking separation in a series of constitutional conventions that began in 1784. These conventions continued until 1789 when terms of separation were agreed upon. The new colony at once started a movement to enter the newly organized government, whose independence had been won in the war of the Revolution. This happened on June 1, 1792, Kentucky was admitted as one of the first two new states, after the organization of the thirteen original colonies into the United States of America. See The Kentucky Land Grants, chapter II, Blazing the Way, and chapter IV, Grants South of the Green River (1797–1866).

Logan county was part of Kentucky when it became a state. Christian county was organized from a part of Logan county in 1792. Livingston county was formed from part of Christian county in 1798. See Formation of Kentucky counties:

"Christian County, the twenty-first in order of formation, is located in southwestern Kentucky, a part of the Pennyroyal region. The county is bordered by Hopkins, Muhlenberg, Todd, Trigg, and Caldwell counties and by Tennessee. Covering 722 square miles, Christian County is the second largest in the state (forty-five miles long and twenty-five miles wide). The county seat is Hopkinsville.

"Christian County was formed from a portion of Logan County by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1796 and organized on March 1, 1797. The new county was named in memory of Col. William Christian, a native of Augusta County, Va., and a veteran of the American Revolution. He settled on Beargrass Creek near Louisville in 1785 and was killed by Indians in southern Indiana the following year. Originally, the county included all land north of the Tennessee line, west of Logan County and the Green River, south of the Ohio River, and east of the Tennessee River. All of the counties now in this area were formed out of Christian County between 1798 and 1860.

"James Davis and John Montgomery made the first permanent settlement in the county around 1784. They brought their families by flatboat down the Ohio River and then up the Cumberland River to settle on Montgomery Creek, southeast of present-day Pembroke. There the settlers built a log blockhouse on land, where they hunted and farmed. In the next two decades, settlement concentrated in northern Christian County, which had abundant fresh water, wild game, and timber for building and for firewood. Poor road conditions, the struggle for existence, and the land's topography isolated the valley settlements.

"The flat, fertile land in southern Christian County was settled in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Rich clay soil with a foundation of limestone was well-suited for crops, especially dark tobacco. Most of the land was barren of trees and covered in prairie grass, with a few springs along Little River and West Ford of the Red River. Large farms supported by slave labor were patterned after those in the Tidewater and the Deep South. Both sections of the county were fully settled by 1830, when the population reached 12,684." by William T. Turner (from The Kentucky Encyclopedia).

Livingston county was formed from part of Christian county in 1798:

"1798 Livingston County, Kentucky and Henderson County, Kentucky, were formed from the northern part of Christian County, Kentucky. The two new counties shared the Tradewater River as a common boundary with Livingston County on the west side and Henderson county on the east side." The Sigler Web Site.

Caldwell county was formed from part of Livingston county 1809:

"Caldwell County, the fifty-first county in order of formation, is located in the western part of the state in the Pennyroyal region. It is bordered by Crittenden, Webster, Hopkins, Christian, Trigg, and Lyon counties and has an area of 357 square miles. The county seat is Princeton.

"In 1797 Capt. William Prince of South Carolina received a patent for a tract of land that surrounded Big Spring at the head of Eddy Creek. On a promontory above Big Spring, where many trails converged, he erected a large two-story limestone structure that served as both home and tavern. The building, Shandy Hall, was not only one of the earliest structures in this region but probably the first masonry building in all of western Kentucky. The settlement that developed there around Shandy Hall was originally known as Eddy Grove.

"Prince's settlement originally lay within the part of Christian County from which Livingston County was created in 1799 and which ten years later was subdivided to form Caldwell County. It was named in honor of Gen. John Caldwell, who had served under Gen. George Rogers Clark in the Indian wars and who had been a prominent legislator and businessman in the Bluegrass region before he moved to western Kentucky. He was the first western Kentuckian to be elected to the Kentucky state Senate, and was the state's second lieutenant governor (1804). When it was formed, Caldwell County encompassed all of what are now Lyon and Calloway counties and portions of Trigg, Marshall, Hickman, Graves, and Fulton counties. Much to the dismay of the citizens living in the vicinity of Eddy Grove, {Eddyville} was chosen the first county seat of Caldwell County. ...

"Before the advent of railroads, Caldwell County produce was shipped to market through the Cumberland River ports of Eddyville, Dycusburg, and the Tradewater River port of Belleville." (from the Kentucky Encyclopedia.)

As mentioned above Robert McGough (junior), remained on the original family property in Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, until December 13, 1786, when he married Agnes "Nancy" McWhorter. They moved to Fort Augusta, Richmond county, Georgia, where their first child, John McGough, was born in 1787. The move may have been made to claim a land grant in Georgia to Robert. The Index to The Headright and Bounty Grants of Georgia, 1756–1909, shows a grant of 200 acres in Wilkes county to Robert McGough in 1785. Part of Wilkes county, Georgia, was included in Greene county, Georgia, which was formed from Washington county on February 3, 1786. Greene county adjoins Wilkes county. The eastern border of Greene county and the western border of Wilkes county were the same in the 1700s. See the historical maps of Greene county in 1796 and 1822 in the Historical Atlas of Georgia Counties. and the Map of Georgia's Colonial Parishes.

Robert and Agnes "Nancy" (McWhorter) McGough moved from Greene county, Georgia, to Christian county, Kentucky, around 1806. Robert McGough was a witness to the marriage of his son, James McGough, and Sally Hallowell in Christian county, Kentucky, on February 6, 1812. A Polly McGough married James Harrison Armstrong in Christian county, Kentucky, on December 5, 1815. Witnesses were William Armstrong and Robert McGough. (Kentucky Marriage Records, Christian county, 1797–1825, page 91, on Genealogy.com.) Betsy McGough married Joseph McGee in the same county on November 27, 1816. In 1819, most of the Robert McGough family moved to Dallas county, Alabama, where they lived the rest of their lives.

Robert McGaugh received a grant of 200 acres on the Sinking Fork of the Little River in Christian county, Kentucky, that was surveyed on July 27, 1815 (book 18, page 257). The Kentucky Land Grants, Part 1, Chapter IV, Grants South of Green River, 1797–1866, page 373.

The 1810 US census of Kentucky lists Robert McGouch in Christian county, Hopkinsville, (Series: M252, roll 9, part 1, page 93). male under 10 - 1; male 16 to 26 - 1; male 45 and over - 1; females under 10 - 2; females 10 to 16 - 2; female 16 to 26 - 1; female 26 to 45 -1; slaves - 2.

A history of this part of the McGough family, written by the Reverend E. M. Sharp in 1945, says:

"According to traditions in the John McGough family, his brother Robert moved to Kentucky about 1806. We find that Robert Jr. and family were living in Christian county, Kentucky in the 1810 census, and their family is composed of as follows. Census:

1 male - 45 and upward (1765) Robert Jr. himself

1 female - 26 - 45 (1765- 1784) Nancy McWhorter McGough.

1 female - 16 - 26 (1784-1794)??

1 male - 16 - 26 (1784 - 1794) James McGough

1 female 10 - 16 (1794 - 1800) Mary McGough

1 female 10 - 16 (1794 - 1800) Elizabeth McGough

1 male 0 - 10 (1800 - 1810) Robert Joseph McGough

1 female 0 - 10 (1800 - 1810) Agnes McGough

1 female 0 – 10 (1800 - 1810)??

***

"We see here that he had two daughters I do not seem to know. Traditionally, he also had a son, John McGough, who was married to Elizabeth (Polly) Brooks in Christian County, Kentucky in 1810. The marriage record is recorded there. This John McGough obtained a land grant in what was then Livingston county in 1810, later was cut off into Caldwell county, Kentucky.

"Robert McGough, Jr. and family moved to Dallas county after the Creek War was ended. All of the family moved there with the exception of John McGough who remained there in Caldwell County, Kentucky where he died in 1828."

From: McGough Family, Research obtained from Reverend E. M. Sharp, Retired, Methodist Pastor of First Methodist Church, Aberdeen, Mississippi, 1945 (the link is dead). To go to this source, go to WaybackMachine; enter in the the Take Me Back box enter: http://www.clan-mcgough.com/history.htm; and, in the calendar, click on the blue circle around August 10, 2009.

Carolyn McGough Rowe, in her book: A Glimpse of the Past—Descendants of Robert McGough (b. 1725 Northern Ireland), at page 76, says that John McGough moved with the rest of his family from Christian county, Kentucky, to Dallas county, Georgia, in 1819:

"Sometime in 1819, Robert and Agnes went to Dallas Co, AL, where three of their brothers has settled. Here they lived the reminder of [their] lives.

"It has been reported by other researchers that descendants of Robert McGough still live in Caldwell Co, KY. I have determined that this is another line entirely. This JOHN S. MCGOUGH, came from Pennsylvania to Kentucky and is not related to our family to my knowledge."

Until I get information to the contrary, I have gone along with Carolyn McGough Rowe's theory that there was another John McGough in Livingston county/Caldwell county Kentucky from about 1800 and 1828, that he married Elizabeth Stevenson, and that several children were born in Caldwell county. In a speculative guess, in this website I have treated this John McGough as the son of Miles McGough and Elizabeth Spencer McGough who was born in Harford county, Maryland (on the Pennsylvania border) around 1758. See the discussion of my page: McGoughs in Pre-Revolutionary America: Miles and Elizabeth Spencer McGough under "John McGough." The main support for this speculation is that the John McGough of Harford county, Maryland, had a father and a brother named Miles, and a brother named Thomas; and he named one of his sons Thomas Miles McGough. Also, the Maryland born John McGough may have had a brother, Hugh McGough, and he named his first son Hugh.

Children of Robert McGough and Agnes "Nancy" McWhorter were:

John McGough, born about 1787, at Fort Augusta, Georgia. Married Elizabeth Brooks on June 26, 1810, in Christian county, Kentucky. Christian county marriage records shows that John McGue married Polly Brooks there on June 22, 1810. Witnesses were John McGough and Robert Means. (Kentucky Marriage Records, Christian county, 1797-1825, page 128, on Genealogy.com.) Died in November of 1840 in Coosa county, Alabama.

John McGough was granted 50 acres of land on Sinking Fork in Christian county, Kentucky, which was surveyed on December 13, 1816 (book B, page 464). Elizabeth McGough was granted 75 acres of land on Stephenson's Creek in Caldwell county, Kentucky, which was surveyed on November 17, 1829 (book Z, page 53). (The Kentucky Land Grants, Part 1, Chapter VI, Kentucky Land Warrants, 1816 - 1873, page 661, on Genealogy.com.)

Daughter, born about 1789.

James McGough, born 1790 in Fort Augusta, Richmond county, Georgia; died October 1846 in Union county, Arkansas; married Sarah Hollowell February 6, 1812 in Christian county, Kentucky. The witness was Robert McGough. Kentucky Marriage Records, Christian county, 1797–1825, page 128, on Genealogy.com.

James McGough witnessed the marriage of Whidley Hollowell to Margaret Larkins in Christian county on October 18, 18__. Kentucky Marriage Records, Christian County, 1797–1825, page 119, on Genealogy.com.

See Ancestors of Betty Sue Freeman—Generation No. 6

Lucy (Sally) Hollowell the daughter of Miles Hollowell and Ann Smithwick married James McGough (elsewhere spelled McHugh) on February 16, 1812, in Christian county, Kentucky.

Sarah Hollowell was born on February 4, 1796, in Martin county, North Carolina; died December 31, 1855 in Union county, Arkansas; married James McGough February 16, 1812 in Christian county, Kentucky. Sally died on December 31, 1855, in Trigg county, Kentucky, at the age of 59. Irvin Hollowell who was also born on February 4, 1796, married Mary Ann Parker on October 29, 1829, in Trigg county, Kentucky, and died on April 22, 1876. Hollowell Family, #268 and 269.

"Miles Hollowell was married to Ann Smithwick on March 27, 1792. Sally Hollowell was born on the same date as Irwin Hollowell. Irvin Hollowell was born on July, 4 1796. Miles Hollowell father of the above departed this life the 6th day of February 1843 at 9 o¹clock in the evening being 82 years and 2 days old. Ann Hollowell mother of the above departed this life October the 7th 1846 at 1 o¹clock in the evening."

Trigg County Bible Records. (On same page: Irvin Hollowell the s/o Miles Hollowell and Ann Smithwick who was born February 4, 1796 in Martin, N. C. married Mary Ann Parker the d/o Robert T and Millie Parker who was born February 7, 1802, and died May 27, 1863, in Parkersville, Trigg county, Kentucky, on Oct 29 1829.)

James McGough and Agnes "Nancy" McWhorter" named their 10th child and 6th son Miles H. McGough, who was born in Alabama in 1836. A Glimpse of the Past by Carolyn McGough Rowe, page 147.

Mary "Polly" McGough, born September 12, 1795, in Fort Augusta, Georgia. Married James Harrison Armstrong on December 5, 1815, in Kentucky. Witnesses were William Armstrong and Robert McGough. Kentucky Marriage Records, Christian County, 1797–1825, page 91. Polly McGough died on March 1, 1885, in Sabine parish, Louisiana.

Elizabeth McGough, born July 19, 1795, in Richmond or Greene county, Georgia. Joseph McGee married. Betsy McGough, daughter of Robert McGough, on November 27, 1816, in Christian county, Kentucky. (McGehee Marriages. Kentucky Marriage Records, Christian County, 1797–1825, page 128, on Genealogy.com.) Elizabeth died on June 18, 1869, in Dallas county, Alabama, and is buried there in the Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian Church Cemetery.

Agnes "Nancy" McGough born about 1798. Married Lloyd Johnson, who was the brother of Mary P. Johnson, who married Agnes' brother, Robert Joseph.

Robert Joseph McGough, born March 4, 1801, in Greene county, Georgia. Married Mary P. Johnson around 1824. Mary P. Johnson was the sister of Lloyd Johnson, who married Robert's sister, Agnes. Robert died on August 2, 1878, in Union parish, Louisiana.

Five of the ten children of Jacob Sigler and his wife, Margaret, moved into the basin of the Tradewater River in western Kentucky during the first two decades of the 1800's. The Tradewater River marks parts of the boundaries of the Kentucky counties of Union, Webster, Hopkins, Caldwell, and Crittenden, and originates in Christian county, Kentucky. Tradewater River Basin Map/

Will of Robert McGough (1827)

"my Negro woman Nancy and her increase ... [are] to be divided among my grandchildren ... "

The Last Will and Testament of Robert McGough (1827)

“In the Name of God, Amen. I, Robert McGough, being of sound disposing mind and memory blessed by God for the same do make and ordain this to be my last will and testament as follows viz in the first place it is my will and desire that all my just debts should be paid.

“2ndly, I leave my wife Nancy during her widowhood the Houses where I now live and as much of the land adjoining as she may wish for cultivation and other necessary uses and also I lend her my Grey horse and three ploughs that one(me) barshear, one shovel, and Rooter and all the fixings that belong to them—one axe one matlock and one hoe all the household and kitchen furniture that she may wish to keep likewise I lend to my said wife during her widowhood my Negro woman Deliley and her children Abner and Emily also three cows and calves, a yoke of oxen and cart one steer for beef a sow and pigs and five hundred weight of pork.

“3rdly I give to my son John McGough two cows and calves, which with what I have tofore given him will make the Sum of seven hundred and twelve dollars and it is all that I wish him to have of my property.

“Item. I lend to my son James McGough my Negro woman Nancy and her increase (illegible) that is to say assist him and his wife in providing for and raising his children but she is not subject to be sold for the payment of his debts and at his death she and her increase to be divided among my grandchildren the issue of the said James which Negro woman together with what I have heretofore given him will make his part Equal to $590.

“Item. I give and bequeath to my son in law James H Armstrong my Negro woman Mariah and her increase to him and his heirs forever which woman with what I have heretofore given him will make his part Equal to $590.

“Item. I give and bequeath to Joseph McGee my Negro man Louis to him and his heirs forever which with what I have heretofore given him will make his part Equal to $590.

“Item. I give and bequeath to unto Jno Johnson my Negro girl Minday and her future increase to him and his heirs forever which with what I have heretofore given him will make his part Equal to $580.

“Item. I give and bequeath to my son Robert McGough my Negro boy Seburn and his heirs forever which with what I have heretofore given him will make his part equal to $700.

“All the rest and residue of my property of Every Kind and description whatever I direct shall be sold by my Executors herein named on twelve months credit and the money arising therefrom to be applied in the first place the portions of each of the legatees before named except my wife my son John and James equal in value including what they have heretofore received and what they get by this will to the sum of nine hundred dollars which is what I Estimate my son James will receive with the Negro woman given him by this will and the surplus if any I desire to be equally divided among all my children above Except my son John.

“Item. I will and desire that the property herein loaned to my wife at her death shall be sold and the money to be equally divided among all my children except John—so as to make them Equal agreeably to the Estimate I have herein made and lastly I do hereby nominate and appoint my son Robert McGough and my son-in-law James H Armstrong to be the Executors of this my will. In testimony whereof I have here unto set my hand this 13th day of August 1827

(Signed) Robert McGough

Witnesses: Joseph McGee, James McGough, Joseph Woods.”

The document is from Will Book A, 1821–1849, Dallas County, Alabama, and had been published on the Internet by Robert E. Parrott of Knoxville, Tennessee. Robert E. Parrott is the great-great-grandson of Robert McGough's daughter, Mary McGough Armstrong (1793–1885) who married James Harris Armstrong. Parrott also publishes the will at page 68 of his book, referred to above: Pisgah's Earth: The Story of Mary McGough Armstrong (1793–1885) and her Family (1992).

In the will of September 1, 1789, of Thomas Carson, who had emigrated from Ireland, he left to his son, Adam "the child of my negro PAT who appears to be pregnant" (Greene Co, GA, Misc Records, Book A, 1787–1801, pp 64–65). Robert McGough was shown as the owner of four slaves in the 1820 Alabama State Census of Dallas County, Alabama.

The Robert McGough who executed the will set out above was the brother of the Scots-Irish John McGough discussed on my web page: A Scots-Irish John McGough—A Seattle Connection—Emigration of Presbyterian McGoughs in 1773. After the close of the Revolutionary War, Robert, his older brother John, and their brother William, were granted tracts of land in Georgia. John was granted land because of his military service during the Revolutionary war. The three brothers moved from Mecklenburg, North Carolina, to Abbeville district, South Carolina, and then on to Georgia about 1791. In 1805, Robert moved to Christian county, Kentucky. In 1817, he moved to Dallas county, Alabama. He died in Alabama in 1827. His wife, Agnes "Nancy" McWhorter McGough, died in Alabama in 1843. She and her husband Robert McGough are buried in the Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian Cemetery near Summerfield, Alabama. For more information about the family of Robert McGough, see The McGough Family Page.

Robert McGough's daughter, Mary McGough, married James Harrison Armstrong in 1815. In 1819 she moved with her family from Kentucky to Alabama where they lived until 1847. They had seven children. James Harrison Armstrong, his wife Mary McGough Armstrong, and a number of relatives, moved from Alabama to Sabine parish, Louisiana, in the fall of 1847. Mary McGough Armstrong died in March 1885 at the age of 91 in Louisiana at the home of the great-grandparents of Robert Parrott of Knoxville, Tennessee. Robert E. Parrott has written and published a 249 page book: Pisgah's Earth: The Story of Mary McGough Armstrong (1793–1885) and Her Family. which is well-researched and interesting reading.

Bob Parrott sent me by email this description of Mary McGough Armstrong's trip from Alabama to Louisiana:

Subject: McGough to rhyme with 'dew' ... She and her husband (with a large company of kinfolk) traveled in a covered-wagon caravan from Dallas County, Alabama to Sabine Parish, Louisiana in the fall/winter of 1847–1848, and with them came a slave community, walking most of the way -- about 20 slaves. Many of the slaves took the name McGough at the end of the Civil War, and a few of their African-American descendants (named McGough) are still living in Sabine Parish. ... Robert E. (Bob) Parrott, Knoxville, TN."

The other part of his email message deals with pronunciation of McGough and is set out in my page Pronunciation of McGough.

The western boundary of Sabine Parish, Louisiana, is the Sabine River, the boundary with Texas. Traveling north from Lake Charles, Sabine Parish is about 2/3rd of the way to Shreveport. It is just north of Vernon Parish in which Fort Polk Louisiana is located. (I spent a few months there in 1955 while in the Army, when the installation was still Camp Polk.)

Carsons, McDowells, and Pattersons

A possible connection with Ireland of the Carsons and Pattersons who emigrated with Robert McGough is found in a posting on Rootsweb.com on February 25, 1999:

From: Harry Burton <harry_bur@antdiv.gov.au>
Subject: [CoTyroneIreland-L] Jane Carson from Cormore

Jane Carson (1839-1919) and her brother Joseph, aged 20, left county Tyrone and embarked in the same ship "Southern Ocean" in 1863. They then landed in Melbourne, Australia, where Jane has left dozens of descendants of whom I am one. She married (John Mc Mullen from Armagh) in Australia in 1868 and then had four daughters and one son. She died near Melbourne in 1919.

Their parents in Tyrone were John Carson who married Isabella Patterson [emphasis added]. Their house in Australia was called "Cormore" after their home area in Tyrone; and that could refer to the townland of Cormore in the parish of Clogher."

The townland of Cormore is about 6 kilometers north of the town of Clogher in the parish of Clogher, county Tyrone. For a map of the townlands of the civil parish of Clogher, go to my page McGoughs, McGeoughs and McGoughs in County Tyrone. There were an Andrew and a John McGoghey in the townland of Caldrum in this parish in 1825.

To trace the Carson family from Scotland to Ulster to Charleston, South Carolina, to Georgia, to Texas, and the intermarriages with the McGoughs, see: The Saga of the Carson Family of Brazos County, Texas. The birthplace of Thomas C. Carson (Jr.), who was born on May 23, 1763, is described thusly: "in county Down, Ireland, said to be a small town, now deserted, at the foot of mountains, not far from Newry, county Down, Ireland." See also: Genealogical History of Some Carsons, Johnsons, and Related Families, by Charles Ferdinand Carson Jr., especially chapter one on the Carsons, where the Robert McGough family is described.

There were many Carsons, McDowells, and Pattersons, in the Carolinas before 1773. Those who came on the ship with the McGoughs in 1773 were probably joining relatives in America. Marriages among the four families were frequent. In this section, I provide a few illustrations of connections among these families. This data is based on secondary sources, which are sometimes inconsistent with each other. For example, persons who I think were part of the 1773 emigration from Newry to Charleston are sometimes shown as being in South Carolina a year or two before 1773. I give the earlier dates, occasionally without comment, in the hope that I may be able to reconcile this data later.

An affidavit of Josiah Patterson Sr., J.P. of Abbeville, South Carolina, is recorded in Early Records of Georgia, Volume Two, Wilkes County, page 16. The affidavit illustrates the close association of Carsons, McGoughs, and Pattersons, in the Abbeville district in 1806:

"His affidavit April 17, 1806, that Robert Rafferty, son of Malcolm Rafferty, late of Wilkes County, but now Kentucky, came to his house from August Feb. 25 last, and I left him there. When I returned Mar. 2 I found him fighting fire to keep our plantations from burning. So he could not be guilty of murdering a Mr. Barclay in Wilkes Co. about Mar. 1, last, according to a report to that effect. Will. McGough, John Patterson, Robt. Carson also testify to his being with them these dates."

The Josiah Patterson who made this affidavit had married Margaret Carson, daughter of William A. and Margaret Mills Carson. Margaret's sister, Sarah Carson, had married Malcolm Rafferty, and was the mother of the intended beneficiary of the affidavit, Robert Rafferty. So Josiah was an uncle by marriage of Robert Rafferty.

The William McGough who signed the affidavit had married Nancy Carson, who was possibly a sister of Sarah, Margaret and Mary Carson. So William McGough could also have been an uncle by marriage of Robert Rafferty.

The John Patterson who signed the affidavit was the brother of Josiah Patterson. He had married Sarah Carson's sister, Mary, and would also have been an uncle by marriage of Robert Rafferty.

The Robert Carson who signed the affidavit was probably Robert S. Carson, a brother of Sarah Carson Rafferty, the mother of Robert Rafferty, and thus also an uncle of Robert Rafferty.

The marriage of Malcolm Rafferty and Sarah Carson in about 1780 is listed in Old 96 and Abbeville Districts South Carolina—Marriages—1774–1890:

R163 RAFFERTY, Unknown [Malcolm] C625 CARSON, SARAH (no date)

Malcolm Rafferty, who was born in 1758, had arrived in 1767 in Charleston, South Carolina, on the ship Earl of Hillsborough with his parents, Neal Rafferty [b.1720] and his wife, Mary [b.1721]; and his sister Margaret [b.1756]. Neal received a Royal land grant of 250 Acres in Greenwood county. See Malcolm Rafferty, Ire. To SC to Ky. A book that is a valuable resource, A Compilation of the Original Lists of Protestant Immigrants to South Carolina 1763–1773 (Genealogical Publishing Company 1968) by Janie Revill, lists the surname as Raverty and finds the family with other passengers on the Earl of Hillsborough listed in the South Carolina Council Journal 33, page 41–50, Meeting of February 27, 1767.

The will of William A. Carson Sr., signed in Long Cane, Abbeville county, South Carolina, on October 16, 1801, and proved on April 3, 1802, did not specifically name Sarah Rafferty as one of his children, but did leave her a bequest. Named as one of his daughters was Elizabeth McGough. (See below.) Abstracts of Old Ninety-Six and Abbeville District Wills and Bonds by Pauline Young (Southern Historical Press), page 70. William's daughter, Elizabeth Carson McGough, was the wife of John McGough, the oldest son of Robert and (Sarah) Matilda Carson McGough. (See above).

The Saga of the Carson Family of Brazos County, Texas, Chapter 2, The Family of Thomas Gibson (?) Sr. Carson, lists Sarah Carson Rafferty as the eighth and youngest child of William A. Carson and Margaret Mills. Other sources say Sarah was the third child, born in 1759 in county Tyrone. (See the pedigree of Sarah Jane Talkington on Ancestry.com.) Listed as the seventh child is Elizabeth Carson McGough. Sharp says that Sarah Carson married Mitchell (should be Malcolm) Rafferty and that they later moved to Kentucky. McGough Family Research Obtained from Rev. E. M. Sharp, Retired Methodist Pastor of First Methodist Church Aberdeen, Mississippi. See: E. M. Sharpe's Account of the McGough Family's Emigration to America on The McGough Family Page by Carole E. Scott.

Primary sources for the early history of the Carson family are: The Saga of the Carson Family of Brazos County, Texas, by Alan Carson of Austin, Texas; the Carson Database; and the Carson Tree. Although I have not been able to reconcile all this data, I set out below some information that might help identify the Carsons who traveled to America with the McGoughs in 1773. An asterisk before a name indicates that the person was probably part of the 1773 emigration from Newry to Charleston. See also The Genealogy and History of the Carson Family of Antrim, Ireland and Ayrshire, Scotland; and The Sharp Family: A Proud Heritage.

*Thomas (Gibson) Carson was born on May 11, 1710, in county Tyrone (or Down), and died on July 10 (or November 18), 1790, in Greensboro, Greene county, Georgia, leaving a will. He was the son of William Calvin Carson who was born in Londonderry, county Tyrone (or Scotland), on June 27, 1682, and Sarah Ann Ferguson Carson who was born in Scotland (or Londonderry, county Tyrone) on May 10 (or 18), 1687. William Calvin Carson was the son of Robert Alexander Carson, who was born on June 12, 1652, in Wilmarnock, Scotland, and Eleanor Jane McDuff, who was born on May 17, 1652, in Wilmarnock, Scotland. Robert Alexander Carson and Eleanor Jane McDuff were married in Londonderry on November 17, 1673. (World Family Tree, volume 49, tree 1756; volume 50, tree 2489; volume 52, tree 321.)

Thomas (Gibson) Carson was married on August 12, 1734, in county Tyrone, to *Margaret McDowell, who was born on May 11 (or June 12), 1713, in Londonderry, county Tyrone. After traveling from Newry to Charleston in 1773, the family originally settled in the Abbeville district of South Carolina. Margaret died on December 16, 1794, in Greene county, Georgia, and is buried in the Greensboro Cemetery in Greene county. Both she and Thomas Gibson (?) Carson Sr. were probably Presbyterian.

A child of Thomas Gibson and Margaret (McDowell) Carson was:

*William A. Carson, Sr., was born on October 15, 1735, in county Tyrone, Ireland (other sources say county Down). He emigrated with his parents in 1773. He served in the military from September 30, 1775, in South Carolina. He was in the company of volunteer militia led by Captain William Fullwood. He appeared on the census in 1779 in 96th district, South Carolina. He resided in Long Cane, Abbeville county, in 1779, south of the Patterson bridge. "The old Carson place ... is about two and a half miles southeast of Patterson bridge*, near the old Fisher and Gibson places". He married Margaret Mills who was born in county Tyrone in 1735. He resided in Mecklenberg county, NC in 1782. On 1 Sept., 1789, he was in Wilkes county, GA. William’s father, Thomas Carson Sr., willed him a Negro woman. William at that time was living in South Carolina. The condition of the bequest was that William would receive this slave after the death of Thomas’s wife (William’s mother), Margaret (Mills). The senior Thomas Carson died in 1790 [November 18]."

*Patterson's Bridge is shown on Long Cane Creek, about 30 miles south by southwest of the town of Abbeville, just below McComb's Mill, on the 1820 Survey of Abbeville District published in Mills Atlas of the State of South Carolina by Robert Mills, 1825.

Sharp: "On coming over from Ireland, the Carson’s turned south [actually west]. William purchased land in the Hard Labor Creek Section of Abbeville County, living some five or six miles east of the present town of Abbeville. The family seems to have worshiped at Cedar Springs Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church, which is still an active church. William Carson died in 1801 in Abbeville County" Not all the Carsons stayed in Abbeville. Robert S. Carson (see below), who may have been on the ship, ultimately settled in Rowan county, North Carolina, where he married Elizabeth Patterson. Rowan county is a short distance north of Mecklenburg county where Robert and Matilda Carson McGough settled.

He [William A. Carson Sr.] appeared in the census in 1790 in Long Cane, Abbeville district. The census shows a household with 3 males over 16, 2 females, and 1 slave. He signed a will on October 16, 1801 in Long Cane. This will was proved on April 3, 1802. Executors were sons Robert and William Carson. Witnesses were Thomas Lindsay, James Patterson, and Sarah Howard. Wife: Margaret. Children: William, Robert, Jean Carson, Martha Hearst, Margaret Patterson, Elizabeth McGough, Mary Patterson. A great-grandson, William, son to Robert Carson, is named. There was a bequest to Sarah Rafferty, probably his daughter. An inventory of the estate was made on August 24, 1802, by John Robinson, William McBride, and Andrew Caughran. Abstracts of Old Ninety-Six and Abbeville District Wills and Bonds by Pauline Young (Southern Historical Press), page 70.

Also usually listed as children of Thomas Carson and Margaret McDowell Carson are John William Carson and those whose names follow his below. These people are a generation (25 years) removed from William A. Carson, the oldest son, raising the question of whether they were children of another son (another Thomas?), and therefore grandchildren, of Thomas and Margaret. The hypothetical son, Thomas, may have died young and his children may have been raised by Thomas and Margaret as their own children. This age differential, and the questions raised thereby, are discussed at Chapter 2—The Family of Thomas G. (?) Gibson, Sr. Carson.

William A. Carson and his wife, Margaret Mills Carson, were part of the 1773 emigration from Newry to Charleston. With them on the ship were their children:

*Martha Carson was born in 1754 in county Tyrone. She married John Hearst in Abbeville.

*Jean Carson was born in 1756 in county Tyrone. She died in 1802.

*Sarah Carson was born in 1759 in county Tyrone. She married Malcolm Rafferty. She died in 1806.

*Margaret Carson was born in 1761 in county Tyrone. She married Josiah C. Patterson who was born in 1751 in county Tyrone. This was probably the Josiah C. Patterson who came to America with his family aboard the Earl of Hillsborough, which arrived in Charleston before the council meeting of February 27, 1767. (See below). Old 96 and Abbeville Districts, South Carolina—Marriages—1774–1890 shows a marriage of Josiah Patterson and Mary Margaret Carson in 1777. Their oldest son, James Patterson, was born in 1780 in Edgefield, Abbeville district, South Carolina. In about 1801 in Abbeville, the son James married Mary H. Carson, who was also born in Abbeville district in 1780. Josiah C. Patterson, the father, was a member of the South Carolina Assembly. Josiah Patterson served as the executor of an estate in Abbeville county in 1790. He had received a 100 acre grant on March 2, 1768, in Granville county on waters of Long Cane Creek, known as Reedy Branch near Belfast Township (survey certified on August 24, 1767; recorded on August 5, 1768).

*Elizabeth Carson was born on June 25, 1764, in Northern Ireland, and died on April 23, 1847, in Greene county, Georgia. She was the daughter of William A. Carson and Margaret Mills, and granddaughter of Thomas Carson. She married John McGough who was born on August 21, 1761, in Northern Ireland, in Abbeville, South Carolina, in 1780, and died in Greene county, Georgia on April 23, 1847. (There may have been a second Elizabeth Carson in the Carson/McGough/McDowell/Patterson emigration of 1773, who was about four years younger, and who was born in 1768. She is listed among the children of Thomas Carson and Margaret McDowell and is also said to have married John McGough.)

*Mary Carson was born in 1766 in county Tyrone, North Ireland. She married John Patterson, who was born in 1763 in county Tyrone, and died in 1837. This may be the John Patterson who came to America with his family aboard the Earl of Hillsborough, which arrived in Charleston before the council meeting of February 27, 1767. If so, he is probably the brother of the Josiah Patterson who married Mary Carson's sister, Margaret. Mary Carson Patterson died in 1845. (A son, Josiah Carson Patterson, was born in 1804 in Abbeville county, Woodvine, South Carolina. to James Patterson and Mary H Carson. Sharp says that James Patterson and Mary Carson later moved to Alabama.)

[Annie (or Nancy) Carson is sometimes listed as a daughter of William A. Carson and Margaret Mills who emigrated to America in 1773. Could this be the Nancy Carson who married William McGough?]

*Robert S. Carson was born on January 14, 1769, in county Tyrone, to William A. Carson and Margaret Mills. On December 20, 1793, he married Elizabeth Patterson in Rowan county, North Carolina. (Another date given for the marriage is January 25, 1795. See Re: William McGough and Nancy Carson - SC/GA on the Carson Family Genealogy Forum.) Elizabeth Patterson was born on July 14, 1772, in Rowan county, North Carolina. Their eight children were all born in Rowan county (although Carolyn McGough Rowe says their daughter Polly was born in South Carolina). Their daughter Margaret "Polly" Carson was born about 1796 (Carolyn McGough Rowe says 1793). She married William McGough, son of the William McGough who was part of the 1773 emigration. (See below for more information on the marriage of William McGough and Margaret "Polly" Carson.) After the death of Elizabeth Patterson Carson, shortly before her will was filed on March 21, 1821, Robert S. Carson married Sabra (or Sabray) Porter who was born in 1809 in Selma, Dallas county, Alabama, and who died in 1883. See McGough—Moore Genealogy by David L. Moore on the GenCircles website. Robert S. Carson died in Jones county, Georgia, probably in 1839. His will was signed on November 3, 1827.

William Carson, whose birth date is given as 1772 in Winnsboro, Abbeville county, South Carolina. He married Nancy Howard, who was born in 1779 in Winnsboro, Abbeville county, South Carolina. William died in 1837.

Children of Thomas and Margaret McDowell Carson include:

*John William Carson [John Wesley Carson married Isabelle McGough 1760]. John was born in Newry, county Down, on May 24, 1760. He died in Crawford county, Georgia, in 1823.

Thomas C. Carson (Jr. ?), born on May 23, 1763, in county Down. He served in the military between 1780 and 1781 in Georgia and Tennessee. He purchased land from John Jacob Abner on March 16, 1804 in West Tombigbee, Alabama. He married Jane (Jenny) Carson, from Greene county, Georgia, on 24 June, 1782. He died in 1807 in Washington county, Alabama.

*Adam C. Carson was born in county Down (or Tyrone), Ireland, in 1765, and died on October 8, 1842, in Jones county, Georgia. He served in the military between 1777 and 1783 in Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina, serving in the Minute Men Battalion. He married Sarah McGough, who was born in county Down in 1768, on June 11, 1785 in Round Oak, Jones county, Georgia. She was born in 1768 in county Down, Ireland. [The Clan Carson Website says that Adam C. Carson was born to Thomas Carson and Margaret McDowell in county Tyrone in 1765.]

*David Carson. David Carson and his brothers Adam and Joseph, along with Adam's brother-in-law, William McGough, were recruiters for the short-lived Trans-Oconee Republic organized in May, 1794, by Major General Elijah Clarke, on Creek Indian land to the west of the Oconee River, later incorporated into Georgia. David Carson and his brother Adam were each put in command of a fort in the maverick republic. (Rowe, page 198).

"In 1794, Clarke organized a group of volunteers to attack Spanish East Florida to put down Indian uprisings that had resulted from white raids into Indian territory. President Washington put a stop to this venture, but Clarke did not immediately return home; he and his volunteers settled in disputed land west of the Oconee River. There they tried to create an independent government called the Trans-Oconee Republic. Governor George Matthews called out the militia and the settlers grudgingly returned to Georgia." This Day in Georgia History—December 15 (Carl Vinson Institute of Government, The University of Georgia).

*Joseph Carson was born on January 11, 1766 in county Down, Ireland. Thomas Carson Sr. willed to Joseph Carson 200 acres lying on Richland Creek in Greene county, Georgia. He was married to Caroline Charlotte Green on May 16, 1814 in Adams county, Mississippi. Caroline Charlotte Green was born in 1794. She was in Washington county, Alabama (Mississippi Territory), on April 7, 1825. She signed a will on 7 July, 1831 in Adams county, Mississippi, naming James Green Carson as an only child. Joseph Carson died in 1817 in Washington Co., Alabama, and was buried in the Old St. Stephens cemetery, Washington county, Alabama. Caroline C. Carson, wife of Col. Joseph Carson, was executor of his estate.

*Elizabeth Carson was born in 1768 in county Down Ireland. She married James W. McDowell on December 9, 1790, in Greene county, Georgia. He was born 1768. He died in Wilkes county, Georgia. David and Adam Carson were appointed guardians of the children of Elizabeth McDowell in Wilkes county, Georgia, on July 31, 1800. (This indicates the death of John McDowell about 1800).

Robert S. Carson and Elizabeth Patterson had eight children, all born in Rowan county (although Carolyn McGough Rowe says their daughter Polly was born in South Carolina). Their daughter Margaret (Peggy) Carson [Peggy should probably be Polly], who was born about 1796 (Carolyn McGough Rowe says 1793), married William McGough. (See Warren GEDCOM on Ancestry.com.) The William McGough* who married Margaret (Polly) Carson was probably the oldest son the William McGough who was the son of Robert and Matilda Carson McGough (see above). The son, William, was probably born in South Carolina about 1793. Carolyn McGough Rowe, at page 197 of her book, A Glimpse of the Past, lists an "unknown son" of the senior William, born before 1799 in South Carolina. She says, that this "unknown son" married Margaret "Polly" Carson who was born in South Carolina in 1793.

Carolyn McGough Rowe, at page 198, says this about the will of Elizabeth Patterson Carson, wife of Robert S. Carson:

"I found Polly [Margaret] McGough listed in the will of Elizabeth Carson indicating she was a daughter, and items were given to William McGough for Polly McGough. This leads me to believe Margaret 'Polly' Carson McGough was the wife of ... a son of William who was already deceased. As of this date, I have not determined who this son may have been. On 22 Jun 1822, Polly McGough married Benjamin R Searcy in Jones Co, GA"

William McGough, the son of Robert and Matilda Carson McGough, died in Greene county, Georgia, in the latter part of 1823. His oldest son, William, had died before him. One source says that the elder William McGough married Nancy Carson on April 18, 1779. (See Re: William McGough and Nancy Carson - SC/GA). The elder William's estate was administered by this wife Nancy, and his next two surviving sons, Thomas and James. A William McGough* had died in Greene county on December 12, 1820, and this may have been the deceased son of William. Eighteen months after his death, Margaret (Polly) McGough, daughter of Robert Carson and Elizabeth Patterson, married Benjamin R. Searcy in Jones county, Georgia.

On January 7, 1828, Benjamin R. Searcy, second husband of Elizabeth Patterson McGough, adopted John Wesley McGough in Talbot county, Georgia, and John changed his name to John Wesley Searcy. John Wesley Searcy, therefore, may have been a child of Elizabeth Patterson by her first marriage to William McGough. The father of this William, also William McGough, had a son named John who was born before 1810. Carol McGough Rowe lists the John Wesley McGough, who was adopted by Benjamin Searcy, as the son, rather than grandson, of the elder William McGough (the son of Robert and Matilda Carson McGough). She lists the birth date of John Wesley McGough as 1810–1811. Since I have not examined the original documents, my guess that the John Wesley McGough who was adopted by Benjamin R. Searcy may have been the grandson of the elder William McGough, rather than the son, is supported by no facts of which I am aware.

(*The William McGough with an asterisk after his name may have been the William McGough who was the fourth child and second son of John and Elizabeth Carson McGough, born on February 12, 1789, in either Abbeville district, South Carolina, or Greene County, Georgia. Rowe says that "accounts say he never married." page 10.)

Another Carson family that supports further examination is that of John Hazzard Carson, who was born in county Fermanagh, Ireland, on March 24, 1752. His parents were James Carson and Rebecca Hazzard, who was born in Timaskea, county Fermanagh. John Hazzard Carson emigrated in 1773. Much of this information is from Ancestry.com The Lost and Found. A note on Amazon.com says:

"John sailed for America in 1773 with his [older] sister and brother-in-law, Thomas [born in 1742*] and Katherine Carson Wilson [born in 1744, the daughter of James Carson and Rebecca Hazzard of County Fermanagh, Ireland], and their children, landed in New Castle, Delaware, spent time in Philadelphia and later sailed for Newbern, North Carolina. Later settled in Burke County, North Carolina. Fought in Cross Creek Expedition Scotch & Torie, G. Rutherford's expedition against Cherokee Indians. Made application for pension December 10, 1833 and was allowed." Source: via internet LaGroon Redmond lagroon@bellsouth.net.

His first wife was Rachel Matilda McDowell, who was born about 1756 (or 1765) in North Carolina. She was the daughter of 'Hunting John' McDowell. (See Genealogical Records: Early North Carolina Settlers, 1700s-1900s— Reminiscences and Memoirs of North Carolina, Burke County, Page 88. The Carsons of Burke County, "Historical Sketches of North Carolina" by John Hill Wheeler.) They were married about 1780 in North Carolina. Their children were: Joseph McDowell Carson, born about 1782; Charles Carson, born about 1784; James Carson, born about 1786; Jason Carson, born about 1788; John Carson, born about 1790; Rebecca Carson, born about 1795 in North Carolina; and Sarah Sally Carson, born about 1796 in North Carolina.

His second wife was Mary Moffett (McDowell) who was born on February 28, 1751 or 1752 another source says about 1760) in Augusta, Virginia. She was the widow of Colonel Joseph McDowell who had died in April of 1795, the daughter of George Moffett of Augusta county, Virginia, and the sister of Margaret Moffett, wife of General Joseph McDowell. (See Wheeler's Reminiscences, cited in the previous paragraph.) They were married in 1797 (another source says about 1800) in North Carolina. Their children were: Samuel Price Carson, born about 1800 in North Carolina, died in Hot Springs, Arkansas; Matilda Carson, born about 1801; and George M. Carson, born about 1802. Ancestry.com The Lost and Found; William Moffett Carson; and Jonathan Logan Carson.

He is buried on a hill near Carson House, Marion, McDowell county, North Carolina, which houses many family records.

Samuel Patterson was born in Dysart, Newry, county Down, Ireland about 1725. Samuel died about 1791 (or 1794) in Abbeville district, South Carolina. He married Mary Carson. Mary died 1820 in Abbeville district, SC, at 61 years of age. According to Council Journal 37, Province of South Carolina, under date of 6 January 1773, the brigantine Free Mason*, out of Ireland (port not specified), discharged at Charles Town, South Carolina, the following among its Irish Protestant immigrant passengers who were authorized the amount of land, in South Carolina, indicated opposite their names: Samuel Paterson...350 acres (able to pay for land) Mary Patterson....100 acres (unable to pay for land).

*The Freemason (or Free Mason) sailed from Newry on October 22, 1772, and arrived in Charleston on December 22, 1772. Dickson, page 252. See: Rev. William MARTIN & Brigatine 'Freemason' Newry, Ireland>Charleston, SC 1772; see also: South Carolina Ships' Lists — Passengers to the Carolinas - 1700s — by Victoria Proctor.

Samuel Patterson's 350 acres was surveyed on February 12, 1773, and was in in Hillsborough township, 96th district, bordered by land of Nick'es Bonchillon, Jean Bellats, Jacob Delchaux, Mary Patterson, James Clark, and Pat Calhoun. See Scotch-Irish Migration to South Carolina, 1772: Reverend William Martin And His Five Shiploads of Settlers by Jean Stephenson (Shenandoah Publishing House 1970), item #417, page 95.

Mary Patterson was granted 100 acres in Hillsborough township, 96th district, bordered Jacob De Le Chaux, Samuel Patterson, Jean Bellat; surveyed February 12, 1773. Immigration Records Scotch-Irish Migration to South Carolina, 1772, Settlement in South Carolina, page 99. Her land was also surveyed on February 12, 1773. Stephenson, item #455, page 99.

With Samuel and Mary Patterson on their emigration to America were their daughters: Mary Patterson, who was born in Newry, county Down, Ireland, in about July, 1757; and Sarah Patterson, who was born in Ireland about 1759. Mary Patterson married William McGaw in Abbeville district, South Carolina, on October 5, 1775; and Sarah Patterson married John McGaw, also in Abbeville district, in about 1777, died in in Abbeville about 1820. William McGaw was born in Dunfermline, county Antrim, Ireland, on February 8, 1750, and died on May 31, 1836, in Preble county, Ohio, at 86 years of age. His will, dated June 24, 1836, mentions 9 children. (The McGaws were a different family than the McGoughs.) William McGaw is listed in the 1820 census of Israel township, Preble County, Ohio.

A son of Samuel and Mary Patterson, also Samuel Patterson, was born on October 17, 1765. Samuel Patterson Jr. is listed in the 1790 census of Ninety-Six District, Abbeville County, South Carolina. (with three free white females.) (as are Alex and James Patterson) (as is John Carson, with two free white males over 16, on under sixteen, and five free white females.) (Page 58). (and Alex McDowell, page 59) (and John McGuough (sic), with 2 free white males under 16, and 4 free white females.) (page 60). Sharp: "The 1790 census shows John McGough living next door to his father-in-law, William Carson, in the Hard Labor Section of Abbeville County." Now McCormick county? Samuel Patterson moved to Preble county, Ohio, before 1812. Before then, he may have moved to Mecklenburg county, North Carolina. There is a Samuel Patterson listed in the 1790 census of Mecklenburg county. For many more of his brothers and sisters and family member, go to The Patterson Family Line.

The Earl of Donegal left Belfast, Ireland, on October 2, 1767. By December 22, 1767, 81 days later, she had arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, with about 294 Irish passengers of 64 different surnames. They were sworn to being Protestant (probably Scots-Irish Presbyterians) in order to be eligible for South Carolina land grants. One Carson and eight McDowells are listed among those emigrants who received royal land grants "at or near the Long Canes or in Craven County." Each "head of a household" was granted 100 acres, plus 50 acres per dependent. Mothers and small children were considered dependents of the heads of their households. John Carson (line 150), born in 1747, age 20, received 100 acres. James McDowell (line 51), born in 1744, age 23, received 100 acres. William McDowell (line 49), born in 1747, age 20, received 100 acres. Margaret McDowell (line 50), born in 1749, age 18, received 100 acres. John McDowell (line 48), born in 1754, age 13, received 350 acres, which would indicate 5 dependents. See Scots Irish of SC aboard Earl of Donegal Oct. 2 1767.

Aboard the Earl of Hillsborough, which arrived in Charleston before the council meeting of February 27, 1767, were James Patterson, who was granted 100 acres; John Patterson, who was granted 100 acres; Josiah Patterson, who was granted 100 acres; and James Patterson, who was granted 250 acres. All these land grants were in Boonesborough or Belfast township (Abbeville district). Also on the passenger list were Jane Patterson, age 40; Alexander Patterson, age 14; Agnes Patterson, age 13 ; and James Patterson, age 25. Bounties were paid for those in this latter group, but land grants are not listed in the Council minutes. All passengers were described as "poor Irish protestants had lately arrived here on the encouragement of the Bounty given by the Act of the General Assembly passed the 25th July 1761."

Jane Patterson, however, apparently also received a 100 acre grant to the southwest of Joshiah Patterson (with the survey certified and recorded on the same dates as Josiah's grant). Reference is to: Crawford, Elizabeth. Box 19, Pack 411: Will dated May 11, 1807 in Abbeville district.  Recorded November 2, 1807.

Alexander Patterson, son of John Patterson and Margaret Baskin, and grandson of Robert Patterson & Frances Lnu, moved to Abbeville district, South Carolina, before 1790. His first wife was Catherine McCaleb. His second wife was Mary Campbell.

Thomas Patterson (son of John, son of Robert) was born in 1769 in Virginia and died 1850 in Abbeville, South Carolina. He married Frances (Fannie) Middleton. She was born 1765 in Abbeville.

Irish Ancestors shows the distribution of family names in Ireland from Griffith's Valuation in the 1850s. The Carsons, McDowells, McGoughs, and Pattersons were, with the exception of a block of 28 McGoughs in county Mayo) almost exclusively in Ulster. Carsons were almost all located in counties Antrim (118, plus 47 in Belfast city), Down (160), Tyrone (80), Fermanagh (60), Armagh (42), and Monaghan (41). Pattersons were almost all located in counties Down (350), Antrim (155, plus 75 in Belfast city), Tyrone (134), Donegal (83), Derry (76), Armagh (75), Fermanagh (40), and Monaghan (35). McDowells were almost all located in counties Antrim (219, plus 58 in Belfast city), Down (202), Armagh (62), Tyrone (36), Cavan (20), and Monaghan (18). McGoughs+McGeoughs were located in counties Monaghan (47+35), Louth (66+1), Mayo (28), Tyrone (9+12), Armagh (6+14), Meath (7), Down (6), Antrim (2, plus 1+3 in Belfast city), and Cavan (4). The McGough/McGeough numbers are in rough agreement with my own numbers from Griffith's Valuation, although I believe my count is more accurate. See McGoughs, McGeoughs, and McGeoghs in Ireland in the 1820–30s and 1850–60s: By County, Parish, and Townland.

The 1901 census of county Tyrone shows many Carsons, including many Robert Carsons. Most are shown as Protestant. See County Tyrone 1901 Census on the Clan Carson website, where all the Carson's who were resident in county Tyrone on the evening of Sunday March 31, 1901, are listed. There is an overlap with McGoughs in the parish of Donacavey and in Dungannon.

Pronunciation of McGough

Carole E. Scott is the webmaster of The McGough Family Page. Her mother was the daughter of Joseph Gordon McGough and Ethel Lucille Wiley. Her grandfather, Joseph Gordon McGough, was the seventh child and second son of James Robert McGough (and Nancy McClure), who was one of four sons and seven children of William Thomas McGough (and Elizabeth J. Bankston), who was the seventh child of the John McGough (and Elizabeth Carson) who is the principal subject of my page: A Scots-Irish John McGough—A Seattle Connection—Emigration of Presbyterian McGoughs in 1773. Carole E. Scott says that the family name was originally spelled McGeough and pronounced to rhyme with "cough." She says her immediate family, however, pronounces the name Mac Gew-uh, and that her "grandfather tolerated his name being pronounced in a variety of ways."

Another descendant of Robert McGough, Robert E. Parrott of Knoxville, Tennessee, says that his great-great-grandmother, Mary McGough Armstrong, "instructed her g-grandchildren carefully that the name McGough 'rhymes with dew.' " See the email from Bob Parrott quoted in my page Pronunciation of McGough. While I was in the Army and stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1955, I learned of a McGough family less than 40 miles west by southwest of White Plains, Georgia, who pronounced the name McGue. These were probably the McGoughs of Forsyth, Georgia. Other descendants of Robert McGough pronounce the name McGue. Edward McGough of Texarkana, Texas, also a descendant of Robert McGough of county Down, said in his former McGough website: "We pronounce our name as to rhyme with you."

Carolyn McGough Rowe, author of A Glimpse of the Past: Descendants of Robert McGough b. 1725 Northern Ireland, in an email of January 20, 2000, told me:

"Our line pronounces the name 'McGue'. Everyone from Walker Co., AL pronounces it the same. From the descendants of Robert McGough, you get everything from 'McGoo, McGeer, McGow McGue & McGoff'. William Carson McGough who settled McGough Springs in Eastland TX pronounced it 'McGue' also. His cattle brand was 'GUE'. The Montgomery, AL line uses 'McGoo'. The Union Co., Ark bunch uses 'McGeer'."

Genealogical References

For many references to this McGough family, see McGough Family Genealogy Forum and McGeough Family Genealogy Forum at GenForum. See also The Butts County Boys' War: The Stories of Benjamin Lewis McGough and John Oliver Andrews by Carole E. Scott, and The Will of Robert McGough (1827) on this website. Benjamin Lewis McGough was the great-grandson of John McGough. Carole E. Scott has deposited a copy of Benjamin Lewis McGough's history of this McGough family and copies of various family papers in the Georgia State Archives in Atlanta.

The descendants of the senior Robert McGough can be found in the book mentioned above, compiled and published by Carolyn McGough Rowe, called A Glimpse of the Past: Descendants of Robert McGough b. 1725 Northern Ireland. Carolyn McGough Rowe's address is: 5745 Talquin Ave., Pensacola, FL 32506. See also the Boaz and William Kitchens Family Charts, the Lana Kitchens Family Chart published by Debra Waldrop, and the County Down Surname List under McGough. There are notes on descendants of Robert and Matilda (Mary) Carson McGough in file #50, Thomas Carson of Georgia (b ca 1725) and Descendants, in the Carson Genealogy material of the Kit Carson Historic Museums in Taos, New Mexico..

For more information on families that emigrated from Ireland to the Abbeville district of South Carolina, see my web page: Presbyterian Emigration of 1764 from Ballybay, Ireland, to Abbeville, South Carolina.

McGoughs in Pre-Revolutionary America: Robert and Sarah Matilda McGough <http://www.magoo.com/hugh/robert.html> Updated May 6, 2013		Feedback » Site Search & Directory » © 1999–2013 Hugh McGough »