The Montgomery Family

I have learned that the Montgomery family was very powerful in the lowlands of Scotland.  Hugh Montgomery (1560-1636) had a farm in the North Ayrshire area of Scotland, probably between Ayr and Glasgow.  The town of Beith is mentioned somewhere.  In 1606 he moved much of the family to Northern Ireland, near the town of Aghadowey on the River Bann.  There they remained until they emigrated to Casco Bay, Maine, in 1718, along with John Harper, who married daughter Abigail Montgomery.

Rick Harper sent me a wonderful link to a pdf put together by Bill Montgomery.  You can find it at https://acrobat.com/#d=2LTvcBjDSTKfNIpaDc411Q.  I had to upgrade to Acrobat Reader 9.3 and join the free acrobat.com in order to view it.  Rick also gave me the e-mail to Mr. Montgomery, who has done a series of newsletters, and I am awaiting a response.  Based on the work on the pdf, I have great expectations.

The Harper trail dies out in Northern Ireland.  But I am interested in what caused Hugh Montgomery to emigrate to Ireland in 1606 and what caused him and James Harper, Jannet Lewis, and son John Harper (who would have been 13 years old at the time) to emigrate to America.   The Harpers moved to Boston after two years in Maine and were run out of town by Irish Catholics, in the never-ending dispute between Irish Prostestants and Catholics.  By the way, many in the Scottish lowlands had converted to Presbyterianism, while the Highlanders, who were very poor and violent, remained Catholics (or maybe Pagans).   The lowlanders were thus at odds with the Anglican church, as were the Puritans, and this was another religious division within Protestantism.  And, of course, many Scots were Calvinists, yet another division.  The border wars of the lowlands were fought not only against the English, but also against the Highlanders.

Addendum:  1606 was the year of the beginning of the migration of Scottish lowlanders to the Ulster Plantation in northern Ireland.  Check out this link.

Addendum 2:  Scots-Irish, who were Presbyterians, began emigrating from Ulster to America in 1717 due to the political agreement called the Anglican Protestant Assembly, which largely gave power to the Church of England and the Church of Ireland after William of Orange (who became King William of Britain after James was kicked out in 1689), despite the fact that they had fought on Williams side in one of the many wars.  Here is a wonderful post on Hugh Montgomery.

Addendum 3:  Joan Stewart was the child of James I, King of Scotland, who married Joan Beaufort.  She was known as Joan the Mute, and was married to James Douglas, Earl of Morton.  See pedigree chart here.  See here for Joan Stewart.

These addendums represent facts I have discovered today.  Very rewarding.  An account of the Glorious Revolution can be found in a book called Our First Revolution by Michael Barone.  It was of enormous importance to the founding of America.