The Holmes family arrived in Philadelphia from Donegel Ireland in 1771

Nathaniel HOLMES was born 5 Jan. 1748 in Raphone Parish, County Donegal, Ireland. He, his wife Mary and his sons Robert, James, and Albert, along with two daughters, Catherine and Elizabeth came from COUNTY DONEGEL to Philadelphia PA in 1771, they lived on the Forks of the Brandywine (a big Scott and Irish Presbyterian community) for 6 years then migrated to Iredell & Rowan County, NC during the Revolutionary War. James and Robert Holmes were both soldiers in the army.

                                                            The Holmes Family

Nathaniel Holmes-1; Robert-2; Albert Garner-3; Calvin Baker.-4; Harry Cleveland-5, Ammie Myrtle-6

They were originally of Scots extraction, but had left Scotland sometime after the first decade of the seventeenth century and moved into Ulster in Northern Ireland, along with many of their countrymen.

In 1600 Scotland had never known orderly government or a rule by law instead of by men, nor had the country ever, for many years at a time, known Peace. Life everywhere was insecure, not only because of recurrent wars with the English, but even more because of abominable economic methods, a niggardly soil, and constant cattle raiding and feuds. [The Scotch-Irish, A Social History, pg 3.]

During the religious persecution of the Irish Catholics by the British, King James settled great tracts of land in the six northern-most counties of Ireland with Protestant Scots starting in the first decade of the 1600’s. Later, many of their descendants came to the colonies to escape persecution by the British.

The people referred to as “Scots-Irish” were actually neither Scots nor Irish, but were primarily Presbyterian, free-thinking Protestants, most of whose ancestors had come from the lowlands of Scotland They were settled on confiscated lands in Northern Ireland beginning about 1610 by King James I of England, to displace the savage and Catholic Celtic Irish Clans. The group was larger than that, though, and included any number of different British subjects who had either been forced into, or voluntarily migrated to, Ireland but were not of native Irish [Celtic] stock.

The Scots Highlanders were predominantly Catholic and less friendly to the British Crown than the Lowlanders. The British/Scots King James didn’t trust the Highlanders much more than he did the native Irish, so he didn’t send the Highlanders into Ireland. The Scots Highlanders were also fiercely independent and tended to go to war with each other and the crown at the drop of a hat!

The Scots settlers moved to six of Ulster’s counties by King James contained an amalgamation of Celts, Roman, Angle, and Saxon blood. The Scots Highlanders were more racially identical with the Celts than with the Lowland Scots. Physically, the Lowlanders were a tough and hardy breed, somewhat tall, and strong boned. They were heavily muscled and fit for hard work. They were a strong-minded people with no lack of common sense. Ordinarily, they were undemonstrative, but love of family ran deep. They were hospitable to friends, and unrelenting to foes. They didn’t take kindly to restraint or injustice and were little given to yielding in an argument.

English Border people were also lumped in with the “Scots-Irish” when they reached America from Ireland. These were the northern British border people who were racially identical with the Lowland Scots and sociologically similar as well. Many of them were forced into Ireland to join the Scots in Ulster. Others went because the religious climate in Ireland at that time was more tolerant of their non-Anglican religions.

Though King James moved the majority of the Scots into his “plantations” in Ireland in the years between 1610 and 1618, about the time of the settling of Jamestown in America, others moved later. After King Charles was beheaded, Cromwell moved in more settlers in the years between 1652 and 1654. During the years after the Civil War in England to unseat Catholic King James II and replace him with Protestant William of Orange and James’ daughter, Mary, since the Catholic Irish had been more loyal to the defeated King James II, more lands were confiscated and settled with still more Scots Protestants. The Scots migrations out of Ireland didn’t really start in force until about 1710 and ended just before the American Revolution.

The Scots had willingly moved to Ireland to better themselves economically. The land- rental system in Scotland in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries was not conducive to successful farming. Scotland had a king who was not a strong central ruler. There was no unified national feeling for the king. The barons who controlled different areas nominally swore allegiance to the king. They expected that the land-owners and farmers under them would swear loyalty to them. The king did not rule or collect taxes. In reality, he was simply one of the more powerful of the barons. He was also subject to overthrow.

The lairds, or land owners, were not “gentry,” but simply land owners. They leased out the land to the farmers below them in a system a step above serfdom, but just barely. Land ownership was usually passed from father to oldest son intact, rather than being divided between several children. This kept the system going, as the great estates were not usually subdivided, but passed entirely. This made the social system work, but left younger sons of the landowners to fend for themselves, go into the military or government service, or emigrate. The frequency of wars did help to eliminate excess sons to some extent. The tenant farmers tended to stay in a given area and work the same man’s lands generation after generation. The system perpetuated poverty, however.

In Scotland, rather than a tenant getting the same piece of ground year after year, they were given narrow bands of ground and these were rotated among different men in different years. This was intended to be fair to everyone, giving everyone a shot at getting the better lands. What it did, in reality, was make things unfair to everyone. Since a man would not get the same piece of ground again, he would not expend the labor to “manure” the ground in the fall. The ground was poor to start with, and the primitive farming methods required huge teams of oxen to pull the plows. A team big enough to pull the crude plows might number 8 to 16 oxen. No one man could afford enough oxen for a team. Therefore, he had to band together with several other men to put a team and plow into the fields.

For about the same reasons that they did not manure the grounds, the farmers did not erect permanent dwellings, because they were moving on next year anyway, or the raiders from outside might sweep down any day and burn and tear down the homes. The Scots built, as one writer of the day noted, “stys out of piled stones in which they and their few animals huddled at night.” The farmers were on the verge of starvation many years because of poor crop yields. Living conditions were very harsh.

Because the farmer usually had barely enough to feed his family, their cattle were left to fend for themselves during the winter, with the survivors rounded up in the spring to yoke to the plow, or give a little milk for the family. Even today, the breeds of cattle developed by this process of natural selection, of survival of the fittest in the harsh Scots climate with poor forage, are still hardy survivors when compared to their European cousins that were bred and developed by selective breeding and given feed and birthing assistance by their owners.

The people, because of their social system, hostile environment, and poverty, were warlike, backwards, shiftless, and generally unsuccessful, living on the ragged edge of starvation. They were the perfect group to offer a new way of farming, a place not too far from home, with lands that they could rent for up to 30 years at a stretch, or even “three lives.” A “three lives” lease was an interesting way to lease land. Three people would be named on the lease and the lease ran for the length of the life of the longest-living of the three. Frequently a man would list himself and two of his younger children. People having three-lives leases would improve the land because they intended to stay there for the length of their lives, though these leases could be, and frequently were, sublet.

The history of the Scots in Ireland is long and colorful, but during their stay in the Isles, which was primarily in the six Ulster counties, there was almost no intermarriage or intermingling with the native Irish, who were despised by the Scots. The Scots kept their own religion, speech, and social customs. Even after many generations, a Scots transplant thought of himself as a “Scotsman.” Yet, they had been gone from their homeland for quite some time, and the move had changed them, they were different from their Scots cousins who had stayed in Scotland. They had little left in common with their Scots cousins who had stayed home and continued to live on the ragged edge of starvation. The intermarriages between the Scots and their British neighbors, who had also moved into Ireland, had also changed them. Prosperity had changed them, as well.

One noted exception to the lack of intermarriage between the Scots immigrants seems to be the DORRIS family in Ireland. According to the research done by C. Eugene Dorris, there appear to be many families of Dorrises who are Catholics in Northern Ireland. This is quite unusual, however, and was not the rule. The Scots Protestants generally looked down on the Catholic Celts so much so that the prejudice against intermarriages with Catholics was even imported into the United States and lasted for hundreds of years. The prejudices went both ways, however, and the Catholics strongly discouraged intermarriage with Protestants, as well.

Transplantation into Ireland had not completely relieved them of persecution by the British government. They soon had a thriving wool-cloth industry. Then the British, in a move to protect the British industries, outlawed the production of wool cloth in Ireland. So the Scots in Ireland started producing linen and developed a wonderful linen industry. In addition to the economic persecution, the British Crown changed from Protestant to Catholic, and back again, several times. Each monarch or pretender to the throne gathered those of his or her religion about them. Those of the opposite faction would fight against them. The poor Scots in Ireland who clung to their Presbyterian faith endured much persecution, including burning at the stake, hanging, drawing and quartering, and other harsh measures. They were a stalwart group, however.

By the early 1700s, the combination of English persecution and increased rents, coupled with widespread famine, caused many to decide to move to the new world---America!

In several waves, starting in 1717 and ending in the last great wave of 1771-1774, over 200,000 of them came to America to find a new life. The migration almost depopulated whole areas of Northern Ireland. The majority of the Scots-Irish were weavers or in some way associated with the linen trade. We have no indication that our ROBERT HOLMES was a weaver, but we do know that his brother, James, kept apprentices who were being taught to weave, so the family had some connections to the trade. His other brother, Albert, was a blacksmith.

The first great wave of immigrants who came in 1717 came because of the destruction of the wool trade, the increase in the quitrents, and the “test act,” which deprived them of their political rights because of their religion. The next great wave came in 1727 to 1728 and was primarily due to famine. A third wave came in 1750 to 1751 and was, again, due to famine. The last great wave, in which NATHANIEL and MARY and their adult children, ROBERT, Albert, James, Catherine, and Elizabeth came, was in the years 1771 to 1774. This wave was due to the decrease of the linen trade and the increase in the rents, as well as a shortage of food. It was the greatest wave of all, and probably 50,000 or more people came. Many were poor and came as indentured servants to pay their way. Whether or not the entire family left Ireland we have no way of knowing. It is possible that one or two, or even more, children of NATHANIEL and MARY remained behind in Ireland.

Children of Nathaniel-1 [circa 1720-1794] and Mary __?__Holmes

1. ROBERT HOLMES-2, may have been the oldest son, born January 5, 1747/48 [OS/NS], in Raphoe Parish, County Donegal, Ireland, married MARJORY BELL October 10, 1781. He died October 10, 1838, in Sumner County, Tennessee. They had been married 57 years. [Revolutionary Pensions of Robert Holmes & James Holmes.]

2. James Holmes-2, born February 28, 1863, in County Donegel, Ireland, married Ester McConnel, daughter of Alexander McConnel, about 1785 in Iredell County, North Carolina. He may have been one of the younger children, perhaps the youngest son. He died August 31, 1834, in North Carolina. He was a planter and a weaver. James-2 and Ester had Nathaniel-3, Robert-3, and Ester Holmes-3. Robert Holmes-3 was born 1795, and died 1889. He married Mary A. McConnell. He and his wife are buried at Tabor Meeting House. [Heritage of Iredell, # 270 & #269.][Revolutionary Pension of James Holmes.]
   James Holmes-2 was security in 1799 for the estate of Alexander McConnel. Catherine McConnel and Burgess Gaither were the executors. [I:340.]

3. Albert Holmes-2, born about 1760 in Ireland, was the first of the family to move to Sumner county, Tennessee. He was a blacksmith, and he lived in Tennessee at least until the early 1820s.

4. Elizabeth Holmes-2, born about 1760, probably in Ireland, married a man named Anderson. [Will of Mary Holmes, Iredell County, NC.]

5. Catherine Holmes-2, was born about 1760, probably in Ireland. Nothing more is known about her, except that she survived her mother and lived until at least 1800. [Will of Mary Holmes, Iredell County, NC.]

We have not found any indentures for ROBERT-2 or his brothers or parents, but we know from the pensions of James & ROBERT HOLMES that they landed in Philadelphia, where many indentured people came. We also know that they stayed there for several years, just as many indentured persons did before they left and went to newer areas of settlement. It is quite possible that some members of the family came as indentured travelers. If they weren’t actually indentured, they probably had to stay with or near relatives for a few years to accumulate a “grub stake” in order to move on and acquire land of their own. It was unusual for indentured labor to be older or married couples. Usually indentured servants of either sex were unmarried. The Redemptioners might come as married couples or families, but indentures were mostly single persons. In general, the Scots-Irish who came in the 1771 to 1774 migration, migrated due to poverty. We have no reason to believe that our HOLMES family migrated for any other reason.

The families tended to practice “serial migration.” One nuclear family would come in one wave of emigrants, and then write back home and the next group of their brother’s children would come on over, etc. The relatives already here would assist the newcomers to get settled. In turn, those people, when they were settled, would assist another group. Most came through Pennsylvania where they would work off an indenture of from five to seven years or work for relatives, then strike out down the Great Wagon Road in search of cheap land to buy. Land in Pennsylvania worth having was about gone, or pushed up against the mountains and the Indians. ROBERT and his family followed this pattern.

One thing the Scots-Irish immigrants had in common was a universal hatred of the British. Due to their dislike of the British authority, their large number of immigrants helped to force the “attitude” necessary for the American Revolution. There were very few Scots-Irish Tories. So many Scots-Irish fought that the Pennsylvania militia was called “The Irish line.”

Though the Scots-Irish were not totally uniform as a group, their sojourns in Ireland had changed them from their Scots forebearers. They were generally more progressive, better fed, better clothed, cleaner, had little if any loyalty to a locale, and were much easier to uproot and move. Their loyalty seemed to be more to the extended-family group than to a locale. In a way, they were men without a country.

Pennsylvania was chosen as the first stop for most of them because of the greater degree of political, economic, social, and religious freedom than existed in the other colonies. The Quakers, however, soon developed an intense dislike of these “uppity” immigrants. The feelings were mutual.

A few Scots-Irish did come directly into the Scots-Irish settlements in Augusta County, Virginia, at the Beverly Manor, and a few into North Carolina in the years just before the Revolution, but most came through Pennsylvania. A few Catholic Irish were sent into Beverly Manor Virginia, as convict labor. Records in the Presbyterian group in Augusta indicate that these “Popish convicts” lived among them.

ROBERT’s revolutionary records do not indicate the county in Ireland where he resided before he emigrated, but the Revolutionary pension application of his brother, James, indicates that the family came from Raphone Parish, County Donegel, Ireland. It is likely that the entire family came on the same ship with ROBERT in 1771.

We know that ROBERT and his family were Presbyterians, and there is a little history written about the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

The Raphoe Congregation is one of the early Presbyterian settlements of Ulster. Bishop Know, who was placed in the Episcopal See about the time to the Plantation of Ulster, encouraged the Scotsmen to become tenants on the Episcopal lands; and thus it is that to this very day so many of the farmers in the parish are Presbyterians. The meeting house was originally built at Convoy, and until the middle of the eighteenth century there was no Presbyterian place of worship at Raphoe. About the time Raphoe was erected into a separate congregation, and the old congregation was henceforth known by the name of Convoy.

The first minister of the newly erected congregation of Raphoe was Rev. James Gordon, who had formerly been minister of Castleblaney, and who was installed here in August 1751. He died in his charge in 1785 and was succeeded by Mr. William Ramsay. [A History of the Congregations of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 1610-1982.]

The Scots-Irish coming to America weren’t going off into a totally unknown land. Reports had come back home from countrymen and relatives already here. Some, who had arrived as early as 1717, were still keeping in touch with relatives at home. Also, recruiters sent by men with large land grants had spread the word to the unhappy Scotsmen in Ireland that they could own their own land in the new colonies, not be beholden to a landlord who could, and would, raise the rents.

Francis Holmes, who may be NATHANIEL’s brother, seemed to be living near them in North Carolina. He may have also sailed with them at the same time or preceded them to America. He signed wills, deeds, and other documents with them as witnesses. Francis was not named as an heir in MARY’s will along with her children, so it is assumed by this author that he was a relative, but not a child of MARY.

Sailing to America

The vessels used for crossings in those days were generally small, when judged by the seagoing vessels today, and powered by sail. They were usually broad in the bow and the poop and forecastle were raised above the main deck. The mainmast was usually near the middle of the ship and the foremast as near the bow as possible. They were very slow sailing vessels and a trip could take from 41 to a 141 days to cross the Atlantic. The price of passage from England to Virginia in the late seventeenth century was six pounds for each person over 12 years old and half that for those under 12. That was about a year’s wages for a healthy person in England.

Food was the same ration as for the sailors, each person to have their allowance of bread, butter and cheese weekly, other provisions were distributed daily: each passenger over six years old was to have seven pounds of bread every week, each mess of eight to have two pieces of pork, each piece two pounds, and peas five days in the week, two days four pounds of beef with peas each day or four pounds of beef with pudding.

Some ships were crowded with immigrants and many people died in crossing either from lack of rations or disease. The quality of the crossing depended upon the honesty and good sense of the ship’s owners and captain. The crossing could have been from poor to horrific. In any case, it was not an easy journey.

The typical dress for the Pennsylvania colonial consisted of a hunting shirt, which was a loose-sleeved frock that came down to the middle of the thigh and was made of leather or linsey-woolsey, a pair of breeches made of the same material, and a belt that always fastened in the back. The belt served as a carrier for anything from mittens to a bullet pouch. Footwear consisted of a form of ankle-high moccasins. A great cape made of heavy linsey-woolsey, decorated with various colored fringes, and a cap topped off the outfit. [Albion’s Seed.]

The Scots-Irish women wore fairly short dresses with petticoats, which scandalized the people in Pennsylvania. The dress for winter would be of wool and the summer dress would be linsey-woolsey. Green and blue as their favorite colors. Linsey-woolsey was cloth made of linen warp, and a woolen woof. In other words, half the fibers were linen, and half were wool. Most women spun the thread for their family’s clothing. [Albion’s Seed.]

Travel from the river ports to the frontier was by foot or horseback. Frontier Pennsylvania at first had no road that could have accommodated a wheeled vehicle even if the immigrants had had them. The immigrants, newly arrived, and eager to make a home usually walked to where they would live, or possibly went part of the way by small boats. It wasn’t long before the new colony started constructing a few roads, however, and a road leading westward from Philadelphia was soon under construction. The pioneers immediately started pushing further out from the road and past its terminus. A road pushed south from Pennsylvania toward Virginia, and eventually into Rowan County, North Carolina. This road was called The Great Wagon Road.

The Pennsylvania Scots-Irish were under-represented in the Colonial Pennsylvania government, which continued as a Quaker-run proprietorship up until the Revolution. The Quakers, though less in numbers, wielded a political power out of proportion to their population. The Scots-Irish on the frontier, who suffered Indian attacks due to the Quakers’ refusal to “handle” the problem, were about ready to rebel when the Revolution broke out. Almost to a man, they were radical Whig proponents, rather than having the more moderate Whig leanings. The Scots-Irish welcomed the chance to join the rebellion and fight the British.

The Pennsylvania Quakers were stubborn in their opinions and so were the Scots-Irish, who were a more war-like group than the pacifist Quakers.

After coming to the colonies in 1771, his pension applicaation says ROBERT lived “on the forks of the Brandywine.” The Forks of the Brandywine is actually a Presbyterian community in Pennsylvania, also called “Brandywine Manor.” [History of Chester County, PA.] ROBERT lived there until May of 1775, when he enlisted in the rebellion and served three months as a private in Captain Cochran’s Pennsylvania Company. The Brandywine Creek, which is about 25 miles southwest of Philadelphia, was known for its flour mills from Colonial times. [Revolutionary Pension W.84, Robert Holmes, Marjory; NC & Penn.]

The Presbyterian pastor when ROBERT was there was the Reverend John Carmichael. He had been appointed in 1760 after a split, over doctrine and acceptable methods of spreading the Gospel, that lasted several years had healed. The church there had its first minister appointed in 1736.

In the first year of the American Revolution, volunteers from Pennsylvania joined troops under George Washington in the Siege of Boston. Other volunteer troops were retained for the defense of the colony, for fear Indians or the British would invade. The Quakers who lived in the area, and were the establishment in Pennsylvania, were pacifists for the most part, though some of them did eventually join the rebellion and leave the sect.