Notes
Note for: Esther ALEXANDER, ABT 1754 - Index
Note: Had 8 children; Charlotte; Esther; Alexander; Catherine; William W. III;
Archibald; Susan; Peter.
Notes
Note for: Thomas Beard ALEXANDER, BET 1743 AND 1752 - Index
Note: Thomas Beard moved to Galen County, Ohio. He married and reared six
children.
Notes
Note for: Peter ALEXANDER, APR 1758 - Index
Note: He applied for pension on Oct. 23, 1834. and was living in Woodford
County, Ky. He was a Revolutionary soldier, and enlisted in Augusta
County,Va.
Notes
Note for: Hugh ALEXANDER, ABT 1750 - Index
Note: Hugh was not married. (Note: Attorney Otis Bowyer of Baird, Taxas,says
that Hugh was married.)
Notes
Note for: Alexander McNITT, 1656 - 10 FEB 1745/46 Index
Note: Reference: B. The MacNauchtan Saga. by V. V. McNitt. Published in two
volumes by Hampden Hills Press, Palmer, Mass., 1951. Reprinted in 1981. A
story book history of an ancient clan and its branches, with the brief
biographies of prominant MacNaughtons, McKnights, McNutts, and McNitts.
This source presents most acceptable account of family movements from
Galloway, Scotland, through N. Ireland to Massachusetts, Virginia, and
Nova Scotia. Most of earlier references omit any connections with
Covenantois in Galloway, 1640-1720, and promote a brother relationship
between Alexander, the colonizer and William of Nova Scotia, largely at
instigation of Francis Augustus MacNutt in 1895-1897 when he was seeking
Palpal Envoy status in Rome.
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Clan MacNauchtan becomes McNutt Family of Augusta, Virgina
The Augusta County, Virginia family with the surname McNutt had its
beginnings in the surnames of McNitt, MacNaucht and MacNauchtan and can
be traced back through Northern Ireland (1720-1656) and Scotland
(1650-1200).
In Roman times, Scotland, known then as Caledonia, was occupied chiefly
by the Picts, a Celtic race. The Romans, unable to conquer the Picts,
controlled Britain, only south of Hadrian's Wall which is south of the
present boundary between England and Scotland. The Scots, another Celtic
race, originally lived in Ireland, and migrated to Caledonia during the
first 500 years A.D.. These Scots converted the Picts to Christianity,
then united with them under Scot King Kenneth MacAlpine in 843 A.D.. A
third Celtic race, living in England, was controlled by the Romans, and
ultimately was pushed back into Wales.
The Clan MacNauchtan is older than recorded Scottish history, and may
have originated with one of the three Pict kings of Caledonia named
Nechtan who ruled during the periods 458-482, 599 - ?, and 710-730.
Families in Scotland did not have established surnames until the later
half of the 11th century, when Scot King Malcolm Canmore (1058-1093)
encouraged his people to accept the practice, already begun in other
countries. However, standards of literacy were low so the records show
many variations in the spelling of the surname, including MacNaughton,
McNaughton, MacNaghtan, MacNachtan, McNaghtane, MacNaghtane, etc..
The early MacNauchtans were Picts who had settled in Strathtay, the
valley of the Tay River in the Scottish lowlands, north of Edinburgh.
These MacNauchtans were a brave and warlike people under the leadership
of chieftains called Thanes of Lochtay. In 1164 Scot King Malcolm IV gave
the clan chiefs control of lands in the Scottish highlands to the west,
in gratitude for help in controlling the MacDougalls. This marked the
beginning of the movement of the clan chiefs from Strathtay to Argyll,
north and west of Glasgow. Additional lands in Argyll were assigned to
the clan, as vassals of King Alexander II in 1222. In 1267 King Alexander
III granted custody of Fraoch Eilean, a castle on an island in Loch Awe,
to Gilcrest MacNauchtan, the clan chief, for assistance in driving
Norsemen from W. Scotland. Clan headquarters were later moved to the
castle of Dubhloch, in Glenshira, and then after 1473, to Dunderave, near
the head of Loch Fyne. During the disagreements over succession to the
Scottish throne, after the death of King Alexander III in 1286, the
MacNauchtans initially supported English King Edward I and his choice of
John Balliol, then, later switched to support Robert Bruce who became
King Robert I of an independent Scotland in 1314. A coat of arms was
assigned to the clan chiefs sometime after this. The MacNauchtan
highlanders of Argyll remained loyal supporters of the dynasty of Steward
Kings, until they were thrown out in 1688. King James VI of Scotland
became King James I of England and Scotland when the two parts of the
island were united in 1603.
Because of a plague which erased most of the men of the immediate family,
there was no chief of the Clan MacNauchtan in Argyll from about 1450 to
1473. Then, Gilbert MacNauchtran was installed as clan chief as a vassal,
by the first Earl of Argyll, Colin Campbell. Clan fortunes in Argyll,
under the Campbells, fluctuated and declined until 1688, when, with the
fall of the Royal House of Stewart, members of Clan Campbell began
acquiring control of most of the MacNauchtan Chief's properties.
Around 1580, Shane Dhu MacNauchtan, whose grandfather, Alexander was a
brother of Gilbert, the clan cheif in 1473, migrated from Argyll to
Antrim in northeast Ireland, where he established a line with the surname
MacNaghtan. This clan branch prospered, and being Protestant, retained
their land holdings after the Irish (Catholic) Rebellion of 1641-1652. In
1818, Edmond Alexander MacNaghten of Antrim was elected Chief of Clan
MacNaughton by some 400 clan members in Scotland, after the title was
restored by Scottish courts. The clan coat of arms was also restored.
Successor clan chiefs include several influential judges in British
courts during the late 19th century.
Back in 1235, King Alexander II had trouble in controlling residents of
Galloway, in the Scottish lowlands, south of Glasgow, and must have been
assisted by the MacNauchtans of Argyll, because shortly thereafter,
members of the clan appeared in the area, led by John MacNachtan. This
name was shortened, as we find that the chief, who signed the Ragman Roll
in 1296, swearing homage to King Edward I of England, was Gilbert
MacNaucht. The MacNaughts prospered and expanded in Galloway, with
headquarters at Kilquhanity, an estate of some 1800 acres of farm lands.
As vassals of the King, the chiefs were required to give military service
and bear a coat of arms. Other estates acquired by the family included
extensive farms at Dalwhairn and Dundough and grain mills at Crossmichael
and Cumnock. The MacNauchts of Galloway were neither feudal barons or
retainers of warmakers. They were quiet people of the middle class who
lived in simple houses of stone, kept cattle, horses and sheet, and
raised oats and barley. Variations in surname spelling in the records
include Makenaght, MacNaight, McNaight, MacNaught, and McKnight (the
Anglified form). Unlike the MacNauchtans of Argyll, the MacNauchts of
Galloway were not consistently loyal to the Scottish and later British
Kings. During the mid-1600's, many of the MacNauchts joined the
Covenanters, as they were staunch Presbyterians (Church of Scotland) and
objected to efforts by King Charles I and Charles II to force the Church
of England upon them.
More members of the Galloway MacNaucht families seem to have settled in
the Laggan section of Donegal, than in any other area although there are
records of some in other counties of Northern Ireland. The Laggan, or
lowlands, lies south of Lough Swilly, and just west and southwest of
Londonderry. The Laggan section in the county of Donegal, is now part of
the Irish Republic. This is where our oldest identifiable ancestor,
Alexander McNitt or McNutt, was born in 1656.
More members of the Galloway MacNaucht families seem to have settled in
the Laggan section of Donegal, than in any other area although there are
records of some in other counties of Northern Ireland. The Laggan, or
lowlands, lies south of Lough Swilly, and just west and southwest of
Londonderry. The Laggan section in the county of Donegal, is now part of
the Irish Republic. This is where our oldest identifiable ancestor,
Alexander McNitt or McNutt, was born in 1656.
The Scotts who settled in Laggan must have been inconvenienced by the
siege of nearby Londonderry in 1689, until the French and Irish forces,
under the disposed Stewart King James II were finally driven back and out
of Ireland, by the army of King William III of Orange. In the early
1700's, the Church of England was again applying pressure on the Ulster
Scotsmen to give up their memberships in the Presbyterian church, without
success. At the same time, English merchants and industrialists succeeded
in repressing the industrious Scotsmen, by having legislation approved
requiring that all wool produced and processed in Ireland be shipped to
England. This step led the Scots of Ulster to start up a new industry of
growing and processing flax to linen, which could be sold and shipped
anywhere. This industry continues to flourish today in Ireland. Before
1720, many of the leases held by the Scots of Ulster came up for renewal,
and the landowners, supporting the church of England, and the English
merchants, made it extremely expensive for Scotsmen to renew their
leases. These repressions were sufficient to push those of Ulster, who
owned no land, into emigration to the New World. Although a few of the
Ulster Scotsmen had migrated as early as 1684, the large numbers did not
move until after 1718, and continued until the American Revolution of
1775. It has been estimated that between 1730 and 1770, at least a half a
million people, mostly of Scottish origin transferred from Ulster to the
colonies in America, thus making up not less than one sixth of the entire
population at the time of the Revolution. It is also estimated, that, in
1770, one third of the population of Pennsylvania was of Scottish Ulster
origin.
Our ancestor, Alexander McNitt, who was born in Laggan in 1656, came to
Boston with his youngest son, Barnard, in 1720. With their wives, they
settled with an Ulster Scottish colony near Worcester, Mass., and then
moved west to Palmer, Mass. in 1732. The eldest son of Alexander McNitt,
and brother of Barnard, named Alexander McNutt, emigrated from Laggan to
Maryland in 1735, with his family, and then moved on to the Valley of
Virginia in 1744. Another Alexander McNitt emigrated from Laggan in 1722
and settled with his family in central Pennsylvania. These and many more
emigrants from Ulster sailed across the Atlantic in small ships,
generally two masted square rigged brigantines, which plied between
Londonderry or Belfast and American ports, and were forced to locate west
of the established settlements at Boston, Philadelphia, and Tidewater
Virginia, so that they were closer to the Indian frontiers. Most of the
Ulster Scottsmen received small grants, or purchased land for their homes
and farms. Most groups included a Presbyterian minister.
The Scottish immigrants were good middle class people. Early in 1718 some
319 men from Londonderry signed a letter to the then governor of
Massachusetts expressing their desire to come to Massachusetts, if
assured of a welcome. Seven of the signers were ministers and university
graduates. Of the 319 who signed, 306 wrote their names in full showing a
much higher level of literacy than could be found in any other part of
the British Empire, or even in New England.
Most of the MacNauchts who came from Galloway to Northern Ireland must
have moved on to the New World. In 1921, only one family of the
MacNaucht line, of George McNutt, could be found living in the Laggan
section of Donegal. Of the Clan MacNauchtan family names in use in the
United States, the name MacNaughton is the next most numerous, with
McNutt third, MacNaught fourth, and McNitt and McNett the last used.
The following is quoted from the Colonial Families of America, Vol. 5, p.
379.
The Virginia and Nova Scotia families of MACNUTT or MCNUTT, as the name
is also commonly spelled, traced their ancestry to a Scotch family in
Galloway, MACNAUGHT, of Kilqubanitie. The estate of Kilquhanitie had been
in their possession from 1480 until about 1667, when the last of its
owners, John, left Scotland for Ireland, accompanied by his four sons.
The family of MACNAUGHT, of Kilquhanitie thus became extinct in Galloway.
The first of the name of MACNUTT, who emigrated from the north of Ireland
to America was ALEXANDER, who was b. in 1656. He came over early in the
eighteenth century, circa 1720, and was later followed by several of his
sons, some of whom settled in Virginia. Alexander died in Palmer,
Massachusetts, in 1746 at the age of ninety years, his wife Sarah, having
died there in 1744, aged eighty-four. The second ALEXANDER MACNUTT, b.
in Ireland, first settled near Hagerstown, Maryland, shortly afterward
removing to Augusta County, Virginia, where he lived on land known as the
MACNUTT grants, near Lexington. He d. there about 1751, leaving several
sons, Alexander, John, William, Robert, James and another, said to have
been killed when a lad in an Indian skirmish. There was also a daughter
named Jane, who later m. ---- WEIR, of Nova Scotia. The most notable
member of the family in the eighteenth century was COL. ALEXANDER
MACNUTT, who was b. in Ireland about 1725 and came with his father,
Alexander, to Augusta County, Virginia. He accompanied Maj. Andrew LEWIS
as a volunteer in the Sandy Creek Expedition against the Shawnee Indians
in 1756 and later served on General BRADDOCK'S staff in the expedition
against Fort Duquesne. In one of his memorials to the Lords of Trade, he
mentions having served in upwards of twenty engagements on land and sea,
always as a volunteer and without pay. In the spring of 1760, he was in
New England and assisted in raising three hundred men for his Majesty's
service at Louisbourg. At this time Colonel MACNUTT embarked upon vast
and ambitious schemes for the re-colonization of Nova Scotia, depopulated
by the expulsion of the French Acadians. The archives of Canada contain
voluminous records of his transactions with the British and Colonial
authorities, many of which have been published. He visited England
several times in the interests of these undertakings, and on his first
visit bore letters from Governor DINWIDDIE, which procured him an
audience of the King. His Majesty conferred upon him the honorary title
of Colonel and presented him with a sword, in recognition of his
services. The sword despoiled during the Civil War of its silver
mountings, is now (1915) in possession of his gd. niece, Mrs. Alexander
GLASGOW, of Rockbridge County, Virginia. He sided with the patriots
during the American Revolution and through failure to fulfill his
contracts, lost the tracts of land amounting to several hundred thousand
acres granted him in Nova Scotia. He died unmarried, at Lexington,
Virginia, in 1811.