The race of the Scotch-Irish, or Scots in Ireland, goes back in time far beyond the Plantation of Ulster. In fact, much of the bloodline of the Wild Scots of the Highlands and Islands began in Ireland with the family of Conn of the Hundred Fights, who ruled Ireland from the Hill of Tara. Descendants of Conn, especially Colla Uais and Fergus McErc, settled the western shores of Scotland, and were known as Clan Colla, for centuries. There, their descendants, especially Gillebride and his son, Somerled, fought with and intermarried with the Vikings, creating what is essentially the more modern Gaelic race.
Somerled's grandson, Donald, is the man for whom Clan Donald is named. He was a mix of Celtic and Viking blood and his family led a type of warrior group known as Gallóglaigh (in Celtic) or more commonly as Galloglass or Gallowglass. These Scots warriors returned to Ireland as mercenaries and are arguably some of the first Scotch-Irish, Scottish-Irish.
Donald's son was Angus Mor (Big Angus). Angus Mor's son was another Angus, Angus Og (Young Angus).
Angus Og married Agnes O'Cahan, daughter of the great Irish Lord of Limvady who was a descendant of Niall of the Nine Hostages and ruled near Derry, at Dungiven, where the McQuiston family left Ireland from.
Agnes' dowry included 140 men out of every surname in the O'Cahan territory, who were married to 140 women from the Highlands and the Islands. Some of these families moved to Scotland and others made their home in Ireland, and, again, are some of the earliest Scotch-Irish.
During the struggle for Scottish independence that led to the Battle of Bannockburn, Angus Og supported Robert the Bruce. In 1306, when Bruce was on the run and virtually without friends, Angus Og sheltered him on Rathlin Island off the Antrim coast. In the spring, Bruce returned to Scotland and resumed the struggle for independence. At the Battle of Bannockburn, in 1314, Angus Og, leading the men from the Hebrides, was greeted by Bruce with, "My hope is constant in thee."
Angus' son, Good King John of Islay, had two sons who led Clan Donald. One named Donald led Clan Donald North whose territory ranged from the Isle of Skye, where the McQuiston name began, to Islay, which is located less than 15 miles off the Antrim coast. The other son, Jon Mor, married Margaret Bisset, heiress to Antrim and this group became Clan Donald South. One of Jon Mor's descendants married Donald Gallach McHuiston, and their son, Alexander, brought his sons and others to Antrim in 1565 to defend his cousin, Sorley Boy McDonnell, descendant of Jon Mor. This was when our family became specifically Scotch-Irish.
These Scots, in Ireland, were first called the “Scotch-Irish” by their enemy, Queen Elizabeth of England, on April 14, 1573. This is the oldest known use of these specific words, although I have found similar words to describe these earlier groups of Scots in Ireland, such as Scoto-Hibernians, and others.
As explained earlier, it was Sorley who made a deal with Hugh Montgomery and ultimately with James Hamilton to begin the Plantation of Ulster, which brought the more traditionally thought of Scotch-Irish to Ireland. It is often said that this race is made up principally of Lowlanders but this is proven false simply by the great number of Mc names considered Scotch-Irish. The only place in the world where the prefix Mc was used on a regular basis was in the Highlands. It was not common at all in the Lowlands. In Ireland, the prefix O' was used as in O'Brien, O'Neill, etc. The earliest Scotch-Irish were typically Highlanders, while the those coming in the Plantation of Ulster were more often Lowland Scots.
I have obviously studied this in depth. I am proud of the courage and strength of these Scots in Ireland, and their centuries old fight for freedom. They brought that fight to America. Some will argue against the significance of their role in the Revolution, based solely on their percentage of the total population in the colonies, but, again, there is a very simple proof of it. The territory that became the original 13 colonies was settled as early as the Jamestown Colony of 1607. It wasn't until the Scotch-Irish began major migration to America that talk of revolt began. And it didn't take long. The first declaration of independence from England took place just 25 years later.
The first shipload of Scotch-Irish immigrants arrived in Boston harbor in 1718. We most likely had family on that boat and many of the same families spread from New England to the Susquehanna settlements, to the Carolinas, making up the revolutionary forces of many local militias and of Washington's troop. The Craigheads first came to New England. They moved like many others to the Susquehanna settlements. From there they were off to the Carolinas spreading revolt as they went.
In 1743, in a small church called Middle Octoraro, where Alexander Craighead was the minister, a group of Scotch-Irish declared their independence from King George, during a celebration of the Scottish National Covenant. Benjamin Franklin, a shirt-tail relative of Craighead, covered the event in his Philadelphia newspaper. My McCuistons were there that day, as were my wife’s Calhouns. England, still to this day, receives extreme criticism in the Scottish, Irish, and Scotch-Irish worlds that I travel in. Most of my fellow Scotch-Irish hold their heads very high over the accomplishments and involvement of our family in the fight for freedom.
We played a very substantial role in the American Revolution. We were tightly associated with revolutionaries like Craighead and Caldwell. In Pennsylvania, my direct ancestor, James McQuiston, lived on land granted from the Penn family, and served as a spy. Many in our Pennsylvania family served openly. Anthony McQuiston was a bombadier in the young Colonial navy. Ebenezer Denny, whose aunt married Robert McQuiston, and from whose family I also descend, was a reasonably famous hero of the Revolution. He wrote the most often quoted description of the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
Up in New England, McQuestens served the new country as soldiers, and in South Carolina McQuistons provided supplies to the Colonial Army and sheltered colonists from the Tories.
In North Carolina, the McCuistions lived right on the edge of what would become the battlefield of the Guilford Courthouse Battle. Three days before the battle Cornwallis took over the McCuistion home and stationed his troops at David Caldwell's home and Log College. Thomas McCuistion and David Caldwell were hiding together in a thicket, as there was a price on both their heads. They had both been involved as Regulators in what has been called the very first battle of the Revolution - the Battle of Alamance, of 1771. David tried to negotiate a peace between the two sides and left before the battle, but Thomas stayed and fought.
Ten years later, Thomas' son, Buffalo Tom McCuistion, became baggage master for General Nathanael Greene at the big Guilford battle. Even Thomas senior's wife, Ann Moody McCuistion, fought at the battle by loading rifles and taking a few shots herself. At the battlefield, today, there is a marker showing a pioneer woman doing just this on the courthouse steps. We were told by the battlefield guide that this might well be Ann, herself, depicted there. Many other family members fought that day and throughout the Carolina campaign. Greene retreated down McCuiston Road and crossed at McCuiston Bridge owned by Reedy Fork Tom McCuiston, another family member. Greene took refuge at Lanier's Iron Works. Lanier's son was married to a McCuistion girl and Thomas McQuiston, senior, and David Caldwell caught up with Greene at the Iron Works the same night as the battle. We were extremely tangled in the Revolution and have great documentation of it.
We have a strong, and somewhat proven story of Andrew Jackson also being in Guilford on that day. He is proven to have been there at other times. He was related to our family, and our tradition is that he stayed for a while with Thomas and Ann Moody McCuistion, and attended Caldwell's Log College. According to our tradition Jackson came to Ann in the morning just before Cornwallis arrived, to help her hide the McCuistion treasure worth an estimated $25,000 in money of the day. This money found its way to Sam Houston to pay Texas war debts, through Ann's son, Robert, one of the first financiers of Texas, who was given 10,000 acres of Texas in return, the deed for which still exists.
I traveled to Scotland, three times, and to Northern Ireland, in 2005. In Ireland I visited all the old family haunts from Torr Point, where the signal fire was lit to bring Alexander McHuiston and his sons to Ireland, to Bonamargy Friary, where Sorely Boy is buried. In Belfast we attended a service at McQuiston Church and later met with family member, Norman Parkes, who is a professor at Queen's University. He supplied us with lots of family information.
We visited Dunluce Castle from where Sorley Boy ruled. Not far below is Dungiven from where our McQuiston family left Ireland. There, in Murphy's Pub, we played our brand of Irish music. The next day we walked the walls of Derry that Daniel McCuistion so bravely defended. Later, we found the ancient Crosh House, home to the Calhouns, located in Tyrone, a county also home to my McGonnell family.
My sources have been many for my research and include family tradition, the Internet, ancient books, and travel to actual locations. I have been aware of the conflict in Northern Ireland for many years. It was brought to the world's attention, more recently, through the songs of Sinead O'Conner, The Cranberries, and U2. While in Ireland we saw it firsthand. Just before we arrived the IRA carried out the largest robbery in history, stealing about 80 million dollars (about 40 million pounds) from the Bank of Ulster. While in Belfast, we read where three IRA members killed one of their accomplices who threatened to talk, not far from where we were staying. You could not read the newspaper or listen to the TV or radio without hearing about this.
When we arrived in Dungiven we saw a plaque in the sidewalk marking where the first victim of the "modern troubles" was gunned down. His name was McCloskey and he died in 1969. We read the plaque and walked a block away to check out Murphy's Pub, to get ready for later that evening. As we returned to our room, about dusk, we could see where someone had relieved themselves on the plaque. On one side of the street was a Sinn Fein headquarters. On the opposite side was the home of the Orange Men. Both buildings were barred and chained. When we finally got to Londonderry, we walked its famous wall. We saw the guard towers everywhere and we looked down on the spot that U2 made famous with the song Bloody Sunday. We were careful not to mention politics or religion.
I have a disclaimer in that my McQuistons were Presbyterian but my McGonnells were Catholic. Both fought in the 1688-89 battles between the kings, James and William.
Even in America one needs to be careful. Once, we were to play music in an Irish bar, near Pittsburgh. As we entered the building, the owner handed me an Irish Republican Army newspaper. The picture above the fold was of a masked man carrying a machine gun. We were in IRA territory and in fact we were told the owner was one of those whose raise money, in America, for the IRA cause in Ireland.
I asked to speak to him privately and told him we played both kinds of music, Green and Orange, and that if this were a problem we would just leave. He admitted he was a "mutt" himself, and it would be OK. It was the wildest job I have ever played and actually put me in the local Emergency Room for exhaustion and hypertension.
So I have seen it, and escaped it.
My relative, Ian McQuiston, is Director for the National Trust, Northern Ireland. My relative, Jim McQuiston, is active in preserving Dundonald Castle, in Scotland. At Troon, Scotland, location of the world's first Open Golf Championship, one of the tournaments is called the McQuiston Cup. In Belfast, is McQuiston Church, the largest Presbyterian congregation ever, in Ireland, or probably for that matter anywhere in the world.
On the Isle of Skye is found Uisdean Castle and the town of MhicCuithean, both named for our family. On North Uist is Dun Uisdean. In the Yukon there is McQuesten Lake, three McQuesten Rivers, three McQuesten Roads, the McQuesten Mineral Belt, the McQuesten Airstrip, and more. In the lower 48 you'll find McQuistion/McCuistion Roads, McQuiston Corners and other name places. McQuiston Manor, in Pennsylvania, was part of the Underground Railroad. McCuiston Mansion, in Kentucky, was a former slave plantation. In Texas was McCuistion Ranch, located just 50 miles from Sam Houston’s home.
My family, and that of my wife's, have been intimately involved in the Scotch- Irish experience from its very beginnings, with the Gallowglass and the marriage of Angus Og and Angnes O'Cahan. My family was there beside Sorley Boy when Queen Elizabeth coined the term Scotch-Irish and mentioned the "others" who included us. My wife's families of Montgomery and Hamilton were the very men who created the Plantation of Ulster. My family, the McDonnells in Antrim, brought Montgomery and Hamilton to Ireland.
The McQuistons were at the Siege of Derry. We were most likely on the first boat out of the Bann Valley, where we had, and still have, a very strong presence. We were at the first Scotch-Irish declaration of independence, of 1743, in the Susquehanna settlements. We were at the Guilford Courthouse Battle, probably the most-decisive battle of the Revolution, where Cornwallis lost one-quarter of his very best troops. We were at many other battles during the Revolution, from New England, to Pennsylvania, to the Carolinas.
We are still in Ireland and Scotland, preserving history, and in America, living in nearly every Scotch-Irish stronghold. We were some of the first to settle western Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, Texas, and the Yukon. Hundreds of us have served our country in battle and in government offices. Our blood flowed in Andrew Jackson's veins. He was first to fight to preserve the Union. He wrote papers later used by Lincoln, and fought his own vice-president, John C. Calhoun, another patriotic Scotch-Irishman, over state's rights. Jackson is the only president to leave office with no national debt, and the only president to have an era named for him - The Jacksonian Era.
The Scotch-Irish are the Celts of Zurich and Munich and Milan. They are the Vikings of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. They are the Wild Scots of the Highlands and Islands, and the gentry of the Lowlands, landed in the Irish green valley of the Bann - industrious, courageous, persistent. They are the rebels of the Revolution, the explorers of North America. They are nothing less than the strong who survived – from the Alps, to Alba, to Antrim, to America.