MATTHEW MORGAN McCALL, M.D, Alikchi Chukma of the Choctaws, Page
.
Early recorded data of the McCall family locates it in the
vicinity of Loch Fyne in Argyll County, Scotland. It was an offshoot of the Clan Choola and was associated with the
powerful McDonald Clan, according to "The Clan McCall" by Kate Sturm
McCall Rotan of Waco, Texas. According
to "McCall Genealogy" by A. M. McCall, "Members of the McCall
family were engaged in commercial pursuits in Glasgow, but being Presbyterians,
became involved in the religious troubles and escaped to County Antrim, Ulster,
Ireland."
By 1638 thousands of border Scots, many of them younger sons of
prominent families, had accepted the offer of James I of Scotland and occupied
great bodies of land in Ulster which had been forfeited by the crown in
consequence of the ill-fated rebellion of Tyrone which began in 1594 and
collapsed in 1603. Many McCall
households appeared among the transplanted Scots. The Scotch of Ireland, or the Scotch-Irish, were industrious and
prospered in their new home. The
British Parliament, seeing this unexpected success commenced to burden them
with high taxes and to persecute them for their religion. In a century of abuse their patience was
exhausted, and they yearned to escape the oppressive burden.
Family after family the Scotch-Irish began to sail for the
American colonies. Scarcely a ship sailed for America from about 1730 that did
not carry emigrants from the nine counties of Ulster. Members of the McCall family sailed with other persecuted covenanters
to New Jersey where a Scotch colony had been obtained from the Duke of
York. On landing in America they found
that their assigned land was claimed by the Dutch and the colony was broken
up. Legendarily three McCall brothers
were among the emigrants. Legendarily
one brother, James McCall elected to go to Massachusetts; one chose Pennsylvania
and one removed to Virginia.
During the next 50 years thousands of the Scotch-Irish landed at
Philadelphia and then spread southward into Virginia, North Carolina, South
Carolina and Georgia, according to "History of the Scotch-Irish in
America" by A. J. McKelway. He
wrote:
"From 1739 to 1746 many members of the McCall family moved
from Pennsylvania to New River settlement, Virginia. The idea of offering the dissenters from the Church of England
inducements to settle the lands west of the Allegheny Mountains had often been
suggested to prominent men in the Colony of Virginia, but no move in that
direction had been taken until about the time of the first settlement of the
lower valley, at and after which time the governor and council of Virginia
permitted the erection of dissenting churches in the valley and encouraged the
emigration of settlers wherever possible.
The result of this action was a flood of settlers from Ireland and
Scotland who came by way of Pennsylvania, mostly Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in
belief. They passed into and settled
the Valley, and in a few years the Valley from Harpers Ferry to New River was
populated with a progressive and liberty-loving people. Numerous tracts of New River were occupied.
Lands held by many of these settlers were known as 'cornrights,' that is under
the law each settler acquired title to a hundred acres for every acre planted
by him in corn."
About 1746 Francis McCall, William McCall, James McCall and
Thomas McCall, all related, were heads of households in the New River
settlement, now Botetourt County in southwestern Virginia. In 1749 the Indians, supported and
compensated by the French army, made their first attack on the New River
settlers. Virginia reacted by sending
Lt. Col. George Washington and his militiamen supported by the South Carolina
militia to counterattack. Constantly
hounded by the guerilla tactics of the Indians and beset by the superior French
regulars the militia had to entrench in hastily constructed Ft. Necessity on
the Allegheny River, near the present site of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Besieged and cut off from the arrival of any
support from the seaboard colonies Washington was forced to surrender his
fort and his militiamen in 1754.
The colonists appealed for help from England and prepared for
the long struggle with the French and Indians which would continue until their
victory nine years later. King George
II responded by sending 800 British regulars under Gen. Edward Braddock to face
the French regulars and Indians who were consolidating the gains all along the
Virginia-Pennsylvania frontier controlled by a strong garrison at Ft. Duquesne.
On July 8, 1755 a large party of Shawnee braves fell upon the
colonists remaining in the New River area and slaughtered them. The torch, the rifle and the tomahawk wiped
the colony out of existence with only a few members escaping, according to
"South-West Virginia" by Lewis Preston Summers. On the following day the French and Indians
ambushed Braddock and scattered his army, along with 600 Virginians under Lt.
Col. George Walshington, that had been sent to clear the enemy from the
confluence of the Ohio, Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers.
The McCalls and many of the Scotch-Irish fled southward into
Mecklenburg [then Anson] County, North Carolina on the South Carolina
border. There they resettled on Rocky
River, Sugar Creek, in the Wachaw and on the Broad River in South Carolina. The only road in the area was an Indian trail
through Mecklenburg from the Yadkin River to the Catawba Indian nation. The county had been named in honor of
Princess Charlotte who had come about this time from Old Mecklenburg in Germany
to England to be queen by marriage to George III.
Prime Minister William Pitt convinced Parliament of the
importance winning the war in America, and they gave him a blank check to raise
and equip new regiments to rush to the aid of the colonies. These regiments were raised primarily among
the Highland Scots. The reorganized
troops under Generals Henry Bouquet and Forbes were successful in 1758, and the
tide of the war began to turn in the favor of the British.
Francis McCall, James McCall and Thomas McCall in 1758 served in
the North Carolina militia, perhaps participating in the battle for Ft.
Duquesne. Ironically the same men, less
than 20 years later, would fight against their former comrades in the Revolutionary
War. King George III appeared to fade
from a benefactor into an oppressor.
Francis McCall and James McCall, two of the New River settlers,
also served as Revolutionary soldiers from Mecklenburg County. After the Revolutionary War ended the
younger McCalls extended the family across South Carolina and into
Georgia. A generation later the McCall
men spread into Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi, frequently marrying Indian
women from among the five civilized tribes.
==0==
Henry McCall (M7/1.1) was born in Scotland about 1730 and
emigrated along with two brothers, John McCall (M7/1.2) and William McCall
(M7/1.3), to the American colonies about 1750, locating at Charleston, South
Carolina, according to Blanche Maurie Duncum Monroe (D2/1.3), a
descendant. About 1755 he served as a
lieutenant in the French and Indian War, according to John D. McCall (M3/2.5),
a descendant who wrote that he once entertained a British general [perhaps
Braddock in the Ft. Duquesne debacle] with a primitive "fete
champetre." He served the general
"o'possom and potatoes and used a log for a table and bark for
dishes." Henry McCall (M7/1.1)
later served in the Revolutionary War, according to John D. McCall
(M3/2.5).
"Henry McCall" was a private, Third Company, Second
South Carolina Continental Regiment November 1, 1779, according to
"American Revolutionary Roster, Ft. Sullivan [later Ft. Moultrie],
1778-1780" by Georgia Muldrow Gilmer.
"Henry Lewis McCall" on August 10, 1785 received an
indent for "£35 sterling plus £2.9 for 245 days military duty in
1780-81-82. At the same time he
received compensation for 258 days as a sergeant. On the same date an indent was issued to "Henry Lewis McCall,
Jr." [believed to be the same individual] for 13 months and 23 days as
sergeant in the Second South Carolina Continental Regiment in 1779-80. On August 10, 1787 he received an indent for
£41.9.3 "for 258 days in militia as Sergeant of Horse in 1782 & 1783
and £2.18 for one year's interest."
"Henry McCall" was enumerated as the head of a
household in the census of 1810 in Darlington County, South Carolina, page 21:
"McCall,
Henry, white male over 45
white female over 45
white female 26-45
white female 16-26
white female 10-16
white male 0-10
white male 0-10
white male 0-10
Nearby was the household of "John McCall," page 16:
"McCall,
John white male 16-26
15 slaves"
Nearby was tghe household of Thomas McCall:
"McCall,
Thomas white male over 45
white female 26-45
white female 16-26
white male 10-16
white female 0-10
white male 0-10
white female 0-10
white female 0-10
13 slaves"
Sarah McCall was the head of a household in the 1810 census of
Darlington County, page 21:
"McCall,
Sarah white female 26-45
white female 0-10
white male 0-10
white female 0-10
10 slaves"
Adjoining was the household of George McCall:
"McCall,
George white male over 45
white female over 45
white male 26-45
white female 26-45
white male 16-26
white male 10-16
white male 0-10
white male 0-10
white male 0-10
white male 0-10
33 slaves"
A total of thirteen McCall households were enumerated in the
state in 1810. Darlington County had a
total population of 9,047 including 2,731 slaves.
John D. McCall (M3/2.5) wrote in a letter, dated March 12, 1941,
that "Lt. Henry McCall's folks are represented by our family, and I find
that one of them was a congressman from Tennessee [1887, Tennessee House of
Representatives] and was later United States District Judge [appointed in
1905.] He was John E. McCall and has a
son now living at Memphis."
[For details of the life of John Ethridge McCall, his parents
Dr. Henry McCall and Frances Bowlin McCall and his son John Ethridge McCall,
Jr, see page 1407.]
Children born to Lt. Henry McCall (M7/1.1), according to John D.
McCall (M3/2.5), include:
John McCall (M6/1.1) born about 1762
John McCall (M6/1.1), son of Lt. Henry McCall (M7/1.1), was born
about 1762, probably at Charleston. He
was married about 1796 to Elizabeth Thomas (T6/1.1). She is identified as "part Cherokee." They continued in the vicinity of
Charleston about 1800, according to John D. McCall (M3/2.5). It is believed that they later lived in Tennessee.
Mary Alnora "Nora" Cox Drennan (C2/10.4) recorded that
Clyde E. Thomas, an attorney of Big Spring, Texas, was a descendant of the
family of Elizabeth Thomas McCall (T6/1.1), however she reported that he knew
little of the family history. John D.
McCall (M3/2.5) advised that the McCall family was related to the Hext family
in South Carolina. [See page 1407 for
John McCall, son of James McCall and Sarah Bosden McCall, who was married in
1737 to Martha Hext.]
Children born to John McCall (M6/1.1) and Elizabeth Thomas
McCall (T6/1.1) include:
Matthew Morgan
McCall (M5/1.1) born about 1805
(daughter) (M5/1.2) born about 1806
Marshall M.
McCall (M5/1.3) born about 1807
Lorenzo G.
McCall (M5/1.4) born about 1810
John McCall (M5/1.5) born about 1815
(daughter) (M5/1.6) born about 1818
==============================================
Arlee Gowen
806/795-8758, 795-9694
5708 Gary Avenue
Lubbock, Texas, 79413
MCCALLMS.002, 11/01/88
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