A GAELIC SETTLEMENT IN NORTH CAROLINA The Weekly Raleigh Register (Raleigh, North Carolina), Wednesday, October 24, 1860 Contact: Myrtle Bridges May 3, 2016
In a letter which the Inverness Courier has received from a friend in North Carolina, are the following interesting particulars: It may be interesting to some of our readers to learn that Scotch Highlanders were among the first settlers of the state of North Carolina. The majority of them were from the Hebrides, from Islay, Jura, Mull, Coll and Skye, and not a few from the mainland of Argyll. The precise date of the landing of the first Scotch emigrants in the Carolinas cannot be well ascertained. It appears that Scotch families were settled on the Cape Fear river previous to the division of the province into North and South Carolina in 1779. Some time between 1744 and 1746 a Highlander, named Niel Macniel, from Argyllshire, visited North Carolina. He returned to Scotland in 1748, and in the following year landed in Wilmington, North Carolina, with his family and about 300 emigrants (some say 600) from the district of Kintyre, Argyllshire. It is said that upon the arrival of so unusual an importation at Wilmington the authorities, struck with the dress and language of the new comers, required Macniel to enter into a bond for their peaceful and good behaviour. Perhaps the war-like spirit of the Celtic race struck the Wilmingtonians with such terror as led to the demand of the bond. Our intrepid countryman managed to evade the demand and ascend the Cape Fear with this band of his countrymen. From this period the emigration was yearly on the increase. Mr. McDonald of Kingsburgh, and his lady the far-famed Flora Macdonald, famous for her adherence to the unfortunate Pretender, Prince Charles, in his forlorn condition after his defeat at Culloden, emigrated with a number of others from the Isle of Skye, so that every year added to the number of Scotch Highland emigrants until they soon formed the majority of the population and controlled the civil and ecclesiastical interests of no less than seven counties, viz: Cumberland, Bladen, Robeson, Richmond, Montgomery, Moore and Harnett. The Gaelic language is spoken in its purity by many in these counties, and in both my churches I preach in it every Sabbath. On last Sabbath I assisted at the dispensation of the Lord's Supper in a congregation 40 miles distance from my home; and preached and served a table at which upward of 150 had taken their seats, who have not heard a sermon in the language of their childhood for the last ten years. Many a tear was shed during the service, many a warm shake of hand, such as a Highlander can give, was given and many a blessing was bestowed upon your correspondent at parting with the warm-hearted people. The Rev. Collin Maciver, a native of Stornoway, Lews, was the preacher who could preach in Gaelic till I came to the state two years ago. He died in this town in 1850, much respected and regretted by his countrymen in North Carolina. I will state an instance of the preponderance of the Scotch Highlanders in this state. The North Carolina Presbyterian, a religious paper and the organ of our Synod, published in the town of Fayetteville, has upwards of 800 Macs on its list of subscribers, besides those who claim the honor of pertaining as much to the Celtic race as those who bear that ancient patronymic. The Presbytery of Fayetteville, of which I and one of my sons are members, has 13 Macs among its clerical members and seven others who will not yield the palm to their breathern of the Mac families in tracing their Celtic origin; and thence our Presbytery has the cognomen of the Scotch Presbytery, given to us by our brethren of the Synod of North Carolina.
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