Middle TN Scots

[AndrewtheScot]

As an avid history nut I have noticed lots of the folks who settled in Middle Tennessee and Fort Nashboro area in 1779 were Scots. Robertson, Henderson, Donelson etc.

Seem theses families stuck together on the frontier of PA, then NC and then made the jump to the French Lick in the middle of the wilderness. Seemed like lots of German families came with them here.

How common was this tie as I have both Scottish and German ancestry.

[macwilkin]

As an avid history nut I have noticed lots of the folks who settled in Middle Tennessee and Fort Nashboro area in 1779 were Scots. Robertson, Henderson, Donelson etc.

Seem theses families stuck together on the frontier of PA, then NC and then made the jump to the French Lick in the middle of the wilderness. Seemed like lots of German families came with them here.

How common was this tie as I have both Scottish and German ancestry.

Fairly common; remember that it was the "Pennsylvania Dutch" that gave the Ulster-Scots the PA/Kentucky long rifle and the Conestoga Wagon.

The Ulster-Scots tended to marry among other Protestants, so you'll find a German Palantine or a Huguenot in the mix -- David Crockett, for example, had a French Protestant grandfather named de la Croquetagne, which was later anglicized to "Crockett". One of the commanders of the Overmountain Men at King's Mountain, John Sevier, was also of Huguenot heritage. There were also the Moravians who settled in North Carolina.

T.

[Joshua]

How common was this tie as I have both Scottish and German ancestry.

Very common, in most of the Appalacians as well. I would say that at least 25% of my father's ancestry is German, the remainder of which being a smattering of mostly Welsh, some Scottish, and a teeny bit of Cherokee. His people hailed from Southeastern Ohio and Western NC. My mothers side of the family hasn't turned up any German roots, however they hailed from the same areas, Scottish, Irish, and English (in that order).

[macwilkin]

Very common, in most of the Appalacians as well. I would say that at least 25% of my father's ancestry is German, the remainder of which being a smattering of mostly Welsh, some Scottish, and a teeny bit of Cherokee. His people hailed from Southeastern Ohio and Western NC. My mothers side of the family hasn't turned up any German roots, however they hailed from the same areas, Scottish, Irish, and English (in that order).

***

The Ulster Scots and Pennsylvania Germans both followed the Great Wagon Road down the Appalachians into Western Virginia and the Carolina backcountry before pushing West through the Cumberland Gap (thanks to Dr. Walker and Daniel Boone) into Kentucky and Tennessee. Others pushed west from Pennsylvania directly into the Ohio Country; some of my Scottish ancestors followed this route and ended up in a colony of Scots in SE Iowa in the 1840s, where they intermarried with German immigrants.

T.

[Joshua]

***

The Ulster Scots and Pennsylvania Germans both followed the Great Wagon Road down the Appalachians into Western Virginia and the Carolina backcountry before pushing West through the Cumberland Gap (thanks to Dr. Walker and Daniel Boone) into Kentucky and Tennessee. Others pushed west from Pennsylvania directly into the Ohio Country; some of my Scottish ancestors followed this route and ended up in a colony of Scots in SE Iowa in the 1840s, where they intermarried with German immigrants.

T.

Oddly enough the only ancestors I have that don't predate the American revolutionary war are also the strongest Scottish ties, via the Bruces of South Carolina... the only ancestors I have that didn't come from Ohio or NC.

[James Hood]

Wife's family has MacMinn blood traced to middle Tennessee but no German known to be in the blend.

[O'Searcaigh]

I am not much of an historian but we moved to where we now live in Tennessee about five years ago. The nearest little town (and I do mean little) was originally settled by Germans. Other successful small settlements nearby were (according to local telling) either Scottish or German. On the other hand, "Rugby" -- a Victorian English settlement of "second sons" -- didn't succeed (except as a "historical place"). Interesting?