OUT OF SCOTLAND AND IN IRELAND
The information in this chapter is taken from Chapter XI of Clan Ewing of Scotland with some information included from the Clan Ewing in America Ireland research report of 1995.
Many of the progenitors of the Ewings of America came to this country directly from Ireland. They were Scotch, nevertheless.
For one or more generations these branches of our forefathers sojourned in the Province of Ulster, which comprises the northern part and about one-third of Ireland. Most of the ancestors of the Virginia and Maryland families were born in or near Londonderry, the capital of County Londonderry, Ulster, Ireland. Others were born in Coleraine, or near there, the important seaport of Londonderry County; and yet others were born elsewhere in Ulster. Perhaps a few of our family ancestors were born in Scotland and came to America by way of Ireland. As are other Scotch whose ancestral footprints lead through Ireland, those of our ancestors who descended from the Ireland sojourners are known as Scotch-Irish, though as a rule there was none of the old Irish stock in their veins.
The story of the Scots settlement in Ulster is interesting and indispensable to an understanding of the history of those days, but the story is too long for these pages. We here but can observe that the conflict in Ireland for both civil and religious supremacy plunged from one phase to another until the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603. To no phase of the struggle is more to be attributed than to the galling grapple between Protestantism and Romanism. That year James I, already king of Scotland and James VI, ascended the English throne as the common ruler of the two countries. As James was Catholic in sympathy, the Irish Catholics took heart and defied the laws forbidding worship after their customs. But Parliament in 1605 renewed a law known as the act of supremacy, and also the law requiring attendance on the Protestant church. Naturally the troubles increased. Intrigue and disloyalty to the king and to the English government spread. In 1605 two earls of Ulster, who claimed title to the lands under the English law, were detected in plots which James regarded as seditious. They escaped to France. James at once took advantage of this to declare the Ulster lands escheated to the crown. The people by thousands were ejected from these lands and in most cases forced to flee to the mountains. Many wandered "gypsie-fashion" among the inhospitable hills; and such as could fled the island.
Fire, sword, starvation, "with a ferocity which surpassed that of Alva in the Netherlands, and has seldom been exceeded in the pages of history," were all used to exterminate the Irish. "Not only the men," adds Lecky, "but even the women and children who fell into the hands of the English, were deliberately and systematically butchered." (1 History of Ireland, 5; 1 Hanna, The Scotch-Irish, 485; and other stand authorities. Read the full story as Lecky gives it.)
The bodies of the dead people “lay all over the country unburied," elucidates Woodburn (The Ulster Scot, 487), following the original authorities. The awful story, surpassed only by that written in blood by the Germans in the great war which William kindled in 1914, is not only history, but it serves to make us prouder of our Cymric Scotch.
Scotch and English Protestants were induced to accept the escheated lands. Large numbers came. Those of them who could bring others as tenants and make extensive improvements were known as "undertakers," because they undertook specific duties. A few of the Irish remained as tenants, but from that event, known as the "Ulster Plantation," Ulster became and remains largely Protestant. The Scotch "undertakers" and their tenants from Scotland greatly outnumbered the English. Hannah says that from 1606 to 1618 between thirty thousand and forty thousand emigrants went from Scotland to Ulster. (1 The Scotch Irish, 504). Those Scotch emigrants were of the best blood, descendants of the original Celtic Lowlanders and border Highlanders,--generally Celt interbred with Saxon. They are sometimes maligned by early writers; but the available evidence establishes the fact that they were the best people of that day, alert, virile, brave, aggressive, industrious, shrewd, intellectual, and generally of the Covenanter Presbyterian faith; and measured by the standards of that day, sanely and cleanly religious. Those colonists did "not leave Scotland until after two of its famous covenants [for the perpetuation of Protestant religion] had been signed" (C. S. Lobinger, The People's Law, 62). If not in all cases signers of those covenants or oaths to aid in perpetuating the Protestant faith as they held it, they were in full sympathy with the purposes of those obligations, and supported the doctrines they embodied. Macaulay, in his History of England, says those colonists, soon augmented many times, "were proud of their Saxon blood and of their Protestant faith." Among the first of those emigrants were many whose names their descendants made famous later in America.
Some Ewings, claiming descent from our Scotch clan, were there before the plantation movement began. Papers in the court house in Lifford, the assize town of Donegal County, show that in 1603 a license was issued to David Ewing of Cavan, authorizing him to plant trees, as elsewhere is seen. Aside from its interest genealogically, this suggests a curious condition of governmental supervision.
The new comers built towns, one of the earliest being Londonderry, destined to become famous, and another Coleraine, fostered industries, one of the most profitable of which was the growth of flax; and prosperity rapidly rewarded their labors.
Neither those Scotch nor their immediate descendants intermarried with the old Irish. However, upon what I regard as not satisfactory evidence, except as showing negligible instances, it is said that after a time the Scots "intermarried to some extent with the native Irish, who became Protestants" (Woodburn, The Ulster Scot, 26). As Woodburn points out, Geo. Chalmers (1 Caledonia, 358) followed by some others, insists that many of the Scotch who settled in Ireland during any of the plantation period were the descendants of the Scots who had emigrated to Argyllshire in the seventh century. "But this cannot be proved," Woodburn correctly says; and the best evidence indicates that the Ulster Scotch blood was mainly Anglo-Briton from the northern regions of old Strathclyde, as were the Ulster Ewings from whom we descend. In a somewhat compromise spirit Woodburn says that the conclusion is a safe one that the Ulster Scotch "must have had at least as much Celtic blood as Teutonic" (The Ulster Scot, 25); but, whatever the degree, the Celt in the Ulster Scot was of the Briton Lowlands and not the Scots or Gaelic of the Highlands. Religious beliefs, racial traits, and, above all, the fact that the Irish had been evicted from their lands (unjustly as measured by the higher standards of our day) kept the two races apart. Very soon, to distinguish them from other Scotch in Scotland, they were called Scotch-Irish, there in Ireland, meaning a Scotchman living in Ireland. The designation to this day follows their descendants, and now generally means those who are descendants of those early Lowland Scotch who settled in Ulster along with the other Protestants who were turned toward Ireland by King James' "plantation" offer. As suggested by the late Whitelaw Reid, the term Ulster Scot would be less misleading and more descriptive. However, "They are 'Scotch-Irish,' i.e., Scotch people living upon or born upon Irish soil, but not mixed with the native people. Their ancestors, many of who came to Ireland nearly two hundred and fifty years ago, were Scotch. They came in a body, they kept in a body, and they remain in a body, or a class by themselves, largely, to this day. . . . They stuck together and kept aloof from the native Celtic Irish. They were surrounded by the sharp dividing lines of religious faith and by keen differences of race" (L. A. Morrison, A. M., Among the Scotch-Irish, 38).
Presbyterians from the strenuous Covenanter days, we find our family name upon the congregational "registers of births, marriages, baptisms and burials,” left by the oldest Presbyterian churches of Ireland. Not all, no doubt, got into these registers; but enough did to make those old registers valuable aids to Ewing genealogy. There is the old register of Derry (Londonderry) Cathedral Congregation, published as volume eleven of the parish registers publication by the Doublin Parish Register Society. Unfortunately several of its pages are missing. In the Preface it is said:
"The register contains some curiosities in the way of spelling, and the contrast between these and what is often good handwriting shews how little importance was then attached to oarthography."
This observation is true of other registers.
(There is some contrast today between the spelling of shew in Ireland and show in America!)
Therefore, when we find our family name spelled once Yeowen, and now and then Ewin, though as a rule Ewing, as, for instance in the Burt register, we feel rather surprised at the pertinacity of the Ewing spelling.
In the Derry Cathedral congregation register we find that Frances, daughter of William Ewin, merchant, was born in Londonderry December 1, 1653. William Ewin was a witness to a marriage in 1654, not long after the register was begun. July 17, 1655, William Ewing witnessed a marriage. After "bancs" (banns) were published three several Lord's days before the Londonderry Congregation, Elizabeth Ewing being present, she was married. Frances, daughter of William Ewin, was born December 8, 1653; William Ewing, son of William Ewing, was baptized May 27,1655; Alexander, son of William Ewing, was born October 3, 1656; Patrick, son of William Ewing, was born November 11, 1657; and so on, Joshua, Nathaniel, Rachel, all the family names are there and are repeated from generation to generation. For instance:
John, son of Alexander Ewing and /, was buried 1682.
Elizabeth, daughter of John Ewine and Katherine, his wife, was buried May, 1683.
Katherine, wife of John Ewine, was buried October, 1684.
Martha, daughter of John Ewing and Janet, his wife, was buried September 30, 1691.
Sarah, daughter of John Ewing and Jenitt, his wife, was buried October 17, 1693.
John, son of Elizabeth Ewing, widow, was buried July, 1695.
James, son of John Ewing and Jenitt, was buried April, 1697.
***William Ewine and Agnes Anderson were married October, 1683.
William, son of John Porter and Margaret, his wife, was buried November, 1683.
William Ewine and Agnes Anderson were married November, 1683.
Jane, the wife of William Ewing, "Serjent," was "bird" July 13, 1701.
Mary, daughter of Humphrey Ewing, is mentioned.
"Mr. Samuel Ewing was 'bired' August 3, 1771.
James, son of Joshua Ewin and wife, May, was buried October, 1703.
John, son of John Ewin and wife, Jenatt, was buried March, 1700.
Robert, son of Alexander Ewing, was born 1654.
Nathaniel Ewing was born 1684. Nathaniel, son of Samuel Ewing and Katherine, was buried December, 1691.
William, son of John and Mary Eweings, was christened in St. Peter and St. Kevin, Dublin, August 7, 1758.
Maryanne, daughter of Richard and May Ewing, was born 1745. James Ewing in 1700 was buried at St. Catherines, Dublin.
George Ewing was one of the church officials in Parish of St. Andrew, Dublin, 1733-34, as disclosed by the publications of the Dublin Parish, Register Society. Pat. Ewing was a church warder in Dublin in 1734.
Ewing, Alexander, Elizabeth, Frances, Humphrey, Isabell, James, Janett, John, Joseph, Joshua, Katharine, Margaret, Martha, Nathaniel, Patrick, Robert, Samuel, Sara, Thomas, are all found in these old registers.
John Ewing and Isabell Nelson married November 18, 1658.
Isabell, daughter of John Ewing, was baptized January, 1658.
"John Ewing, Isabell Ewing and Katherine Hackett, gossips," says the laconic record of March 25, 1664.
The Burt congregation, near Londonderry, has an old register containing births, marriages, baptisms, and burials from 1677 to 1716. So far it has not been published. It is invaluable, and all the more so because early records, both church and state, are incomplete and not plentiful, Irish authorities tell me. J. W. Kernohan, Honorable Secretary of the Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland, had the Ewing entries found in the old Burt register transcribed for me, and I give them below as he sent them.
Spelling, capitalization, etc., were faithfully copied. At the time there was no one in that section, he told me, who made a profession of genealogical research; and I was fortunate to get Mr. Kernohan's intelligent cooperation. Of this old register he wrote: "It is one of the few manuscript books of so early a date. . . . There are very few printed books that would help you."
Many of the persons mentioned did not live in Burt, but near there, as the register in many cases gives the place of residence, thus, for instance: Ffawn (Fahan); Elah (Elagh); Elaghmore, &c. That old record has the following:
Marriages.
1691 March 2 Patrick Ewing and Elizabeth Ewing.
1692 May 24, Richard Porter and Helen Ewing.
1694-'95 January 1 ffinlay Ewing and Agnas Morison.
1697 August 12 Patrick Ewing and Margaret Cocheran.
1698 November 22 Daniel Smith and Kathren Ewing
1701 September 4 John Ewing and Janet Micklevenny.
1704 March 30 Robert Porter and Jean Ewing
1704 October 19 William Ewing and Janet Culbert.
1706 April 28 James Desart and Elizabeth Ewing
1709 August 11 John Ewing and Anna Craige.
1709 December 15 George Ewing and Elinor Gibson.
1711 July 3 Samuel Ewing and Mary Thompson.
1714 November 25 Mr. Joshua Ewing and Mrs. Sarah Ferguson.
Baptisms.
1677 April 8 Jean daughter to ffinlay Ewing
1678 Appryle 10 Finly Ewing in Inch had a child baptized called Jean.
1680 April 10 William son to Finly Ewing in Inch
1681 May 10 James son to Finly Ewing (Inch).
1690 October 10 Thomas son to ffinlay Yowen in ffaan [Fahan].
1692/93 January 15 Robert son to ffinlay Ewing in ffawn.
father's name child's name
1694/95 February 24 ffinlay Ewing, (ffawn), Mary.
1695/96 March 12 ffinlay Ewing, junr. (ffawn), Jean.
1699-1700 March 20 Finlay Ewing, junr. (ffawn), not given.
1701/'02 March 18 Finlay Ewing, junr. (ffawn), not given.
1678 March 26 Margaret daughter to Robert Ewing.
1678 November 17 Elizabeth daughter to Robert Ewing (Elaugh Begg), that is Elagh Beg.
1679/80 January 18 Alexander son to Robert Ewing (Elaugh Beg).
1693 May 17 Mary daughter to Robert Ewing in Inch.
1701 June 22 Robert Ewing (Inch) had Ja: [baptized].
1703 November 14 Robert Ewing, . . . James.
1704 April 27 Robert Ewing (Inch) Janet.
1709 May 15 Robert Ewing (Inch) Sarah.
1679 November 6 Mary daughter to James Ewing.
1680 June 6 John son to James Ewing.
1680/81 January 9 John son to James Ewing.
1682 October 8 Samuel son to James Ewing.
1682 October 29 James son to James Ewing (Elah) [Elagh].
1694/95 March 10 James Ewing (Elaugh) Jean.
1697 May 24 James Ewing (Inch) Ester.
1697 September 26 James Ewing (Elagh) Kathren.
1698/99 January 22 James Ewing (Inch) John.
1700 October 23 James Ewing (Elagh) Umphra.
1701 August 11 James Ewing (Inch) Henry and Samuel.
1703 September 11 James Ewing (Elaghmore) Ja:.
1704 November 5 James Ewing (Inch) Thomas.
1706 June 21 James Ewing (Elaghmore) James?
1680 September 19 Elizabeth daughter to John Ewing
1680/81 February 6 William son to John Ewing.
1682 December 24 James son to John Ewing at Castle qrter of Elah (Castlequarter of Elagh).
1694 July 1 Jean daughter to John Ewing in Carnshanaugh.
1703 October 14 John Ewing (Carnshanaugh) had John [baptized].
1705/6 January 20 John Ewing (Carnshannagh) had Mary [baptized].
1712/13 March 2 John Ewing (Inch) had Thomas [baptized].
1680/81 February 24 George son to William Ewing.
1682 April 2 Frances son to William Ewing
1686/87 March 18 Kathrin daughter of William Ewing and Mary Boggs in Tuban Currah in parish of Fawn {Tooban, adds Kernohan].
1696 July 12 William Ewing (Carnshanagh) had Helener [baptized].
1702 August 14 William Ewing (Carnshanagh) had Elizabeth [baptized].
1709-10 Mch 6 William Ewing (ffanth). "ffanth" here may be Fahan or Fannet, explains Kernohan.
1712 December 23 William Ewing (Luddan) Martha [baptized].
1683 May 27 To James Porter and Jean Ewin in Monesse a daughter Elizabeth [was baptized].
1686 July 18 Jean daughter of Thomas Ewing and Helen McKnit [McNutt] in Inch.
1686 November 23 John son of Patrick Ewing and Jenat Mitchell Moleny [Molenan]. (Doubtless in cases such as this there should be a comma after Mitchell, Molenan being the district.)
1693 March 26 Sarah daughter to Patrick Ewing in Moleny.
1693 April 16 Jean to Patrick Ewing in Inch.
1694/5 March 31 Patrick Ewing (Moleny) had Josias [baptized].
1695 May 26 Patrick Ewing (Inch) had Rebekah [baptized].
1699 June 4 Patrick Ewing (Castlehill) had Sarah [baptized].
1700/1 March 2 Patrick Ewing (Castlehill) had George [baptized].
1701 June 1 Patrick Ewing (Inch) had Humphrey.
1702 June 25 Patrick Ewing (Castlehill) had Joshua.
1704 August 27 Patrick Ewing (Burt) Sam:
1706 December 15 Patrick Ewing (Castlehill) James.
1709 December 25 Patrick Ewing (Castlehill) Anna.
1711/12 March 16 Patrick Ewing (Castlehill) Elizabeth.
1713 May 24 Patrick Ewing (Castlehill) Ester.
1686/7 March 18 Jenat daughter of Humphrey Ewing and Jean Temple.
1694 July 12 William son to Umphra Ewing in ffawn.
1686/7 October 19 Widow Ell Ewing in Castlehill in Burt had Elizabeth baptized.
1693/94 January 12 William to Alexander Ewing in Inch.
1714 May 9 Alexander Ewing (Inch)--William.
1710 October 22 George Ewing (ffanth:) Anna.
1712 August 30 George Ewing (ffanth:) Sarah.
1713 August 26 Samuel Ewing (Elaghmore) James.
Porter Father's name
1701 July 26 Jo: Porter (Carowan) Rachel.
1704 May 21 James Porter (Moleny) Rachel and Leah.
1711 July 5 Josias Porter (Elaghmore) Rachel [She had a brother, James, born 1699, adds Kernohan.]
Kernohan adds this note: "On page 1 you will see, 1714, marriage of Mr. Joshua Ewing. Mistress Sarah Ferguson was probably the daughter of the minister of Burt Congregation, the Rev. Andrew Ferguson. There is a public statue in Derry to a descendant of this minister."
It is clear to my mind that from the foregoing records we get some helpful light upon some of the Cecil County, Maryland, ancestral Ewings. Some of my readers may be able to identify others, do not certainly appear in the foregoing. In May, 1919, Mr. Kernohan wrote me that he expected to be in Derry soon and would then examine any church register he could find there. "As I explained," he says, "it is difficult to get such examinations made." I heard nothing further from him, however.
Some of our traditions are that Nathaniel and those of the near kin who came to America were born in Coleraine, as elsewhere stated. Since Kernohan was unable to locate any old Coleraine records, it is reasonably certain that we now have only part of the records that most concern the ancestors of our family who reached America by way of Ireland.
The following information is taken from the Ireland research report:
APPENDIX 4
REGISTERS OF DERRY CATHEDRAL
1642-1703
Births & Baptism
1656 - 1st May Alexander, son of Alexander Ewing of Penyburne Mill, born & bapt
1656 - 3rd Oct Allexander, son of William Ewing, bapt 9th Oct
1657 - 26th Mar Alexander, son of Alexander Ewing, born 2nd Apr
1658 - 19th Jan Isabell, dtr of John Ewing of this parish
1658 - Dec Joseph, son of Alexander Ewing, of this parish; bapt 30th Dec
1695/6 - 28th Mar Samuall, son of Mr. John Euins and Mary his wife, bapt
1701 - 4th July Mary, dtr of Humphrey Ewing and Isaball his wife, bapt.
Marriages
1655 - 27th Dec William Norrey and Elizabeth Ewing; witnesses William Ewing, Jas Bogs
1658 - 18th Nov banns & marriage, John Ewing of Ray parish and Isabell Nelson; Thos Broome, Thos Burnett and others being present
1660 - 21st Aug banns & marr of Jas Bogs and Jennet Ewing
1683 - 3rd Dec John Ewing and Jennett Wilson; both of this parish, md by licence by Mr. Seth Whitle
1684 - 18th Dec William Martin and Jeane Ewing, both of this parish, by publication
1685 - 5th May Alexander Ewing and Martha Shirrer, both of this parish
1685 - Samual Ewing and Margarat Lenox, both of this parish, md by licence by Mr William Ker, clarck
Note: marr of William Ewing & Agnes Anderson is listed twice, as per book
Burials
1655 - 8th Dec Frances, dtr of William Ewing
1656 - 6th May Alexander, son of Alexander Ewing of Penyburne Mill
1657 - 7th Feb [blank] dtr of Alexander Ewing
1659 - 18th July Alexander Ewing of Penyburne
1675 - 16th Aug [blank] son of Elexender Ewing (page 224)
1684 - 24th May Nathaniel, son of Samuel Ewing and Katherine his wife
1685 - 3rd May Margaret Ewing, widow
1686 - 2nd April Katherine Ewing widow, of Bart
1686 - 24 June Thomas, son of Alexander Ewing and Elizabeth his wife
1694 - 24th Feb Robert, son of Alexander Ewing and Elizabeth his wife
1695 - 22nd April James, son of Samuel Ewing and Margratt his wife (note, his son p. 224)
1695/6 - 1st Mar Mary, dtr of Samuall Ewing and Margaret his wife
1697/8 - 3rd mar Samual, son of Samual Ewing and Margaret his wife
1701 - 3rd Aug Mr. Samual Ewing
Misc.
1654 - 20th June Thos Ewing witness ar marr of Rory O’Ruddan & Agness McDevitt
1661 - 20th Mar Jennett Ewing gossip (godparent) to Josia Porter, son of William
1664 - 27th Mar John & Isabell Ewing gossips to Isabell McKall
APPENDIX 6
REGISTERS OF DERRY CATHEDRAL
1703-c, 1750
Baptism, Marriages & Burials - a lot [are] illegible. It appears that the dates were written in the report as they were recorded in the ledgers. The calendar change was not considered. The second date below most likely should have been written as 1st Feb 1712/13.
Baptisms
May 1705 John son of William Ewing & Hannaw his wife
1st Feb 1712 William son of Joshua Ewing & Margaret, wife
27th July 1712 Jeane dtr of Joshua/Joseph Ewing & Margaret
4th Apr 1725 Ann dtr of John Porter & Sarah Deal
17th Sept 1726 Sarah dtr of William Joshua Ewing & Sarah
4th July 1728 James son of Joseph Porter & Mary
Burials
14th Nov 1706 Mary dtr of John Ewing & Mary his wife
3rd Jan 1707 William son of Joshua Ewing & Mary
11th Oct 1708 James son of James Ewing & Mary
6th Jan 1709 John son of Humphrey Ewing & Eliz.
23rd Feb 1710 John son of James Ewing & Mary, wife
16th June 1713 Samuel son of Samuel Ewing & Margaret
29th June 1713 Jean (later overwritten as Margaret wife of Joshua Ewing
13th May 1714 John Ewing
Feb 1718 William Ewing (merchant)
May 1718 Jeane. Dtr of Joshua Ewing & Mary
Apr 1719 Sara dtr of Joshua Ewing & Sara his wife
May 1719 Margaret dtr of William Ewing & Jean his wife
May 1719 Edward son of William Ewing (decd) & Mary, wife
Nov 1719 Samuel son of Samuel Ewing (decd) & Margaret, wife
Dec 1719 Samuel son of William Ewing (decd) & Joan his wife
1721 John Ewing, alderman(?)
1st June 1723 Mary dtr of Joshua Ewing & Mary his wife
12th Apr 1724 Eliz. wife of Humphrey Ewing
1724 Mary dtr of Joshua Ewing & Mary his wife
16th Aug 1724 Mary dtr of Joshua Ewing & Mary his wife
1st Jan 1726 William Ewing
19th June 1728 John Ewing
2nd Jan 1730 Ann dtr of Humphrey Ewing & Eliz his wife
14th Apr 1730 Mrs. Mary Ewing
14th Mar 1731 Samuel Ewing junior
23rd July 1732? Mrs. Margaret Ewing
Aug 1740 Jane dtr of Humphrey Ewing
Marriages
30th Aug 1709 Stephen Young & Margaret Porter
23rd Jan 1710 Robert Deane & Margaret Porter
14th Dec 1712 Adam Porter & Jennet Lockard
21st Feb 1718 George Hegarty & Elinor Ewing
21st Apr 1718 Samuel Ewing & Jane Gardner
2nd Mar 1721/2 Nathaniel Ewing & Reachall Porter
8th Jan 1723 James McVane & Isabell Porter
17th Apr 1724 James Houston & Jane Ewing
1724 Robert Porter & Jane Loughlin
7th Jan 1725 Andrew Lathan & Jane Porter
June 1725 William Ewing & Jean McCron
July 1725 James Graham & Martha Ewing
5th May 1726 Adam Stewart & Ann Ewing
26th Sep 1726 Joseph Edwards & Jane Porter
26th Sep 1726 Hugh Conor & Sarah Porter
10th Feb 1732 Robert McConor & Jane Porter
Oct 1735 James Gratt(?) & Jane Porter
Dec 1726 Robert Porter & Jane Walker
Aug 1740 David Porter & Rebecca Brymer
Jan 1741 John Ewing & Eliz Boyd