Jane - There was a group of Ulster Scots who emigrated from Donegal to Somerset County Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay, in the 1680's. I believe this was the earliest recognizable such group in America and was a precursor to the much more sustained Ulster Scot emigrations in the 18th century. This movement was initiated by a letter in 1680 from Colonel William Stevens, one of the Commissioners of Somerset, to the Presbytery of Laggan asking that they send a "godly minister" to serve the settlers in that area. As a result of this letter, Francis Makemie, originally from Ramelton, but schooled in Scotland, sailed for Somerset in 1683 where he established the first and oldest Presbyterian congregation in America. He was accompanied or followed by several other ministers and quite a few other families. Among these were Alexander, Caldwell, Finlay, Pollock, Knox, Owens, Stevenson, Wilson, Wallace. This movement continued in strength for about a decade, but after the Battle of the Boyne, the forces that impelled this group to leave Ireland and seek their fortunes elsewhere went away, and the emigrations abated. A contemporary quote recognizing the presence of this group is found in a 1692 letter from Edward Randolph, an official in neighboring Virginia, reading as follows: "I hear he has continued Major King to be the Navall Officer in Somerset County, a place pestred with Scotch & Irish. About 200 families have within the two years arrived from Ireland & settled in your County besides some hundred of families there before." In Maryland any newly patented lands were given a name by the person for whom they was surveyed, and in some cases names wee chosen in memory of the person's place of origin. Some of the tract names used in Somerset at this time were Ballybuggin, Kirkminster, Ballendrait, Rapho, Ballyshannon, Camp, Desert, Castle Fine, Monyn, Clonlett. Maryland was quite unique among the colonies at that time in its religious tolerance, a policy that was formally enacted by the Maryland Assembly in 1649. The motivation behind this may have been a pragmatic accommodation by the Proprietor, Lord Baltimore, who was a Catholic, to the political realities of the English Court at the time, but it was nevertheless a rare example of enlightenment in an era of intense religious conflict. It was just this circumstance that led William Stevens, a member of the establishment church, in an area first settled by Quakers within a Catholic colony, to request the services of a Presbyterian minister, a very unlikely act when you think about it. One can only contemplate with sadness how totally different the history of Ireland would have been if such a law had been enacted there in 1649 instead of what actually transpired. John Polk > [Original Message] > From: Jane Lyons <sniliaghin@iol.ie> > To: <DONEGALEIRE-L@rootsweb.com> > Date: 2/6/2004 6:39:27 PM > Subject: [DONEGALEIRE] Where were the mines? > > I know from my own family history, that my Donegal ancestors ended up in > Annaconda..........as did lots of other Donegal and Cavan people........and > that it was a mining town or area. > > Where else in the U.S. did Irish people end up in mines, working as miners? > Did they come from specific areas of Ireland where there were mines? > (whatever kind). Were they people who had worked in mining in Ireland and > then travelled to do the same kind of work in the U.S. > > We all know that people seemed to move in groups from one place in Ireland > to somewhere in the States........ > > how many of those places that masses of Irish ended up in were mining > areas - and how many places of origin in Ireland had mining in their > localities. > > I know - there's no comparison between the whole of America and the various > places that have mines or had a mining industry - but it's the places in > Ireland from which masses moved to one particular spot in America during a > particular time frame that I'm looking for. > > Mainly Donegal to where and when - and from where in Donegal > > Thanks > > Jane > > > ==== DONEGALEIRE Mailing List ==== > To browse through the archives of the list go to > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl > Visit my homepage at http://freepages.genealogy.com/~donegaleire > > ============================== > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 --- John Polk --- Havre de Grace MD --- jfpolk@earthlink.net