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Introduction
The more family lines I explore on my mom's side, the more the Scotch-Irish keep popping up. It's a wonder none of us have red hair. I wrote a bit about the Scotch-Irish in another post on our Williamson-Cloyd line when I first discovered the term. But I've decided to look into it a bit more now that I'm realizing how much this common thread runs through our family's early history. According to the Whiteside Family Association, the name Whitsitt seems to have been spelled as Whiteside in Ulster Ireland, where it may have originated from the old English word "hwīt", which meant white, and either "set", meaning dwelling, or "sīd", meaning side or hill. Others have suggested the even older Latin spelling of Quytsyd, which may be related to the Scottish Bell clan. Once in America though, it often became spelled as Whitsite, Whitsett or Whitsitt, as different branches settled on different variations.
Some Scotch-Irish History
(back to Main Menu)As discussed previously, the Scotch-Irish were originally from the lowlands of Scotland, near its border with northern England. England began taking over Ireland as early as the 12th century with the Anglo-Norman conquests, though many of these earlier invasions were more economic than cultural, and a great deal of intermarriage between the Gaelic and Anglo-Norman peoples occurred. That changed with the later Tudor conquest, resulted in King Henry VIII being made the King of Ireland in 1542. For the remainder of the 16th century, the political and social structure of the ancient Gaelic nobility was slowly broken down through the application of "surrender and regrant" laws. Under these laws, clan chiefs who agreed to "surrender" their lands to the King of England would have them "regranted" back under a royal charter, as long as they agreed to throw off their Gaelic customs and speech, as well as their Roman Catholic faith, for those of the English (including the adoption of the King Henry VIII's new Anglican Church). In return, their property would be protected from English attack, and they could retain some of their former political power in the new Irish Parliament.
Overall, this policy was very successful at slowly subjugating many of the Irish clans without additional violence, but there were some notable holdouts. Most famously, Hugh O'Neill of Tyrone and Hugh Rose O'Donnell of Tyrconnell (and later, his son, Rory O'Donnell), both a part of Ulster province in the north of Ireland. Their opposition to English rule came to a head in 1593 with a rebellion that became known as The Nine Years War. Though the military backing of Roman Catholic Spain enabled them to successfully push back the English for a time, eventually the rebellion collapsed, culminating in the signing of the Treaty of Mellifont by O'Neill's son Hugh in 1603. Although the treaty granted O'Neill and O'Donnell full pardons and the return of their estates, English hostility towards their continued presence in Ireland did not abate, and the possibility of another rebellion began to grow. Then suddenly, in 1607, these two Gaelic Lords fled to Rome with their families and about 100 of their followers, where they lived in exile for the remainder of their days. The Ulster lands they left behind, though always primarily rural in makeup, were by now largely depopulated of their former inhabitants due to this exodus and the many years of bloodshed (Ref. 1, p.17; Ref 4, p.150).
England decided to enact an aggressive policy of colonization in the abandoned lands, which was called the Plantation of Ulster. It officially began in 1609, though it had been proceeding less officially throughout Ireland, with varying degrees of success, since the 1540s (Ref 1, p.16). The scheme for this colonization was carried out very systematically. King James, I chose 59 lowland Scottish men (Note 1) and 51 English men to act as "undertakers" who would take charge of "planting" loyal subjects for the Crown on the land. For every 1,000 acres they were granted, they were expected to recruit at least 10 additional Protestant settler families (Ref 1, p.19; Ref 2). Though the counties of Antrim, Down, and Monaghan were not a part of these land grants, that was only because vast English estates had already been granted in them at the close of the previous Nine Years War, in reward for service against the rebellion (Ref 1, p.16). Although this resettlement plan ultimately proved much more challenging than expected, available records show that the Scottish population in Ulster Ireland was at least 3,879 households by 1630 (Ref 3).
Though there were a few Scotch-Irish in Chester Co., PA as early as 1685, mass migration did not commence until about 1717 (Ref 1, pp.33-34). Many of the earliest immigrants to Pennsylvania were Quakers who initially settled in the area that is today Philadelphia. Most were from Palatinate Germany, but some were Scotch-Irish from Ireland. As the numbers of non-Quaker Palatinate and Scotch-Irish immigrants began to increase, however, the Quakers became alarmed and started to force new arrival groups to settle further inland (Ref 13, p.23; Ref. 12, p.318). By 1710, these groups had reached as far west of Philadelphia as the Susquehanna River, forming the border between Chester Co. and what would soon become Cumberland Co. (Ref 1, pp.50-51). Then, in 1718, a treaty with the Delaware (Lenape) Indians allowed for land purchases east of the Susquehanna, from the MD border up to the Blue Ridge Mountains, just north of current day Harrisburg, PA.
Our Whiteside/Whitsett Family
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The Lebanon Twp. area the Whiteside family settled in (actually N. Cornwall Twp., which lies between today's North and South Lebanon Twps.) was also being heavily settled by Palatine Germans, including our Stutzman Swiss-German Amish line from Alsace that I discussed in a previous post. A large number of these immigrants were conservative Mennonites and Dunkards, especially in the eastern portion of the township, while the more western portion was initially dominated by the more liberal Lutherans, Reformed Christians, and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. This created a number of issues within the forming community. For starters, the Mennonites opposed public education, (which many of the Scotch-Irish were clamoring for), because they felt it would impose non-orthodox thinking on their children (Ref 12, pp.324-325). Even more damning though, the Amish, Dunkards, and Mennonites practiced a policy of non-violence towards their adversaries, and thus abstained from fighting back against Native American attacks on settlers, particularly during the French and Indian War of 1754-1763. This created a lot of ill-will among the Scotch-Irish, who had lived through generations of ongoing conflict in order to protect what little they had; a trait which made them never shrink from being the first to defend their homesteads on the battle lines. But while the Scotch-Irish were away fighting for the land, the more conservative Mennonites and Quakers stayed home to quietly cultivate it and further improve their holdings, which would be to the ultimate economic detriment of the Scotch-Irish (Ref 12, p.325).
Eventually, the Scotch-Irish got tired of this situation. They felt they were perfectly capable of defending themselves on the frontier and did not require governmental oversight of their affairs (Ref 1, pp.59-61). Hoping to be rid of them, the PA government was willing to support them in this endeavor by providing generous land terms for those willing to settle west of the Susquehanna River (now Cumberland Co.). Furthermore, this supplied them with a defensive barrier against the indigenous peoples fighting to maintain a hold on their lands (Ref 17, p.25). Though a few had moved into this western area as early as 1727, a much larger flow began in 1736 when the land was formally purchased, and by 1751 there were estimated to be about 5,000 people within the Cumberland Valley, roughly 90% of them Scotch-Irish. Many of the Whiteside siblings seem to have desired this freedom as well, or at least the cheap land, and began relocating across the river as early as 1750. Most settlers coming from the east crossed into the Cumberland Valley by way of Harris' Ferry, just south of current day downtown Harrisburg, PA (Ref. 1, 60), because it dropped off at the start of the Great Warriors Path on the other side.
William was the first of the siblings to make the move westward, having warranted land in what was later Allen Twp. (Ref 18, p.14) on the Conoy Path connecting Lisburn to Carlisle (Ref. 19, p.4). He seems to have spent a fair amount of time in Carlisle too, however (see Note 7). His former brother-in-law, John Welsh, husband of his late sister Elizabeth (who had likely died in childbirth in about 1740), also relocated to Carlisle in about 1753. In about 1752, Ralph followed as well, and no later than 1760, James had joined them also (see Note 8). James was very sick by this time, however, (as he had been for many years), and died in 1761 at the age of only 46. He and his wife Anne had 7 children together, most of whom were yet to reach adulthood at the time he passed. Understandably, she remarried soon after to a man named John Giles, and before long they relocated to North Carolina (see Note 9). Meanwhile, Margaretha Whiteside's first husband, William Allen, died in 1747, while in 1751, James McNees wife Ellen Cardwell died as well, and soon after these two widows were remarried to one another by their neighbor, Rev. Casper Stoever (Ref. 15, p.63)(see Note 5).
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Relocation from Pennsylvania to North Carolina was a migration path that many second-generation Scotch-Irish of Pennsylvania were beginning to take at this time (Ref. 28, p.6). As the Cumberland Valley became more populated, land prices began to increase, just as they had in Lancaster Co. previously. Compared to the German and English settlers they shared the frontier with, however, Scotch-Irish settlers tended to be less financially well off, and thus less able to afford these land price increases as their children came of age needing to purchase (Ref. 28, p.3). There was a brief reprieve during the mid 1750s when land west of the Susquehanna became depopulated due to the French and Indian War. The town of Carlisle was a center of military activity during this period (Ref 21), and played a major role in 1758 as the launching point for the Forbes Expedition. This was a major turning point in the war which took control over future Pittsburg (then Fort Duquesne) from the French. At war's end in 1764, however, land grew scarce once again.
William Whiteside seems to have left Cumberland Co. even sooner than this, no longer appearing on tax lists after 1763. Possibly during Pontiac's War, which was so unexpected by settlers that there was no time for defense, and many fled back eastward once again (Ref. 1, pp.152-155). And it was back east in 1764 that William Whiteside's son, William Whiteside, Jr. (b.1731), married Ellen McNees, the stepdaughter of Margaretha (Whiteside) & James McNees in Lebanon Co., PA. Meanwhile, Col. John Armstrong of Carlisle, began to organize his frontier Scotch-Irishmen into military companies, so that they would be capable of defending their settlements even without the reluctant help of the Quaker-led provincial government. These troops would eventually go on to perform important roles in the Revolutionary War as well. Private militias were organized during this time too, the most infamous of these being the Paxton Boys, led by Reverand John Elder of Paxtang, Dauphin Co., PA. Under his leadership, his vigilante group massacred the last 20 remaining Native Americans of the politically neutral Conestoga tribe in Dec 1763 (Ref. 1, p.122; Ref. 13, Chap.VIII). Finally, by 1764, with the French and Indian War completed, peace was again restored to the western PA front, and the Scotch-Irish began to move westward once again.
As the former indigenous inhabitants of western Pennsylvania were now pushed further west into the Ohio River Valley, the Pennsylvanian Scotch-Irish began to take firmer hold of lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains, moving into the future counties of Fayette, Washington, Allegheny, and Greene (Ref. 1, pp. 75-75)(Note 10). However, in 1780, when Pennsylvania passed a law enacting the gradual abolition of slavery, many displeased residents of the area began to migrate southwest into Kentucky instead (Ref.1, p.76)(Note 11). Compared with most other colonies at the time, Pennsylvania land prices were very expensive as well; a fact which became much more salient once its land patent policies began to be rigorously enforced. Thus, after 1765, the relative economic disadvantage of the Scotch-Irish, compared with their German Palatinate neighbors, naturally led them to look for more favorable options to the south (Ref.1, Chap. 6). Most of these settlers took the Great Wagon Road south, which was the same Great Warrior's Path that indigenous peoples had used to conduct trade and hunt herds of migrating buffalo. Following the end of the French and Indian War, it became the most traveled road in America through the 18th century. Along its route, the mostly former Pennsylvanians established market towns, spaced approximately one day's journey apart, that became the new network of trade for backcountry farmers.
The Great Wagon Road/Great Warrior's Path started in Philidelphia, PA (as Frankstown Path) where it led through Carlisle, and then continued on south through MD and WV on into Virginia. There, it skirted the mountain's edge all the way into TN. Starting from Roanoke, another section of road lead southward as well. This section had been widened enough for wagons to reach Winston-Salem, NC as early as 1754, but was regularly traveled by settlers on foot and horseback after the Treaty of Lancaster in 1744. Some former Pennsylvanians chose to flee the contentious relations with the Native Americans of the Susquehanna Valley for those of the militarily better protected settlements of the south (Ref.1, pp.110; Ref. 31, 20-21). In fact, many Scotch-Irish were deeply angry at the coastal Quaker political powers that were unwilling to protect them out in the rural frontier lands (Ref 13, p.60) and many church ties were broken for this very reason. Unfortunately, although Virginia had cheaper land prices and better military protection than PA, the VA colony's tolerance towards non-Anglican religions was still lacking (Ref 31, p.10). So, prior to the Revolutionary War, when Anglican ties with England were broken, many Scotch-Irish chose to travel further south into the Carolinas instead. Our direct line ancestor, John Whiteside (b.1711), seems to have taken exactly this route. Unlike his brothers, who went first to Cumberland Co., PA, and then to Amherst. Co., VA, John left Lancaster (now Lebanon) Co., PA as early as 1750 and traveled to future Rowan Co., NC (Note 12).
Just 4 years prior to when John Whiteside and his family likely relocated to Rowan Co., NC, it is estimated that there were only about 100 White settler families in the entire western half of the state. Within 7 years though, that estimate increased to 3,000 (Ref 31, p.12). Up until about 1755, the Great Wagon Road had not been widened enough for wagons this far south, and was still known as the Great War and Trade Path, or simply, the Great Trail. Thus, it was by foot or horseback alone that John Whiteside's family must have traveled the trail south, likely with a number of young children in tow. At least two of these children were known to be boys, John, Jr. and James, and it this John, Jr. (b.1743), about 7 to 10 years of age at the time, who was our direct ancestor. It must have been the greatest adventure of his young life! And although the Great Trail was not yet able to accommodate wagons, it did lead right to the future town of Salisbury, NC.
John Whiteside, Sr. (whose surname was often spelled as Whitsett, Whitsell, or Whitsitt by this time), seems to have been involved in a number of trades, including carpentry, blacksmithing, and surveying. The future Salisbury Twp. first began being settled by Whites in 1747 (Ref. 33, p.23). In June of 1753, John Whitsitt and future lawyer, John Dunn, were appointed by county officials to lay out land for the public buildings for the new town of Salisbury, which would be the county seat (Ref. 31, pp.20-21). After completing this duty, John Whitsett was then further tasked with building the courthouse and jail, which he completed in 1756 (Ref. 36, p.75; Ref. 33, p.155, fn.17). Up until the Revolutionary War, the Salisbury Court served as the District Court for all of western NC (Ref.31, p.31). Squire Boone was one of the original justices of the court, and his son, Daniel Boone, had just reached adulthood at this time. John Whitsitt, meanwhile, was made treasurer and land commissioner for a portion of the county, and seems to have settled on land just SW of the town (Ref. 33, pp.108-109, Grant 119) where he began operating a public mill (Ref. 33, p.251)(Note 13).
By Oct 1757, John's mill business had become so busy that he had to give up his role as a Land Commissioner, so he must have been doing well for himself. He was lucky too that almost all of the French and Indian War (1753-1764) battles took place in more northern states, though the colony did send a few companies to help with the fight. Males as young as age 16 were sometimes involved, but in North Carolina, enlisted men were usually at least 21. There is no record of John Sr. or his sons ever having fought in this war though, and only John Jr. had reached 21 years of age by the time it was over. In Nov 1761, at the age of 60, John Whitsett, Sr. relocated his family of 6 (4 boys, 2 girls) to Orange Co., NC (current day Caswell Co.), on land near the head of South Hyco Creek, about 12 miles north of Hillsboro. This placed the Whitsitt's barely a stone's throw from the action that was about to come next - the Regulator Insurrection.
To continue this post of our Whitsitt line history, please see Part 2: From NC to TX (posting soon!)
Notes
(back to Main Menu)0) Early PA land records can be quite confusing. A land purchase occurred over many steps, with laws and places sometimes changing as a location became more developed, and sometimes mistakes were made. There were entire decades where the land office was not open, and some of the earliest records have simply been lost. Others have not yet been digitized. Regardless, the process all started with a warrant application for a particular tract of land. If the warrant was granted, then a survey could be made. The survey established the legal boundaries of the land and listed the owners of any adjoining properties, as well as a description of helpful landmarks. Often the amount surveyed for was considerably larger than the amount initially warranted.
After William Penn died in 1718, it took until 1732 for his estate to be settled, allowing his 3 sons, John, Richard, and Thomas, to become the new proprietors. During this limbo time, no land warrants could be granted. All land warrants and surveys completed before 1732 are found in the Old Rights registers. Surveys were supposed to be completed within 6 months of the application, and once completed, the applicant was supposed to have had another 6 months to pay for the land. Once this payment was made, the survey was "returned" to the Secretary of Land Office and a patent was issued. Due to the large numbers of squatters on the land by 1765, however, a new system was implemented in which the applicant was required to apply for the land in person in Philadelphia, rather than be taken there by a representative (the original real estate agents). Before this time, in most cases many years passed between when a warrant was granted and when a survey was actually returned.
As shown on the land survey for Ralph Whiteside, in 1742 a 16-acre portion of his land was found to overlap ("interfere") with the survey done on 3 Oct 1738 for his brother John. Because Ralph's original 1735 warrant was the earlier of the two, this land was awarded to him in 1746, and John's previous survey was voided. Later records refer to the 1742 date rather than the original 1735 date. Though the initial warrants had both been for 200 acres, the re-surveyed warrants assigned 216 acres to Ralph and 186 acres to John.
In Egle's list of early warrantees, there is mention of a John Sr. and John Jr. Whiteside for the same amount of land on the same day (31 Oct 1738, though based on the survey, this may have been 3 Oct 1738 instead). I cannot find mention of this "John Sr." on any of the warrant, patent, or survey records. Having compiled and analyzed many spreadsheets of the available information, at this point it is my impression that Egle misunderstood the re-surveying/voiding of John's earlier 1738 warrant and mistakenly assumed them to be for a father and son, given they were both for the same day. For more information on some of these early land warrants, please see my Early European Settlers of Lebanon Twp., PA page on Wikitree.com
Of further note, while Egle transcribed the surname of our line as Whiteside, early PA land records often transcribed it as Whitehill or Whitsill instead. Which helps to explain how quickly the surname transitioned to Whitsett/Whitsitt instead, as the double "ll"s are easily mistaken for double "tt"s and vice versa. (Return to text)
1) The lowland Scottish were not much different in genetic makeup from the northern English, and tended to be more loyal to the Crown. On the other hand, many of the northern Scottish clans had close ties with the Gaelic Irish, and were usually Roman Catholic as well. According to Ronald N. Wall and William R. Whiteside of the Whiteside Family Association, our line may have actually originated with the northern English side rather than the lowland Scottish side, but at that period in time, it is somewhat of a distinction without a difference in terms of their political and religious motivations for going to Ireland. Where exactly the dividing line was that split Scotland from England varied over the years as well. (Return to text)
2) I have to be honest; this is an incredibly complex time period in Ireland involving many shifting alliances, and not being an expert in this area, it's not always clear to me who was on whose side and when. It is also confusing because England was in the midst of its own Protestant reformation during this time, as was much of Europe, with some English monarchs considering themselves Roman Catholic, some Anglican (English "Catholic"), and some Protestant. Sometimes these beliefs were held in secret for a time, sometimes a change of heart occurred on their death bed, but ultimately all of this played a role in their attitudes towards the Catholic Irish and the policies they enacted. Additionally, turf wars regarding the border between England and Scotland were also in flux. And these border clans, (some of whom were actually northern English, rather than Scottish) seem to be where many of the Scotch-Irish in our lines originate.
As near as I can tell, while the Catholic Irish initially opposed the Anglican English Crown, that changed once England entered its period of civil war in 1642. Now there were two opposing English powers to contend with (the Anglican Royalists and the Protestant Parliamentarians) and the Irish Catholics had to decide which side to take. Faced with this choice, most Confederate Irish sided with the Royalists, who they felt would be more willing to grant them political and religious concessions in exchange for their support, rather than the staunchly anti-Catholic Parliamentarians. (Return to text)
3) According to the Whiteside Family Association, our family is part of line #0541, which arrived in America about 1733. They are also associated with lines #0957, #4730 and #9000-1. The family numbers come from work done by Don Whiteside (Ref 7), as well as ongoing y-DNA testing. (Return to text)
4) It should be acknowledged here that many of these treaties were disputed, and that White settler incursions into indigenous lands were progressing slowly but steadily regardless of treaty status. (Return to text)
5) A lot of the information on the web about the early line of this family comes from the unpublished work of Dr. William Thornton Whitsett who passed in 1934 (Ref 8). In this work, he cited a number of names, dates and places in Ireland that have not yet been verified with any primary sources, and unfortunately, he did not include any specific documentation in his work. That said, he did travel widely for his research, had access to data that online genealogists like me do not, and died before the manuscript could be completed. Regardless, more current research (2008, Ref 16) shows parts of his prior work to be inaccurate, and yet many of those early errors continue to propagate online.
For instance, Dr. Whitsett stated that our family was the first Whitsett/Whiteside family to arrive in PA, and that they came in 1740 as a group of 3 brothers: William, John, and Joseph. Almost everything about that statement has been proven false. There were other unrelated Whitsett's in PA before them (as early as 1682 in Chester Co.), they likely arrived in the early 1730's rather than 1740 (based on land records), and there is no proof that a brother Joseph ever even existed in this line. It reminds me of a cautionary tale genealogists share, which is that almost every family legend begins with a story of 3 brothers who immigrated to America. Sorting out the truth from the legend is where the fun begins!
Even in more up to date references though, there is still some disagreement among genealogists as to exactly who is related to whom for the early family line. Based on Egle's 1883 publication of early Lebanon Twp. land warrants (Ref 13, p.8), I feel confident that Ralph, John, and James are all brothers who likely arrived at or about the same time. Likewise, there is a record for their sister Elizabeth Whiteside that clearly documents her marriage to their neighbor John Welch/Welsh in 1738 (Ref 15, p.55). Margaretha and William are more complicated to prove.
For starters, it is strange that there is no land record for William Whiteside Sr. (II) in Lancaster Co. during the 1730s. Especially given that all of his other 5 known siblings show up there. There are records for a William Whiteside in Amherst Co., VA starting in 1741, which would at first seem to link up nicely with the timeline, as well as perhaps explain why some of the other family relocated there in the 1760-70s, but newer research has shown that these records belongs to a William and Elizabeth (Stockton) Whiteside instead (Ref 16, p.13).
One explanation is that this early land record for William in Lebanon Twp. was simply lost to time. Especially if a survey of the land was never made. The survey was the last step before a land patent of ownership could be issued, and was usually not undertaken until the land was ready to be formally purchased. In many cases, early settlers lived (ie squatted) on land for years, if not decades, before actually purchasing (ie patenting) it, and in some cases, they chose to simply "vacate" the land rather than patent and resell it. For instance, on Ralph Whiteside's 1760 land survey (A-5-76), there is reference to his brother John's adjoining 1738 land warrant, and yet no original archive record for this land has been found, despite it must having at some point existed. (See also a discussion of land warrants to their neighbor, Conrad Brown, here). Additionally, Ralph's original 1735 warrant date listed in Egle's 1883 work also does not show up in any of the PA State Archives indexes. So, clearly, not all of the early land records made it through to today.
The first definite association William has with the other brothers occurs in the next part of the family's timeline, when they moved from Lebanon Co. to Cumberland Co., PA in the 1750-1760s, as well as the marriage in 1764 of his son William Whiteside, Jr. to Eleanor Menees/McNees, the daughter of James McNees, and a close friend of the Whiteside family. There are also ties between William and the Hammersly's as well as the Welsh's, and the Whiteside's through James' wife, Ann Whiteside (Ref 23 & 24). Despite all this, on the whole I sometimes get the overall impression that William may have been a cousin rather than a brother of the other siblings, and thus the parentage of that line may or may not be the same as for ours. Regardless, he being a sibling rather than our direct line, at this point I have chosen not to dig into it too much further. From a narrative perspective, I chose to accept the premise that he is, indeed, a brother since that seems to be the most accepted current theory.
And then we have Margaretha, who was the wife of William Allen before arriving in the colonies, and who then married newly widowed James McNees/Menees in 1752, a few years after her own first husband died. However, while her second marriage is clearly documented (Ref 15, p.63), the first is not. Instead, the fact that she was originally a Whiteside must be inferred from the fact that Ralph Whiteside was one of the witnesses of William Allen's 1747 Will and that James McNees and Margaretha followed the Whitesides to Amherst Co., VA when William Whiteside's family relocated there in the 1760s. James McNees is also said to have lived with the Whitesides in his elder years (Ref 11, p.23). It may be that these continued ties were due to the marriage between his daughter Ellen and William Whitsitt, Jr., but their family ties seem much closer than typical for that of a daughter and son-in-law. Although this is not universally accepted as true, I chose to go with it in terms of the narrative.
I have also wondered at times about the assumption that William was the oldest. All of the birth dates for this first generation of Whiteside immigrants are estimated and I find it curious that Ralph seems to have purchased land so young compared to his other brothers (age 22 vs about 30 if estimates are to be believed). He also seems to have managed to purchase the largest and best located pieces of land and also seems to always be the one most likely asked to witness and execute Wills. All of these things seem like things one would more commonly expect of an eldest son, who had perhaps inherited a larger portion of land or money. Either that, or he somehow managed to independently be wealthier than his brothers from a young age. (Return to text)
6) Elizabeth Whiteside and John Welch/Welsh were married by Rev. John Casper Stoever, another neighbor of John and Ralph whose large homestead was just to the N/NW of theirs. Stoever first began to hold Lutheran ceremonies in future Lebanon Co. in about 1731 (Ref. 14, pp.13-14). In these early years, he was living in New Holland, Lancaster, PA, about 25 miles SE of Lebanon, but he traveled far and wide to help organize the newly arriving scattered settlers. He was said to be a highly educated young man of boundless energy, and the meticulously kept records of the baptisms, marriages, and funerals he performed during this time (Ref 15) are a wonderful resource to those with ancestors from this area.
Although our Whitesides show no signs of having ever been Evangelical Lutherans, it has been assumed that because Stoever was one of the only pastors available in the area at this time before most churches were established, many settlers made use of his services out of necessity (Ref.15, pp.15-16). In 1732-3, he established the Hill Church at the border of North Annville and North Lebanon Twp. (located just west of the property of James Whiteside). In 1737, he took out a warrant for 300 acres bordering the lands of John and Ralph Whiteside and began to build a large home there, which was completed in 1740. He and his family then resettled there, where he remained until his death in 1779. Certainly, he was an important figure in the community with whom the Whitesides were well acquainted.
I have another theory though, that I have not had sufficient time to fully verify yet. At this point, I am pretty sure that the Whitsitts/Whitesides were actually Irish Quakers, whose original family lines came from Northern England during the Cromwellian Plantations previously discussed. There are a lot of different things that lead me to that conclusion, most of them close associations between other known Quakers, as well as a few Irish records I have come across (Ref 26, p.87; FamilySearch.org). Flushing that all out here would be a whole additional blogpost though so I'm going to just leave that as stated for now. Please feel free to contact me if you are working on this also. Regardless, it is clear that the politics of the day seem to have pulled most of the children of the primary immigrants in a different religious direction over time.(Return to text)
7) When William Whiteside Sr.'s land was re-surveyed in 1803 (A-14, pp.1-4), it was stated as being part of Allen Twp. However, Allen did not become a Twp. until about 1753. Before this, it was a part of East Pennsboro Twp. Confusingly though, in 1751, William Whiteside was listed on the tax list for Middleton, rather than E. Pennsborough Twp. Why the discrepancy?
Up until 1752, Middleton Twp. also included the town of Carlisle. According to Schaumann (Ref. 27, p.47), there was a William Whiteside who owned a log house on SW lot #33 within Carlisle by 1752. He was not one of the original lot holders who applied in Mar 1751, however, and on 4 Aug 1752, he mortgaged this lot to William Buchanan to help pay for some legal fees. (It is possible he had to sell his other property at this time as well). Unfortunately, there was no Carlisle or Allen Twp. tax list in 1752. But in 1753, William and Ralph Whiteside were both taxed in Allen Twp., and there was no longer a William Whiteside in Carlisle.
If this was the same William Whiteside as ours, as I suspect, it is unclear why he was in Carlisle this year. The French & Indian war had not yet started, so safety would not yet have been a concern (many Cumberland settlers fled to Carlisle during the most dangerous period of the war (about 1755-1759) (Ref. 21, p.27)), and later tax records show that he still owned the land in Allen Twp. through at least 1763. Perhaps he also purchased a town lot for the winter months? (Town lots were a common English practice at this time still). Or had other business he attended to for parts of the year as well? (Of note, tax records in Cumberland Co. during the French and Indian War are very limited and there is a gap from 1754-1757). His late sister's husband, John Welsh, was an Indian trader himself (Ref. 27, pp.184-185), and seems to have also set up shop in Carlisle for this purpose by about 1755. Perhaps William was also involved in this sort of trade? Though most Indian traders were fairly well off, and later tax records show that William Whiteside was considerably less affluent than his brother Ralph, but perhaps that was brought about by the debts he assumed which were collected on in the 1752 court case.
It was stated in Ref 16, p.11 that both William Sr. and William Jr. were listed on the 1751 Tax Rates list for Middleton Twp. Neither Rupp (Ref 25, p.362), nor the handwritten records on FamilySearch.org (Tax Lists, 1750-1850; ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS79-1SZK-1) show this to be the case, however. There was only ever one William Whiteside listed per year, though at times he was in Carlisle and at other times in Allen Twp. Perhaps, because of the 2 different locations, he was assumed to be a different individual? I do not think that is the case, however. For instance, in 1761, both William and Ralph Whiteside are listed in Allen. Twp., but then in 1762, only Ralph is listed in Allen Twp., while William is listed in Carlisle. The next year, 1763, William and Ralph are again both found in Allen Twp. and there is no longer a William in Carlisle. This would again seem to indicate that this is a single individual, rather than two different people.(Return to text)
8) Actually, the exact date of Allen Twp.'s formation is uncertain, and it is believed that this second tax list was likely taken in 1758. The tax records from this time period are rather jumbled, but on the whole seem to suggest that Ralph moved to Cumberland Co. in about 1752. James Whiteside appeared only on the 1750 tax list of Lebanon, but his 1754 Will stated him as being of Lancaster Co., so perhaps he was living with family at the time being that he was already very sick. Ralph, meanwhile, still owned land in Lebanon Co. through 1759, and after the PA assembly passed a law in 1756 allowing tax assessment on the land of vacant landlords (Ref. 32, p.533), his vacant land was taxed there, but his residence and personal property were taxed in Cumberland Co. John, meanwhile, was not listed in any of the tax lists for Lebanon Co., though these records do not exist before 1750.(Return to text)
9) Based on original warrant records from Ref. 18, p.14, William Whiteside (MCH094; A-14-4) and William Hammersly (MCH104; B-12-69) warranted adjacent tracts of land in Allen Twp., Cumberland Co., PA on 24 Apr 1750. Based on other land records (Ref. 18, p.I20), William and Thomas Hammersly are almost certainly related. John Giles (MCH103; B-2-74) also warranted a large adjacent tract to William Whiteside soon after on 27 Sep 1750, which was later warranted to Rev. Richard Peters. Later still his land became owned by John McNeals. Meanwhile, Ralph purchased land from Alexander Frazier (WS182; C-48-76), Jr's son in 1765 (another Quaker).(Return to text)
10) The land office for this new settlement area opened in 1769, when everything west of the Alleghany Mountains was still considered a part of Cumberland Co. (which had no defined western boundary at that time). In 1771, Bedford Co. was formed to encompass these new lands, and the Scotch-Irish once again became the dominant pioneer group of the newly developing American frontier (Ref. 1, p.66). Westmoreland Co. was split off in 1773, with Washington and Fayette counties not following until almost a decade later after the Revolutionary War had ended. Prior to 1779, however, there were also land disputes with Virginia regarding this area, and beginning in 1774, many settlers chose to purchase land warrants under the VA government instead because they were far cheaper (Ref. 1, p.75). Until a survey of SW PA was formally completed in 1786, settlers could simultaneously be residing in Yohogania, Monongalia, or Ohio Co., VA, as well as Washington, Fayette, or Westmoreland Co., PA (See the years 1772-1786 in Pennsylvania Formation Maps).(Return to text)
11) Tax lists for Cumberland Co. do not show more detailed property holdings until the year 1765, but at least in the year 1766, Ralph Whiteside owned "1 Negroe" (Ref. 30, Book 3, p.194). Other than for our direct line, I have not yet looked more closely into the possible slave holdings of other Whiteside/Whitsitt family members of this generation.(Return to text)
12) What we know for certain is that after John Whiteside warranted his land in Lebanon Co. in 1738, he appeared intermittently on the land surveys of adjacent neighbors through about 1754. One of these neighbors was Conrad Brown, who warranted land adjacent to him on 4 Apr 1750 (C-1-75). By 3 Dec 1754, the land John once lived on had been re-warranted to Conrad Brown as well (A-78-132). Additionally, John does not appear on the 1750 Tax List for Lebanon Twp., despite all of his neighbors being found there, including his brother Ralph. So, most likely he left this same year (1750). This is further supported by the passage in Ref. 31, p.20 that a John Whitsett was appointed to lay off land "in a suitable manner" for the future Rowan Co. in Jun 1753, as well as to build the future courthouse, which was initially placed in Salisbury Twp., and was completed in 1756.
One area of conflict I found for this explanation though, is found in Ref, 33, pp.111-112, which states that the John Whiteside who came to Rowan Co., NC in 1754 was actually the John Whiteside from Coleraine, Chester, PA and the Pequa Creek line. The source the author gives for this assumption is Ref. 34. Having read this reference, I do not reach the same conclusion. The author states that there were two known unrelated Whiteside families that came to the area near that time, and while I think the Abraham Whiteside that came later was likely of the Coleraine line (and related to the oft conflated Stockton line in Albemarle Co., NC), I didn't see any evidence that the John Whiteside of Rowan. Co., NC was of that line as well.
Interestingly, there was a Quaker settlement called New Garden that was established in future Guilford Co., NC in 1750 (Ref 31, p.12), very close to where many of our Whiteside/Whitsitt line seem to have later settled, including the line of William Thornton Whitsitt. Many Quakers seems to have left their faith behind upon settling in NC, however, for the sake of political and military expediency regarding the Native Americans (Ref. 33, p.136). Just south and west of future Salisbury, NC, there was a large Irish settlement that developed prior to 1752 as well (Ref. 31, pp.36-37), and this was the area (along Grant's Creek) of John Whitsitt's original NC residence (Rowan Co. Deed Book 4, p.317, Kluttz Maps · Edith Clark History Room (Map 3); Ref. 33, pp.108-109, (Grant 119)). The first instance he is mentioned in Salisbury Court Records is Mar 1753.(Return to text)
13) The record does not say what type of mill this was, but given his line of work, it was most likely a sawmill. Public mills were the public utility companies of the 1700s. Sawmills were particularly important in newly developing areas where lots of construction was being done, and in NC they had the extra benefit of exempting owners from taxes and military service. Work like this would have subsided as new town building completed, however, which may in part explain why John Whitsitt later sold this property in 1768.
Interestingly, the Alexander Frazier that Ralph Whiteside bought his mill land from in Cumberland Co. also owned the mill at Boiling Springs, which was very close to the land of William Whiteside. Which makes me wonder if this milling wasn't a family trade of sorts? Many mills of the time doubled as places to gather and discuss the news of the day while people waited for their orders to be completed. The mill work theory also lends credit to the Quaker possibility as well, as Alexander Frazier was definitely a Quaker and Thomas Hammersly was almost certainly one too. As Quakers, it would have been important to find a line of work in which military service could be avoided, and milling would have allowed for this. (Return to text)
References
(back to Main Menu)1) Dunaway, W. F. (1962). The Scotch-Irish of colonial Pennsylvania. Archon Books. https://archive.org/details/scotchirishofcol0000duna
2) Plantation People. Ulster Historical Foundation. Retrieved 2025, from https://ulsterhistoricalfoundation.com/ulster-plantation/plantation-people/
7) Whiteside, D. (1971). Male Whiteside(s) names in the United States from selected sources ca. 1690-1849 and Whiteside Place Names. Ancestry.com. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/26825/images/dvm_GenMono007128-00001-0?pId=2000000000
9) Ellis, F., & Evans, S. (1883). History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania: with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men. Everts & Peck. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000063629620&seq=3
11) Kress, L. M. A. (1942). A genealogy of the Blakey family and descendants, with George, Whitsitt, Haden, Anthony, Stockton, Gibson and many other related antecedents. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/genealogyofblake00kres
13) Egle, W. H. (1883). History of the counties of Dauphin and Lebanon : in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania ; biographical and genealogical. Everts & Peck. https://archive.org/details/cu31924028852675
24) Beryl Eustace, P. (Ed.). (1956). Registry of Deeds Dublin abstracts of Wills vol. 1, 1708–1745, p.. Stationery Office, Dublin. https://www.irishmanuscripts.ie/product/registry-of-deeds-dublin-abstracts-of-wills-vol-i-1708-1745-3-vols-1954-84
25) Rupp, I. D. (1846). The history and topography of Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry counties. Gilbert Hills. https://archive.org/details/historytopograph00rup
26) Myers, A. C. (1902). Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania, 1682-1750 : with their early history in Ireland. Columbia University Press. https://archive.org/details/immigrationofiri00myer
27) Schaumann, M. L. S. (2024). Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Its Beginnings 1749-1759. Cumberland County Historical Society. https://www.historicalsociety.com/product/carlisle-pennsylvania-its-beginnings-1749-1759/
31) de Roulhac Hamilton, J. G., & Wagstaff, H. M. (Eds.). (1917). The James Sprunt Historical Publications (Vol. 16, Issue 1). The North Carolina Historical Society. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/msu.31293009043054?urlappend=%3Bseq=9
