Cragun Cousins In Pleasant View Utah

I was fun today to have a missionary in our zone had found a picture of children of my fathers brothers in Pleasanat View. These are Craguns I have never met, nor am I aware that I have met any of  their childeren. For those who might be a Cragun and come across this article: My grandfather was Simeon Cragun and my grandmother was his second wife, Blanche Rebecca Bingham.

Levi and my father had the same father but different mothers.

New Article on The Cragun Name

It is on the Larry Cragun Family and Genealogy Blog: Click here

So Patrick Was Likely Scots-Irish

With the outbreak of the Revolution in 1775 the Scots-Irish, in interesting contrast to many of their Scottish cousins, were among the most determined adherents of the rebel cause.  Their frontier skills were particularly useful in destroying Burgoyne’s army in the Saratoga campaign; and George Washington was even moved to say that if the cause was lost everywhere else he would take a last stand among the Scots-Irish of his native Virginia.  Serving in the British Army, Captain Johann Henricks, one of the much despised ‘Hessians’, wrote in frustration ‘Call it not an American rebellion, it is nothing more than an Irish-Scotch Presbyterian Rebellion.’  It was their toughness, virility and sense of divine mission that was to help give shape to a new nation, supplying it with such diverse heroes as Davy Crocket and Andrew Jackson.  They were indeed God’s frontiersmen, the real historical embodiment of the lost tribe of Israel.

Two Stories About Patrick That Make Sense

1- He left with 40 others. 
2- He had heard how great it was in America.

In the paragraph below, taken from

THE SCOTS-IRISH
THEIR CHARACTER AND PATTERNS OF MIGRATION by David Strong

We can notice that there were several migrations from Ulster and that large groups and many ships left. I see it as likely Patrick, as claimed by some left with a group. It is also likely that stories of America got back to Ireland.  

Migrations from Ireland: In 1717, more that 5000 Ulstermen left for America. There followed five great waves of migration to the thirteen original American Colonies, in 1717-18; 1725-29; 1740-41; 1754-55; and 1771-75. In the period 1714-1720 alone, some 55 shiploads of immigrants sailed from Ireland to ports in New England.

The City of Londonderry

The City of Londonderry was the jewel in the crown of the Ulster plantation. It was laid out according to the best contemporary principles of town planning, imported from the continent (the original street lay-out has survived to the present almost intact). More importantly, the city was enclosed by massive stone and earthen fortifications. It was the last walled city built in Ireland and the only city on the island whose ancient walls survive complete. Among the city's new buildings was St. Columb's Cathedral (1633). This is one of the most important 17th century buildings in the country and was the first specifically Protestant cathedral erected anywhere in the world following the Reformation.

History of the Scotch-Irish or Ulster Scot

From  - History of the Scotch-Irish or Ulster Scot

By Linda Merle

Scotland

Most Ulster Scots were in Scotland before they migrated to Ireland. MOST but not ALL! 

Most of them were in areas of Scotland adjacent to Ireland. The largest migration of Scots to Ireland was in the early 1600's. Due to lack of definitive records, we do not have exact numbers, but in the early 1600's 120,000 are believed to have migrated -

In the early 1600's Ireland was the primary destination for migrating Scots because it provided opportunities that Scotland couldn't offer-- and Scots were not welcome in English colonies. Protestants were welcome. Catholic Scots, of which there are many, were not welcomed by the government in Ireland, though some did come, largely at the behest of Scottish Catholic lords, on whose lands in Scotland they may have already been living. But the bulk were Presbyterian lowlanders. They include a group of Protestant lowlanders that the Scottish government settled in Kintyre.

An unknown number of Scots fled back to Scotland in the 1630's to avoid religious persecution in Scotland.

Ulster

The Ulster Irish spoke of course Irish, which was simply a different dialect of Gaelic. Scots and Irish could communicate without difficulty. This isn't surprising since the Scotti, an Irish tribe, moved from Ireland originally. They also followed similar naming patterns to the Irish. There were sons of Hughs, Johns, and James everywhere. So they sometimes ended up with the same or similar surnames as the incoming Scots.

In 1641, many Ulster Scots were killed by the Irish in the Rising, but we are not sure how many. 

In the 1680's more Scots came to Ireland, fleeing the Killing Times in south western Scotland.

In the late 1690's, another period of enhanced Scots immigration to Ireland occurred after King William secured his throne. Apparently, whole new towns and villages sprang up at this time. There is also evidence of a famine in Scotland which caused increased migration.

After the Williamite Settlement, there were no large movements of Scots to Ireland because economic conditions in Ireland were not good. Sometimes, they fled to Ireland to avoid religious persecution, though sometimes they fled back to Scotland to escape it in Ireland. People also moved in both directions at various times to avoid political problems. People also migrated seasonally to Scotland to work on farms.

The surnames of the non-British settlers rapidly became anglicized so that they can be difficult to identify by surname alone.

Finally, Irish assimilated into the Ulster Scots ethnic group. As Irish converted to Protestantism, descendants assumed their families came from Scotland as they adopted the myths of the Ulster Scot as their own. However some don't! Surnames were fluid. Adopting a new ethnic identity was very simple: drop the O. Some Irish surnames began with Mac as well as Scots. By dropping the Mac, the name was anglicized and indistinguishable from English surnames.

In the 1600's, there appears to have been an ethnic fluidity in Ireland. Your "ethnicity" was determined more by your choice of religion rather than your ancestrage.

Ulster is adjacent to Scotland -- so that's where many Scots went. It was easy to go over and come back again.

Often, it was difficult to tell a Scot from an Irish because in many cases, they shared a common culture and spoke a common tongue. They had similar cultures.

In the late Middle Ages, a new phenomena began to occur that would have a massive impact on Ireland. Irish lords began to hire Scottish mercenaries to help fight their intertribal and wars with the English. They were called Galloglass soldiers from the Irish gall oglaigh or stranger soldiers. They were apparently from the western Scotland and of mixed Scots and Viking origin. They changed the course of history in the 1500's. Through one dynastic marriage, an Irish lord got 10,000 of these soldiers. Some of them settled down in Ireland and established clans of their own. The McSweenies are one example of a galloglass clan who assimilated into the Irish. If they stayed Catholic, they assimilated into the Irish and lost their ethnic identity as Scots.

As mentioned, the majority of the Ulster Scots came in the Ulster Plantation period. They came willingly, recruited by their lairds, many of whom were also acquiring Irish estates. Their forte was not only farming but also the skilled labor required to create a colony. They could build homes, raise livestock, blacksmith, and so on.

Colonial United States

Many other peoples came to the new world before the Ulster Scots. They did not begin coming in large numbers in 1718.

New England

The first to emigrate came to Boston. Their ministers were invited by the Rev. Cotton Mather. In 1781, the first five ships arrived in Boston harbor. However, they did not receive a warm welcome since they were very different from the ethnocentric Massachusetts Bay Colony. Massachusetts was a theocracy aimed at a homogeneous society.

The Ulster Scots attempted to set up insular, isolated colonies in which they could be themselves, but the New Englanders literally tore down their meeting houses. Hence, the Scotch Irish moved to the frontier in search of places beyond the control of Massachusetts. As Massachusetts moved in to control them, they moved on. Hence, they are to be found in New Hampshire, Connecticut, Western Massachusetts.

They continued to migrate westward to New York (Newburgh area) and beyond to Pennsylvania. Then they joined other newcomers in the Great Migration southward and westward.

The first five ships who brought Ulster immigrants are know as the Five Ships.

Southern Colonies

The Scotch-Irish, moving down the Wagon Road from the north, were joined by countrymen arriving from Ulster. They moved southward and settled the inland Great Valley of Virginia first, then moved to the hilly Carolina Piedmont area to the south. In the 1750's and later, the Scotch-Irish were still arriving via Philadelphia and then traveling by land up to 700 miles southwest to the Carolinas. However, they also entered through Charleston though almost none are known to have entered ports in North Carolina. 

In 1761, the colony offered to pay passage for these poor Protestants but required a certificate from their church testifying that they were of good character. These terms expired in 1768 though the Council ruled that poor Protestants would still be given land free of charge but still were charged various fees. They, also, had to travel to the land and to appear in person before the Governor in Council to request land.

Thus the names of grantees appear in the Council records.

Families from Ulster and elsewhere (Pennsylvania, Scotland) began to flood in. In the 1750s, while still more came in the 1760s and even after the bounties expired. They continued to come after the Revolution. Note that, some Catholics also came from Ireland, including a few that were granted land though their religion was known.

They Came From Ulster

The emigrants who left Ireland prior to the American Revolutionary War came solely from the province of Ulster. More than five thousand people emigrated from Ulster in 1717-1718. Those families sent back favorable reports, which helped to pave the way for future migrations. Between 1725 and 1729 there was another wave of emigration from Ulster, again induced primarily by the suffering caused by rack-renting. During that migration it was estimated that over six thousand people left Ulster in 1728 alone. In 1740 a major famine devastated Ireland and brought about the third major wave of emigration from Ulster. The fourth wave emigrated in 1754-1755, partly as a result of hardships occasioned by drought and partly because of an effort made by the governor of the province of North Carolina to attract settlers to that colony. Governor Dobbs had left Ulster himself, and his call was answered by many other Ulstermen. The last major wave of emigration occurred between 1771 and 1775. At least twenty-five thousand people are believed to have emigrated during this period. That great wave of departure from Ireland was motivated primarily by the eviction of so many families from county Antrim when the leases on the estate of the Marquis of Donegal expired and the settlers could not comply with the rack-renting demands. Altogether, approximately 200,000 people, primarily of Scottish descent and Presbyterian faith, left Ulster and sailed for America between 1717 and 1775.

Scotland, at the start of the 1700

Scotland, at the start of the 1700s, was a very poor country. The best farmlands were in the Lowlands, but those farmlands were overrun by the Highlanders and the English so often, that the Lowlanders were not motivated to work very hard to make their farms profitable. They simply did as best as they could to keep alive. In addition to that, the Scots were overall ignorant of "modern" farming methods. They knew little about the value of crop rotation. They tended to plant the same crop year after year until the ground was practically depleted of any nutrients. An English traveler who visited the Lowlands of Scotland in the early 1700s noted that, for the most part, the countryside was so barren that grass did not even grow there.

Patrick Was Likely From Ulster When He Ran Away

In the northern counties of Ulster, however, a different attitude (than very hesitant to leave family) held sway with a sizeable proportion of people.

Presbyterians, most of whom had Scottish ancestry, had also suffered discrimination in Ireland but they were not inhibited to the same degree by 'ancestral' connection with the soil. They sincerely believed they would find tolerance, freedom and happiness in North America.

They were also, to varying extents, more economically independent than their Catholic neighbours. Many were artisans, shopkeepers, or young professionals, and some worked in the Irish linen trade. These early waves of Irish emigration were often in response to economic peaks and troughs.

Up to 1720, when New England was the destination of choice for most, the flow was steady but numbers were not large. Numbers rose at the end of that decade and then dropped again.

A famine in the early 1740s saw renewed interest in Atlantic passage, and Irish emigration never really subsided afterwards. In 1771-1773, more than 100 ships left the Ulster ports of Newry, Derry, Belfast, Portrush and Larne, carrying some 32,000 Irish immigrants to America. Meanwhile, a similar number set sail from Dublin, Cork and Waterford alone. Some of these would certainly have been Catholics. By 1790, the USA's Irish immigrant population numbered 447,000 and two-thirds originated from Ulster.
Back in Ireland, the population had grown from only 2.3 million at mid-century to as much as 5 million by 1800. The vast majority lived in poverty.

No Caleb Cragun in these lists

In 1740 a list of Protestant Householders was compiled for Ireland. Within Ulster transcripts of  names and places are available for counties Antrim, Armagh, Down, Donegal, Londonderry and Tyrone. The transcripts are arranged by county, barony and parish. As far as I know, townlands are not given except for the baronies of Keenaght and North West Liberties in County Londonderry.

The Plantation Movement in 1745 Timeline

I had a few minutes today to ask a Family History Library Consultant a question on trying to locate our grandfather Caleb Cragun. He only had a few minutes but was able to provide some info and  will give me more later. He coincidentally has been searching for 20 years on a similar family story: From England to Ireland and Originally from Scotland. I think there is a high probability our Family follows this heritage back to Scotland.

There were companies of guilds that were sent from London called the London Company. There were more than one. The second apparently were those of Scottish heritage.

He told me that there were patterns of movement for these families. Ours likely ended up in Ulster. From Wiki:

The Plantation of Ulster (Irish: Plandáil Uladh) was the organised colonisation (plantation) of Ulster – a province of Ireland – by people from Scotland and England. Private plantation by wealthy landowners began in 1606,^[1] while official plantation controlled by King James I of England and VI of Scotland began in 1609. All land owned by Irish chieftains of the Uí Néill and Uí Domhnaill (along with those of their supporters) was confiscated and used to settle the colonists. This land comprised an estimated half a million acres (2,000 km²) in the counties Tyrconnell, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Cavan, Coleraine and Armagh.^[2] Most of the counties Antrim and Down were privately colonised.^[1]
The "British tenants",^[3] a term applied to the colonists,^[4] were mostly from Scotland and England. They were required to be English-speaking and Protestant.^[5] The Scottish colonists were mostly Presbyterian^[3] and the English mostly members of the Church of England. The Plantation of Ulster was the biggest of the Plantations of Ireland. Ulster was colonised to prevent further rebellion, as it had been the region most resistant to English control during the preceding century.

That movement of people, when in America, tended to move South into Virginia. This again gives a  hope we have corroboration coming on Patrick as he did go South.


He is beginning to upload his 20 years of research into the Family Search Wiki.

I next am trying to locate the names if published of people in this company.

Ireland Conditions When Patrick Cragun Was Born

The Irish Famine of 1740–1741 (Irish: Bliain an Áir, meaning the Year of Slaughter) in the Kingdom of Ireland was perhaps of similar magnitude to the better-known Great Famine of 1845–1852.



Creggan Parish Church, Armagh


Today was another interesting day learning about a piece of Irish history. I have to go there some day.

I carfully went through a journal looking for Patricks family. There has been some who say he was born in Dublin, other references Armagh, where this Parish is.

It was more interesting than productive, click here for the story.

A complete list of parish members in 1766 was in the journal, no Craggens of any spelling were on it.

There is a town it serves called Craggenduff.

The Big Challenge

Big Challenge: What was Patricks Fathers real name spelling, even verify his first name as Caleb- What county in Ireland did he live in?

Searching Through Books In the Sale Lake City Family History Libraries

The Salt Lake City Family History Library has from 10 to 30 historical books and reference books on the areas Patrick Cragun is believed to have lived: Boone County Indiana, Sullivan Tennessee, and Russell County Virginia.

It has been said he was arrested 4 times for civil disobedience in Virginia. Was it there? I see no records of his being there, as incomplete as the books coverages is.

Cass County was also referenced in those available books. I need to review them soon. I found a property even in Sullivan County using the name Patrick Craguner and a Patrick Cragon reference for both the purchase and sale of land in Sullivan County, a few miles from Booher Creek, near Booher Creek. The purchase was in 1784 and the sale in 1812, 164 acres. In 1806 he was exempt from taxes as Patrick Cragun due to age and infirmity, that was in Russell County, Virginia - 30 miles north of Indian Creek.

For those interested outside of Patrick there was a book, "The Cragun and Related Families in Boone County Indiana 1835 - 1988. The largest Cragun notation was to the local eduator and newspaper owner Strange Nathaniel Cragun, owner of The Cragun House.

Some of My Patrick Cragun Questions

View more documents from Larry K Cragun is on a family history mission .

Cragun Name Spelling Variations

This attached document will likely be revised over and over. It is posted on my http://slideshare.net/ account for easy downloading. You are welcome to use and or revise it. Click here

Cragun Name Spelling Variations

Slideshare is a handy website. It's early application was to upload power points, something like YouTube with videos. Now  you  can upload PDF or other documents.

In this case I scanned the form. That didn't come out in a format I could post on the blog, there for SlideShare fit the need.

Lebanon Indiana Library

The Lebanon Public Library apparantly has a vast amount of microfilm of old newspapers. Maybe about Craguns. Anyone able to research there?

Cragun House The Location of The Boone County Historical Society

Boone County Historical Society seems to have a library that includes Cragun Histories. Anyone able to go there?