An Enduring Friendship: Our Scotch-Irish Williamson-Cloyd Line

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The Scotch-Irish were so named because of their origination from lowlands of Scotland (and northern England), followed by their relocation to Northern Ireland (Ulster) in the 1600s for a variety of political reasons. Many of these same people then further migrated to America in the 1700s, this time primarily due religious persecution and poverty. Unlike the Irish Catholics who would come later in the 1800s, they were mostly Presbyterian, and initially settled mainly in Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Two of our Scotch-Irish lines, the Cloyd's and the Williamson's, seem to have followed this early migration pattern. Though the exact dates of their immigrations are not certain, both lines seem to have been present in Chester Co., PA. by the 1730s. In fact, in 1736, both Michael Williamson and Joseph Cloyd were living in the same neighborhood of Newtown, Chester Co., PA (now Delaware Co.)(Ref 1) and his brother David Cloyd was nearby in New Castle Co., PA (now part of DE). By 1750, another brother, John Cloyd (our direct ancestor, b. abt. 1710), had come to Chester Co., PA as well (Ref 2, Note 0). And thus began a friendship that would span many generations.

Newtown, Delaware Co, PA, approx. 12 mi west of Philadelphia

The Cloyd's, originally said to have been from the lowlands of Scotland (see Note 1), probably bore the original surname MacLeod (son of Leod), the spelling of which transitioned into MacCloyd over the centuries. When the MacCloyd's relocated to Ireland, some went by O'Cloyd for a time instead. And then, upon arriving to America, many anglicized it further by dropping the Mac/O' altogether. The family tradition of the Williamson's is that they were originally from Northumberland, in Northern England, before their temporary exodus to Ulster, Ireland.

Alas, they were not to stay for long in Pennsylvania either. The Pennsylvanian Quakers found themselves discomforted by the proud, quick-tempered, rowdy, and somewhat ungovernable Scotch-Irish. They also greatly frowned upon the Scotch-Irish tendency to claim any empty piece of land they came across and then refuse to acknowledge anyone else's pre-existing property rights. However, these same traits were well-suited to guerilla fighting with Native Americans on the wide-open, ungoverned Virginian frontier. This provided the settled colonial cities a buffer from Indian attacks while allowing the Scotch-Irish the land and freedom they desired. By the 1740's, many Scotch-Irish began to flow into this region, steadily pushing the Native Americans farther west and south as they went.

Frontiers man

Our Williamson-Cloyd lines joined with this stream of settlement in 1758. However, shortly before leaving, another Scotch-Irish line joined the mix. John Cloyd's son John Jr. (b.1740) married Margaret Scott (b. 1742) in Wilmington, New Castle Co., DE in 1758. Margaret, an orphan, had originally come to America from Belfast, Ulster, Ireland with her uncle at the age of 15 (Ref 2, p.10). When it was feared that she had acquired consumption (tuberculosis), her uncle sailed back to Ireland to dispose of the 76 acres of land she has inherited. Unfortunately, he was shipwrecked, and never heard from again. Despite this, Margaret survived, and went on to have 7 children of her own.

Old Swedes Church (now called Holy Trinity) in Wilmington, DE, where John Cloyd Jr. and Margaret Scott were married in 1758.

Following the Great Valley Road, the Cloyd's moved through the mountains of what was then Augusta Co., VA, with various branches settling between Staunton and Roanoke. John Jr. and Margaret originally settled near Staunton, in an area called Beverly's Manor, while David (see Note 2) and Joseph settled further southwest. Meanwhile, Michael Williamson continued south from Roanoke into Granville Co., NC, with his 5 sons, James (our direct ancestor, b.1740), Thomas, Joseph, Robert, and John.

Great Valley Road, used by settlers from PA and DE to reach Virginia and North Carolina by wagon starting in the mid-1700s

By 1764, Michael Williamson had purchased 247 acres of land on Rattlesnake Creek, a branch of Grassy Creek near Stovall, NC. There, he and his sons helped to establish the Grassy Creek Presbyterian Church (Ref 1, p.100). Of note, Presbyterians were generally opposed to slavery, and Rev. Henry Patillo, the Grassy Creek clergyman from 1770-1801 was a well known abolitionist. Yet, the Williamson sons had mixed beliefs on slavery themselves. Michael's son Thomas was anti-slavery (see Note 3), and went on to have son who was a participant in the Underground Railroad (Ref. 1, p. 102). John seems to have had a "pro-choice" stance, and while he did not choose to own slaves himself, he did not necessarily oppose others who did. Joseph did own slaves, but freed them upon his death, similar to many enlightened Southerners at the time, such as the likes of Thomas Jefferson. Unfortunately, our ancestor James represented the other end of this spectrum of beliefs, and he did both own and pass on slaves to his offspring (Ref. 1, p102).

Granville Co., NC

Stovall, Granville Co., NC, 7 miles SE of Rattlesnake Creek

The Williamson's remained in Granville Co. until 1773. In that year, Joseph chose to leave North Carolina, and rejoin with the Cloyd's in Virginia. Two years later, his father Michael and remaining brothers joined him. By that time, John and Margaret Cloyd seem to have relocated to what is now Dublin, Pulaski Co., VA (See Note 5), though at the time it had become a part of Fincastle Co. The Williamson's purchased land that adjoined the Cloyd farm on the Back Creek branch of the New River (Ref. 1, p.101).

Pulaski Co., Virginia (see Note 4)

 

Dublin, Pulaski Co., VA

Cloyd's Cemetery along Back Creek, 5 miles NW of Dublin, VA

Not long after this resettlement, the Revolutionary War commenced. Many men of the Cloyd and Williamson lines enlisted in the fight on the side of the American Patriots. In fact, many of the ideals our nation is founded on are said to be strongly influenced by Scotch-Irish values (Ref 5). In 1777, John Cloyd and James Williamson both joined the Montgomery Co., Virginia militia under John's cousin Joseph Cloyd. James Williamson's oldest son John (our direct ancestor, b.1764) had a different idea though.

Revolutionary War Soldiers on the Frontier

Perhaps he missed the North Carolina of his youth that his family had left 5 years prior. He chose to enlist with a regiment bound for the Watauga District of North Carolina (now part of east TN), and at the age of only 15, set out to cross the Appalachian mountains once more. There, at the Battle of King's Mountain, he helped to bring about a decisive victory against the British, using the guerilla style fighting tactics his family and neighbors had honed against Native Americans on the frontiers. This was an important battle for demonstrating a successful fighting technique against the British, given the limited numbers of troops the colonist had. It is considered by many to be a turning point for the Americans in the Revolutionary War, who had been losing many battles to that point.

Battle of Kings Mountain in NC (now Eastern TN)

After 3 years of service, John Williamson retuned to his homestead in Virginia, where he married the daughter of John and Margaret Cloyd in 1781, Margaret Scott Cloyd (b.1766). A few years later, Margaret Scott Cloyd's brother Ezekial completed the "sister swap" as it was called, by marrying John Williamson's sister, Rebecca Williamson. They remained near Back Creek until 1789 when they decided to join the Cumberland settlement of Sumner Co., TN (site of future Nashville). Revolutionary War veterans had been given land grants for this area, which likely factored into their decision. They are said to have carried their two small daughters, Sallie and Peggy, in baskets on each side of a pack horse. Our direct ancestor John Robert Williamson, Jr. (b. 1786) would have been with them as well, but perhaps he was carried in arms (see Note 6). Many other Williamson-Cloyd's also made the journey, including the families of John Sr. Williamson's brother Thomas, and Margaret's brother Ezekiel Cloyd, as well as her parents.

Margaret Scott Cloyd (b. 1766), wife of John Williamson, Sr.

Life on this new frontier was said to have been extremely hard due to frequent troubles with the pre-existing Chickamauga Cherokees led by Dragging Canoe. John Sr.'s younger brother George was killed in one of the many Indian raids, and he wrote in a letter that he felt the stress of the brutal event was responsible for his mother Margaret's death soon after. John and his brother Thomas entered into a saddlery business together in 1802 (Ref 6) and both John and Thomas went on to serve in both the TN militia and State Legislature. Thomas became a well respected Colonel in the militia during the War of 1812, and worked closely with Andrew Jackson, who lived only 5 miles away at The Hermitage.

Early Cumberland Settlement

In 1799, John Sr. and Margaret (Cloyd) Williamson moved their family to nearby Wilson Co., TN, where they built a home off Stoner's Lick at Clover's Bottom, near the area now called Green Hill. John Sr. was buried here at the Williamson Family Cemetery in 1829. The area is now a part of the Willoughby Station subdivision in Mt. Juliet, TN. Although the original home no longer remains, as a part of the 1988 purchasing agreement, the family cemetery is maintained by the homeowners association. Margaret's parents moved about 2 miles east and established Cloydland Farm, which still exists today (Ref 10).

The Williamson's Green Hill Farm in Nashville, Wilson Co., TN

Williamson Family Cemetery, Willoughby Station, Mt. Juliet, TN

John Sr. and Margaret (Cloyd) Williamson's son John Robert also jointed the TN militia, and served in the war of 1812. However, his main early occupation was farming, and like his father and grandfather, he also owned slaves (as many as 18 at one point). In 1807, at the age of 21, he married Sarah Tate from Nashville. Her family had come to TN from NC in about 1796. They were members of the Stoner's Creek Presbyterian church, for which his uncle Ezekiel Cloyd was the minister. They had 13 children, though sadly only 7 survived to adulthood. Two of them died within a week of each other in the late summer of 1823, presumably from illness. Our direct ancestor Sally Ann Williamson, born in the fall of 1822, was still an infant at the time, but thankfully she survived or we would not be here today.

Most of the Williamson offspring chose to remain in Wilson Co., TN for the long haul. Our direct ancestors took a different path though. In 1830, John Robert and Sarah (Tate) Williamson chose to rejoin the frontier lifestyle of the many generations before them. An aggressive campaign to remove the Native Americans from the new territory of Arkansas has started in 1818, and was mostly complete by 1826. Then in 1830, Andrew Jackson, now president, signed the Indian Removal Act. It was at this point that our Williamson line left Tennessee on a wagon train to set out for newly formed Pope county, Arkansas. Sally Ann was not quite 8 years old at this time, and it must have been quite an adventure.

Upon their arrival to Russellville, Pope County, AR, John Robert Williamson quickly became involved in both the politics and religion of the developing territory. He purchased 2000 acres of land in northern Russellville along Shiloh Creek, part of which is now Arkansas Tech. There, he helped to organize the first church of Pope county, Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian. The church grew so popular that large religious camp meetings were being regularly held by congregants on the Williamson property, in what was then referred to as the Williamson campground. In 1858 (Ref 7), the family donated this land to the church. The Shiloh Williamson Cemetery is still owned by the current church, and contains many generations of Williamson ancestors. 

Russellville, Pope, AR

Shiloh Church and Cemetery along Illinois Bayou and Shiloh Creek

John Robert Williamson was also elected to the AR state legislature starting in 1833. He served as a senator for Pope Co. until 1851, and was briefly asked to step in as acting governor for one month in 1844 (Ref 8, Ref 9). From 1851 to 1861, he retired to his plantation as a farmer. He is now buried in the Shiloh Williamson Cemetery, and although the original marker no longer stands, a new memorial marker has been placed in his honor.

John Robert Williamson (1786-1861)

(Note that while John lived in TN for most of his early life, he was actually born in VA.)

Meanwhile, John Robert and Sarah (Tate) Williamson's daughter Sally Ann (b. 1822) went on to marry Ranson Drew Alston in 1839, of the Bettis-Alston line discussed in a prior post. They resettled in Ozark, Franklin, AR and had a large family of 10 children.

Notes

0) In "Genealogy of the Cloyd, Basye, and Tapp families in America", the author list 2 different conflicting John Cloyds. The first (Immigrant #5) (p.16) is a JOHN CLOYD, d. in Chester Co., Pa., 9-9-1782. He m. Mrs. Sarah (Carver) Bartholomew prior to 3-23-1757. He left no children. This John is supposed to be the son of James Cloyd (p.15), as is his brother David (b. 1710), (p.63).
The second (Immigrant #8) (p.99): is "John Cloyd, a Scotchman, came to America from the northern part of Ireland and settled in Augusta County, Va. in 1758. He had been preceded by at least one son, Ninian, and was accompanied by a son and daughter, John and Mary. He died on or shortly before NOV. 13, 1759 and David Cloyd, was appointed administrator of the estate and also guardian of two minor children, John and Mary." This would suggest that it is this second John who was actually the son of James and the brother of David but this needs to be cleared up.

1) There is still some uncertainty about this. Although it is known that our Cloyd's came from Ulster, Ireland and were part of the transplanted Scotch-Irish, there is no direct records linking them back farther than that. Many Scotch-Irish actually came from Northern England, where the Cloyd name is also present.

2) In 1759, a year after resettling in Virginia, John Cloyd Jr.'s father John died. Although he was already married, John Jr. was not yet legally an adult (age 21), but chose his uncle David Cloyd to be his his guardian until he was of age (See Ref 4).

3) Actually, Thomas did own slaves, but he was said to have purchased them at their own request, to prevent them from being bought instead by harsher masters. He willed them to his children with instructions that they be freed.

4) States that were early colonies are always a mess when tracking county name changes. Prior to 1738, pretty much all of unexplored VA was considered part of Orange Co. Then in 1738, as further western settlement was beginning, Augusta Co. was created. Augusta Co. originally encompassed the entire Virginian Appalachian mountain range and everything westward. Over the ensuing years of settlement, Augusta Co. was split up into smaller and smaller areas, resulting in what is now called Pulaski Co. At prior times, this same area has also been called Botetourt, Fincastle, and Montgomery Co. I highly recommend the link provided above to help visualize these changes over time.

5) They did not actually obtain settlement rights for this land until 1789, but he seems to have done this mainly for the purpose of selling it shortly after. According to tax records, he was definitely living in Montgomery Co. by 1783 (a portion of which later became Pulaski Co.) rather than Augusta Co. near Staunton as he was up until selling the land in 1765. It is my assumption that 1765 was when the move to the Pulaski Co. area occurred. I believe the evidence for this probably exists in the reference Kegley, M. B. "Early Adventures on the Western Waters, Vol. II", Green Publishers, Inc. : Orange, VA, 1982, p.337, but I have yet to be able to obtain an affordable copy of this out of print book. Please email me if you ever come across it for less than $50!

6) Actually I am somewhat confused about this discrepancy. According to later census records, John Williamson Jr. states both that he was born in 1786 and that he was born in TN. The story of the two daughters in baskets also remains consistent across sources. However, I have never found a source saying the family relocated earlier than 1788, and indeed the Robertson/Donelson expeditions are not said to have arrived until Winter 1789. So either he was born later than reported (perhaps shortly after arriving?), or, my guess, he was actually born in VA after all. 

References

1) Williamson, J. F. "An American Pioneer Heritage: Michael Williamson and His Descendants". Middle Tennessee Journal of Genealogy & History, 1999, Vol. 13, N. 3, pp.99-105. http://www.mtgs.org/journal/default.html : 2023.

2) Doyle, A. J. "History and Genealogy of Daniel Webster Jones". Salt Lake City, UT : 1953, pp.9-11. https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/279828/?offset=#page=20&viewer=picture&o=&n=0&q= : 2023.

3) Cloyd, A. D. "Genealogy of the Cloyd, Basye, and Tapp families in America". Columbus, OH : The Champlain Press, 1912. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/11601/images/dvm_GenMono001160-00002-0?pId=2 : 2023. 

4) Chalkley, L. "The Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia: 1745 to 1800". The Commonwealth Printing Company: Augusta Co., PA, 1912. https://sites.rootsweb.com/~chalkley/volume_1/vindx_cl.htm : 2023.

5) American Heritage. "The Scotch-Irish". https://www.americanheritage.com/scotch-irish : 2023.

6) Williamson, J. F. "A Tennessee Pioneer Heritage: Colonel Thomas Williamson and his Descendants". Middle Tennessee Journal of Genealogy & History, 1999, Vol. 7, N. 3, pp.104-108. http://www.mtgs.org/journal/default.html : 2023.

7) Pope County Historical Association Quarterly, Sept 1973, page 13 (I have not yet been able to locate this source).

8) Powell, G. "The Political Career of John L. Williamson". The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Autumn, 1945), pp. 231-233. (Note, there are some inaccuracies in this article, starting with the middle initial L., which was his son's name).

9) Daniels, C. "Historical Report of the Secretary of State 2008 (Arkansas)". https://ssl-sos-site.ark.org/uploads/elections/historical_report1210.pdf : 2023.

10) Cloydland Farm. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cloyd_House : 2023.