NINTH GENERATION
1756 Bucks Co., PA
Samuel Mifflin was brother of Thomas Mifflin, Gov. of PA.
SRC: "McDowells in America"; REF: Mary Kay/Les McDowell mcdowell@techlink.netMcDowell -- The history of this ancient Galloway family traces its ancestry as a family of Dalriadian origin before the year 1100. "McDowell" is a sept of Clan Macdougall
O'Neill -- The history of this ancient Tyrone family traces its ancestry as a family of Irish origin before the year 1100.
A BRIEF MCDOWELL HISTORY In the late 1500's and early 1600’s, the borderlands between Scotland and England, such as the Galloway homeland of the McDowall clan, were in terrible trouble. It was impossible to live peacefully and normally. In order to survive, many of the border people became "Border Reevers" and turned their hands to cattle, stealing, kidnapping, protectionism, and fraud. Because of their way of life, they made excellent frontiersmen, guerrilla fighters, and scouts. However, the English had no use for people with such skills on their borders. When King James I of England came to the throne in 1603, the border was finally "pacified" -- many by resettling in Ulster, the northeastern province of Ireland.
Throughout the second half of the sixteenth century, Queen Elizabeth I's military leaders had tried to conquer the province of Ulster, the only part of Ireland still outside English control. A rebellion by Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone and his allies was squelched in 1603. James, Elizabeth's successor, intensified the policy of confiscating lands in Ulster and settling them with loyal, predominantly protestant English and Scottish migrants. Scots from nearby Galloway, such as the McDowalls, played a large part in this migration. O'Neill and the other Irish leaders of Ulster fled to Spain in 1607, essentially ending Gaelic civilization on the island.
In 1641, around the time of the outbreak of the Civil War in England, Ireland flared into open revolt. The Irish were divided in their loyalty during this struggle, and only the clans, led by Hugh's nephew, Owen Roe O'Neill, had a consistent policy and any unity. The revolt was especially bitter. In the initial rebel attacks, women and children were drowned, murdered, and burned alive. The response by the English leader Oliver Cromwell, though, dwarfed those atrocities in magnitude. During the uprising, Ireland lost 1,000,000 of its 1,500,000 inhabitants to deportation, slavery and systematic execution.
In 1689, when the English revolted against King James II and replaced him with William of Orange, the Irish Catholics rallied around James, who landed in Ireland in 1689. James' forces besieged the stronghold of Londonderry, in which Protestant militia units from all over Ulster had sought refuge. He failed to take it after 105 days. and after English forces under William landed at Carrickfergus in 1690, James' army was utterly defeated at the battle of the Boyne. (1040) Joseph "The Calvinist" McDowell apparenty arrived in Ulster around BET 1648/55, and may have served in Cromwell's army.
In 1704, the Episcopalian High Church Party alienated Ulster-Scot Protestants such as the McDowells, by bringing out the "Test Act" -- which discriminated against not only Catholics, but Presbyterians and dissenters (which no doubt included my McDowell line) as well. In 1717, the mass migration of Ulster-Scots to the American Colonies began. By 1775 at least a quarter of a million people had fled and with their dependants made up 15% of the non-Indian Americans.
Records exist describing one particular voyage of McDowells to America, that of the "George and Anne" in 1729, the year (260) Robert McDowell's family is said to have come here. The voyage of the McDowells took nearly 4 1/2 months, and at least 86 souls, of a total of 168 passengers, lost their lives on that voyage -- including 12 of the 18 McDowells. Some sources say (520) Abraham's family was on board, but their names do not appear on the passenger list.
REF: http://www.camelot-group.com/world/02jamesii.html; http://geocities.com/~brooms/strathnairn/church/index.html; http://irsm.org/general/history/levellers.htm; http://www.northern-ireland.com/ukisper1.htm; http://www.tartans.com/clans/MacDougall/macdougall.html; http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/martin_sloan/hist03.htm; Funk & Wagnall's Encyclopedia;
http://home.att.net/~lbmcdowell/ch7/ch7.html
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264. Timothy Blanchard (/Blancher)
(The Wyoming Historical Society in Wilkes Barre has the whole Timothy Blanchard family file)
266. poss. William Page
267. poss. Mary Soule
& Mary (Butterworth)
"(266) William Page came to Providence in 1718. He originally was a blacksmith, but soon took an active part in buying property and building in the center of the town. He owned several lots, and an ownership interest in several "coasters" (ships that sailed up and down the coast buying and selling merchandise)."
-- http://www.gaspee.info/GaspeeRaiders/Page_Benjamin.htm
"(535vi[1]) Richard (Cadman) and (535vi) Deborah came to Dutchess Co. (NY) with (535iii) George Soule, his wife's brother; (535ii[1]) Joseph Holway and his wife (535ii) Hannah Soule, a sister; and (266) William Page and his wife (267) Mary Soule, another sister. Cadman first came to Crum Elbow where he had a mark recorded for his animals on 25 Jan. 1745/46..."
-- http://www.newenglandancestors.org/research/database/beekman/Default.asp?file=research%5Cdatabase%5Cbeekman%5Ccontent%5CVol.03_158.html
SRC: Frank J. Doherty, "Settlers of the Beekman Patent Dutchess Co., NY" v. I Pleasant Valley, New York 12569 (1990)
"Looking for parentage of William and John Page, born ca. 1700, probably near South Kingston, RI. William Page married Mary4 Soule... Frank J. Doherty (fdohertysr@aol.com)"
-- http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/pageload.cgi?soule::page::2352.html
= siblings
MCDOWELL & BLANCHARD LINES continued
