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I have just completed reading two books by Patricia Givens Johnson. One was "William Preston and the Allegheny Patriots". The other was a life of Captain James Patton. Both Patton and his nephew William Preston were from Ulster, James from Donegal and William from Londonderry. Patton was deeply involved in the indenture trade, bringing indentured settlers from Ulster to America and tobacco and other goods back to Europe. In furtherance of that process he recruited in Donegal and Londonderry. Although there were supposedly trips to other ports, many of the settlers were set down in Philadelphia, from whence they went to the counties of Bucks, Chester and Lancaster, to serve as a buffer between the Quakers and Indians.
When Patton made his last trip to America in 1738, he brought with him the Preston family, including his young nephew William. Patton was partners with William Beverly in settling a very large parcel of land in Virginia and his nephew William later became the surveyor for much of it. You will see his name mentioned frequently on surveys of that era, including a lot of the land that McGees settled.
Which brings me to the point of this posting. One of the things which has proven most difficult has been finding precisely from where the McGees came. This would perhaps be easier if we knew just when they came, and to where. I do not have access to Pennsylvania land and court records from those years, although I am sure they exist. This weekend I will be traveling to a good library in St. Louis where I expect to find them. I know there are McGees, including at least one James, and there are Hendersons, and there are Robinsons, all families with whom the McGees were associated in Augusta County, VA. on tax rolls for Chester County, but I am lacking details. I do know that Patton and Preston made several trips to Pennsylvania to recruit settlers for their Virginia holdings, in addition to recruiting in Ulster. If it were the case that Patton, a fellow Ulsterman, had brought them over, that they knew him well, it would make sense for them to be persuaded by him to move to greener pastures.
Does anyone know of McGees in Pennsylvania ca. 1740? How about you, Jerry?
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