Great Wagon Road

Most of the Scots and Irish entered the colonies through the port of Philadelphia between 1717 - 1775 and from there settled in those Pennsylvania counties lying west of that city, Lancaster County having one of the largest populations. From Pennsylvania, many of the immigrants took the "Great Wagon Road" south into the great Shenandoah Valley of Virginia (see map).

After the 1707 Union of the Parliaments, trade between Scotland and America dramatically increased. Merchants began to take advantage of the huge opportunities available in the New World, especially in the tobacco trade. Emigration by this group was mostly to Virginia where the tobacco trade was strongest.

The Scottish emigrants of the 18th Century were an educated group due to the Scottish Reformation, which had stressed the need for education, allowing every Scot the ability to read the bible.

Scottish emigration to America came in two streams—one direct from the motherland and the other through the province of Ulster in the north of Ireland. Throughout their residence in Ireland the Scots settlers preserved their distinctive Scottish characteristics, and generally described themselves as "the Scottish nation in the north of Ireland."

They, of course, like the early pioneers in this country, experienced certain changes through the influence of their new surroundings, but, as one writer has remarked, they "remained as distinct from the native population as if they had never crossed the Channel. They were among the Irish but not of them." Their sons, too, when they attended the classes in the University of Glasgow, signed the matriculation register as "A Scot of Ireland." They did not intermarry with the native Irish, though they did intermarry to some extent with the English Puritans and with the French Huguenots. (These Huguenots were colonies driven out of France by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, and induced to settle in the north of Ireland by William III. To this people Ireland is indebted for its lace industry, which they introduced into that country.)

William Gooch, the Royal Governor of Virginia from 1728-1749, had encouraged them to settle in this valley hoping that they would make a valuable buffer between the Indian Tribes who lived west of the Allegheny Mountains and the English planters who resided in the Virginia Tidewater region.

The term "Scotch-Irish" was applied to a group of these early settlers to distinguish them from the Irish that had already settled in this area. This term was not particularly appreciated by the Ulster Scots who immigrated from Northern Ireland, or for the Scots that immigrated from Scotland and happened to be lumped into this category through association. It was not a term of endearment when the English in the colonies established it.

Initially, the Scotch-Irish immigrants were not particularly admired by the other Virginia colonists. The great Virginia planter and man of letters, William Byrd II, compared this Scotch-Irish immigration as being like unto the fourth century invasion of the Goths and Vandals into the Roman Empire! Back in Britain, Edmund Burke, the noted Protestant Irish political philosopher and essayist, wrote in 1757 that: "The number of white people in Virginia is between sixty and seventy thousand; and they are growing every day more numerous, by the migration of the Irish, who not succeeding so well in Pennsylvania as the more frugal and industrious Germans, sell their lands in that province to the latter, and take up new ground in the remote counties in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina. These are chiefly Presbyterians from the Northern part of Ireland, who in America are generally called Scotch-Irish."

The Scots and Irish preferred to live near the mountains in rugged country that was primarily occupied by the Native Americans. Most of the time, fatal battles broke out between the Indians and the colonists where homes and property were burnt to the ground. This constant fighting didn't deter these early pioneers. For the most part, they were content with being able to practice their religion and live their lives as far away as they could from the English crown and rule. Religious freedom played a major part in their migration not only from their country of origin, but also within the American colonies.

Many of them also headed west by using the rugged wilderness trail established by Daniel Boone or even further south into North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. They also assimilated with French-Huguenots and Germans who were also seeking religious freedom.

One of the families that came to America from Ireland was William Irvine, b.1690 in Scotland (Aberdeen?) and married Annie Craig in Larne, Ulster, Ireland. Mr. Irvine settled in Bedford County, VA around 1725 and sent for his two sons, Christopher and David, in 1729. Christopher traveled on to Georgia, while David settled in Madison County, KY. On August 29, 1754, the following was recorded in Lunenburg/Bedford County VA tax:

To Wm Irvine, Assignee of Wm Goings, August 29, 1754, Zach’s Isbel, 100(lbs. tobacco)

We believe this is OUR William Gowin/Goin and the same of Lunenburg/Bedford County that was listed as a tithable of Wm. Callaway in 1752 as recorded by John Phelps. John Phelps granddaughter was Judith Pollard, wife of Joseph Gowin, son of William Gowin.