Jesus is Lord - Romans 10: 9
Click here for the booklet "East Donegal Ulster-Scots"
In the booklet "East Donegal Ulster-Scots" where page 14 mentions Monreagh, page 33 mentions President Buchanan of USA and page 41 mentions Monreagh Heritage Centre and Monreagh Presbyterian Church.
Click here for a ten-step guide to researching Donegal Ancestry.
Donegal
Donegal is the most northerly county in Ireland and is bounded by
approximately 120 miles of Atlantic coastline with some of the most
beautiful golden beaches in the country. Northeast Donegal has two
substantial rivers running through it into the Atlantic Ocean: namely
the River Swilly and the River Foyle. It was in this area that the first
Scots settled when they arrived in Ulster at the beginning of the
seventeenth century and this territory later became known as the
Laggan Valley. The Scots settlers in the Laggan Valley were quickly
fortified by the influence of the Stewart brothers and the Cunningham
brothers and over the ensuing
centuries, many important events, which later influenced and shaped
Irish history, emanated from the Laggan Valley in East Donegal.
East Donegal Ulster Scots was founded in 2001, based on the
establishment of The Language Body and the Ulster Scots Agency
as part of The Good Friday Agreement of 1998, signed by both sovereign
governments of Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. This
development presented an exciting opportunity for Donegal Ulster
Scots to share our heritage with our distant cousins throughout the
world, especially the United Kingdom, the United States of America,
Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Apart from the many cultural,
historical and language activities East Donegal Ulster Scots are
involved in, we thought it was
important to highlight this region by the creation of a tourist brochure
and the development of a website so the next time you decide
to holiday in Ireland you might consider the North West
region of Ireland in the knowledge that you will enjoy the history and
the heritage, as well as the tranquil beauty of the hills, valleys and
coastline of Donegal where a yin hunnèr yin thoosan fair faa ye or
céad míle fáilte awaits you.
Jim Devenney
East Donegal Ulster-Scots Association
The Reverend William Boyd - Monreagh
In 1725, the Reverend William Boyd from Macosquin, County
Londonderry, was appointed minister of Monreagh Presbyterian
Church. Seven years earlier, on 25th July 1718, the Reverend Boyd
had landed in Boston, Massachussetts on board the “William and
Mary”. Acting as their agent, he presented a petition signed by 319
people, including nine other Presbyterian ministers, from the Bann
Valley area of Ulster, to Governor Shute of Massachussetts,
requesting his support for a mass emigration to New England. These
Ulster Scots were keen to leave their homes because of the high
rents charged by the local landowner, the collapse of the linen trade
and increasing persecution by the Anglican Church.
On 4th August 1718, 800 Scotch-Irish arrived in Boston aboard the
famous “Five Ships”, led by the Reverend James McGregor of
Aghadowey. This was the first of four massive waves of emigration
from Ulster to America during the 18th century, which has resulted
in one in every seven Americans being able to trace her or his ancestry
to the Scotch-Irish of Ulster. The Reverend Boyd returned to
Ulster and served for 47 years as the minister of Monreagh, dying
in service on 2nd May 1772. He is interred at nearby Taughboyne
Parish Church, where his gravestone may be seen at the rear of the
building.
President Buchanan’s , Big Ards
President Buchanan’s grandmother, Jane was a member of the
Russell family. She died in 1768 when the children were still young.
President Buchanan’s father James, was brought up by the Russell
family at Stoney Batter, Big Ards near Letterkenny. James
emigrated to the United States in 1783 and settled in Pennsylvania
where he married Elizabeth Speer.
Their second son, James Buchanan, was born in 1791. He studied
law at Dickinson College and was a gifted debater. Elected five times
to the House of Representatives, Buchanan next became Minister
to Russia. After service in the Senate, Buchanan became President
Polk’s Secretary of State and Pierce’s Minister to Great Britain. He
won the Democratic presidential nomination in 1856.
When he became president, Buchanan tried to steer a middle way
between the slave-owning states in the South and the non
slave-owning states in the North. He only succeeded in angering the
Republican party and in alienating members of his own Democratic
party. Buchanan denied the legal rights of Southern States to leave
the Union. Next he threatened them with force and then reverted
to a policy of inactivity. He left office in March 1861 and retired to
“Wheatland,” his Pennsylvanian home, where he died in 1868. He
never married.