CONGRESS
E184 S4S4 V. 7
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
HON JOHN M. SCOTT.
THE ScoTCH-Iii
PROCEEDS \ND A
SEVF.NTH ( -GRES
LEXINGTON, VA., 20-23
OF
THV of \N"
HON JOHN M. SCOTT.
THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA,
PROCEEDINGS AND ADDRESSES
SEVENTH CONGRESS,
AT
LEXINGTON, VA., JUNE 20-23, 1895
PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF
THE SCOTCH-IRISH SOCIETY OP AMERICA.
NASHVILLE, TENN.: BARBEE & SMITH, AGENTS.
COPYRIGHT, 1895. SCOTCH-IRISH SOCIETY OF AMERICA.
S4S4
CONTENTS OF VOLUME VII.
PART I.
FRONTISPIECE — ENGRAVING OF JUDGE JOHN M. SCOTT. PAGE.
OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY 1
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 3
LIFE MEMBERS 4
COXSTITUTIO-N AND BY-LAWS 5
COMMITTEES OF THE LOCAL ORGANIZATION 9
CONTRIBUTORS TO EXPENSE FUND 10
THE SEVENTH CONGRESS. By A. C. Floyd 11
A LEXINGTON IMPRESSION 19
IMPRESSIONS OF A DELEGATE 20
PROCEEDINGS. FIRST SESSION OF THE CONGRESS.
Opening exercises. 22
Judge McLaughlin's address of welcome 23
Gov. O'Ferrall introduced by Judge McLaughlin 24
Gov. O'Ferrall's address of welcome 24
President Bonner's response 28
Remarks of Dr. Macintosh 29
President Bonner's introduction of Hon. Joseph A. Waddell 31
President Bonner's thanks to the ladies 31
Invitation to the reception * 31
SECOND SESSION OF THE CONGRESS.
Devotional exercises 32
President Bonner's introduction of Prof. White 33
Nominations of new members. ... 33
Dr. Graham's paper, read by Dr. Bryson : 34
Invitation of Virginia Military Institute 35
BUSINESS MEETING.
Devotional exercises 35
Report of the Executive Committee, including financial statement. . 36
Report of the Auditing Committee 40
Appointment of Committee on Nominations 40
Election of State Secretaries 41
Report of Committee on Nominations 41
Election of a Vice President for Massachusetts 43
Mr. Carlisle elected State Secretary for Indiana 43
Nomination and election of new members 44
Discussion of references to authors 44
Dr. Hall's suggestion concerning editorial notices 46
(iii.)
IV. THE SCOTCH-IBISH IN AMERICA.
THIRD SESSION OF THE CONGRESS. PAGE.
Devotional exercises 48
President Bonner's introduction of Dr. Bryson 48
Invitation to hold the next Congress in Harrisburg delivered by
Hon. M. W. McAlarney 49
Invitation to Denver read by Dr. Macintosh 51
Invitations referred to the Executive Committee 52
President Bonner's introduction of Dr. Hall 52
Dr. Hall's address „ 53
Prof. Quarles's address 58
Nomination and election of new members 60
FOURTH SESSION OF THE CONGRESS.
Devotional exercises 60
Hon. A. C. Gordon introduced by President Bonner 61
President Bonner's introduction of Prof. Macloskie 62
Dr. RufFner's paper submitted by Dr. Macintosh 62
Nomination and election of new members 63
Paper on Gen. Benjamin Logan, submitted by Mr. Bruce 63
FIFTH SESSION OP THE CONGRESS.
Devotional exercises 64
Dr. Hervey McDowell introduced by President Bonner 65
President Bonner's introduction of Dr. Macintosh 65
Mr. Helm Bruce introduced by President Bonner 65
Hon. Henry St. George Tucker's address 66
Report of Committee on Resolutions 69
Harrisburg announced as the next place of meeting 70
Benediction by Dr. Brygon 70
LETTERS.
Invitations from Harrisburg, Pa 72
Invitations from Colorado 72
Invitation from San Jose". Cal 75
PART II.
ADDRESSES.
SCOTCH-IRISH OF THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. By Hon. Joseph A. Wad- dell, of Staunton, Va. Description of the Valley; Gov. Spots- wood's expedition; first German settlers; John Lewis and his band; description of the first settlers of Augusta County; first Presbyterian minister; first military organization; original county1 court; punishments inflicted on law breakers; French and Indian war; battle of Point Pleasant; founding of Augusta Academy in 1749, and its evolution into Washington and Lee University; the Revolutionary War; all the Scotch-Irish were patriots; officers and men furnished the Continental army ; European origin of the set tlers; why they did not stay in Pennsylvania; sketches of some of
CONTENTS OP VOLUME VII. V.
PAGE.
the most prominent men; furnished many noted ministers; some of the distinguished families; emigrants to Kentucky; Gen. Sam Houston, Gov. McNutt, and Zachary Taylor among the great men the Valley has given to the nation; the Valley people as they now are ; a reproduction of a scene from " Cotter's Saturday Night" 79
THE PRESIDENTS OF THE WASHINGTON COLLEGE IN VIRGINIA. By Rev. Henry Alexander White, Ph.D., D.D. Outline sketch of the history of the school under its various names; Augusta Academy founded by Robert Alexander; Rector William Graham head of the school when it first received the name of Liberty Hall Academy; the school endowed by Washington and the name of Washington Academy given to it; Dr. George A. Baxter, first President of Washington College; his personal appearance and characteristics; some of the great men whose minds he trained ; President Louis Marshall, M.D., brother of Chief Justice John Marshall; did not hold the position long; President Henry Vethake, LL.D., after wards connected with the University of Pennsylvania ; President Henry Ruffner, D.D., LL.D. ; pen picture of him ; sketch of his origin and career; patronage of the school greatly extended; some of the books which he wrote; some of the scholars who received direction from him ; President George Junkin, D D. ; sketch of him by Mrs. Margaret J. Preston, poetess of the South; poem to his memory; President Robert E. Lee; prostrate condition of the college when the great Confederate General became its President; motives that prompted him to accept the position; the influence of his example; how he lived and labored; growth of the college under his guidance; some of the benefactors of the institution 100
THE BROTHERS ROGERS. By W. H. Ruffner, LL.D., of Lexington, Va. Four brothers who were all eminent in science; their ancestry; sketch of their father, Patrick K. Rogers, who was himself a college professor; the brothers educated at William and Mary College; Sketch of James Blythe Rogers, a great chemist and Professor of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania; William Barton Rogers succeeded his father as professor in William and Mary College; dominant family tendency led him into natural science; a strong and original investigator; first State Geologist of Virginia; the first scientist to read, describe, and publish to the world the true rock strata of America; divides the honors with his brother, Henry; his reports did incalculable service to science, and were of inestimable value in the development of Virginia's natural re sources; professor in the University of Virginia; his works on sci entific subjects of various kinds; his last years spent in Boston; Henry Darwin Rogers made Professor of Geology in the University of Pennsylvania while comparatively young; appointed State Geolo gist of New Jersey before he was twenty-seven years old ; made geo logical surveys of New Jersey and Pennsylvania while his brother William was engaged in doing the same service for Virginia; all four brothers engaged in the same kind of work simultaneously; no
Vlll. THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
PAGE.
ginia; powder conveyed from Pittsburg to Kentucky; stops Indian raids by carrying war into their own country; his campaign against the British and Indians authorized by the government of Virginia; how he raised the necessary troops ; his force consisted of only one hundred and thirty-five men; splendid character of the soldiers; how he captured Kaskaskia; Cahokia voluntarily surrendered; Hamil ton's savage plan ; Rogers's schemes to defeat him ; graphic picture of the march to Vincennes; complete victory for the Americans; great results of Clark's success; his last expedition against the Indi ans; treaties which he made with the Indians: his last years not happy ; left penniless and deserted ; his grave at Louisville 210
GEN. BENJAMIN LOGAN. By Mrs. Margaret Fleming Rogers. Gen. Logan's ancestry ; born in Augusta County, Va. ; no means of obtain ing an education; his removal to Abingdon, Va.; his marriage to Ann Montgomery; takes part in the Boquet expedition; his settle ment in Kentucky ; one of the very first of the pioneers ; defense of his fort; heroic adventures; expedition against Chillicothe, O. ; fight with the Indians; expedition against the Indians of the Northwest; his children and descendants; members of the State conventions and of the Legislature ; great qualities as a citizen 230
ROBERT GRAY, OF ROCKINGHAM. By Miss Anne H. Ruffner, of Lexing ton, Va. ; pen picture of the great lawyer ; born in County Donegal, Ireland ; educated at Winchester and Princeton ; appointed Common wealth's Attorney, 1811 ; on one side or the other of all great cases ; be came very wealthy ; refused to enter politics ; some extracts showing esteem in which he was held by the bar ; married Miss Isabella Lock- hart Waterman 242
CLOSING EXERCISES OF THE CONGRESS.
Services opened by Dr. John S. Macintosh — Psalm c. read and sung — Reading of the Scripture; prayer by Dr. J. H. Bryson — Psalin Ixviii. read and expounded by Dr. Macintosh — Dr. John Hall's sermon — Psalm xix. sung by the congregation — benediction by Dr. John
Hall. . . 247
IN ME MORI AM'.
Adam Gillespio Adams 270
Bryce Stewart 272
A. S. Latty 274
William P. Clarke 274
James McWhorter McRee 275
George Morrow 276
William Holmes 277
William G. Means 277
John Reid 277
John Satterfield ,277
Rev. Charles Scott 277
John Taylor 277
Capt. James G. Shields 277
Rev. A. P. Happer 27?
CONTENTS OF VOLUME VII. ix.
LIST OF MEMBERS, PAGE.
The Scotch-Irish Society of America 278
The Scotch-Irish Society of California 367
The Scotch- Irish Society of Pennsylvania : 372
The Scotch-Irish Society of Alabama 37$
The Scotch-Irish Society of Kentucky 379
The Scotch-Irish Society of Atlanta 381
The Scotch-Irish Society of Georgia 384
The Scotch-Irish Society of Tennessee 384
The Scotch-Irish Society of Virginia 386
The Scotch-Irish Society of North Carolina 387
The Scotch-Irish Society of Iowa 387
CONTENTS OP VOLUME 1 389
CONTENTS OF VOLUME II , 390
CONTENTS OF VOLUME III 391
CONTENTS OF VOLUME IV ., 392
CONTENTS OF VOLUME V 394
CONTENTS OF VOLUME VI , „ . 395
THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
PART I.
• OFFICEES OF THE SCOTCH-IEISH SOCIETY OF AMEEICA.
President. EGBERT BONNER, New York City.
Vice President General. EEV. JOHN S. MACINTOSH, D.D., Philadelphia, Pa.
First Vice President at Large. T. T. WRIGHT, Nashville, Tenn.
Second Vice President at Large. EEV. J. H. BRYSON, D.D., Huntsville, Ala.
Secretary. A. C. FLOYD, Chattanooga, Tenn.
Treasurer. JOHN MclLHENNY, Philadelphia, Pa.
Vice Presidents for States and Territories. Massachusetts. — JOHN A. AIKEN, Greenfield. Connecticut. — HON. D. S. CALHOUN, Hartford. New Hampshire. — HON. LEONARD A. MORRISON, Canobie Lake. New York. — DR. JOHN HALL, New York City. Pennsylvania. — COL. A. K. McCLURE, Philadelphia. New Jersey. — HON. THOMAS N. MCCARTER, Newark.
(1)
2 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
Ohio. — HON. W. H. HUNTER, Steubenville.
Illinois. — HON. J. M. SCOTT, Bloomington.
Iowa. — HON. P. M. CASSADY, Des Moines.
Florida. — DR. GEORGE TROUP MAXWELL, Jacksonville.
Alabama. — IRWIN CRAIGHEAD, Mobile.
Michigan. — HON. B. M. CUTCHEON, Grand Kapids.
Texas. — HON. SAM P. COCHRAN, Dallas.
Minnesota. — HON. S. J. E. MCMILLAN, St. Paul.
Maine. — HON. JOSIAH H. DRUMMOND, Portland.
Indiana. — HON. J. B. WHITE, Fort Wayne.
Nebraska. — HON. W. H. ALEXANDER, Omaha.
California. — EEV. FRANK P. THOMPSON, Eedwood.
Virginia. — HON. WILLIAM WIRT HENRY, Eichmond.
West Virginia. — MR. JAMES ARCHER, of Brooke County; post
office, Steubenville, O.
North Carolina. — HON. S. B. ALEXANDER, Charlotte. Georgia. — COL. G. W. ADAIR, Atlanta. Mississippi. — ET. EEV. HUGH MILLER THOMPSON, Jackson. Louisiana. — HON. WILLIAM PRESTON JOHNSTON, New Orleans. Kentucky. — DR. HERVEY McDowELL, Cynthiana. Oregon. — EEV. THOMAS MCCLELLAND, Forest Grove. Canada. — EEV. STUART ACHESON, Toronto. Ontario, Canada. — HON. A. T. WOOD, Hamilton.
State Secretaries.
New Jersey. — PROP. GEORGE MACLOSKIE, Princeton.
Kentucky. — HELM BRUCE, Louisville.
Texas. — W. HUGH HUNTER, Dallas.
Iowa. — MR. W. H. FLEMING, Des Moines.
Ohio. — TOD B. GALLOWAY, Columbus.
Michigan. — JAMES B. McKAY, Detroit.
Alabama. — FRANK P. GLASS, Montgomery.
West Virginia. — HON. JOHN FREW, Wheeling.
New York. — JOHN SINCLAIR, No. 1 Broadway, New York City.
Indiana. — C. A. CARLISLE, South Bend.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
ROBERT BONNER, President.
DR. JOHN S. MACINTOSH, Vice President General.
ex officio members. A. C. FLOYD, Secretary.
JOHN MclLHENNT, Treasurer.
PROF. GEORGE MACLOSKIE, Princeton, JN". J.
MR. HENRY WALLACE, Des Moines, la.
DR. JOHN W. DINSMORE, San Jose, CaL
DR. J. H. BRYSON, Huntsville, Ala.
DR. EGBERT PILLOW, Columbia, Tenn.
MR. HELM BRUCE, Louisville, Ky.
MB. "W. HUGH HUNTER. Dallas. Tex.
(3)
LIFE MBMBEES.
MR. EGBERT BONNER, New York City. KEY. DR. JOHN HALL, New York City. HON. A. T. WOOD, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. PROP. A. L. PERRY, Williamstown, Mass. COL. W. A. HERRON, Pittsburg, Pa. DR. WILLIAM C. SHAW, Pittsburg, Pa. MR. J. KINO McL/ANAHAN, Hollidaysburg, Pa. EEV. JOHN S. MACINTOSH, D.D., Philadelphia, Pa. PROF. GEORGE MACLOSKIE, Princeton, N. J. COL. THOMAS T. WRIGHT, Nashville, Tenn. (4)
CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS AS AMENDED AND ADOPTED AT PITTSBUKG.
CONSTITUTION.
Article 1. The name of this Association shall be the Scotch-Irish Society of
America.
Article II.
The purposes of this Society are the preservation of Scotch-Irish history and associations, the increase and diffusion of knowledge re garding the Scotch-Irish people, the keeping alive of the characteris tic qualities and sentiments of the race, the promotion of intelligent patriotism, and the development of social intercourse and fraternal feeling.
Article III.
Any person above the age of twenty-one years, who is of Scotch- Irish descent, shall be eligible to membership in this Society.
Article IV.
The officers of the Society shall be a President, Vice President General, two Vice Presidents at large, a Secretary and a Treasurer, with Vice Presidents for each State, Territory, and Province, and the District of Columbia.
Article V.
The President, Vice President General, Vice Presidents at large, Secretary and Treasurer, shall be elected by ballot at the annual ses sions of the Congress. The Vice Presidents for the States, Territories and Provinces, and the aforesaid District, shall be chosen in such man ner as each Congress shall direct.
Article VI.
There shall be a National Council of the Society, composed of the officers named in Article IV.
Article VII.
During the Congress at which their terms of office begin, the Na tional Council shall choose an Executive Committee, to consist of the President. Vice President General, Secretary and Treasurer, and seven
other members of the Society.
5
6 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA..
Article VIII.
The annual Congress of the Society shall be held at such time and place as may be determined by the Executive Committee.
Article IX.
This Constitution may be altered, amended or repealed only by a majority vote of the members of the Association present and voting at the annual Congress, or at a special meeting called for that purpose after twenty days' notice in writing to the members.
Article X.
The Executive Committe shall have authority to establish by-laws, rules and regulations for the government of the Society, subject to the revision of the annual Congress.
BY-LAWS.
Section I.
1. Any person eligible to membership may send his application to the Secretary with suitable reference and annual dues, and, upon a favorable report of the Membership Committee, shall become a mem ber of the Society.
2. The annual dues up to January 1, 1891, shall be $2.00, but thereafter shall be $3.00, for which each member shall be entitled to the annual volume and other publications of the Society.
3. The payment at one time of $100.00 shall constitute a life member, who shall be exempted from all annual dues.
4. The financial year of the Society shall end the 31st day of March of every year. Any member whose subscription shall remain unpaid at that date, no satisfactory explanation being given, may be dropped from the roll after thirty days' notice. Such members shall be restored upon fresh application, and the payment of all sums due the Society.
5. The Executive Committee may, by a two-thirds vote of their number, suspend for just cause, or remove altogether any person from the roll of the Society.
Section II.
1. A majority of the members who shall have reported their ar rival to the proper officer at the place of meeting, shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of the business of the Congress.
CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS. 7
Section 111.
1. The President, or, in his absence, one of the national Vice Presidents, in the order named, shall preside at all meetings; but should all these officers be absent, or from any reason be unable to act, a Chairman shall be chosen for the special occasion.
2. The Vice President General shall be especially charged with the duty of extending the membership and influence of the Society, and organizing branch Societies under the direction of the Executive Committee.
3. The Vice Presidents at large shall assist the Vice President General iu the discharge of his duties, and co-operate with the Secre tary and Treasurer to the utmost of their ability in the fulfillment of their respective duties.
4. The Vice Presidents for States, Territories and Provinces shall act as the official heads and representatives of the Society in their re spective territories, and shall use their official influence in furthering its interests therein.
5. The Secretary shall keep an accurate roll of the members of the Society ; preserve a record of all its proceedings ; conduct its gen eral correspondence ; collect its funds ; keep its seal and valuable pa pers ; present at each Congress a necrological report, and see that its orders are properly carried out. His salary shall be fixed each year by the Executive Committee.
6. The Treasurer shall have custody of the funds of the Society ; they shall be deposited in some bank to the credit of the Society, and shall be drawn thence only on the Treasurer's check for purposes of the Society. Out of these funds he shall pay such sums as may be ordered by the Congress or the Executive Committee. He shall keep a true account of receipts and expenditures, and render report of the same at each annual meeting of the Congress, when his accounts shall be audited by a committee appointed for that purpose.
Section IV.
The Executive Committee shall carefully carry out all the direc tions issued by the Congress ; they shall have full powers in the affairs of the Society, not disposed of at the annual meeting ; they shall ap point whatever committees deemed necessary; they shall, in conjunc tion with the Vice Presidents for the States and Territories, and also with the Secretaries of branch organizations, industriously seek out and carefully preserve all historical materials interesting and valuable
8 THE SCOTCH-IEISH IN AMEEICA.
to our Society, and, so far as ability and means will allow, spread information concerning the past achievements and present aims and condition of the Scotch-Irish race.
Section V.
1. Branch organizations whose objects are in harmony with those of this Society may become and remain affiliated with the same by the annual payment of one dollar for each paying member of said branch association.
2. Installments of this sum may be sent at any time by said branch organization to the Secretary of this Society, who shall at once forward for every dollar so paid one of our annual volumes to such persons as said branch society may designate.
3. Such branch organizations shall each year furnish a list of their paid-up members to the Secretary of this Society before the annual Congress, and this shall constitute the basis of representation.
4. Every branch organization complying with the foregoing conditions shall be entitled to one delegate in the annual Congress for every five of its paid-up members.
Section VI.
No official correspondence shall be carried on nor any invita tions issued on behalf of the Society except through the regular officers or the Executive Committee of the Scotch-Irish Society of America.
COMMITTEES OF THE LOCAL OEGANIZATION HOLDING THE SCOTCH-IE1SH CONGEESS AT LEXINGTON, VA.
OFFICERS OF THE SCOTCH-IRISH SOCIETY OF ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY.
JUDGE WILLIAM MCLAUGHLIN, President;
JUDGE W. P. HOUSTON, ) „. .„ . 7
TTT > Vice Presidents;
HON. WILLIAM A. ANDERSON, >
JOHN L. CAMPBELL, Secretary and Treasurer.
CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
FRANK T. GLASGOW, H. D. CAMPBELL,
W. A. ANDERSON, D. C. HUMPHREYS,
H. A. WHITE.
FINANCE COMMITTEE.
J. K. EDMONDSON, W. C. STUART,
J. A. GRAHAM.
COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION.
W. A. ANDERSON, A. T. BARCLAY,
S. O. CAMPBELL.
ENTERTAINMENT AND RECEPTION COMMITTEE. W. G. MCDOWELL, S. T. MORELAND,
E. A. MOORE, P. M. PENICK,
EEID WHITE, W. S. HOPKINS,
T. E. McCoRKLB, W. T. SHIELDS,
S. H. LETCHER, L. L. IRVINE,
A. N. MYERS, MRS. T. L. PRESTON,
MRS. SUE DAVIDSON, MRS. J. A. HARRISON.
COMMITTEE ON BUILDINGS.
A. L. NELSON, D. C. HUMPHREYS,
C. A. GRAVES.
DECORATION COMMITTEE.
Miss ANNIE WHITE, Miss ANNIE EUFPNER,
MRS. E. W. NICHOLS, MRS. MATTIE HOSKINS,
JAMES LEWIS HOWE, G. D. LETCHER.
COMMITTEE ON MUSIC.
Miss BELLE WHITE, MRS. A. D. ESTILL,
Miss KATIE HOPKINS, Miss SALLIE PRESTON,
Miss LUCY PRESTON.
(9)
10 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMEEICA.
COMMITTEE ON SPEAKERS.
W. P. HOUSTON, H. A. WHITE,
A. HOGUE, J. A. HARRISON,
J. E. TUCKER.
PRESS COMMITTEE.
H. D. CAMPBELL, J. A. QUARLES,
E. W. FAY, M. W. PAXTON,
B. H. BARCLAY.
COMMITTEE ON INVITATIONS.
D. C. HUMPHREYS, W. A. ANDERSON,
H. D. CAMPBELL.
CONTEIBUTOES TO THE EXPENSE FUND.
All the funds incident to the entertainment of the Congress were furnished by Washington and Lee University, and most of the delegates were entertained as guests in the hospitable homes of Lexington.
THE SEVENTH CONGRESS.
BY A. C. FLOYD.
"WASHINGTON and Lee, the Scotch-Irish University of the South," was the title of a valuable paper read before the Second Congress of the Scotch-Irish in America at Pittsbiirg in 1889 by Prof. H. A. White. The fame of this celebrated institution of learning was of course known in a general way to the mem bers of our Society, but not until its history was fully recited ,by Prof. White, one of the most learned and honored members of its Faculty, did they realize how distinctively Scotch-Irish had been its composition and its characteristics.
The two noble Virginians whose names have been bestowed upon it are known of all the world to have been of pure English extraction ; and this, upon first impression, would naturally lead the uninformed to conclude that the school is the product of the Cavalier stock and influence; but it is English only in name.
The original germ from which it grew was planted by a Scotch-Irishman, and at each stage of its development, from its inception as Augusta Academy until Robert E. Lee became its President in 1865, Scotch-Irishmen. stood at its head. Augusta Academy, the first name by which it was known, was founded in 1749; in 1782 it became Liberty Hall Academy, and in 1813 Washington College. The ruins of Liberty Hall Academy are still standing at Lexington in sight of the present university buildings.
Washington's name was given it in 1813, not only because of the reverence in which his name was held, but because he con ferred upon it its first endowment. At Gen. Lee's death his name was linked with that of Washington in the title of the in stitution.
From the beginning of its history down to the present day nearly all the professors connected with the school, and the great majority of its students, have been of Scotch-Irish stock. This has been caused by the fact that Lexington is situated
12 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
about the center of the Valley of Virginia, which was originally settled by Scotch-Irish people, and there has been little ad mixture of other blood. In no part of the United States has the Ulster stock been preserved in greater purity; in none have the characteristics of the race and its traditions been so well kept up. The ties of family and the pride of genealogy are more marked among them than in any other section of the American continent.
The influence of such a school on such a people could not be productive of other than splendid results. To trace these re sults, however, or to recite in detail the story of the institution would be to repeat the history of all that has been greatest and best in the Old Dominion, and to trench on ground which has been admirably covered by scholarly papers in this and in former volumes. The foregoing facts have been touched on only to indicate why Lexington was chosen as the place for holding the Seventh Congress of our Society.
The invitation was extended by the Directors of Washington and Lee University, but the citizens of the town joined heartily with them and cooperated in all the arrangements for the occa sion. There was no hesitancy on the part of the National Exec utive Committee in accepting the invitation, because each mem ber of it recognized at once the superior advantages of Lexing ton as a place of meeting.
This decision having been reached, the Scotch-Irish of Rock- bridge County were organized without delay to provide for the entertainment of the Congress. The officers of this society are: Judge William McLaughlin, President; Hon. W. P. Houston and Hon. William A. Anderson, Vice Presidents; Mr. John L. Campbell, Secretary and Treasurer.
This society appointed a Central Executive Committee consist ing of Messrs. Frank T. Glasgow, H. D. Campbell, W. A. An derson, D. C. Humphreys, W. M. Paxton, and H. A. White.
This body appointed the other committees following:
Finance. — J. K. Edmondson, W. C. Stuart, J. A. Graham.
Transportation. — W. A. Anderson, A. T. Barclay, S. O. Camp bell.
Entertainment and Reception. — W. G. McDowell, S. T. More- land, E. A. Moore, P. M. Penick, Reid White, W. S. Hopkins, T. E. McCorkle, W. T. Shields, S. H. Letcher, L. L. Irvine, A.
THE SEVENTH CONGRESS. 13
N. Myers, Mrs. T. L. Preston, Miss Sue Davidson, and Mrs. J. A. Harrison.
Buildings. — A. L. Nelson, D. C. Humphreys, C. A. Graves.
Decorations. — Miss Annie White, Miss Annie Euffner, Mrs. E. W. Nichols, Mrs. Mattie Hoskins, James Lewis Howe, G. D. Letcher.
Music. — Miss Belle White, Mrs. A. D. Estill, Miss Katie Hop kins, Miss Sallie Preston, Miss Lucy Preston.
Speakers. — W. P. Houston, H. A. White, A. Hogue, J. A. Har rison, J. E. Tucker.
Press.— H. D. Campbell, J. A. Quarles, E. W. Fay, M. W. Paxton, E. H. Barclay.
Invitation. — D. C. Humphreys, W. A. Anderson, H. D. Camp bell.
Dr. John H. Bryson and the Secretary, Mr. A. C. Floyd, rep resented the national committee in the conference with the lo cal committees in reference to arrangements. Prof. H. A. White, to whom allusion has already been made, had attended some of our previous meetings and delivered addresses, and it was natural that he should take the initiative in extending the invitation. Others there were in Lexington, however, who had long been members of the Society and who joined with him at the beginning in cordially urging upon us the hospitality of the university town. Among them were Judge William Mc- Laughlin, Dr. William H. Euffner, Judge W. P. Houston, and Prof. D. C. Humphreys. Judge McLaughlin presides over the Circuit Court of the Lexington District, and is one of the most distinguished lawyers and jurists of Virginia. Few men know more of the Scotch-Irish people or take a greater interest in their history. He was indefatigable in his efforts to make our Seventh Congress successful and enjoyable. Dr. Euffner is a scholar of national reputation, and a Virginia gentleman of the highest type. His paper on the Brothers Eogers in this volume attests his interest in our work. Judge Houston is at the head of the judicial officers of Eockbridge County, and has been ac tive and successful in bringing new members into our ranks. Prof. Humphreys fills the chair of Civil Engineering in Wash ington and Lee University. His name is one of the most noted in his profession.
Upon Mr. Frank T. Glasgow, a prominent lawyer of Lexington
14 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
and Chairman of the Executive Committee, devolved the bur den of directing the arrangements which were so well made. Associated most closely with him were Messrs. John L. Camp bell, Secretary, and W. G. McDowell, Chairman of the Commit tee on Entertainment. As Secretary of Washington and Lee University, Mr. Campbell rendered invaluable assistance, both in the arrangements for our meeting and in our entertainment after we assembled at Lexington.
Too much cannot be said in appreciation of Mr. McDowell. By unanimous consent the visitors to the Congress voted him the most accommodating, polite, and efficient master of enter tainment we have yet found at any of our meetings, and that is saying much.
Each and all the committees above given are entitled to our spe cial gratitude, and to individual mention here did space permit.
Visitors were met on their arrival and conducted by the com mittees of arrangement to the quarters assigned them. All the officers and most of the delegates were hospitably entertained in the homes of the people of Lexington. None went to the hotels except those who preferred to do so. More delightf\il homes or more elegant people than these Virginia ladies and gentlemen it would be impossible to find. Their hospitality was of the most unreserved and untiring character.
The social feature was made more prominent than at any of our former gatherings. Every hour not devoted to the regu lar sessions of our Congress was filled with delightful entertain ment. On the evening of the first day of the occasion a re ception was given by Washington and Lee University in New- comb Hall, one of the university buildings, to all the delegates and visitors. It was in charge of a committee of the Faculty, consisting of Profs. A. L. Nelson and H. D. Campbell. The guests were received by Mrs. Gen. Stonewall Jackson, Mrs. William McLaughlin, Mrs. Prof. A. L. Nelson, and Mrs. Gov. 0. T. O'Ferrall. Assisting them in the entertainment were all the prominent people of Lexington. The spacious halls were taste fully decorated with orange colors and evergreens, and the scene was one of rare brilliance and distinction. Refreshments were served on the second floor of the building by the young ladies of the Presbyterian Church, known as the Gleaners Society, and directed by their President, Miss Sue Davidson.
THE SEVENTH CONGEESS. 15
An Epicurean could ask no fairer nor more skillful caterers. As to other entertainments quotation is made from the Rock- bridge County News, whose editor, Mr. Matthew Paxton, took special pains to report our proceedings:
"At the beautiful home of Dr. and Mrs. H. A. White on Jack- eon Avenue on Friday afternoon from 6 to 8 o'clock, the visit ing members of the Society, the Faculty of Washington and Lee, and the members of the local committee assembled by invitation to meet President Bonner and the ladies of his party, Mrs. John Mcllhenny and the Misses Macintosh, of Philadelphia.
" The home of Gen. G. W. C. Lee, the President of Washing ton and Lee University, was thrown open Saturday afternoon at 5:30 o'clock to receive the members of the Society. Miss Mildred Lee was assisted in receiving by Mrs. Charles A. Graves, Mrs. Harry D. Campbell, Mrs. James A. Harrison, Miss Virginia Letcher, Miss Mary Quarles, and Miss Belle White. After a delightful hour at Gen. Lee's the visitors and their friends proceeded to the Virginia Military Institute upon an invitation extended them by its Superintendent, Gen. Scott Shipp, and there at 6:45 oclock they were much entertained in witnessing the maneuvers of the corps of cadets in drill. They were commanded by Col. Eockenbach, and excited much admir ing comment from the visitors."
Few homes in this country possess more interest than that of Gen. Lee, who is the son of Hobert E. Lee, and his successor as President of the university. The old mansion is rilled with interesting relics and heirlooms of the Washington and Lee families, one of these being Gen. Washington's punch bowl, from which the guests were served at the reception.
The Virginia Military Institute, inseparably associated with the name of Stonewall Jackson, possessed not only historic but present charms for our members. It was just before Commence ment, and the cadets were in the perfection of training. To see their superb drilling was alone worth the journey. Besides the general entertainments mentioned, there were many smaller so cial affairs which were in the highest degree enjoyable.
The scenery around Lexington is far-famed, and our mem bers took the opportunity to visit the points of special interest. Many of them went, during their stay, to the Natural Bridge,
16 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
which is only fourteen miles away and is justly set down as one of the wonders of the world.
The regular sessions of the Congress were held in the Lee Memorial Chapel, which, as its name implies, was erected to the memory of Robert E. Lee. Situated on a considerable slope, the rear of the basement story is entirely above the ground and contains the sarcophagus in which lie the remains of the great Confederate leader, with niches for the bodies of the other members of his family. Immediately above the sar cophagus, and a little higher than the platform of the audito rium in the second story, is his statue of white marble repre senting him recumbent on a military couch as though in slum ber. This imposing figure in the rear of the platform is the first sight that greets one upon entering the chapel from the front, and is said to inspire a peculiar sense of reverence in the students who assemble here. Aside from its historic attrac tions the building is an interesting structure.
It was beautifully and appropriately decorated by Miss Annie E. White, Miss Annie H. Euffner, and Mrs. M. T. Hoskins, the committee appointed for that purpose. In addition to the bunt ing festooned in artistic fashion were other features of still more interest. In a conspicuous place was exhibited our coat of arms, painted with striking effect by Miss White, while around the gallery were displayed the names of some of the Scotch- Irish families who settled in the region of Lexington between 1732 and 1776. These were arranged by Miss Annie H. Euff- ner, daughter of Dr. W. H. Euffner, and a young lady possessed of wide information concerning the Scotch-Irish people. These names are as follows:
NAMES UPON GALLERY OF LEE MEMORIAL CHAPEL.
Some of the Scotch -Irish families who settled in this region before the Eevolutionary War, 1732-76:
Alexander, Allen, Anderson, Adair, Bowyer, Brown, Barclay, Breckinridge, Blackburn, Bell, Baxter, Beard, Blair, Buchanon, Bratton, Beatty, Campbell, Christian, Craig, Cummings, Cam eron, Culton, Caruthers, Crawford, Coalter, Cunningham, Cal- houn, Dold, Doak, Davis, Dickinson, Donald, Dunlap, David son, Dryden, Estill, Erwin, Ewing, Edmondson, Fulton, Finley, Fitzpatrick, Glasgow, Graham, Gilmore, Gratton, Guy, Graves,
THE SEVENTH CONGRESS. 17
Greenlee, Grigsby, Gamble, Gibson, Gilkerson, Hyde, Hall, Hamilton, Hays, Humphreys, Henderson, Hart, Henry, Harper, Houston, Hill, Hogg, Hanna, Ingles, Irwin, Johnston, Kerr, Kennedy, Keys, Kirkpatrick, Lewis, Lyle, Leyburn, Laird, Lock- hart, Logan, Lapsley, Lackey, Lindsey, Morrison, Mathews, Mackey, Merritt, Montgomery, Moffett, Moore, Mitchell, Mc- Clanahan, McClung, McCluer, McChesney, McCampbell, Mc- Clure, McCorkle, McCormick, McCue, McCown, McCutchen, McDowell, McKee, McKamy, McLaughlin, McMillan, McMas- ters, McPheeters, McNutt, McBride, McCune, McClintic, Pres ton, Paxton, Poague, Patterson, Patton, Priestly, Porter, Ram- sey, Reid, Reed, Eobertson, Robinson, Stuart, Scott, Sterrett, Stevenson, Steele, Smith, Shields, Sitlington, Smiley, Tate, Thompson, Trimble, Taylor, Tedford, Templeton, Waddell, Wal lace, Walker, Walkup, Wilson, Woods.
The music interspersed between the addresses, which were the features of the regular sessions of our Congress, was fur nished by Miss Belle White, assisted by Misses Mamie Gil- more, Fannie Smith, Betty Glasgow, Dr. Reid White, Mr. Wil liam McElwee, Mr. John Davis, arid Mr. McPheeters Glasgow, with Mrs. A. D. Estill as organist.
The addresses themselves, as will appear by a perusal of this volume, were of more than usual merit and on subjects of pe culiar interest.
Reference to the report of the Executive Committee and the discussions of our business meeting, also appearing in this vol ume, will show that the affairs of the Society are in better con dition than ever before. A number of new members were add ed at Lexington, and we began the present year with the best prospects we have ever had. We are now free from debt, and our income from regular sources is sufficient to meet all ex penses as the work of the Society is now conducted.
Our publications have had a marked influence on current his torical literature, and as a result the Scotch-Irish are receiv ing merited recognition as the foremost racial element that builded the great republic. We have before us, however, an inexhaustible field to cultivate. We need to bring our Society to the attention of every Scotch-Irish man and woman on the American continent, and to induce as many of them as possible to become members and assist us in our work. This can only 2
18 THE SCOTCH-IKISH IN AMERICA.
be accomplished by the untiring interest and effort of our pres ent members. In view of the success already achieved, and of the possibilities of the future, it is surely not expecting too much to hope that all will assist by every means in their power.
Before leaving Lexington, Harrisburg, Pa., was chosen as our next place of meeting, and May 6-9, 1896, has been set as the date for the Congress there. It was the starting place of many of the Scotch-Irish who peopled the Yalley of Virginia, the Peidmont Region of the Carolinas in ante-revolutionary days, and from which settlers have been sent out to all parts of the country in more recent times. It is centrally located and is easy of access to the bulk of our membership.
The invitation to hold our Congress there comes from the Gov ernor of Pennsylvania, the Board of Trade of Harrisburg, and the leading citizens of that city. Preparations for the Congress were begun by the local committees shortly after our meeting at Lexington, and no expense or pains will be spared to make the gathering the largest and most successful yet held.
Mr. Matthias W. McAlarney, editor of the Harrisburg Tele graph, is Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements at Har risburg. He will take pleasure in giving all necessary informa tion concerning the meeting.
A LEXINGTON IMPRESSION.
THE following editorial, copied from the Rockbridge County News, gives a local view of the Congress:
The Scotch-Irish clans, which were gathering here when the County News last went to press, have spoken, have acted and gone, leaving many friends and wellwishers behind. What they lacked in numbers they made up in enthusiasm. We will not say that they are a self-satis fied people, though some do say it ; but we will say that they are a people well satisfied with one another. The visitors appreciated their hosts so much that it was impossible for the latter not to most thoroughly ap preciate them, and for the feeling the latter most fully possess they hardly deserve credit. The looker-on would say that the admiration was absolutely mutual. It gave a delightful geniality to every gathering and every meeting. The proverbial sternness and want of humor of the Scot appeared lost in a flood of good humor. It showed out in the benignant face of the President of the Society, Mr. Bonner, from the platform, whose warmly eulogistic words as he presented each and every Scotch-Irishman to the audience, and appreciative remarks of every thing done for the Society were most pleasing, and hardly recognizable as coming from a successful man of affairs. And then there was Dr. Hall, with his eye full of kindly interest in everything and his heart- some expressions; and Dr. Macloskie, Princeton's learned teacher of science, with bright face and kind word, ever watchful to drive dullness from the gathering of the clan ; and Dr. Macintosh, equally alert and active. Others might be mentioned, but in this gathering of Ulstermen we think all will cheerfully accord them the place as the leading spirits.
The audiences were fine on every occasion, and showed the deep in terest aroused among the people. The hours not spent in the chapel were passed in social intercourse, when the citizens delighted in receiv ing the visitors in their homes.
There were many excellent addresses made and papers read, in which will be found much of value, as what Dr. Macintosh called side lights to history. It is impossible to give here more than a brief outline of what was said. Many will doubtless avail themselves of the opportunity of obtaining the addresses in full when they are published by the Society.
The place of meeting was enlivened from time to time by the sing ing of patriotic and Scottish songs by those whom the Society remem bered by appropriate resolutions.
(19)
IMPRESSIONS OF A DELEGATE.
ONE of the most distinguished delegates to the Congress at Lexington was Hon. John M. Scott, of Bloomington, 111., ex-Chief Justice of that State. His impression of the Con gress may be gathered from the following interview taken from the Bloomington Pantagraph :
In an interview with a reporter for the Pantagraph Judge Scott, who attended the sessions of the Scotch-Irish Congress held last week at Lexington, Va., said :
" The Congress was a great success in every respect. The papers read before the Congress were able and of unusual historic interest. Representative men from the East, West, North, and South, of our country were present taking some part in the discussions of the Con gress. Altogether it was a gathering of notable persons, among whom were Robert Bonner, Rev. Dr. John Hall, Rev. Dr. John S. Macintosh, Rev. Dr. J. H. Bryson, Prof. George Macloskie, and others. When published, the papers read before the Congress will be found to be equal in historic interest to those contained in any volume of the pro ceedings of the Society heretofore published.
" But the social features of the Congress were never surpassed, if ever equaled. Many of the delegates were entertained by families residing near the beautiful grounds of Washington and Lee University and the Virginia Military Institute, the whole surroundings indicating elegance and refinement. Others were entertained by families in other parts of the city. Never was hospitality more royally or generously dispensed than by the families entertaining delegates to the Congress. Any one admitted into one of their beautiful homes was soon made to feel that he was in a Christian home full of refinement and most generous hospitality. There was but one Committee on Entertainment, and that seemed to have been composed of every man and woman in the city, and their attentions to all persons in attendance on the Congress were constant and unremitting. Even on the street every one whom a delegate to the Congress might chance to meet seemed anxious to render him some civility.
" Lexington is situated in the valley between the Alleghany Moun tains and the Blue Ridge. Its location is a most attractive one. The (20)
IMPRESSIONS OF A DELEGATE. 21
scenery by which the village is surrounded is charmingly beautiful, and some of it is bold and picturesque. A large per cent, of the peo ple of Lexington and of the surrounding country are Scotch-Irish. They are a thrifty and intelligent people. No better place in which to hold a session of the Scotch-Irish Congress could have been secured. Everything conspired to make it a pleasant session. The beauty of the little city in the midst of the mountains, its delightful climate, but above all its generous and hospitable people, made the selection a most happy one. Not a delegate went back to his home with other than pleasant recollections of Lexington and its people.
"All the addresses given were notably free from any sectarian or partisan political bias. The Society would tolerate nothing else. The great object and purpose of the Scotch-Irish Society is to gather up and preserve the history of the Scotch-Irish race in America so far as it may be practicable to do it. Patriotism in its best sense and love of our common country are enforced. Religion, irrespective of sects and creeds, and everything else that would tend to make the American na tion a better and happier people, are exalted and enforced by lessons drawn from history."
PROCEEDINGS.
THE seventh annual Scotch-Irish Congress was called to or der at 11 o'clock A.M., June 20, 1895, in the Lee Memorial Chapel of Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Ya., by Judge William McLaughlin, President of the local Scotch- Irish Society.
Judge McLaughlin said:
The proceedings will be opened with prayer by Rev. Dr. Sproull, of New York City, a native of Ulster.
Rev. A. W. Sproull, D.D., led in prayer:
O Lord God of Israel, we come to Thee, we worship Thee. Thou art the God of our fathers and the God of their succeeding race. Thy throne is exalted among the nations. Thou art the King of kings and the Lord of lords. We thank Thee for that grace which Thou art ever manifesting to the children of men. We_ thank Thee for Thy provi dence that is perpetually among them for good. We thank Thee for every truth of redeeming grace, and for all those bountiful words which Thou hast given us. We thank Thee for the eare which thou takest of Thine own, and that even in the wilderness Thou dost give them a refuge and over them Thou stretchest Thy wings of protection.
We render thanksgiving to Thee to-day for all those whom Thou didst send here, bound to Thee by ties inseparable, for all their patience, for all their endurance, for all their sacrifices, for the principles that animated them, for the truths which they held, for all their purposes, and for their faith which was as it is in Christ Jesus. We thank Thee for every institution that was established by the founders of this land ; we thank Thee for their devotion to the Church of the living God ; we thank Thee for that spirit of liberty that animated them, and for their fixed purpose, if need be, to die for the truth as it is in Christ Jesus; and now, we beseech Thee for Thy blessing to rest upon these representatives and successors of the men and women who by sacri fices laid the foundation of our natioHal government, and through whose sacrifices we enjoy largely the blessings that we do to-day. Be Thou nigh to this Congress in its meetings, in its discussions, and in all that they do may they be under Thy guidance, and grant that there (22)
PEOCEEDINGS. 23
may be a bond drawing closer and closer in living fellowship the race of the Scotch-Irish in America.
We ask Thee now to be very nigh to us, and cause Thy face to shine upon us and show unto us Thy salvation, and give us peace, for Christ's sake. Amen.
Judge McLaughlin addressed the Congress as follows:
JUDGE WILLIAM MCLAUGHLIN'S ADDRESS.
The Scotch-Irish Society of America : As Rector of Washington and Lee University and President of the Scotch-Irish Society of Rock- bridge, I have been assigned the duty of calling this, the seventh Con gress of the Scotch-Irish Society of America, to order. You are here in response to an invitation from Washington and Lee University. It is befitting that you should meet within its walls, for no institution in this country is so thoroughly Scotch-Irish, It had its origin in a clas sical school taught among the Scotch-Irish settlers in the Valley of Vir ginia as early as 1749. Its original Board of Trustees, when it was or ganized as Liberty Hall Academy, were entirely Scotch-Irish, many of them natives of Ulster ; and to this day, in all the changes that have taken place, every member of the Board of Trustees and three-fifths of the corps of instructors are of Scotch-Irish descent. Many of its alumni who have been distinguished in the pulpit, the bar, the med ical profession, the halls of the Legislature, the seats of learning, and the useful walks of life are of this race. Many of them have held high posi tions, not only in the Virginias, but in the Southern and Western States, and have exercised great influence in shaping their laws and institutions. We are glad to have you with us, and in behalf of the authorities of the institution I extend to you a cordial welcome.
You are meeting in the county of Rockbridge, whose population is more distinctively Scotch-Irish than probably any county in America. The Scotch-Irish immigration to this county commenced in 1738, and continued at intervals until the close of the century. We have had many valuable accessions from the English and German, but the sub stratum of our population remains Scotch-Irish. Many of her sons have wielded powerful influence in this and other States. Among them I may mention Archibald Alexander, the great theologian and phi losopher, whose influence has extended into eternity; James McDowell, the polished orator, whose eloquence enchained legislative assemblies and popular audiences; John Letcher, whose sturdy honesty won for him in the national councils the sobriquet of " Honest John," and who guided the ship of state in the perilous period of revolution ; Ephra-
24 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
im McDowell, who made great advances in operative surgery, and of whom we shall hear more during this Congress ; Cyrus H. McCormick, whose genius invented the reaper and revolutionized the agriculture of the world ; and Sam Houston, whose checkered career as Indian fighter, senator, and representative in Congress, Governor of two States, and President of a republic, whose independence he achieved, rivals the stories of romance. In the name of this people I also welcome you.
I have now the pleasure of introducing the Hon. Charles T. O'Ferrall, Governor of Virginia, who will welcome you in behalf of the people of the commonwealth over which he so worthily presides. [Applause.]
Gov. Charles T. O'Ferrall spoke as follows:
Gov. O'FERRALL'S ADDRESS.
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Scotch-Irish Society of America : I have laid aside my official duties, and journeyed here to meet and welcome you.
I am sure I speak not with extravagance when I say that there is not a section within the broad limits of this republic where you would receive a warmer welcome than in this Old Dominion State — no sec tion where you would find more congenial spirits, more historic land marks, more interesting footprints, or a population that has preserved in a greater degree the habits, traits, and characteristics of the early Scotch-Irish settlers in America than in this valley.
This, I understand, is the seventh meeting of this Congress. At each of the preceding meetings I have observed that handsome and well- merited tributes were paid to the Scotch-Irish race, and so beautiful was the language and so eloquent the sentences that I could not, if 1 cared to venture, add a single word to them. If I were to attempt it, my effort would fall dead upon ears which have only heard the pathos of mas ters and been delighted with the arts of rhetoric. My sentences will be unadorned; but I shall speak the truth, and I trust you will find it " as pleasant in homely language as in fine speech."
Mr. President and gentlemen, I am not one of you ; but, as my name would indicate, one of the two bloods courses in my veins, and I have never seen the hour when riches would buy a drop of it nor the moment when I was less than proud of it. I have kinsmen, and many of them, whose hearts receive and throw out the commingled blood of the Scotch and Irish, but my own comes from the pure strain of South Ireland.
Proud, however, as I am of my ancestry, I hesitate not to admit that the Scotch stock that settled in North Ireland had certain good
PEOCEEDINGS. 25
qualities which the Irish did not possess in such large measure, but at the same time I insist that the Irish had traits of great merit which the the Scotch did not possess. So, in my opinion, the blending of the bloods was mutually beneficial, and produced a race of people, taking them all in all, unsurpassed by any of which we find a record in his tory. To the sturdy, slow-plodding, firm, and tenacious character of the one were added the enthusiasm, warmth of soul and quickness of action, the restlessness under wrong and the readiness to strike for the right, of the other. From this union sprang the qualities which have shone so brightly in commercial circles, in the field of husbandry, in the domain of statesmanship, in the forum of the law, in oratory, litera ture, arts, sciences, on the plain of battle, in war, on land and sea in tvery calling, avenue, and sphere — wherever this people of blended blond have entered the contests for the prize of superiority.
Among the prevailing characteristics of the Scotch-Irish race is the steady adherence to moral ideas and the constant cultivation of re ligious sentiment. If " morality is religion with its face toward the world," they have at least as a race possessed it ; if " piety is religion with its face toward God," they have as a race embraced it to an ex tent as great as any people who live under the sun. You can look al most confidently for the altar of Christianity and a well-fingered Bible in every Scotch-Irish home, while infidelity has ever been a stranger to a Scotch-Irish breast. Civil and religious liberty has never failed to rally around its standard the Scotch-Irish in every land, and the weak, oppressed, and downtrodden have ever found in them defenders.
Believing that the " sure foundations of a State are laid in knowl edge, not in ignorance," they have generally been advocates of educa tion, sustaining in a generous measure the common school, college, and university, never neglecting, however, the school of discipline at home, God's own system of inculcating morality and right principles in the young. Regarding idleness a sin and labor a duty, they have by their energy striven to gather the fairest fruits and receive the richest re ward, and by their industry secure healthiness of body, wholeness of heart, clearness of mind, purity of conscience, and fullness of purse. But as I said just now, the Scotch-Irish character has been described so perfectly by so many tongues and pens that I must leave it where they have placed it: upon the walls of your memories.
Mr. President and gentlemen, I desire just here to refer briefly to the people of your race who settled in this lovely region bounded by these mountain ranges.
Prior to 1716 the soil of this valley had never been pressed by the
26 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
foot of civilized man. It was then the home and hunting ground of the savage. During the summer of that year the " Knights of the Golden Horseshoe," as they were afterwards termed, under the leader ship of Alexander Spottswood, scaled the summit of the Blue Ridge from the east, and discovered a section more fertile and beautiful than any they had ever beheld. Exultation thrilled their souls and triumph fired their brains. From a commanding peak a new and unknown realm spread out under their wondering vision, and there they drank the health of his Majesty, the British king, and named the peak " Mount George." The news of the discovery of this goodly heritage spread like flame in dry stubble, extending throughout Eastern Vir ginia and into Pennsylvania. But for some reason no settlers came until 1732, and then among the first were John Lewis and other Ulster- men. Soon, however, the tide of immigration set in ; soon Scotch-Irish men under the protection of their trusty rifles were felling the timbers, clearing the forests, building homes, plowing deep the friendly soil, sowing seed for the sun and dews to quicken, and erecting houses of worship from the banks of the Potomac to the head waters of the James. As years rolled on, others swelled the band, and gradually those in the lower valley with few exceptions joined their fellow-pio neers in the county of Augusta, which embraced a large part of this county of Rockbridge, forming a strong and homogeneous community, and making the populations of these two counties what they are almost distinctively to-day, Scotch-Irish by blood, traits, habits, and teaching.
But I must desist. I cannot enter further into an historical narrative of the settlement of the Valley of Virginia. I see from the programme that this pleasant task has been assigned to another, one who will en tertain and delight you.
My purpose in referring to these early days of this valley's civiliza tion has been to remind you that you are in the midst of friends by racial, possibly some of you by ancestral ties; that you are upon ground consecrated by the heroism, courage, and valor, and sanctified by the travail, toil, and blood of the stock from which you sprang; and that you have wended your way to a spot on the great map of this broad union of lakes and lands where you can draw fresh inspirations from the memories that cluster around the graves of these pioneers, and the sites of their rude homes; and, more than all, the temples to the living God in their antique grandeur still standing, erected by the hands of these early settlers from the native limestone, a fit symbol of their stur dy character and superb manhood, cemented with sand packed in bags for miles on horseback by the Spartan women of the settlements.
PEOCEEDINGS. 27
Mr. President and gentlemen, to this valley, so full of interest to you, I welcome you. Its hills and dells, its green meadows and golden fields, its dashing torrents, rippling streams, and crystal fountains — all have a tale to unfold to you which must fill your souls and moisten your eyelids. To this valley, whose people in the language of a la mented son of Rockbridge, have never in their annals been known to " spit fire nor eat dirt ; " to this valley, immortalized by the exclamation of the " Father of His Country," when touched by the recital of an incident of womanly devotion to the cause, " Leave me but a banner to plant upon the mountains of Augusta, and I will rally around me the men who will raise our bleeding country from the dust and set her free," I welcome you.
To this town hung with cherished memories, in whose sacred keep ing are the mausoleum and marble figure of a Lee, the tomb and bronze statue of a Jackscn, and the inurned dust of a McDowell and a Letcher , to this town, proudly pointing to her Washington and Lee University and her Virginia Military Institute, sublime in their histories and su perb in their achievements, I welcome you.
To every spot of this old commonwealth of colonial relics, revolution ary landmarks, grand traditions, spotless fame, and unsullied honor^ whose mountains tower like memorial columns to her dead, great and good, whose rivers murmur the names of her illustrious sons almost as nu merous as the oaks in the forest, whose autumnal winds sweeping through her woodlands roll a ceaseless requiem to her departed worthies, and whose feathery songsters warble their sweetest lays over the turfy mounds of her heroes, statesmen, warriors, orators, editors, poets, and philanthro pists who have " crossed over the river," I welcome you. Yes, this land, where the cradle of our civil and religious liborty was first rocked, where the first stone in the temple of republican freedom was laid, where resistance to British tyranny was first proclaimed, and where the final blow was struck which gave to our fathers a country free and the op pressed of every land a refuge sure, and to us a heritage blessed over which a common flag now floats and a common Constitution extends its shield — to this land, whose sons walk in the very atmosphere of her fame and bask in the very sunshine of her glories, I welcome you — welcome you to the homes, hearts, and festal boards of her people. [Ap plause.]
Judge McLaughlin:
This address will be responded to by Mr. Robert Bonner, President of the Scotch-Irish Society, who will then assume the chair.
28 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
Mr. Robert Bonner, of New York, President of the Scotch- Irish Society of America, was then introduced, and he re sponded to Gov. O'FerralPs address of welcome in the fol lowing words :
Mr. Governor : I was reminded, when you stated that you were not of our race, of what that great scholar and statesman, Edward Everett, said in welcoming Gov. Banks to a reception at Harvard College. "We only regret," said Mr. Everett to the Governor, "that you are not one of us." So I can say to you, sir, after listening to your elo quent and generous tribute to the Scotch-Irish people, as you have known them, we regret that you are not one of us. I was pleased to learn, however, while sitting on the platform, that you are, nevertheless, a good Presbyterian. A great deal has been said, and justly said, of what the Scotch-Irish have done for this country. An innate love of liberty and hatred of tyranny, intensified by what they had suffered in Ireland, were two of their most pronounced characteristics when they came to America. We have evidence of this in the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, which they were instrumental in pro mulgating, and in other patriotic efforts to establish a free government here. They never could believe, as a martyr to liberty once said, that Providence had sent a few men into the world, ready booted and spurred, to ride ; and milllions ready saddled and bridled, to be ridden. They were too self-reliant, and possessed too much independence of character for that. With Jefferson, they believed that God, who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time. But, while recalling what the Scotch-Irish have done for this country, let us not forget what this country has done for the Scotch-Irish.
It is said that the most powerful way of illustrating a general truth or principle is to show what it has done for us. Andrew Jackson, for instance, barely escaped being born in Ireland, as his parents were here but a very short time before his birth. If he had been born in Ireland, or in any country but this, what opportunities would he have had, as the son of poor parents, to distinguish himself, compared with those which he enjoyed in this free land? It is true that he was a bold and original character, and would likely have made his mark any where ; but nowhero in the world was there such an exalted position as the Presidency of the United States open to him. In many respects he was a typical Scotch-Irishman.
In a private letter that I received over thirty years ago from Edward Everett he said, in referring to President Jackson : " Coupled with in telligence, the strongest will makes the strongest man. He had more
PROCEEDINGS. 2&
intelligence than we give him credit 'for, but he was unfamiliar with many things which an American statesman ought to know. Still, by force of his indomitable will and a fair share of common sense, he ruled the country in his own way, in spite of Calhoun, Clay, Webster, John Quincy Adams, and others of the brightest minds in the land."
It has been repeatedly stated that our Society is strictly nonpartisan and nonsectarian, but I may be permitted to repeat here, what I have said elsewhere, that it is very gratifying to me as an old publisher to know that two prominent newspaper men, both of whom were my personal friends, took an active part after our Civil War in bringing about a better state of feeling between the North and the South, and bridging over a chasm that threatened to be a perpetual barrier between the affections of a people divided in sentiment, but living under one form of government. I refer to Horace Greeley, of the New York Tribune, who had the courage to go down to Richmond and place his name on Jefferson Davis's bail bond ; and to Henry W. Grady, of the Atlanta Constitution, who immortalized his name by the grand and eloquent speech on the New South, delivered at the dinner of the New England Society, of New York.
All honor to Greeley and Grady, who did so much toward restoring the friendly relations that now exist between both sections of the country, and wljich enable the people of the North and the South, including the members of our Society, to meet in any place in our land in friendly conference with the same heartiness as if they had never been separated by sectional feeling.
A quartet, composed of Misses Belle White and Nannie Gilmore and Messrs. Reid White and John W. Davis, sang " America," the audience standing meanwhile.
President Bonner:
We will now have some announcements by Dr. Macintosh, Vice President General of the Society.
Dr. Macintosh:
I think we may congratulate ourselves with an intensity of feeling, scarcely to be measured, upon the bright and promising opening of our Congress. The Chairman of the local committee struck a true key note in his address of welcome, and I may perhaps be permitted to ^ay that never with more hearty, and truly with never more burning and thrilling eloquence, despite the introductory depreciation of the coming oration, has this Congress been welcomed to any place of former meet ing, and at no time have our hearts been stirred more deeply than by
30 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
the manifestly true and really tender as well as stirring eloquence of the Governor of this glorious old historic commonwealth [applause]; and I think that the infection has been spreading around, because, if our President will only close his ears for a moment, I will venture to say that he never did half so well before. [Applause.]
It is exceedingly desirable that the general community should un derstand that while this is a meeting of the Scotch-Irish Congress of America, we simply recognize all America as Scotch-Irish, and the fact of the matter is, and you can't get out of it, if you will only trace back your lines of consanguinity far enough and examine them care fully enough, before you get to the end you will be sure to find some man or woman that belongs to this race.
The meetings are open for the attendance of the members of the community, and I desire on our part to say that if you, dear friends of Lexington and this commonwealth, are our hosts, we are your guests. This is your house and your home, and you have the right to make your own voice heard in your own home, and we shall be only the more delighted the oftener we hear from you and the more of you that we see at our meetings.
Further, I wish to say that the meeting is open for remarks at the proper time on the part of any one, and whatever may have been in the past the Presbyterian usage in regard to speaking in meeting, I want the ladies to understand that they are just as true members of our Society as the men, and it is a case, you know, in which the old phrase holds perfectly true that the gray mare is the best horse in the team always.
I wish to make an announcement also in regard to applications for membership. An opportunity will be given at each meeting for nom inations for membership, and at the close of each meeting the Secretary or his assistant will be glad to receive the names of applicants. You will be required to possess a little of the blood of Scotland which be tween this and the time of John Knox left that country, and, passing through Ulster, finally found a resting place in this country. At each meeting nominations may be made, and we heartily desire that any friend who wishes to speak upon any topic that is presented or any sub ject germane to the occasion may feel absolutely at liberty to make his views known.
I wish to be distinctly understood that while passing references may be made to our Presbyterianism, this is by no means a Presbyterian Society. We recognize the broad community of general mankind sub stantially with one land, one God, and one holy law; and that we are
PEOCEEDINGS. 31
gathered here, not as the representatives of any particular Church, but that we are here as members of a great common race which God built for a grand work here, for which, as has been truly said by our Presi dent, God gave that race its opportunity of growth. [Applause.]
President Bonner:
We are now to have the pleasure of listening to an address by Hon. Jo seph A. Waddell, on the " Scotch-Irish of the Valley of Virginia." Mr. Waddell is well known not merely in the Valley, but throughout your State, as a public historian and one of your most prominent citizens.
(For Mr. Waddell's paper, see Part II., page 79.)
President Bonner:
Before we adjourn our Vice President General has some further an nouncements to make.
Mr. Bonner added:
On behalf of the Scotch-Irish Society of America I want to thank the ladies of Lexington for the handsome and appropriate manner in which they have decorated this building. I have read with particular pleasure one name which has been placed high up in the gallery. I refer to that of McKamie. I may be permitted to say that he was a native of the town in Ulster from which I came, and that he was the first Presbyterian minister to preach in America, that he helped to or ganize the first Presbytery here, and planted the germ of the Presby terian Church in America. [Applause.]
Dr. Macintosh read a communication from the Faculty of Washington and Lee University and citizens of Lexington, inviting the members of the Congress to attend a reception to be given in Newcornb Hall of the University, from 9 to 12 o'clock P.M.
President Bonner:
The Congress now stands adjourned to meet at 10 : 30 to-morrow morning.
MORNING SESSION.
Friday, June 21, 1895.
The Congress was called to order at 10: 30 o'clock by Pres ident Bonner, who said:
The Congress will now come to order. We will be led in prayer by the Rev. George W. Finley, Pastor of the Tinkling Spring Presbyte rian Church.
32 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
Rev. Mr. Finley:
O Lord, our God, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth ! Help us, we beg Thee, as Thy good providence brings us together this day, to remember that good hand which was upon us and our fathers amid all the changes through which Thou leddest them, fulfilling Thine eternal purpose through them and with them,
We thank Thee, O Father, for every temporal blessing: for this* beautiful land, for these hospitable homes, for these strong yet tender hands that clasp ours in loving friendship. We thank Thee for all the privileges, social and political and religious, with which Thou hast blessed us and our land; and we pray, O Lord, that, receiving this goodly heritage from Thy bountiful hand, every one of us may be true to Thee ; then we cannot be false to others nor to our people, and we pray Thee still to use us in the accomplishment of Thy divine end in bringing about the universal prevalence of righteousness and peace among all nations. But as we come together this day, O our Father, with our hearts stirred by the memories of the past, we desire to thank Thee for the men whom Thou didst raise up and fit for the great work which Thou hadst for them to do in their day and generation. We thank Thee that Thou gavest them the wisdom to devise, the courage, the patience, and above all, the faith, to execute that which Thou didst intrust to them. We thank Thee that Thou leddest them safely across the stormy sea, that Thou didst protect them in the day of peril from savage beasts and from more savage men, that as they reared their lonely cabins they built by their side the church, and under the eaves of the church the school. We thank Thee for all the principles that characterized them, and which they have transmitted to those who have come after them, and we recognize with gratitude to Thee the broad and glorious marks they have left upon us and upon our land and upon the world ; and we beseech Thee that while we recognize this in exult ant thankfulness, we may lay all humbly at the feet of Him who made them what they were and prepared them for what they did ; and how, Father, as we come together this day, may Thy benediction still rest upon this land of our fathers and our land, upon all its institutions, and especially upon this wherein youth are trained for the high work which is before them. Imbue, we beseech Thee, all who teach and all who are taught, with Thy Spirit, and may they gather all the influ ences of the past and all the hopes of the future to fit them all the bet ter for that which Thou hast for them to accomplish in their day and generation. We pray for all our rulers, for those who make and exe cute our laws, and entreat Thee that peace and prosperity may continue
PEOCEEDINGS. 33
to prevail throughout our borders, and that our people may be that people whose God is the Lord, and who remembereth that sin is a re proach, while righteousness exalteth a nation.
We come, our Father to ask Thy special benediction upon this Congress, as these have come up from their different and distant homes in our broad land. We thank Thee for the protecting hand that has been over them. We entreat Thee to continue thy preserving and loving and watchful care. Give them the highest enjoyment in all that they will undertake while assembled together, and when they turn their faces homeward, may Thy mighty, loving hand lead them safely to those who wait and watch for their coming, and may Thy royal blessing rest upon this community, and may all that we do and think and say not only redound to Thy glory, but, catching the fresh inspira tion of the hour and of all the surroundings, may we be the better able to fulfill Thy holy will. We ask, too, the forgiveness of our many sins, in Jesus's name and for Jesus's sake. Amen.
President Bormer:
One of the most valuable and instructive papers that has ever been read before our Society was read by Rev. Dr. White, of Washington and Lee University at Atlanta, three years ago. His subject was: "The Cavalier, the Puritan, and the Scotch-Irish." We are now to have the pleasure of listening to an address from Dr. White on " The Presidents of Washington and Lee University."
Rev. Henry Alexander White, D.D., Ph.D., read a paper on " The Presidents of Washington and Lee University," which will be found elsewhere in this volume.
A quartet sang: "My Bonnie Blue-eyed Scotch Lassie Jean."
President Bonner:
An opportunity will now be given for nominations for membership.
Dr. John Hall :
Mr. President: I present for membership the names of Rev. Dr. Sanderson and Col. Findlay, of New York City, and in doing so I will say that these gentlemen have recently produced a very valuable work and one which well deserves reading. It is a history of the life and works of one of the earliest Scotch-Irishmen, whose fault it was that he did not come to America. I refer to St. Patrick. It is a book that is well worth study, and these gentlemen will be intelligent and hearty cooperators with us. I also present the name of Rev. John 3
34: THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
Paxton, D.D., of New York City, whose eloquence will be heard one day, I trust, in connection with the work with which we are identified.
The persons named were unanimously elected to member ship in the Society.
Dr. Macintosh:
I submit the following names which have been handed to me during the morning session: Hon. Henry Watterson, Louisville, Ky. ; Col. William T. Poague, Mrs. Marion Boys Cochran Sterrett, Thomas Ed ward McCorkle, Frank Thomas Glasgow, Bennett Nelson Bell, Hen ry Donald Campbell, James Curtis Ballagh, Miss M. A. McDowell, William Anderson Glasgow, Lexington, Va. ; William Caruthers Preston, Richmond, Va.; Alexander W. Sproull, D.D., New York City ; Armistead C. Gordon, Staunton, Va. ; L. L. Campbell, Presby terian College of South Carolina, Clinton, S. C. ; John P. McGuire, Head Master McGuire's School, Richmond, Va. ; Rev. Robert F. Camp bell, Asheville, N. C. ; Rev. George W. Finley, Fishersville, Augusta County, Va. ; George Henry Moffett, Clifton Forge, Va. ; T. C. Early and M. C. Early, Cripple Creek, Colo. The applications of these per sons are made in due form and vouched for. I move that they be elected members of the Society.
The persons named were unanimously elected. President Bonner:
Dr. Graham, of Charlotte, N. C., has prepared a very valuable pa per on the " Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence." Dr. Graham is a grandson of one of the signers of that declaration. He is unavoid ably detained, and cannot be with us; but Dr. Bryson, of Alabama, who has always been prominently identified with our Society, has kind ly consented to read the paper.
Rev. J. H. Bryson, D.D. :
I regret exceedingly that Dr. Graham is not here to day to read this paper for himself, for I am perfectly sure that here and there he would add a word which would probably throw light upon some of the care ful and critical investigation which he has made with reference to that important paper known as the " Mecklenburg Declaration of Independ ence," all the signers of which were Scotch-Irish people; and at the beginning I would say also that I have here a photograph of deeds and indentures that go back to within four years of that period. These records have recently been found among the court papers of that State, where they have been preserved, and these transfers of property date
PROCEEDINGS. 35
from the "Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence." This photo graph, which has been sent to President Robert Bonner, may be seen at the close of the morning session.
Dr. Bryson then read the paper by Dr. Graham referred to. It will be found elsewhere in this volume.
Dr. Macintosh read the following invitation extended to the Congress by the Virginia Military Institute: FRANK T. GLASGOW, ESQ., Chairman.
My Dear Mr. Glasgow : I beg that you will extend to the Scotch- Irish Convention, now in session in Lexington, an invitation upon our part to visit the Virginia Military Institute. Cadets are now in camp, and duties are exclusively military. There is signal drill daily from 11 A.M. to 12 M.; target practice daily, 11 A.M. to 1 P.M. and 2 to
4 P.M. ; battalion drill daily, 6 P.M. ; battalion parade, 7:15 P.M. To night there will be a grand concert and illumination of the camp from 9 to 10:30 P.M. If your committee or the convention find the times herein mentioned for regular duties inconvenient, I shall be glad to arrange a programme to meet their wishes. We are so occu pied at this time that our officers will be in a great measure debarred of the pleasure they would otherwise have in attending such meetings of the convention as may be open to the public.
Yours very truly. LIEUT. SHIPP, Supt.
Dr. Macintosh moved that the Society accept with thanks the invitation just read.
The motion was carried unanimously.
On motion of Dr. Macintosh, the hour of opening the evening session of the Congress was changed from 8 to 8: 30 o'clock.
President Bonner:
The Congress will now stand adjourned until 8:30 this evening. The business meeting will be held at four o'clock this afternoon in the room below this.
AFTERNOON SESSION. BUSINESS MEETING.
The business meeting of the Society was called to order at
5 P.M. by President Bonner, who announced that Dr. Hall would lead in prayer.
Dr. Hall :
Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we worship Thee as the Father of light and the Giver of every good and perfect gift. For all that we
THE SCOTCH-IEISH IN AMEEICA.
have received at Thy hand and for all that we have inherited we would bless and magnify Thy great name. We need wisdom at Thy hands, O Heavenly Father; grant us that wisdom, we beseech Thee, that we may be kept from errors of judgment and from practical mistakes, and that we may be enabled to do in our separate places, and in our capacity as we are gathered together here, that which is best for us, best for our fellow-men, and most for Thy glory. Almighty Clod, we pray that Thou wouldst show us in everything the way that Thou wouldst have us take. May we have the precious Jesus, the great Master, our Saviour, always with us, and may we be enabled to carry ourselves as conscious of his presence and maintain a single eye to the divine law. Bless us one by one; bless us in the wealth that Thou givest unto us; bless our kindred and associates, our fellow-workers and our fellow-worshipers over this whole land. Bless the land. Make us to labor together in the fear of the Lord, and make us a God-fearing and a righteous nation. Hear us in these petitions, bless us, and keep us for Christ's sake. Amen.
Secretary Floyd read the report of the Executive Committee as follows:
REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE FOR THE YEAR ENDING
WITH THE LEXINGTON CONGRESS.
Though much later than usual in deciding upon a place for holding our Annual Congress, we are satisfied that no town in the country could have been chosen that would be more satisfactory to our members than the historic spot at which we are to-day assembled. Not only on ac count of its local ion and beautiful surroundings, but because of its his toric associations, Lexington is one of the most interesting places on the American Continent. Rockbridge County and its capital have been known as the center of the Scotch-Irish of Virginia almost from the days of the Revolution. They are associated with all that is greatest and best in this famous State. The fine old institution of learning, whose guests we are, is the main cause which has made Lexington the cen ter of attraction in the Valley of Virginia, the theater of great events, and the cradle of a splendid race. From its humble beginning as Au gusta Academy, something near one hundred and fifty years ago, un til to-day as Washington and Lee University, it has been the most dis tinctive Scotch-Irish school in America. Its students have been largely of Scotch-Irish blood, and its Faculty have been almost exclusively of the race. To state this is to declare that it has been the most American of American institutions; for, in the annals of our national history, the Scotch-Irish have been the most patriotic of the patriotic. But to re-
PKOCEED1NGS. 37
cite the history of Washington and Lee, to relate the story of Lexing ton and Rockbridge County, to describe the heroic character of the people of the Valley, or to recount the great deeds that have been wrought on its soil, would be to repeat a history which has been better told by Mr. Waddell and other orators in addresses delivered at this Congress, and which will be printed in full in the seventh volume of the Society's publications. A brief outline of the historic claims which this place has upon us is given merely to indicate the reasons why the com mittee gladly accepted the invitation to hold our present Congress here.
In addition to the inducements mentioned, the great natural beauty of the surrounding country made us particularly anxious to come.
The invitation to hold our Congress in Lexington was extended in the name of Washington and Lee University, and its Faculty took the initial steps in the arrangements for our entertainment ; but the citizens of the town have cooperated with the university authorities from the beginning.
Immediately after our committee had decided to accept the invita tion, a local Scotch-Irish Society was organized, of which Judge William McLaughlin is President. Local committees of arrangement were at once selected, and have worked assiduously for the success of this oc casion. The names of all the committeemen will be given in our sev enth volume. It is not amiss here, however, to mention the names of the Central Executive Committee, who have had general supervision of the local committees, and upon whom has devolved the burden of the preparation. This committee consists of Mr. Frank T. Glasgow, Chairman, and Messrs. H. D. Campbell, W. A. Anderson, D. C. Humphreys, M. W. Paxton, H. A. White, and W. G. McDowell.
In the plans for the Congress the National Executive Committee was represented by Dr. J. H. Bryson and A. C. Floyd, our Secretary. These two gentlemen have been in close communication with the local committees for several months past. To the local committee has been left almost entirely the details of arrangement.
In choosing the speakers, especial reference has been had to making prominent the history of the Scotch-Irish people of Virginia, one of our objects in meeting at different points in the United States being to bring out the record of the race in all parts of the country.
The date chosen is later than usual, but it was fixed by our hosts so that it might come immediately after the Commencement exercises of Washington and Lee. Considering this, and the fact that tourist rates to the summer resorts of this region are now in effect, a better season could not have been selected.
6
38 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMEEICA.
Beautifully engraved invitations were sent to all our members and to many other representative people throughout the nation. The usual notices of the Congress have gone out to the press, and in short, every detail has been carefully looked after. The committee therefore feels confident that its choice of place and arrangements for the Congress will meet with the approval of the Society.
The affairs of the Society since our last meeting have been conducted upon the lines specified by our Constitution and By-laws and upon the usage of former years. The experience of the first five years of the Society's life taught us the plans of procedure best adapted to the needs of the organization, and therefore there has been no necessity during the last twelve months for any marked changes. More systematic methods have enabled us to accomplish more for the Society than ever before with less effort. Though our advancement in numbers has not been rapid, it has been sure and substantial. The high standard of its membership, which is the most distinguishing characteristic of the So ciety, and the one in which it excels any other organization in the land, perhaps, has been fully kept up.
It must be borne in mind that our membership can only be main tained and increased by the continued effort of our present members to bring in recruits to our ranks. Our historical work has already borne most gratifying fruit.
Our annual meetings and our publications have brought the Scotch- Irish people to the attention of the country, and wherever racial sub jects are intelligently discussed, whether in the daily and weekly press, whether in the magazines or by public orators or whether by scholarly historians of the day, the Ulster stock in America is beginning to ob tain the recognition which, through ignorance or prejudice, was denied it before our Society was organized. Scotch-Irish people who were formerly ignorant of their ancestry have sought out the sources of their origin, and those who knew their descent, but were not proud to own it, are now glad to acknowledge the race to which they belong. Sig nificant proof of the growth of this knowledge and interest was given on Forefather's Day last fall. The great addresses of that day were delivered by Mr. Henry Watterson before the New England Society, of New York, and by Hon. John S. Wise before the Congregational Club in Chicago. It would have been but natural and in accordance with the precedents of more than two centuries for them to have ac corded the greatest meed of praise to the Puritans; but, acting under the impulse given by our Society to Scotch-Irish history, both orators as cribed to our race foremost place among the elements that make up our
PROCEEDINGS. 39
population, and which have contributed most to the greatness and glory of the republic. Numberless other instances could be given of the good results flowing from our work, were it necessary to mention them here.
We have only made a beginning, however. Our work so far has only served to open up the mines of historic wealth sufficiently to show how rich and inexhaustible they are. To thoroughly utilize the treas ure will be the task of many years and many men, working in the systematic manner only possible under such an organization as ours. With such possibilities before us, we should not falter in our efforts to build up the Society and extend its numbers and influence.
The only serious difficulty with which we have had to contend in times past has been our finances, but this difficulty has been removed for the present year. For the first time since our organization we fin ish the Society year with all debts paid, and with a slight balance in the treasury from regular sources of income. For the year closing with our Des Moines Congress, our regular receipts slightly exceeded the ex penses, but we had a debt of about $600, which had been incurred dur ing previous years. At Des Moines Mr. Bonner, our President, and Mr. Mcllhenny, our Treasurer, generously and voluntarily paid that amount in equal parts. We therefore began the year free of debt, and have so continued. We trust that the record will be repeated for future years.
The total receipts for the present year which have come into the hands of the Treasurer are $2,542.86, made up of the following:
Balance cash from last year $ 376 63
Mr. Bonner's donation 306 00
Mr. Mcllhenny's donation ; 306 00
Membership dues 1,194 15
Books 356 25
Interest on deposits 3 83
The total expenditures for the year were $2,493.75.
Debts of last year $986 36
Secretary's salary for this year 600 00
Dr. Macintosh, expense of printing 29 50
Barbee & Smith, for publishing 705 05
Expenses of Secretary for traveling and for job
work, stationery, stamps, etc 172 84
Leaving a balance in the hands of the Treasurer of $49.11.
There are no debts outstanding.
The Society has on hand 474 cloth-bound volumes, worth about $425 ; and 400 in paper, worth about $225 — a total of $650.
4:0 THE SCOTCH-IBISH IN AMEBICA.
The President :
What is your pleasure with the report?
On motion of Mr. C. A. Carlisle, the report was received.
On motion of Dr. Macintosh, the report was adopted.
On motion of Col. J. S. Fairley, the report was ordered spread on the minutes.
Mr. W. Hugh Hunter submitted the report of the Audit ing Committee as follows :
LEXINGTON, VA., June 21, 1895.
Mr. President : I desire to report as the Auditor of Accounts. I have looked over and checked the different accounts and vouchers of both Secretary and Treasurer, and find that each officer has kept his accounts correctly, and that same agree as to balance on hand.
W. HUGH HUNTER, Auditor.
The report was adopted.
Dr. Macintosh voted that the President appoint a special committee to name officers for the ensuing year, and that such committee be granted permission to retire and prepare their report.
The motion was carried, and President Bonner appointed as the committee Rev. John Hall, of New York; Mr. Helm Bruce, of Kentucky; and Mr. W. Hugh Hunter, of Texas.
Dr. Macintosh :
I suppose this is a fitting time to revive a question which has been discussed previously, and that is the appointment of Secretaries for the several States. The Vice Presidents have often been men of large af fairs, pressed with business, and unable to devote much time to pushing the interests and membership of the association, and a good deal has been done by two or three active men in the different States serving as State Secretaries. I should like to make one nomination along this line in accordance with what has been done in previous years. I have found in Detroit a very enthusiastic Scotch-Irishman who is largely acquainted with Michigan, and knows a large number of influential Ulstermen, many of them Ulstermen by birth, and most of them Ulster- men but shortly removed, and I think that he could materially advance the interests of our Society both in Detroit and in the State of Michi gan, and I take this opportunity of nominating and moving for election as State Secretary for Detroit and Michigan Mr. James B. McKay.
PBOCEEDINGS. 41
The President:
Will that come before the Nominating Committee or the meeting?
W. H. Hunter, of Ohio:
Before the meeting. At our meeting in Des Moines there was pro posed for Secretary of Ohio a gentleman named Tod B. Galloway. He is the son of Samuel Galloway, an old Scotch-Irishman. I think his name was proposed by Mr. Frey. His address is Columbus. I propose his name.
President Bonner:
All in favor of electing Messrs. McKay and Galloway as State Sec retaries of Michigan and Ohio, respectively, will say "Aye."
Both persons were unanimously elected.
Mr. Hunter, of Ohio:
There is no State Secretary for West Virginia. I live across the river from that State, and propose the name of a gentleman of Wheeling as Secretary for West Virginia. He is the editor of the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer. He is a member of the Society. His name is Hon. John Frew.
Mr. Frew was unanimously elected.
Rev. Dr. Bryson :
If you are taking Secretaries for the different States, I would like to mention the name of a gentleman of Scotch-Irish blood on both sides of the house, one of the prominent men of Alabama, editor of one of our leading papers, who takes very great interest in the Society, and whom I expected to be here at this time, though something has pre vented his coming, and that is Frank P. Glass, editor of the Mont gomery Advertiser. He is a member of the Alabama Society.
Dr. Macintosh :
Is he a member of the National Society?
Dr. Bryson :
I don't think he is. I propose his name as a member of this So ciety.
Mr. Glass was elected a member of the Society and also State Secretary for Alabama.
The Committee on Nominations appeared and through Mr. Bruce presented the following report:
The Committee on the Nomination of Officers for the Ensuing Year
42 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
recommend the election of the officers whose names appear on the first pages of this volume.
Mr. Bruce:
Prof. Perry, of Williams College, has been our Vice President for Massachusetts, but he has resigned, and no member of the committee thought of any other Scotch-Irish brother of Massachusetts to suggest in his place, so that we have not been able to fill that place in our re port. Unless some one can now suggest a name, I will pass that State. In Texas we have not a name.
Mr. Hunter, of Texas:
I suggest Sam. P. Cochran, of Dallas.
The committee incorporated the suggestion in their report. Mr. Bruce:
Mr. Adams, the Vice President for Tennessee, has died, and we leave that State blank also.
Dr. H. A. White took the chair pending the election of officers.
Dr. Hall:
We had a committee of three, and I found myself in a minority of one in one instance, and I venture to bring that matter before you. I make the request that I be relieved of the position given me as Vice President of New York, and that the place be given to John Sinclair, of New York City. I think it a good thing to get gentlemen outside of my profession, and I have been so long identified with the Society that everybody knows where I belong.
President Bonner :
I don't want to oppose Dr. Hall, but I think he had better remain where the committee has him.
Dr. Macloskie:
I think that Mr. Sinclair should be an officer of the Society, and I hope he will be, but we must keep Dr. Hall also. Dr. Macintosh :
Dr. Macloskie hasn't made any motion, and I move, as an amend ment to the motion which I understand Dr. Hall to have made re garding himself, that the resignation of Dr. Hall be not accepted, but that Mr. John Sinclair be appointed State Secretary for New York City and State.
PROCEEDINGS. 43
The motion was unanimously carried.
Dr. Macloskie :
I have two names to present. One is that of a gentleman of high position from the State of Massachusetts, John A. Aiken, a lawyer of Greenfield. I have been told he is the right sort of a man for the position that is vacant in Massachusetts. The other gentleman is Dr. Drips, of Savannah, Ga. His father is a Kildare man from the North of Ireland.
Dr. Macintosh:
I will indorse Dr. Drips thoroughly. I think this gentleman from
Massachusetts will serve admirably as Vice President for that State.
• Dr. Macloskie:
I move that these two gentlemen be elected members of the So ciety.
The motion was unanimously carried.
Dr. Macloskie:
I move that Mr. Aiken be made Vice President for Massachusetts.
The motion was unanimously carried. Mr. Floyd :
I desire to present the name of Mr. C. A. Carlisle, of South Bend, Ind., as Secretary for the State of Indiana.
Mr. Carlisle was elected unanimously. Acting President White :
What is the wish of the Congress with reference to the report of this committee?
Mr. Carlisle :
I move that the gentleman nominated be elected to the position des ignated by the committee.
The motion was unanimously carried, and the officers men tioned therein duly elected to serve for the ensuing year. Mr. Boriner resumed the chair. Mr. Hunter, of Ohio:
I desire to present for membership the name of Hon. Harry Tucker. He is the member of Congress from this district. I can vouch for the fact that he is a half breed. He may be more than that, but I know him to be that at least.
44 THE SCOTCH-IBISH IN AMEEICA.
Mr. Tucker was unanimously elected a member of the So ciety.
Dr. Macintosh :
I nominate Prof. Nelson, of Washington and Lee University, as a member of the Society.
Prof. Nelson was unanimously elected. Rev. Mr. Finley:
I would like to present the name of A. M. Frazier, of Staunton, Va. He is Scotch, but his better half is Scotch-Irish.
Mr. Frazier was elected to membership.
Dr. Macintosh:
• I move that the gentlemen nominated both now and at our public
meeting be declared fully eligible for membership. I move that the nominations be completed by the formal election of these gentlemen, and that their names be enrolled as members of the Society.
The motion was carried.
Dr. Bryson:
Is there anything special before the house now? I would take this opportunity of making a motion with reference to the papers that are being read before the Congress. The question that I wish to bring to the attention of the Congress is that all parties preparing papers of an historical nature should at the end or close of their papers state the authorities that they have used in the preparation of their papers. Such a list of authorities will greatly facilitate the work of whomsoever shall be the future historian in knowing the sources from which the author's information is derived ; and if he should care to investigate more thoroughly and carefully into any feature of the papers, a refer ence to the list of authorities will save him much time. This course of action will, I am sure, add very great interest to all our papers. In the paper which Prof. Perry has prepared on the Scotch-Irish in New England he has given the authorities which he uses, ten or twelve or fifteen, and this makes his paper very valuable and interesting. Mr. Douglass Campbell, in the preparation of his very remarkable history known as " The Puritan in England, Holland, and America," has utilized this method of reference. I think that this statement of authorities would add very greatly to the interest of all our papers, and I move that the Secretary be directed to communicate with all persons preparing papers and ask that a list of the authorities that they refer to in the prepara tion of their papers be given. There might be some papers which are
PROCEEDINGS. 45
quite short, and in which there would be no special references to au thorities; but there are other papers — particularly those of an historic nature, for instance — like that we had this morning and several others that were read at the last Congress and the one the year before that, that would be invaluable if we could know the sources of the informa tion contained in them. Sometimes an author makes no special refer ence whatever, and a person writing a critical history does not like to state that such an historian says a certain thing unless he could go to some special authority to support his statement. It will add to the in terest of the historical papers that are presented to our Congress, and I move that the Secretary be directed to ask all parties contributing papers to this Congress to give their authorities at the close of their papers.
Mr. Bruce:
I would like to ask whether you mean simply to give the book and page as the 'authority for the whole, or give the book and page as au thority for single propositions as they appear along through the paper.
Dr. Bryson :
They could do both. You will very often find that where authori ties are referred to in a paper references are made at the foot of each page. If you will excuse a personal allusion, in the first paper that I prepared for the Scotch-Irish Congress, I gave authority at the foot of each page for every quotation I made historically. In some of the pa pers that are yet to come, if the authorities are referred to just at the close of the papers, it will add intense interest in a critical review of those papers.
Dr. Macloskie :
The proposition is that we do this in a regular scientific way, to give the authority and page, and valuable papers are rendered of twice their value at least where that is done. In this way the work of an historian would be helped immensely, and this is the easiest way in which it can be done.
Mr. Bruce:
If you were writing of the country with which I am familiar, and at the close of the paper were to refer to certain histories of Kentucky, the reference would not be of material value, but if in addition to the authority a certain page were quoted as authority for a certain state ment of fact, that reference adds great value to the paper, and I would suggest that the motion be amended so as to request writers to give the
46 THE SCOTCH-IEISH IN AMEEIOA.
authorities for their main statements of fact in their paper, referring to volume and page of book.
Dr. Hall :
I entirely support the view that Mr. Bruce has taken. Many read ers seeing a list of books at the close of a paper are unable to recall them in their proper connection, but if in reading they were to see at the foot of each page the volume and number of page of the authority referred to, they know at least that there is something they can turn to.
Dr. Bryson :
I accept the amendment that Mr. Bruce makes, that in historic pa pers, in historic references and quotations, the authority and page shall be given.
Dr. Macloskie :
Would it not be better stated that writers be requested to do this? Dr. Bryson :
I mean that they be requested to do it. The motion was carried. Dr. Hall:
I have a suggestion to make in which no motion is necessary. One of the best ways to interest friends who might be supposed to be inter ested in our work is to bring to their attention our reports, and in some instances gentlemen have access to editorial chambers and could bring the editor's attention to one of these volumes. I believe that in that way intelligent and thoughtful people would be moved to take an interest in what we are doing, and in some instances themselves come along with us.
Dr. Macloskie:
I don't know whether I should refer to it here, but a very unfortu nate thing about our meetings, such as this morning's session, is that a couple of papers, both long, are read in succession. There is a physio logical objection to having poor unfortunates sitting for two hours lis tening to these papers. A suggestion that seems to me reasonable in a matter of that kind is that an intermission of five minutes should be given after each paper, in which people may be allowed to move about, talk to each other, or do anything that may refresh themselves during that time. I know it has had a good effect where it has been tried, and I think it would be merciful to the unfortunates.
PEOCEEDINGS. 47
Dr. Macintosh :
We have arranged to diversify the proceedings of this evening with a little music, and at those times the audience will have an opportuni ty of resting after the labors of their intellect.
Mr. Thomas:
I would like to make a suggestion before we adjourn. It seems to me that the time is eminently fitting and the place eminently suitable to take some steps to perpetuate in some manner the memory of this meeting, and I cannot conceive of any better way of perpetuating it than by having this Congress photographed right here on these historic grounds. A first-class photographer is now ready and willing to pho tograph this Congress assembled, and I think such a photograph would be a grand memento of this section of the country and of our meeting here.
President Bonner:
I don't think a motion in this connection is necessary. According to arrangements, the photographer will be here to-morrow morning.
Prof. Humphreys announced that the photographer was al ready present outside. Dr. Macintosh :
I have had put in my hands a copy of a memorial volume of Wash ington and Lee University, called " The Calyx," and I understand that members of the Society may obtain copies of it at Stewart's book store. It is very handsomely gotten up, contains a number of very fine pho tographs of the university grounds and of the professors, and is a strik ing memento of Washington and Lee University and the class of 1895. I promised to direct the attention of the Congress to the publication, and if the members desire to obtain copies of it they can do so.
Dr. Bryson :
I desire to make this motion on behalf of the Congress: That this Society contribute to the library of Washington and Lee University one copy of each of the annual volumes of this Society as they have already been published, and continue the contribution as future vol umes may be issued. We have been received so handsomely, cordial ly, and elegantly, that I feel that this is but a poor tribute, but here among these Scotch-Irish people I think it desirable that we should have our entire record deposited in this library.
48 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
President Bonner:
I think we shall have an enthusiastic response to that motion.
The motion was unanimously carried. The meeting adjourned.
EVENING SESSION.
. The Congress was called to order at 8:30 P.M. by President Bonner.
Rev. Dr. McElwee, pastor of the Presbyterian Chu.ch at Rock Bridge Baths, lead in prayer:
O God, we worship Thee, Thou divine Kuler of heaven above, Thou Giver of every good and perfect gift. Thou Father of light and Fa ther of mercy, and God of all grace and consolation. What shall we render unto Thee for all Thy benefits toward us? We call upon Thy name; we would offer unto Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. We desire to invoke Thy presence and blessing with us this evening, and we pray that these services may redound to Thy glory and to our profit and education. May we realize, O Lord, the great and precious privileges that have been handed down to us from our Godly forefathers, and we pray that we may preserve inviolate the principles which they enjoyed and which have been transmitted to us. Bestow Thy blessing, O Lord, upon this organization, and we beseech Thee that all the services of this occasion may be productive of great good to us and of glory to Thy name. Look down in pity upon us, forgive all our transgressions and all our sins, and accept our personal service, for Jesus's sake. Amen.
President Bonner:
I now have the pleasure of introducing Eev. Dr. Bryson, of Ala bama, who has prepared a paper on " The Scotch-Irish of King's Mountain."
Rev. J. H. Bryson, D.D., read a paper on the subject re ferred to. It will be found elsewhere in this volume.
A quartet sang "Annie Laurie."
President Bonner:
Invitations to hold the next annual Congress of our Society at Harrisburg will now be presented by Hon. W. F. Eutherford and Mr. Matthias W. McAlarney, of Harrisburg; also invitations to be presented from the Governor and other State officials of Colorado,
PROCEEDINGS. 4:9
and the Chamber of Commerce of Denver, asking tbe Society to hold its next Congress at Denver. Mr. McAlarney will now pre sent the invitation on behalf of the people of Harrisburg.
MR. McALARNEY's ADDRESS.
Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the Scotch-Irish Society, Ladies and Gentlemen: Apologies are generally received with little patience, but I feel it due to myself as also due to the Scotch-Irish of Pennsyl vania, whom I am in a measure supposed to represent here to-night, to say to you that upon leaving home I had no expectation of making an address of any sort upon this occasion. I expected to read some papers and letters which I have in my possession, inviting this Society to hold its next annual session in the capital of Pennsylvania, to the Executive Committee of the Society, when they would be acted upon by that committee. Otherwise, I think it quite probable the descend ants of the Scotch-Irish of Harrisburg and Dauphin County would have selected some one better qualified to represent them upon this platform than Mr. Rutherford and myself. We are neither of us public speakers. You will, therefore, bear with me while I make some attempt to state why this Society ought to hold its next session at Har risburg.
And very properly you will ask the question : " Why do you ask the Scotch-Irish Society of America to hold their next annual session in Dauphin County, Pa." Briefly, because Dauphin County and that section of Pennsylvania is the cradle of the Scotch-Irish race in America. [Applause.] Within these walls and upon the front of these galleries you can find the proof of this statement, and many an swers to the question why we come here to invite you to Pennsylvania. The founder of this great university of Washington and Lee, its first President, William Graham, was born in- Dauphin County, within a few miles of Harrisburg. After being graduated from Princeton, young Graham became the pupil of the learned Rev. John Roan, in his small but, at that early day, celebrated theological school, located on a road now known in the neighborhood as the Union Deposit road, between the venerable Paxtang and Derry Presbyterian Churches.
The first missionary and the first representative of Scotch-Irish Presbyterianism in the Valley of Virginia was Rev. James Ander son, who was sent here by the Presbytery of Donegal, in Pennsyl vania, in answer to an appeal for a religious teacher which came from this great and beautiful Valley of Virginia, to-day full of the descend ants of Pennsylvania Scotch-Irish. 4
60 THE SCOTCH-IKISH IN AMEEICA.
Paxtang Church, now almost within the city limits of Harrisburg* was the frontier church for a score or more of years, and whose pastor, a Scotch-Irishman, the Rev. Col. John Elder, when not fighting In dians or Tories, was preaching the gospel of Christ with great eloquence and with a zeal and earnestness that brooked no opposition. Minor, the historian of the Wyoming Valley, declares him to be the most extraordinary man of interior Pennsylvania. From that very church have come many of the men who have illumined the pages of Virginia's history and added luster to the records of the Scotch-Irish race.
And may I not say that there unites in this invitation, from the very walls of this building, from the gentle spirit of the handsome face which looks down upon us this night, one whom Pennsylvanians re garded as the greatest railroad man of his day, and whom Virginians remember as the generous benefactor of this venerable college ; in life the genial gentleman and steadfast friend, prominent among the best illustrations of what the Scotch-Irish have done in America — the la mented Thomas Alexander Scott, born in the hills of Loudon, in the very heart of the great Cumberland Valley, where his Scotch-Irish parents were accustomed to measure distances by the names of their churches.
Why do the Scotch-Irish of Pennsylvania invite a session of this Congress ? Read over the names that are inscribed upon the front of the galleries of this church wherein we are now met. There are hun dreds of them, and yet there is scarce one of them which is not repre sented in the annals of Pennsylvania by more or less distinguished citizens of that great commonwealth. Buchanan — from that same •Cumberland Valley, and from the same race came a Buchanan who, after filling many places of high power and distinction, was made President of this greatest of all nations; a Black, who was Attorney General of the United States, and Justice of the Supreme Court of his native State, and for half a century a lawyer at whose feet the young men of his profession gathered wisdom ; a Gibson — John Bannister, the most distinguished lawyer-judge the Keystone State has had upon its bench — eloquent, logical, philosophical, he established in the juris prudence of his State more " first principles " than any other judge in its history; a Kirkpatrick, Pennsylvania recently had an Attorney General of the same name; a Lewis, we had a Lewis upon the Supreme Bench ; a Porter, we had a Governor, a Judge of the Supreme Court, and a score or more of less distinction; a Cameron, for fifty years the best-known and most distinguished citizen and statesman of the com monwealth — Senator, Ambassador, and Minister of War — and sue-
PROCEEDINGS. 61
ceeded by a son who has for nearly a quarter of a century maintained an influential place in the highest legislative body of the nation. But the list is almost endless: the Curtins, the Simontons, the Wilsons, the Hustons, the Clarks, the Pollocks. The names of the Scotch-Irish who were exalted to the chief executive office of the State are written upon that banner; the names of two-thirds of the judges who have conferred dignity and honor upon the bench in all the courts of our State are there. There is no branch of education, science, or business, of art, or invention in which the Scotch-Irish have become distin guished that you will not find their names in the history of Pennsyl vania. In our ride this morning to that great wonder of your State, the Natural Bridge, we passed a house once occupied by the great McCormick, the farmers' friend. That McCormick's ancestors lie bur ied in old Hanover churchyard, in Dauphin County, and we have in our own city descendants of the same McCormicks — public-spirited, large-hearted, charitable — for half a century taking front rank as bankers, manufacturers, and farmers.
There is every reason, therefore, why this Congress of Scotch-Irish men should adjourn from this place, of all others, to meet in the old home of their ancestors. And this is why we are here to-night to ex tend you this invitation as earnestly and heartily as it is possible for us to do.
President Bonner:
Dr. Macintosh, have you some invitations from Denver?
Dr. Macintosh :
Yes, sir. The following invitation has been sent forward on be half of Denver as a center and Colorado as a great commonwealth.
Dr. Macintosh read the invitations, which will be found elsewhere in this volume.
President Bonner:
Mr. McAlarney omitted to read the letter and invitation from the Governor of Pennsylvania and the Harrisburg Board of Trade. He will now do so.
Mr. McAlarney :
If there were no other corroborating circumstances to prove my assertion that I am not a public speaker, my omission in this in stance would be sufficient.
I remember some years ago being in a convention, and a gentle man got up and made a very eloquent speech, one of these extern—
52 THE SCOTCH-IKISH IN AMERICA.
poraneous kind that you take from your pocket. His purpose was to make a nomination, but he sat down without saying who his can didate was, and the President had to call his attention to the fact, just as my attention was called this evening; and he amended his speech, and therefore I amend mine.
Mr. McAlarney read^the letters and invitations referred to. They will be found elsewhere in this volume. President Bonner : What is your pleasure with these papers?
Dr. Bryson:
As has been our general rule, according to our custom, I move that these several invitations, with the papers accompanying them, be referred to the Executive Committee, to be acted upon at its next meeting.
The motion was seconded. Mr. Hunter, of Ohio:
I would like to offer an amendment to that motion that the rules be suspended and the invitation of Pennsylvania be accepted.
Mr. Bruce:
There has been no second to the gentleman's motion. I suggest that it has always been the custom to refer these matters to the Executive Committee. They can be discussed there more at leisure, and it seems to me with better advantage, and the various consid erations that would move us to go to one place or the other can be better considered in those private councils than they can here, and for that reason it seems to me that the original motion should pre vail.
The motion to suspend the rules was defeated, and the mo tion to refer the invitations and the choice of the next place of meeting to the Executive Committee was carried.
A duet, "The Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon," was sung by the ladies of the choir.
President Bonner:
Eev. Dr. John Hall, pastor of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church of New York, who is known to you all by reputation, will now favor us with an address. He requests me to say that it will be very short.
PROCEEDINGS. 63
DR. JOHN HALL'S ADDRESS.
My Dear Christian Friends : Let me say at the beginning that you may rely upon any statement that I may make to you here for this reason : that I am one of the adopted alumni of Washing ton and Lee University. [Applause.] I see that you applaud that statement. When I recollect and recall to you that one of the highest honors the university can bestow has been granted to me I think you can understand the feeling with which I stand here to address this meeting.
I have, however, a certain degree of anxiety. A gentleman who has very frequently given me good advice said to me to-day: "Now, you had better take care that you say just what is right, for that faculty may withdraw the honor." So you can understand that I appear here to-night not to make a regular address, but to say to you, dear friends, with the deepest sincerity, how much pleasure it gives me to meet with those whom I cannot but call my country men and my friends.
I am a Scotch-Irishman in the truest sense of that phrase. By this day three weeks I hope to be at what I am pleased to call "home," on the place and in the house where my forefathers have lived for six generations. The place is not quite as large as an av erage American estate, but I can tell you it is very dear to me, and I can say to you here with absolute truth as 1 look over the faces of those that are gathered together here, that I can see compara tively little difference between their form and expression and the appearance of a congregation of my own countrymen in the county of Armagh, in the province of Ulster, in Ireland. I can very well understand and believe the statements as to the large number of Scotch-Irish people that are settled in this beautiful, and picturesque, and historic valley.
I have had the privilege of attending all the Congresses that have been held up to this time, and I need not say that it has been with very great pleasure that I have been at these meetings. I will mention one thing for the benefit of those who listen to me, something that has very frequently been brought to my own mind, from the writings of an English author, who describes a young lady who was in the habit of giving her friends quite a long list of her own personal virtues, just as we hear of the excellent qualities of the Scotch-Irish, and then she always wound up with this simple statement: "But I am not proud, because ma says that is sinful." [Laughter.] You can all understand the point here.
54 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
The town of Newry is within six miles of the place where I was born, in the County Armagh. In a couple of years from the little port of Newry there sailed three ships, each bringing from four hundred to four hundred and fifty people, that they might settle upon this continent; and when I tell you that from that same New iy, the nearest town to my birthplace, there came to this country the Tennents, who did so much for the promotion of education from my boyhood, and the Waddels, of whom we have very appropriate ly heard a great deal here, I think you can understand that I feel a little special satisfaction in being among my countrymen, my friends, and hearing the record that is presented from time to time of the deeds that they have done, of the characters that they have made, and of the share that they have had in the framing and in the maintaining of the institutions, the privileges, and the liberties of this great republic. [Applause.]
There is one thing I think that is proper for me to say here, be cause of statements that have sometimes been made in my hearing regarding the beginning of the Scotch-Irish race. I have met with some very intelligent people who had the understanding that that meant the descendants of the Scotch people and the Irish people who had intermarried and so became one. That is a mistake; and if it is in the mind of any, I would be glad to correct it. Intermarriages between the Scotch settlers and the native Irish were very rare oc currences indeed, deep and strong religious sentiment, among other forces, operating against anything of the kind. What is meant by Scotch-Irish is people of Scotch home, Scotch blood, who moved over to Ireland, remained there for a certain time, their families growing up there, but who, for reasons sufficient to them, at length came here from Ireland, and found their homes upon this continent, retaining the convictions, the habits, the usages, the manners, the bearing of the race to which they belong and of the country from which they came in the beginning.
It has been sometimes supposed and said that the Scotch-Irish people were changed to some extent by the Irish element added to their lives. I think it is quite true that certain influences have been brought to bear upon the people who lived for some genera tions in Ireland by their contact with the Irish people, but to sup pose that their character and their convictions had been materially altered by that contact is a great mistake. There is, as you know, a certain Irish humor of which we hear and read a great deal, and it is sometimes supposed that the Scotch have not a little of that
PEOCEEDING8. 55
from their continued Irish residence. I shall not argue against the statement. I am ready to admit and give credit to my countrymen of Ireland, the native born, for a great deal of humor, or rather for being the occasion of humor to others. [Laughter.] I have pre sided at a public meeting, and several eminent speakers made their addresses, and they were loudly applauded; and the things that were most applauded in what they said were quotations from Irish speakers; and I wondered how those gentlemen would succeed in securing public attention if it were not for the Irish from whom they drew so much.
The statement has been made, as you know, by a leading writer that it takes something like a surgical operation to enable a Scotch man to understand a joke. Well, an Englishman was quoting that to a Scotch friend, and I think the Scotch friend made a very appro priate, reply. "Yes," he said, "to understand an English joke." [Applause.]
My dear friends, the people who came over from Scotland and settled in Ireland came with their fixed tenets, with definite convic tions, and they brought their convictions to this side of the ocean, and, in the historical pictures upon which you have been gazing here since the opening day of this Congress, you have seen the power that was thus obtained and exercised by these Scotch-Irish people.
You will not forget that this Congress is not denominational, as it is not political. We are prepared to take in the people of all the denominations, and we don't ask about politics; but there is one thing that I have noticed yet again and again and again: the speakers have at some point of their addresses brought in that big word " Presbyterian." That sometimes reminds me of a little story which I shall venture to tell for the benefit of some of the very young people that 1 am glad to see here. They may have heard it before, but it is worth repeating. At the dinner table there was a nice little girl whom we will call "Miss Annie." When the soup was handed around she declined to take any soup; and then the meat was carved, and she declined to take any meat; and a gentle man who was sitting at the table, a guest probably, looked at her and said to her: "Why, Annie, you are a vegetarian." "No, sir," said she; " I am a Presbyterian." [Laughter.]
Now, dear friends, in that connection let me say a grave and se rious word. Let us try to perpetuate the principles that made our fathers what they were; let us put our faith in that Being to whom
56 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMEBICA.
they gave reverence; let us trust the Eedeemer in whom they put their confidence; let us try to follow the Captain of salvation as they sought to do; and let us look for guidance and peace and pros perity through the favor that comes down from above.
There were many of the Scotch people who moved over into Ire land who could not be regarded as serious and religious men, but there was a pronounced religious element, and the members of that religious element were not at rest until they sent the cry to their native land for faithful gospel-preaching ministers, and they secured their services in the North of Ireland; and the result was that un der the blessing of God, as you have heard described, these men came over and found their homes in this land.
Let me remind you of the circumstances that induced so many of this race to come here. After 1688, 1689, and 1690, a great quantity of land was put into the control of the favored classes, and they distributed this land to tenants at low rates for the reason thai the land needed cultivation, and had to be reclaimed. The leases were generally for thirty-one years, and by the time these leases had expired these industrious Scottish men had built houses, re claimed the grounds, made the land crop-producing, and tremen dously increased its value. Then the landlords would say: "We must double the rent, treble the rent." " Why," they said in reply; "why should you do that? It has been our labor that has made the land what it is, and now you want to make us pay for our own labor," and at once from 1723, 1724, and 1725 there began to be a large emigration to this land.
I have had the privilege of being in Ireland from year to year for many years. I was there last summer. It would be gratify ing to you here to say that I have never seen the province of Ul ster in better condition than it is at the present time ; I have never seen the people in greater comfort; I have never seen the religious institutions in better working order. The General Assembly, repre senting about six hundred congregations of Presbyterians, has just had its meeting. I had its reports given to me. Delegates came from the Church of Scotland, the United Presbyterian Church, and the English Presbyterian Church, and the state of feeling was of the happiest nature. Among others, there was a layman, a soldier, representing the Church of Scotland, Col. Walker, who made this statement: "I feel at home among you, dear brethren, for I am half an Irishman." And then he went on further to say that he was an officer in the British army who had gone over to the mainland
PEOCEEDINGS. 57
and had there met a lady who became his wife, and he remarked that the persons present would readily understand that that was the happiest part of his whole life. Well, that gentleman seemed to speak with a serious earnestness, and here is one of the state ments that he made: "The British Government was unkind and un just to a section of people settled here in this province of Ulster. What happened? These people moved away. They went to Amer ica, and in the course of time these people were strong enough to rise and use all their power to rescue and redeem the colonies from the hands of the British nation — a lesson," said he, " which politi cians ought to be ready to learn." He went on to quote the words of George Washington to the effect that the best supporters he had in that conflict were Presbyterians, or were the sons of Presbyte rians that were settled upon this continent; and then he went on to argue that if a government can be punished in this way for injustice and wrong-doing to a section of people under it, the exist ing governors, the rulers of to-day, ought to keep that fact in mind and learn important lessons from it. I haven't the least doubt that he had in his mind a reference to the proposition of Home Eule, which", if carried out as proposed, would be a most serious evil to the Protestant people of Ireland, and not the least to the Presbyte rian people of the province of Ulster. [Applause.]
I shall venture to make one suggestion before I take my seat. Here we represent North and South, and, as you have learned from this most attractive invitation that has come to us from Colorado, we are also East and West. Dear friends, descendants of these he roic Scotch-Irish, here is one thing that you and I can properly aim at: to preserve and extend and deepen the feeling of unity be tween the North and South, between East and West. [Applause.] There is no particular merit in my feeling the deepest interest in this matter, because I was not in this country when unhappy divi sion prevailed; but, having lived here now eight and twenty years, and having come into thorough sympathy with American institu tions, with American ways, with American Christian feeling, I say that one of the strongest desires in my heart is that we might be, in the hand of Providence, in some degree the means. of bringing together into sympathy, into mutual confidence, and into hearty cooperation those in the North, those in the South, those in the East, and those in the West. [Applause.]
If we wish to do this, here is one sphere in which I think we can exercise united powers. I have been hearing and reading,
58 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
again and again, of a matter which is often brought to my atten tion in my connection with the Board of Home Missions of the Church to which I belong, and that is the large number of so-called mountain whites, and poor whites that are found over various States, many of whom, I am sure, have more or less of the Scotch- Irish blood in their veins, poorly educated, with few facilities for get ting education, with many difficulties with which to contend, and, I am sorry to say, with not a few vices, in illustration of the truth of the old Latin proverb that the corruptions of the best things are the worst. I say we can join together in creating public sentiment in their interest, in trying to move the statesmen to greater educa tional facilities, and, as Churches, we can combine and cooperate to gether in bringing to bear upon them the influence which God ex erted to make our forefathers what they have been in the history, what they have been in the life, of this great nation, and Oh! what a good thing it would be, whatever our denomination, if we could so reach these hundreds and thousands of our fellow-citizens, not a few of them, I am sure, of our own race, with the glorious and blessed truth which is the strongest elevating force in the world, and lift them up to something like the same plane upon which our forefathers stood, so that they might be permitted to partake of the benefits and blessings which, through the kindness of God, we have been enabled to enjoy.
I shall not take more of your time. I am glad to be with you here. My heart goes out to you on many grounds. I need not try to state them all. May God's blessing rest upon you in your homes, in your social life, in your civil life, in your individual life, and may you have not only a public spirit and a pntriotic spirit, but a spirit descended from above, so that you may serve your gen eration by the will of God, and be a blessing to the nation of which you constitute a portion! [Applause.]
President Bonner:
Dr. John A. Quarles, Professor of Practical Moral Philosophy in Washington and Lee University, will now favor us with a five- minute speech.
Dr. Quarles :
Mr. President, Members of the Scotch-Irish Society of America, La. dies and G-entlemen : 1 have been settled in a conviction that I have had all my life, and that is as to the unity of the race, for it has
PROCEEDINGS. 59
been given a new turn by my observation in connection with the proceedings of this Congress. I am now persuaded, from all the things that I have heard that the Scotch-Irish have done, that they must have been the only people that ever lived upon the face of the earth. [Laughter.] I am satisfied that Adam was a Scotch-Irishman, and if I have any doubt about his race, I have none in the world about Eve's. Indeed, Mr. President, as I look around on this assem blage, and particularly on this platform, where as the majestic fig ure of the grand man who has just addressed us looms up before me, I feel that I realize my highest ideal of what Adam was in his primitive purity and magnificence; and, as I look over this audience, the only difficulty with me is to select Eve. She is here, I am sure, for where can we find the loveliest of her daughters if not here? For softness and sweet, attractive grace, young men say the blushing maiden; the middle-aged, the matron; for myself, it is the woman with the white threads, her crown of glory because it is found in the path of righteousness.
Mr. President, I have not been able to find with my microscope a single drop of Scotch-Irish blood in myself; but, sir, when I re flect that everybody that has ever done anything in this world de scended from Adam, the primitive Scotch-Irish nan, and all the rest of the race must have descended from that one gentleman that crept into the garden, I am exceedingly anxious to make myself out a Scotch-Irishman [laughter] ; and I throw myself on the pro tection of the law, the common law, that presumes every man inno cent until he is proven guilty. While, Mr. President, I cannot prove myself innocent, I call upon you arid the whole Scotch-Irish Society of America to prove me guilty, and until there is evidence that will satisfy a jury and a judge in equity that I have no Scotch- Irish blood in me, I shall believe that as the water which flows from our mountain rills and into the sea may, though no one can tell whence it comes nor whither it goes, ultimately find its way back to its original source, so through numerous generations from some • source and through some manner a little bit of Scotch-Irish blood has found its way into my veins. I am exceedingly anxious to make out this claim, because I have lived here in this Scotch-Irish neighborhood now for nine years, and I can confirm by my own observation what has been said about the men and women of Ulster: they stand for liberty, for law, for literature, for religion, and they are what they are and have been what they have been because they have been ever true to the school, to the Church, to the Bible, to
60 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
the sanctuary, to everything that is good and noble and true, to the family. [Applause.]
I tell you, Mr. President, that I have not been so stirred since I have been here as when I was told on yesterday that the stone churches which are the most interesting relics of all this region were actually built from stone cemented together by sand carried in sacks upon horses by the godly women of that generation. [Applause.] There are to-day women in this valley who would go to the stake if necessary for their conviction of right.
I love the Scotch-Irish. I have learned to love them, I have learned to feel myself at home amongst them; and woe be to me, Mr. President, were it otherwise, for I hope to go to heaven, and I know that heaven is full of the Scotch-Irish. [Applause.]
President Bonner:
An opportunity will now be given for nominations for member ship.
Dr. Macintosh :
I beg leave to present the names of Mrs. Virginia C. Hamilton, Tupper Lake, N. Y., and James T. Wilson and James McDowell Adair, Lexington, Ya. Their certificates are regular, and I move that they be elected members of the Society.
The motion carried. President Bonner:
The Congress will now adjourn until ten o'clock to-morrow morning.
MORNING SESSION.
Saturday, June 22.
The Congress convened at 10:30 A.M. President Bonner :
The Eev. B. H. Dement, pastor of the Baptist Church of this town, will now open the meeting with prayer.
Rev. Mr. Dement:
Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, Thou who hast created us and given us our being, O Thou true and living God, Thou God of our fathers: into Thy holy presence we come to lift up our hearts in thanksgiving and praise unto Thee from whence descendeth ev-. ery good and every perfect gift, in whom all the nations of the earth live and move and have their being. To Thee we are indebted
PROCEEDINGS. 61
for life that now is and for the hope that cheers our hearts of a glorious immortality when this fleeting life is over. We thank Thee that Thou art gracious and kind to the children of men. O may Thy kindness draw us unto Thee, and may we feel that we belong to Thee, that we are not our own, but that we are purchased by the precious blood of Jesus Christ who loved us and gave himself for us. We thank Thee for the preciousness of Thy blood which cleanseth from all sin, and we thank Thee for the hope set before us in the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We bless Thee for the infinite love wherewith Thou hast loved a lost and ruined race; that while we were without hope, in due time Christ died for the ungodly, and we come to Thee in His all-prevailing name, and be seech Thee to remember us most graciously in the pardon of every sin, and may the sweet joys of the salvation of the Lord fill our minds, and may that peace of God which passeth all understanding keep our hearts through Jesus Christ.
We thank Thee for this gathering of so many noble, patriotic, Christian men and noble women. We bless Thee, O Lord, that it is our privilege to hear these speeches of inspiration and instruction. Grant, O God, that we may become more and more patriotic and inspired, more and more to advance the true cause of Christ in the world, and be more ardent advocates of civil and religious liberty.
We thank Thee for what this race has accomplished in days gone by; we bless Thee for what it is doing now, and we thank Thee for the moral inspiration which cheers and strengthens and nerves them for pressing forward in the holy work of the Lord.
O Thou Lord of hosts, be Thou with us and bless us in all our works, and bless the influences of this Congress, we beseech Thee. Bless for good the minds and hearts of the people of this communi ty and those that are gathered here from various sections of our land. Make us all true lovers of our country, true lovers of God; and grant that, after serving Thee acceptably here below, we may at last receive a crown of righteousness, we ask for Jesus's sake. Amen.
President Bonner:
We will now have the pleasure of listening to an address on " Gen. Daniel Morgan," by Hon. A. C. Gordon, of Staunton, Ya., a gentleman eminent not only in the law, but in literature as well.
Mr. Gordon read the paper referred to. It will be found else where in this volume.
62 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
"America" was sung by the choir, the audience standing. President Bouner:
One of the best things that the late President McCosh, of Prince ton College, ever did for that institution was to induce Rev. Dr. Mac- loskie to leave Ireland and come over to this country, where he was placed at the head of the Scientific Department of that college. He will now tell us " What Education Can Do for the Scotch-Irish."
Dr. Macloskie addressed the audience on the subject re ferred to. His remarks will be found elsewhere in this volume.
Music was furnished by the choir.
Dr. Macintosh :
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: There was to have been presented a carefully prepared and most valuable historic paper on "The Brothers Rogers," written by Dr. Ruffner; but in view of the crowded state of the programme, he has decided that it would be better to withhold it and have it published in the volume of our Society. In some respects I am rather sorry that parts of it at least have not been presented to the Congress at the public meet ing, as, running my eye over it, I have been struck with some ex ceedingly interesting and wonderfully instructive portions which throw valuable side lights on many of the most interesting parts of our history and help us to furnish links where they were wanting in other directions.
I might just say, in connection with this matter of links, that every single paper and every careful investigation of any line of our racial kindred becomes valuable by a peculiar process. All that goes before adds value to that which is presented, and the last that is presented adds value to that which has already been secured.
You will permit me to say that I have been asked very frequent ly since I came to Lexington what would be the best means to trace out and link on our present known American genealogies with the old country connection. That is a practical and important question, and I would like to give you just here and now one or two hints on that line. I shall say, first, gather as carefully as you possibly can all you know, not only of your direct American lineage, but of various collateral branches, because it is frequently some link, some incident, some locality that is found in the collateral branch that will guide you to the particular person or particular place that you are searching after as your historic Ulster ancestry
PROCEEDINGS. 63
on the father's or mother's side; and make sure, or as sure as you can, of the region in the North of Ireland whence your ancestors came, carefully gather up the old names, no matter how you spell them. Make the best spelling you can — the spelling can be correct ed. Spell the names phonetically if you don't know how to spell them, and the phonetic spelling will guide invariably to the place. If possible, get the parish. If possible, get the old post town ; and care fully guard, as Dr. Macloskie has very properly said, all the letters which you may have in your possession. Then, when you get the parish, write to the parish minister, Presbyterian or Episcopalian, or parish clerk, or the postmaster, or if there be a newspaper in the town, sendyour letter there. Then, if you find upon inquiry that anything can be done, write back and say that you are willing to pay up to a certain amount for the researches to be made. If you follow out these instructions, you will find that probably you may get a great deal of unexpected and most valuable light.
I have the following communication from Gen. G. W. C. Lee, in viting the members of the Congress to attend a reception this aft ernoon at his residence: "Gen. Lee will be happy to see the mem bers of the Scotch-Irish Congress and their families at his home on Saturday afternoon at 5: 30 o'clock."
I have to present for membership in the Society the following names: Mrs. Elizabeth Henderson Wilson, Portsmouth, 0.; Col. James C. Cochran, Foley Mills, Va.; Archibald Woods Houston, Toledo, O.; John Lyle Campbell, Lexington, Va.
Dr. Hall :
May I add to the nominations the name of Dr. Hammond, of New York? He knows about our work, and without being a mem ber I know that he has paid at least twenty years' dues to our treasury. I have great pleasure in nominating him for member ship.
The persons named were unanimously elected members of the Society.
Mr. Helm Bruce:
In connection with the paper that Dr. Macintosh has just submit ted, I hold in my hands a paper prepared by a lady of Louisville, on one of the most romantic and heroic characters of American his tory, John B. Logan, and while we haven't time to read it, I de sire to submit it to the Society and hand it to the Secretary.
64 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
Dr. Macintosh:
I wish to announce officially that all the nominations made yes terday were formally presented and acted upon, and that the ladies and gentlemen then nominated have been duly elected, their names enrolled, and they are now constituted members of the Society. These will be acted upon immediately, and announcements made accordingly.
President Bonner:
The Congress will adjourn until 8 : 30 P.M.
EVENING SESSION.
The Congress was called to order at 8:30 P.M.
Dr. Hall lead in prayer as follows :
O God, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers in the generations that are past, we praise Thee for Thy goodness and magnify Thee for Thy mercy and Thy loving- kindness. We come unto Thee in the name of Jesus Christ, Thy well-beloved Son and our Eedeemer, whom we accept as our Proph et and Priest and King. We pray that for His sake Thou wilt give unto us the blessings that we need for the life that now is and for the life that is to come. For all the benefits that we enjoy, for all the blessings that we have inherited, we render thanks and praises unto Thee.
Lord, enable us to testify our courage by habitual and sincere consecration of our lives to Thy service and glory, and that we may thus be consecrated, give us the continual help of the Holy Spirit. May it dwell and work within us, lifting us and teaching us, show ing us how to serve our generation according to Thy will, and mak ing us meet for the inheritance of the saints in rest.
Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the comfort, the encourage ment, and the enjoyment that Thou hast given us in these past days in these meetings. Continue Thy favor, we pray Thee, bless us one by one, give us a sense of deeper obligation to Thee, and enable us to care for our fellow-creatures and care for those who are to come after us, that through us, our example, our influence, our lives, they may be helped to walk and move in the way of righteousness.
Bless all the families with which we have been brought into con tact here, and whose kindness we have experienced and rejoiced in. Bless this town, with all its interests. Bless the educational work
PEOCEEDINGS. o5
that is carried on here, and may many be trained for conspicuous and eminent usefulness, and at length for the glory that is to be revealed.
Heavenly Father, we pray for our kindred wherever they may be, on this side the ocean or upon the other ; watch over them and bless them and keep them; teach them the highest things, and aft er the separations of this brief life may they and we be gathered to gether in that better land, in the eternal home.
Now, Lord, we invoke Thy presence. Bless us, guide us and keep us, give us wisdom that our every step may be for the good of Thy servants, for the good of this land, and for the glory of Thy name.
These great blessings and all else that we need, even though we brought not our wants before Thee, do Thou mercifully grant unto us for Jeeus's sake, and unto the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, be praise and glory forever and ever. Amen.
President Bonner :
We shall now have the pleasure of listening to an address from Dr. Hervey McDowell, of Cynthiana, Ky. Dr. McDowell is our Yice President for that State, and has been one of our leading and most useful members. His subject is "Dr. Bphraim McDowell," the great Scotch-Irish surgeon.
Dr. McDowell :
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: This paper has been got ten up in a hurry. The gentleman who was to have prepared it went to Europe, and not having returned two or three days before I left home, I found that I had to prepare the paper.
Dr. McDowell read the paper, which will be found else where in this volume.
President Bonner:
Dr. Macintosh, the Vice President General of our Society, who has done more good work for our Society than any other member of it, will now address us. His subject is "A Night in One of the Old Log Colleges."
Dr. Macintosh delivered an address on the subject indica ted. It will be found elsewhere in this volume. Music was furnished by the choir. President Bonner:
Mr. Helm Bruce, a member of our Executive Committee, and one 5
66 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
of the most distinguished young lawyers of a State that has given us a great many orators and statesmen, will now address us. His subject is " George Rogers Clark."
Mr. Bruce delivered an address on the subject referred to. It will be found elsewhere in this volume. Music was furnished by the choir. President Bonner:
We will have a few words only from Hon. Henry St. George Tucker. Mr. Tucker bears a name that has been prominently iden tified with Virginia since the days of my boyhood.
ME. TUCKER'S ADDRESS.
Mr. President : I have been an attentive auditor of the proceed ings of this angust body, and as a student of anatomy — that is, of comparative anatomy, of very great service in determining the truth — I have found, as an auditor of your deliberations, much of in formation and truth to carry with me from this meeting. I notice many grounds of similitude between this body and a certain other, but as the hour of twelve advances on Saturday night I notice in the faces of the members of this honorable body more uneasiness than I have observed in a certain other body.
There have been some surprises to me, Mr. Chairman, as I have witnessed your deliberations, one of the greatest of which was per haps how you have been able to dispatch business as you have done so successfully with only one man speaking at a time, and not an other slight surprise is that the speaker has been able to proceed when the other delegates were sitting quietly in their seats actual ly listening to him. Another surprise that I have noticed — and we were almost saved from it to-day by the honorable member from New Jersey — is that any Congress of whatever denomination or sect could sit in America for three days and not have before it for discussion a bill for the unlimited coinage of silver at sixteen to one. [Laughter.] Nor have we heard anything of the revision of the tariff, nor has a budget been brought in yet, and it is almost twelve o'clock; and last, but perhaps of more comfort to some of us, I found that no member among you has had the temerity to rise in his seat and present a bill to regulate the elections in the South. [Laughter.]
Now, Mr. Chairman, I confess to a feeling of loneliness as I came
PEOCEEDINGS. 67
into this hall a few days ago, for as 1 looked around this room it seemed to me as if I were an alien to your deliberations. I do not find my name written upon these walls, and I have been told by some of my honorable friends that I was a half breed; but, Mr. Chairman, with that self-gratulation which is very common to us, when a friend whose truthfulness I cannot doubt told me that a half breed was a man that possessed all of the virtues of both strains and none of the vices of either, then it was that I began to feel sorry for the full-fledged Scotch-Irish that sit before me now. [Laughter and applause.]
Mr. Chairman, there is one quality of the Scotch-Irish that I have not heard mentioned in your discussions. I have some slight acquaintance with them. It isn't courage, though it embraces courage. It is not steadfastness, though it embraces it. It is the quality of stickativeness ; not that quality which permits you to make before breakfast a resolution which you break before dinner, nor that quality which leads you to resolves on the first day of January which you, alas! break before the first day of February, but a quality that I have discovered in my relations with the Scotch-Irish, away down in the bottom of the heart, to do, to per severe, and never let up; "stickativeness," Mr. Chairman, is the word.
I have also listened with some interest for a paper on another subject. I heard a paper read in this hearing that spoke of the home life of the Scotch-Irish. At the next meeting at which we will all be — for I feel like saying, Mr. Chairman, after attending your deliberations, as they used to say during the late unpleasant ness, " If you want to have a good time, jine the cavalry;" if you want to have a good time, join the Scotch-Irish [applause] — I want to hear a paper read by a proper historian — and you have them among you — giving the effect of the home life of the Scotch- Irish upon American civilization. [Applause.] These grand col leges and schools that we have through the country do much for the man, but, Mr. President, the character of the citizen is not made in colleges ; the character of the man is made in the home. [Applause.] May I add in the Scotch-Irish home? A thousand constitutions will not bind an anarchist, but one constitution is more than enough to bind ten thousand constituents of the honorable members of this Congress. I want to see a paper on that which is the foundation stone of the life of the government. Go with me if you can through the homes of the Scotch-Irish of the Yalley, and there I will show
68 THE SCOTCH-IKISH IN AMEKICA.
you where the men that fought the battles of the country, not only in the field of letters, but upon those bloody fields of battle, learned to bear, to suffer, and to endure.
Mr. Speaker, perhaps it might be interesting for you to know what we think of this body and the individual members of it, or as our good friend, the member from New Jersey, has said, of the vis iting team, in college parlance. May I tell an incident of this morn ing? As I sat in one of the rear seats listening to a paper, in the midst of it there arose upon this platform one who, like Saul, was head and shoulders above his brethren not only in physical stature, but in moral and religious influence through the country, a magnifi cent specimen of the Scotch-Irish minister and patriot. As he stood there a boy who sat near me, greatly interested in athletics, leaned over and said to me: "Mr. Tucker, who is that? " I mentioned his name, and as quick as a flash he said: "Wouldn't he make a daisy center rush in a football team?" [Laughter.] And I con gratulate the Scotch-Irish Congress, for, as I understand the posi tion of center rush — and I do not claim to understand it much — it is the place of honor, it is the place where the strong man is put to protect the weak line; I congratulate the Scotch-Irish race of America that it has ever been the center rush of our civilization. [Applause.]
Now, Mr. Speaker, I cannot forget that you impressed it upon me twice to " do it up in a hurry," and it is one of the times when I cannot tell anything except the solemn truth. There is in closing one sentiment that I should like to refer to. It is the belief that if this great body of American citizens could accomplish nothing else by their deliberations than bring about unity of a once-distracted coun try, its labors would not be in vain. Mr. President, I speak for heroes of many battles, that sit before you ; I speak for men who, taken from their avocations in life, followed that peerless leader of men, Stone wall Jackson, and by their efforts and his genius have written his and their names upon the pages of immortal history. [Applause.] I speak for men, Scotch-Irish of the Valley of Virginia, who, as has been well said by one of the noblest men that ever lived in this or any other country, are men that spit no fire before the war, and have eaten no dirt since. I come to speak for them, and say that we accept the hope expressed by the venerable gentleman, and join with him in the prayer to the Throne on high that the time may soon come when the glory of our people will be not in their prow ess upon the field of battle as in the past, but when their highest
PEOCEEDINGS. 69
glory will be in the common achievements of a united people for a common country, an indissoluble union of States. [Applause.]
President Bonner:
Prof. Macloskie has now some resolutions to offer.
EESOLUTIONS ADOPTED.
Prof. Macloskie offered the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted :
1. The Scotch-Irish Congress, in closing this very delightful ses sion, tenders its best thanks to his Excellency, G-ov. Charles T. O'Ferrall, for his courtesy in attending its proceedings, and for his eloquent and stirring address of welcome to the Old Dominion.
2. Also to the Hon. Judge William McLaughlin, the Eector, and to the Board of Trustees, and President Lee and the members of the Faculty of Washington and Lee University for personal atten tions, and for placing the beautiful buildings of the university at our disposal, and to their ladies for the generous and friendly hos pitality that have rendered this the most delightful of our annual meetings.
3. To Mr. F. T. Glasgow and the other members of the local com mittee; to Mr. W. G. McDowell, Chairman of the Eeception Com mittee, for the very convenient arrangement made for our comfort, and to the ladies who beautified the chapel in which our meetings have been held, and to Miss Belle White and the other members of the Music Committee: Mrs. A. D. Bstill, organist, Miss Nannie Gil- more, Miss Fannie Smith, Miss Bettie Glasgow, Dr. Eeid White, Mr. William McElwee, Mr. John W. Davis, and Dr. McPheeters Glasgow.
4. To Gen. Scott Shipp, Superintendent of the Tirginia Military Institute, for his invitation to visit that old and famous professional school.
5. To the Scotch-Irish Society of Eockbridge County for their hearty and valuable cooperation in entertaining the visiting mem bers of the Congress.
We would not separate without recording our great pleasure in beholding all around us in this beautiful region the signs of grow ing prosperity, and of a healthy moral tone among our Scotch-Irish brethren, and the great success and progress of this noble Scotch- Irish University in which our meetings have been held.
We desire to renew our expressions of thankfulness to God, who
70 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMEEICA.
gave our fathers a happy home in the new world, and our earnest prayer that our Society may help to promote sympathy and co operation among American citizens from whatever nationality de rived, and that it may preserve, extend, and deepen the feeling of unity that exists between North and South, East and West, of our great country.
Dr. Macintosh :
I desire to announce that the Executive Committee has taken into consideration the invitations presented for the holding of our next annual Congress. We have been very much moved by and pleased with the cordial and impressive invitation presented us from the Central City of our great continent, and would have been very much inclined to accept that invitation, but the time specified therein, some period between the month of July and the month of November, made it literally impossible for us to accept it, and hav ing regard to that, but having still more regard to the strong claims of Dauphin County and Harrisburg, and the desire of con tinuing the line of historical investigation so happily begun here, it has been decided that at Harrisburg next year our next annual Congress will convene, and I can say, after some consultation on the subject with the representatives from Pennsylvania, that in all probability the meeting will be held in the early part of May.
The audience sang "Auld Lang Syne."
President Bonner :
We shall now adjourn after the benediction by Dr. Bryson.
Dr. Bryson :
Thou blessed and eternal God: we desire to thank Thee for all the mercies, blessings, and favors that Thou hast been pleased to bestow upon us during the sessions of this Congress. We desire to thank Thee that Thou hast kindly watched over us, that Thou hast protected us from all harm, that Thou hast been pleased to give u& those things that are pleasant and agreeable at the hand of Thy providence, and now we ask the special benediction of the Lord God of our fathers to rest upon this people who have so kindly and so nobly and generously entertained us as we came into their midst here. May that benediction remain through the years that may come and go, and may the richest blessings of our covenant God abide with every home, abide with every heart, and abide with this institution in whose buildings we have been assembled. And
PEOCEEDINGS. 71
now go Thou with us as we go to our homes and protect us from evil and from harm as we travel by the way, and may Thou be pleased again at the proper time to bring us together to discuss all those great questions that pertain to the interests and the welfare of our country and of our people. And now may the blessing of God the Father, God the Son, and of God the Holy Ghost abide with us and all of his people, now and evermore. Amen.
LETTERS.
THE following invitations were received from Harrisburg, Pa., asking the Society to hold its eighth annual Congress in that city :
INVITATION OF GOV. HASTINGS.
COMMONWEALTH OP PENNSYLVANIA, EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, \
HARRISBURG, JUNE 17, 1895. j
The Executive Department of Pennsylvania, having learned of the proposed meeting of the General Scotch-Irish Society of Amer ica at Harrisburg in 1896, unites with the local representatives of the Society and the citizens of Harrisburg generally in extending a most cordial invitation to the Society to hold its next annual meeting at the capital of Pennsylvania, at such time as may be deemed most convenient. DANIEL H. HASTINGS,
Governor of Pennsylvania.
INVITATION OF THE HARRISBURG BOARD OF TRADE.
HARRISBURG BOARD OF TRADE, OFFICE OF SECRETARY, ) HARRISBURG, PA., June 18, 1895. j The Scotch-Irish Society of America :
At a regular meeting of the Harrisburg Board of Trade, held June 18, 1895, the following resolution was adopted :
Resolved, That the Board of Trade unite with the members of the Scotch- Irish Society of America, the Chief Executive of the Commonwealth, his Honor the Mayor of the City, and the Ministerial Association of the city, in cordially inviting the Scotch-Irish Society of America to hold its annual Congress of 1896 in this the capital city of the State of Pennsylvania.
WILLIAM L. GORGAS, President;
JOHN W. GERMAN, Secretary.
INVITATIONS FROM COLORADO.
The Governor of Colorado and the Mayor of Denver join the Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade of that city in asking the Society to visit Denver.
THE DENVER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND BOARD OF TRADE, ")
DENVER, COLO., June 4, 1895. j
To the Officers and Members of the Scotch-Irish Society of America, in Con gress at Lexington, Va.:
Gentlemen: In behalf of the Denver Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade, an organization with a membership of six hundred (72)
LETTERS. 73
of Colorado's most influential citizens, we hereby extend to your Association a very cordial invitation to hold your eighth Congress at Denver in 1896. Those of your members who. have been present at Denver when large conventions have met here know full well the very acceptable manner in which she entertains her guests. Our ability to entertain large gatherings, as well as small, was thor oughly tested when the Knights Templar Conclave met in this city in 1892. At that time one hundred and fifteen thousand strangers arrived in the city within three days. After all had been cared for in the most systematic manner, over one thousand desirable rooms placed at the disposal of the Entertainment Committee were un called for. There are special reasons why you should come to us in 1896. During that year from July to November will be held in this city a grand International Mining and Industrial Exposition, equal to any ever held on the continent (the Centennial and the World's Fair excepted), and our mineral exhibit will exceed either of these. Doubtless most of you have friends living in Denver, and you would greatly enjoy visiting one mile above sea level. You will greatly enjoy our blue skies; our invigorating and stimulating at mosphere; our cool nights, even in midsummer. You cannot but be delighted with the grand panoramic mountain view covering the Rocky Mountain range for upward of two hundred miles in extent, visible to the naked eye. You will enjoy with us excursions through our canons and valleys. You may climb on the cog road up the side of Pike's Peak to an elevation over fourteen thousand feet above the sea, where in midsummer you may snowball as of old. You will be interested to learn how the agriculturist and horticul turist obtain the highest reward for their industry by the aid of irrigation. You may see the gold and silver extracted from our mountain sides and smelted in our furnaces, to meet the ever in creasing demands of the commercial world. In fact, those of you who have not visited the Rocky Mountains will practically see a new country, every feature of which is stored with the greatest in terest. But above and beyond all that you will most thoroughly enjoy will be the hearty grasp of the hand by the Western Scotch- Irish and the matchless hospitality of the Western people of all nationalities. Come, and our people will greet you and care for you in a manner we are sure you will most thoroughly enjoy and appreciate.
Very respectfully yours. Louis ANFENGER. Vice President;
EDWARD B. LIGHT, Secretary.
74 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
We heartily join in the foregoing invitation, and pledge you a cordial reception. T. S. McMuRRAY, Mayor of Denver;
ALBERT W. MC!NTIRE, Governor of Colorado.
FROM MR. WELLS B. McCLELLAND.
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLO., June 7, 1895.
To the Officers and Members of the Scotch-Irish Society of America, in Con gress at Lexington, Va. :
Dear Sirs: The slopes of the Eocky Mountains send you greet ings. This is not in the West. There is no West. Steam and elec tricity have annihilated that which we called the West a few years ago. In the conquering of that vast country which was then called the West the Scotch-Irish»had a great and important portion of the work. On the eastern slope of this grand system of mountains is built one of the beautiful cities of the continent. It is known to all for its beauty as well as its hospitality. We have chosen it for the capital of this State. We now place its hospitality at your disposal. The Governor of this State, the Mayor of that beautiful city, and its Chamber of Commerce have bidden me to ask our mem bers to meet here in 1896 and enjoy their hospitality while holding their eighth Congress. They have bidden me tell you to come and find their city, the State, and the homes thrown open for you. Who are they? We find from their names alone, without any other cre dential, that they are of the sturdy Scotch-Irish.
On the plains at the foot of the Eocky Mountains they will en tertain you all. There you can see the grandest mountain view that is given from any city in the world. There you can see the snow-capped range from the lofty Pike's Peak on the South far to the North. Within this vast mountain system, and in our State, we will show you the grandeur of pictures that can only be paint ed by nature and can never be told. In our valleys, which were cultivated long before the discovery of the new world, is still pro duced in the same way the grain that we use. From the moun tains we draw the metals which you use in your everyday commerce and call money. Our manufactories make the rails over which you ride. We will give you to drink from the thousands of health- giving springs that find an opening here. Above it all is seta sign. It is a sign that is grand to view and grander in its meaning. Overlooking our valleys and signaling to us all is the cross. It is marked by a master hand on a canvas that was woven with the foundation of the world and painted with colors that are as indeli-
LETTERS. 75
ble as the azure blue of the 8ky. It is the holy cross. Come and see it.
Appoint your next meeting at Denver. Come to that meeting, and then you will forever find fault with yourselves that you had not come here before. Come in July. Leave the sweltering heat of the East. Bathe in the cool atmosphere of the mountains. Enjoy our Industrial Congress. Find in Denver a new Paris, a new Ath ens. Find a city founded by Scotch-Irish, built by Scotch-Irish, and governed by Scotch-Irish. A history of the Scotch-Irish of America cannot be written without a knowledge of the Scotch- Irish of the West.
Everything will be at your disposal. Come and enjoy it.
Yery respectfully. W". B. MCCLELLAND.
GREETING FROM SAN JOSE.
SAN JOSE, CAL., May 11, 1895. MR. A. C. FLOYD, Secretary of the Scotch-Irish Society of America :
I am sincerely sorry I cannot be at the Congress at Lex ington, as that whole region of Virginia is very interesting to me, and I should like very much to meet again with the gen tlemen of the Congress. I have been three years in California, and in that time have made two journeys across the continent to New York and Washington. This year I must see something of the wonders of the Sierras, such as Yosemite, etc., and so cannot go eastward. I wish the Scotch-Irish Society could hold one meeting of its Congress on this coast, and in this beautiful town, the very heart of the finest deciduous fruit region in all the world, and in the finest valley I have ever seen in this country or Europe. The distance, indeed, is great, but the trip is well worth while, and the people would give you a most cordial reception.
With regrets and best wishes, I am sincerely yours.
JOHN W. DINSMORE.
PART II.
The following addresses are published as they were delivered, and we do not assume any responsibility for the views of the speakers.
EGBERT BONNER, JOHN S. MACINTOSH, GEORGE MACLOSKIE, A. C. FLOYD,
Publishing Committee, (77)
SCOTCH-IEISH OF THE VALLEY OF VIEGINIA.
BY HON. JOSEPH ADDISON WADDELL, STAUNTON, VA.
ASSEMBLED as we are in the midst of the Yalley of Virginia, it would be a waste of time for me to give a particular description of the region so called. Look around and see for yourselves. I may say, however, that the Valley is that section of Virginia which lies between the Blue Eidge on the east, and the North Mountain range on the west. It extends from the Potomac River to the southern boundary of Eoanoke County. Its length is about two hundred and thirty miles, and its average width about twenty-three miles.
A comprehensive and accurate description of this country is given in the book of Deuteronomy, eighth chapter: "A good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of val leys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines; ... a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron."
As far as we know, it was not till the year 1716 that Europeans entered or looked into thia favored region. Strange it is that for more than a hundred years after the settlement at Jamestown white people of ordinary sense and enterprise loitered in the swamps and sandy plains of lower Virginia without discovering and settling this Valley. There were no white settlements along or near the eastern base of the Blue Eidge, and the mountain range (much higher on the eastern than the western side) loomed up before the few adventurous hunters or explorers as a frightful barrier. In the quaint language of the day the mountain was deemed " unpassable." What lay west of the range nobody knew, and everybody seemed afraid to come to see. There are indications that the mountains were to the more ignorant lowlanders objects of superstitious dread, being inhabited, they supposed, by
Gorgons and hydras and chimeras dire.
At length Gov. Spotswood's curiosity got the better of him. He had an idea that the great lakes lay only a little way beyond the Blue Eidge. The French, hereditary enemies of the English, held the lake country, and the Governor wanted to " satisfye " himself whether it was practicable to come at the lakes by crossing the
(79)
80 THE SCOTCH-IKISH IN AMERICA.
ridge. Being a brave soldier, he determined to enter upon the haz ardous enterprise, and take a look at Lake Brie from the top of the mountain. Accordingly, with his staff of nine gentlemen, a com pany of rangers, and four Meherrin Indians, he departed from Wil- liamsburg, and on the 5th of September, 1716, scaled the mountain at a low place since called " Swift Run Gap," entering the Valley into what is now the county of Rockingham. The party crossed the Shenandoah River, which they called "Euphrates," and took possession of the country for King George I., of England. The most remarkable thing about this famous expedition is the quanti ty and variety of the liquors the party brought along. As a part of the ceremony of taking possession, besides firing volleys, they drank the health of the king, all the royal family, and the Governor in champagne, burgundy, and claret, and had besides Virginia red and white wines, Irish usquebaugh, brandy, shrub, rum, canary, cherry punch, cider, etc. The historian of this expedition says, et cetera: What more could there have been?
No wonder the party were disinclined to explore the country farther after such potations. Some Indians whom he met made the Governor understand that if he would go to the top of a western mountain in sight he could see Lake Erie. Indians, you will ob serve, were not only great liars, but had wit enough to be fond of misleading and quizzing white people. Satisfied with the informa tion thus received, the Governor rode back to Williamsburg. He made no attempt to settle the country he had discovered, and ap parently dismissed it from his thoughts. Fortunately, or perhaps we should say providentially, the country was reserved for the the homes of a sturdier and better class of people than the Gov ernor could have introduced here.
Years passed by, at least ten, when we find, in 1726, several fam ilies of German people settled on the Shenandoah River not far from Swift Run Gap. They came from Pennsylvania, and that is nearly all we know about them. Being oif the track of the main immigration when it set in, comparatively remote from other set tlers with whom they did not mingle, and speaking a different lan guage, they were for many years unnoticed and almost unknown. But six years later (in 1732) people of another race began to pour into the Yalley.
In 1731, or thereabout, a man named Joist Hite purchased from the patentees the grant of a large tract of land in the lower Yal ley near the Potomac, and proceeded to introduce settlers from
SCOTCH-IRISH OF THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 81
Pennsylvania. The newcomers were, however, soon confronted with the claim of Lord Fairfax that Kite's grant was included in his grant of the " Northern Neck," and that consequently no deed from Hite could convey a good title. The immigrants were dis couraged. They could not go back, and could not safely remain where they were. Many of them, therefore, pushed on up the Val ley to a region where no lordly patentee claimed title, and where even no Indians dwelt or had wigwams.
John Lewis was the leader of the pioneer band. They could bring little with them — only some bedding and clothing, a few necessary implements, seed corn, and the Bible. Thus equipped — their goods and effects on pack horses — came men, women, and chil dren. There was, of course, no road — only the trails of Indians and buffaloes.
It is a question why Lewis came so far from the Potomac (more than a hundred miles) before he settled down. He passed over rich alluvial lands, and came to the rocky and hilly region near the site of Staunton. Perhaps there was a scarcity of forests and springs of water in the region traversed, and timber and fountains were in dispensable. But probably another consideration urged him for ward : He had lately had a bloody feud with a lordling in Ireland, and wished to be clear beyond the domain of Lord Fairfax.
In the wake of John Lewis camp wave after wave of people of the same race. They climbed the hills, waded the streams, and crept through the forests. Like an invading army they " subsisted off the country." Game was abundant — bears, deer, turkeys, and some buffaloes and elks. For many years there was no lack of fresh meat, and that the first comers had to eat meat without bread for at least twelve months. They located at their will and pleasure on the public domain, built cabins, cleared land, and planted corn.
The land was all before them where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide.
When an individual with his family came to a grove of tim ber and a gushing fountain, we may imagine him saying: "This is my rest, and here will I dwell." Hardly had they provided shel ter for their families, when they began to erect log meetinghouses in which to assemble for the worship of God, with schoolhouses hard by. They believed in God and the Bible, and had a high re gard for the schoolmaster, plain and unlettered as most of them were. The majority of them were farmers and mechanics. A few had been merchants. There was not a sprig of nobility nor a so. 6
82 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
called cavalier amongst them. One of them, whose immediate de scendants were highly distinguished, was probably a house builder; another, whose posterity have graced the pulpit, the bar, and the halls of Congress, was a ship carpenter; and a third, whose de scendants have been equally distinguished, was a weaver.
By the year 1736, four years after the first settlement, many families were located in the region now composing the county of Augusta, and the surrounding country was quite thoroughly ex plored. So far the settlers were what have since been called " squat ters on the public domain." In the year mentioned, however, Wil liam Beverley, of Essex County, obtained a grant of more than one hundred thousand acres of land lying "in the county of Orange between the great mountains on the river Sherando." The tract thus granted surrounded the site of Staunton, and embraced all the settlements in the country. But Beverley was a liberal or politic landloi-d, and speedily made deeds for nominal considerations to all actual settlers for as much land as each cared to have. In the same year Benjamin Borden obtained a patent for a large tract in the forks of James Kiver, west of the Blue Ridge, in the present county of Rockbridge. The first settlers in Borden 's tract were Ephraim McDowell and his family, he being then an aged man who had been in Londonderry during the famous siege. He made his home on Timber Ridge, then called Timber Grove.
So far, and for more than twenty years after the arrival of the •first settlers, they lived in comparative peace. The Yalley had long been deserted by its ancient inhabitants, and the savages who fre quently traversed it on hunting or war expeditions were not gen erally hostile to the whites. The Rev. John Craig, describing the country as it was when he came here, in 1740, says it was " a wilder ness in the proper sense," with a few Christian settlers and " num bers of heathens traveling among us," generally civil, but they had committed some murders about that time. They marched about in small companies, calling at any house for food, and sparing nothing they chose to eat and drink.
But the people pined for the ordinances of religion. They could do without roads and wheeled vehicles, fine clothes, and even com fortable dwellings and furniture; these they could wait for; but it was an intolerable deprivation to be without a minister to instruct the living, comfort the dying, bury the dead, and baptize the new born infants. Being of the Presbyterian faith, they cried to their own people at the North for relief. Accordingly "a supplication
SCOTCH-IRISH OF THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 83
from the people of Beverley Manor, in the back part of Virginia," was laid before Donegal Presbytery, in Pennsylvania, September 2, 1737, requesting ministerial supplies. The Presbytery could not grant the request immediately, but the next year the Rev. James Ander son was sent to intercede with G-ov. Gooch in behalf of the Presby terians in Virginia. The Church of England was established by law throughout the colony, but the Governor in his reply assured the people of his good will, and of the ample protection to which they were entitled under the English "Act of Toleration." All their ministers were required to do was to take the oaths prescribed by law, to register their places of meeting, and behave themselves peacefully toward the government. During that year (1738) Mr. Anderson visited the Valley, and at the house of John Lewis preached the first sermon ever delivered in this section of country.
In the meanwhile settlements had been creeping up toward the eastern base of the Blue Ridge.
Till the y.iur 1738 all the country west of the Eidge was em braced in the county of Orange, whose county seat was some dis tance east of the mountain. On the 1st of November, 1738, how ever, an act was passed by the Colonial Assembly constituting the counties of Augusta and Frederick. The latter embraced the coun try along the Potomac and about seventy-five miles up the Valley, while Augusta embraced much the greater part of the Valley and the country westward as far as the British possessions extended. While, however, the two counties were thus recognized by law in 1738, they can hardly be said to have existed till justices of the peace were appointed and courts were established therein, which in the case of Frederick was in 1743, and of Augusta in 1745.
All the time we have passed over new settlers were coming in. James Patton was an efficient agent in introducing them, and in the course of bis business crossed the Atlantic Ocean twenty-five times. Unfortunately, he introduced many "indentured servants," white people of both sexes, who had been banished from the old country for petty offenses, and who, to a great extent, kept up their evil practices in this new land. But in the latter part of 1739, or early in 1740, there was a great influx of people of the best sort, the very people to wrestle with the wilderness and found a State. Then came John Preston and "his wife Elizabeth" (Patton's sister), Alexander Breckinridge, David Logan, Hugh Campbell, Eobert Poage, the Bells, Trimbles, Hayses, Pattersons, Andersons, Scotts, Wilsons, Youngs, and that ubiquitous man who is found wherever
84 THE SCOTCH-IEISH IN AMERICA.
the English language is spoken, John Smith. This John Smith was no myth, but a sturdy captain of rangers during the Indian wars, and almost died of chagrin because the military authorities would not give him a command in his old age, when the Eevolutionary War arose. He was the ancestor of Judge Daniel Smith, of Eock- ingham, and of Col. Benjamin H. Smith, of Kanawha.
Notwithstanding the Indians who prowled around the settlements were professedly peaceful, frequent collisions occurred between in dividuals of the two races, and a military organization of the white people was perfected in the fall of 1742. William Beverley, al though a resident of Essex County, was the county lieutenant, or commander in chief. James Patton was the colonel, or officer im mediately in command. There were twelve oaptains and compa nies, the first captain in the list being John Smith, and the next Andrew Lewis. Among the captains was John Willson, who after wards, for twenty-seven consecutive years, represented Augusta County in the House of Burgesses; Peter Scholl, who lived in what is now Buckingham, thirty miles from a public road; and John McDowell, who, with eight of his men, was killed by Indians in December, 1742. The privates were enrolled without respect to age, from boyhood to the extremity of life. The venerable Ephriam McDowell was a member of his son John's company. The number of men in a company averaged about fifty, which indicates a total population in the settled parts of the present counties of Eocking- ham, Augusta, and Eockbridge (all then Augusta) of about twenty- five hundred.
Population having sufficiently increased, G-ov. Gooch on October 30, 1745, issued " a Commission of the Peace," naming the first justices for the county. The county court, composed of the justices, organized and set to work December 9, 1745.
The justices and inhabitants generally were a law-abiding people. They entertained the opinion that law was of no manner of account unless it was enforced. They accordingly searched the statute book for all the offenses of which the court had jurisdiction. Fel onies were of rare occurrence — indeed, I have found in the county records no mention of the trial of a white person for felony for fifty years after the first settlement — but other offenders abounded. A jail was soon erected, and shackles, handcuffs, stocks, a whip ping post, and a ducking stool for scolding women were provided. Then the new-fledged justices looked out for lawbreakers. The first offender caught was one Edward Boyle, who for damning the
SCOTCH-IRISH OF THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 85
court and swearing four oaths was put in the stocks for two hours and fined two dollai's. They even fined Lawyer Jones, the king's attorney, " for swearing an oath." They lashed men and women at the whipping post whenever justice required it. The grand juries did their duty. They presented Jacob Coger " for a breach of the peace by driving hogs over the Blue Ridge on the Sabbath." Owen Crawford was presented " for drinking a health to King James and refusing to drink a health to King George." Fortunate ly for Owen, he effected his escape. But the ducking stool* was never used. Why not? I can think of no reason except that there was no deep water near the courthouse. The making of it was an " Irish blunder." I am obliged to confess that a failure to use the ducking stool was not because there were no scolding women in the country; I could mention several by name if it were proper to do so. Of course there are none of this class amongst us now.
Successive grand juries were equally faithful. James Frame was presented for a breach of the Sabbath in unnecessarily travel ing ten miles; Col. Thomas Chew, a lawyer, and John Branharn, a deputy sheriff, were presented as common swearers; another per son was presented "as a disturber of the common peace of the neighbors by carrying lies, and also as a common Iyer; " Valentine Sevier, father of Gen. John Sevier, was presented for swearing " 6 prophane oaths; " and Samuel Hutts was presented "for a breach of the Sabbath in singing prophane songs." These will suffice to show the determination of our ancestors to suppress all wickedness. It may be safely asserted that few, if any, of these " prophane " people were of the Scotch-Irish race.
The French and Indian war arose in 1754, by which time the popu lation of the Yalley had largely increased by births and the influx of people of the same race as the original settlers, with scarcely any ad mixture of others. It is not for me to relate here the horrors of the period while the war lasted: the assaults by savages on the isolated cabins of the white people, the slaughter of many women and chil dren, and the captivity and sufferings of many more. Nor can I tell of the pursuit of the retiring enemy by husbands, brothers, and sons; of the conflicts on the mountains and in the- valleys; nor of the frequent expeditions into the Indian country to intimidate, or even exterminate, the savages. After the fall of Canada there was an uncertain breathing spell — the Indians for a time ceased to in vade the settlements. But early in 1763, at the instigation of the celebrated chief Pontiac, the war was renewed with more vindic-
86 THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN AMERICA.
tive fury, if possible, than before. Within a few miles of this town a peaceful settlement was assailed by a band of savages in the summer of 1763, and many people were slain, but none were carried into captivity. In the autumn of the next year the same commu nity was visited again by a murderous band. The number of white people killed in the two invasions was from sixty to eighty, and in the second twenty-five to thirty women and children were carried off, some of whom never returned. When the Indians had recrossed the Ohio and felt safe from pursuit, they stopped to rest and cele brate their achievements. They demanded that the captives should sing for their entertainment, and a Mrs. Gil more struck up in plain tive tone House's version of the one hundred and thirty -seventh Psalm:
On Babel's stream we sat and wept,
When Zion we thought on, In midst thereof we hanged our harps
The willow tree thereon.
For there a song requested they,
Who did us captive take ; Our spoilers called for mirth, and said:
"A song of Zion sing."
Late in the year 1764 Col. Bouquet advanced with a large force into the country west of the Ohio, and compelled the Indians to desist from war and deliver up their captives. Two companies of Bouquet's army were from the Central Yalley, one commanded by Charles Lewis and the other by Alexander McClanahan. To these were assigned the posts of honor on the march, one going in ad vance and the other bringing up the rear.
Then followed ten years of peace, and this brings us to the bat tle of Point Pleasant, on October 10, 1774. This decisive battle, which stemmed the tide of Indian warfare for two years, was fought almost exclusively by Yalley men; but we cannot speak of it further.
In the meanwhile, as early as 1749, sixteen years after the first settlement, a classical school had been opened by Eobert Alexan der, a native of Ulster, educated in Edinburg, some twelve miles from Augusta C. H. This school was subsequently removed, un der different teachers, from place to place, and finally located in the vicinity of Lexington. Here it assumed the name of Lib erty Hall Academy, and, presided over by the Eev. William Gra ham, a man of talent and learning, furnished education to many
SCOTCH-IRISH OP THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA. 87
youths who became distinguished in Church and State. Next it was chartered as Washington College, and now it appears as Wash ington and Lee University, under whose auspices we have assembled. Long may it continue to diffuse its blessings through the country and the world, a monument to the early settlers of the Yalley.
When the war of the Eevolution arose the people of the Yalley almost to a man espoused the cause of the colonies. I .have found only one instance of disloyalty at the beginning of the strife. The person implicated was an Irish Presbyterian ex-minister, who was summoned before the County Committee of Augusta on Octo ber 3, 1775. He was solemnly tried and found guilty, and the committee recommended that he should be boycotted by the good people of the county and colony " till he repents of his past fol ly." That is all that was done, and we hear no more of the offender.
Botetourt County was formed from Augusta in 1769, and Fin- castle from Botetourt in 1772 ; but the latter existed only till 1776, when its territory was divided into the counties of Montgomery," Washington, and Kentucky. In January, 1775, the freeholders of Fincastle, including William Christian, Eev. Charles Cummings, William Preston, Arthur Campbell, William Campbell, William Ed- mundson, and others, presented an address to the Continental Con gress, declaring their purpose to resist the oppressive measures of the British Government. In February of the same year the people of Augusta held a meeting and adopted patriotic resolutions. A similar meeting was held in Botetourt County. No doubt the peo ple of Frederick spoke out in like manner. These were then the only counties west of the Blue Eidge. In the early part of 1776 the County Committee of Augusta adopted a memorial to the State Convention. This has been lost, but from the description of the paper in the journal of the Convention, it is supposed to be " the first expression of the policy of establishing an independent State government and permanent confederation of States, which the par liamentary journals of America contain." * Mr. Bancroft, not re ferring, however, to this memorial, says: " We shall find that the first voice publicly raised in America to dissolve all connection with Great Britain came not from the Puritans of New England nor the Dutch of New York nor the planters of Yirginia, but from Scotch- Jrish Presbyterians."
At the beginning of the war the people of the Yalley furnished
*Mr. Hugh Blair Grigsby.
88 THE SCOTCH-IKISH IN AMEEIOA.
one brigadier general (Andrew Lewis) for the continental line. They furnished also several colonels for the regular army, two of whom (George Mathews and Alexander McClanahan) were from Augusta County. They immediately raised several companies of regulars, one of which, led by Capt. Robert Gamble, took part in the storming of Stony Point, on the Hudson. In 1777, when addi tional troops were called for, Gov. Patrick Henry wrote to Gen. Washington that seven companies had been raised without delay in Augusta County. My researches have not made me acqiiainted with the history of other counties in respect to this matter. We know, however, that many of Morgan's riflemen at Saratoga were from the Valley.
But regular soldiers constituted a small part of the contributions of the Valley to the armies of the republic. Her militia were con stantly in service from the beginning to the end of the war, under Cols. Samuel McDowell, George Moffett, William Preston, George Skillern, Samson Mathews, John and William Bowyer, and others. Several companies from Augusta accompanied Col. William Chris tian in his expedition against the Cherokee Indians in 1776. A large force of Valley men marched to the Ohio River in 1777, and were disbanded there when the news of Burgoyne's surrender ar rived — it was no doubt thought the war was over! Two compa nies from the Valley under Capts. Tate and Buchanan, were with Morgan at the Cowpens, although history mentions only one. A battalion from Augusta and another from Rockbridge fought at Guilford C. H., and, militia as they were, behaved in the battle like veterans. Several battalions from the Valley served in Lower Vir ginia till after the surrender at Yorktown.
But it is time to inquire who these people were of whom we have been speaking — of what race? Where did they come from? And why did they come to this backwoods country? To answer these questions we must go back to Scotland, more than two hun dred years ago.
The battle of Bothwell Bridge was fought on June 22, 1679. It is called a battle, but was rather a rout of undisciplined peasants, who had been goaded to take up arms by the oppressions of the government. A few were killed in the fight; four hundred were slaughtered by the merciless Claverhouse and his dragoons while flying from the field, and twelve hundred were captured. The prison-- ers were herded like cattle for five months in Grayfriars church yard, Bdinburg, half naked, half starved, and without shelter.
SCOTCH-IEISH OF THE VALLEY OF YIEGJNIA. 89
Those who submitted were discharged; the others, who stood out for the rights which God had given them, were sentenced to trans portation to Barbadoes, there to be sold into slavery. A merchant of Leith contracted with the Laird of Barnton, " the man," says the old chronicler, "that first burnt the covenant," to transport the convicts. Two hundred and fifty of them were crowded on a ship, which proceeded on its voyage around the north of Scotland. A storm arose, the ship was wrecked near the Orkney Islands, and two hundred of the prisoners were drowned; fifty escaped, made their way to Ireland, and were not pursued by the government.
Many years before, during the reign of James I., a large num ber of Scotch people had settled in the province of Ulster, Ire land. "They went over," says Froude, "to earn a living by labor, in a land which had produced hitherto little but banditti. They built towns and villages; they established trades and manufactures; they inclosed fields, raised farmhouses and homesteads where, till then, there had been but robbers' castles, wattled huts, or holes in the earth like rabbit burrows; while, without artificial distinctions, they were saved from degenerating into the native type by their religion, then growing in its first enthusiasm into a living power which pervaded their entire being." The Bothwell prisoners who escaped the shipwreck were no doubt a valuable acquisition to the Scotch colony in Ulster. Let us see who these people were, as far as we can judge from their names. Some of the names are as fol lows : James and John Clark ; John, Thomas, and Andrew Thomson ; William, James, Alexander, and Walter Waddell; William and Thomas Miller; John Cochran, Watson, Gardner, Brownlee, Wilson, Craig, Currie, Tod, Wallace, Cameron, Keid, Campbell, Paterson, Young, Finley, Brown, Anderson, Caldwell, Eccles, Lamb, Hutche- son, Eamsey, White, Buchanan, Morison, Montgomery, Ingles, Hamilton, Bell, Henderson, Steel, Houston, Beck, Martin, Scott, Glasgow. Those will suffice. How familiar the names are to the people of the Valley! They are our own names, and we do not have to inquire further from what land our forefathers came.
Many Scotch of other names settled in Ulster. There are the innumerable Macs — the McDowells, McClungs, McClanahans, Mc- Laughlinp, McKees, McPheeters, McCormicks, McCorkles, McNeils, and others, whose prefix smacks of the Highlands; but of whatever origin, they assimilated with the Lowland stock, and altogether constituted the Scotch-Irish race.
The settlers in Ireland cherished the traditions and preserved
90 THE SCOTCH-IBISH IN AMEEICA.
unchanged the manners and customs of the land from which they came, and in a few generations the people of Ulster were more Scotch than the Scotch themselves. They were a thrifty people, and soon became prosperous as farmers, mechanics, and merchants. When the revolution of 1688 occurred they zealously espoused the Protestant cause. They held Londonderry for King William. But they were dissenters from the Established Church, and were pro scribed because of their religion. They were not allowed to teach school, they were excluded from all offices, civil and military; mar riages by their ministers were declared illegal and void; their min isters were prosecuted for preaching outside of certain bounds, while their hearers were threatened with the stocks. They, how ever, maintained their loyalty to the Protestant succession. In 1715, when the rebellion occurred in Scotland in behalf of the Pre tender, and an insurrection in Ireland was apprehended, they raised several regiments to support the government. Yet, even for this service, they were threatened with prosecution after the danger was over.
At the same time the industry and commerce of the people were systematically repressed. Men of spirit and enterprise could not endure the oppressions heaped upon them. Twenty thousand peo ple left Ulster on the destruction of the woolen trade in 1689. Many more were driven away by the passage of the Test Act. For more than fifty years annual shiploads of families departed from Belfast and Londonderry. The arrivals at the port of Philadelphia in 1729 are set down as 5,655. When the manufacture of linen ex tended to England the Irish trade was crippled by a duty on sail duck, and this led to another flight of Ulster people to America a few years before the Revolution. The total number of operatives driven out is estimated as 100,000.
The people of Ulster had heard of Pennsylvania as a land of lib erty, and to that province they came in large numbers. But jeal ousies arose in the minds of the original settlers there, and restrict ive measures were adopted by the proprietary government against the Scotch-Irish and German immigrants. Hence many of the former, who had landed on the Delaware and tarried awhile in Pennsylvania, were prepared to follow John Lewis to the Valley of Virginia. Thus this region was occupied by Europeans.
And now let us mention very briefly a few of the individuals of this horde of immigrants and some of their descendants.
First, Col. John Lewis, the pioneer. He was born in the reign
SCOTCH-IRISH OF THE VALLEU OF VIRGINIA. 91
of Charles II., and died in the third year of the reign of George III., February 1, 1762. He is described as tall and muscular, and the best backwoodsman of his day. In any community where he might have lived he would have been a man of mark, but he was pecul iarly fitted for the new country in which his lot was cast. Not long before his death he wrote his last will and testament, dispos ing of his worldly estate and commending his soul to the mercy of God through Jesus Christ. His sons (Thomas, Andrew, William, and Charles) all acted important parts in the early history of the Valley. The last-named commanded the Augusta regiment at the battle of Point Pleasant, and was slain there in the flower of his age.
Next comes Col. James Patton, who was born in Ireland, and was killed by Indians in 1755, in what is now Montgomery County, Va. He was a leader of men. Wherever his name appears with others in the annals of the Valley, it is mentioned first. He was first in the " Commission of the Peace," the first high sheriff of the new county of Augusta — an office of great dignity — and first in or ganizing religious congregations and building meetinghouses. He too in his last will gave expression to his Christian faith, commend ing his soul to God and expecting eternal happiness through the merits of his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The will directed that any question arising in regard to his estate should be arbitra ted by the minister and elders of Tinkling Spring congregation. Col. Patton left no male descendant, but from one of his daughters the two Govs. Floyd, of Virginia, descended.
The Eev. John Craig was a notable specimen of the race to which he belonged. Born in Ireland in 1709 and educated in Scot land, he came to the Valley in 1740, and died in 1772. He founded the two congregations called Augusta and Tinkling Spring, his im mediate parish being thirty miles long; but he preached, and es pecially baptized, wherever he went. He began service on Sunday at ten o'clock in the morning, and held on, with a short interval, till sunset. His only printed sermon contains fifty-five divisions and subdivisions. For nine years he kept a register of persons baptized by him, chiefly infants. The whole number is 883, and at the end of each year he ascribed glory to God, "who is daily adding members to his visible Church." Being sent to organize churches among ihe settlements on New Eiver and the Holston, he reported on his return a surprising number of ruling elders ordained by him; and when asked how he found suitable material for so many, he re-
92 THE SCOTCH-IBISH IN AMERICA.
plied in the idiom of his people: " Where I cudna get hewn stanes I tuk dornacks."
Here we may name other ministers who officiated in the Valley in early times. These were John Brown, of New Providence; Alex ander Craighead, of Windy Cove; Charles Cummings, of Brown's Meetinghouse (who emigrated to Holston and there preached and helped to fight the Indians); William Graham, of Liberty Hall Academy; James Waddell,* John McCue, Samuel Carrack, and Ben jamin Erwin.
The Scotch Irish of the Valley furnished few members of the le gal and medical professions, but many preachers of the gospel. We can mention only a few: Samuel Doak, the pioneer preacher in Tennessee; Archibald Alexander, George Baxter, Moses Hoge, Archibald Scott. William Wilson, John Montgomery, the two Crawfords, John Poage Campbell, Gideon Blackburn, Thomas Poage, Samuel Houston, William McPheeters — all of the last cen tury. Some of these lived and died in the Valley; others labored elsewhere in Virginia and in the newer settlements of Kentucky and Tennessee.
John Preston lived only seven years after he came to the Valley. His only son, William Preston, was the progenitor of a numerous and distinguished family. He came with his father to the Valley when he was ten years of age, and received most of his education from Eev. John Craig. His official reports and other writings dur ing his mature life show that he was a man of more than usual ac quirements for the time and country. He began active life by assisting his uncle, Col. Patton, in his extensive business, and grad ually advanced to more important employments. For some years he represented Augusta County in the House of Burgesses. Dur ing the Indian wars he was constantly in the field as captain of rangers. When the county of Botetourt was established (in 1769) he removed to that part of the Valley, and was appointed a justice of the peace, colonel of militia, county surveyor, coroner, and es- cheator. As county lieutenant of Montgomery during the Eevolu- tionary War he rendered important service. With a body of his men, he participated in the battle of Guilford C. H.f The most conspicuous of his descendants who bear the family name is Wil liam C. Preston, the celebrated orator and statesman of South Caro lina. But his posterity of many names are found in many States,
^Afterwards known as the " Blind Preacher."
t One of his sons, James Patton Preston, was a Governor of Virginia.