Port Norris, Ireland...Could It Be?

County Armagh, Northern Ireland

Let's take a break in posting about Red Lion Sam, and go back to our Rebecca's father, Samuel Bradford, as we are still trying to pinpoint the exact place in Northern Ireland that he came from. Below is the Will of Samuel McDowell of a Cecil Co., MD. A Samuel Bradford witnessed the will on July 1, 1775. This is our Rebecca's father, Samuel Bradford. 

The Bradford's and the McDowell's were connected for many years, including an in-law connection (see post entitled "Where In Ireland?"). It is even thought that they might have left Ireland and come to America at the same time.

In the will below, there is mention of a John Gask "of Port Norris in the Kingdom of Ireland." I can't find a current place by this name on a very quick Google Maps search, however the following link indicates that this might have actually been Mount Norris in County Armagh, Northern Ireland - see http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/NIR-ARMAGH/2003-09/1062453049. 

If John Gask is related to the McDowell's, and if the McDowell's came from this area, then perhaps this is a clue to where Samuel Bradford and his family came from. Only time and more research will tell, but at this point we will take any clue we can get!

Here is the aforementioned will of Samuel McDowell (spellings remain as it was sent to me; emphasis added):

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF SAMUEL McDOWELL, CECIL COUNTY, MARYLAND.

In the name of God, amen. I Samuel McDowell of Cecil County province of Maryland being sick and weak in body but of perfect mind and memory thanks be given to God for his mercies do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament and first of all I recommend my soul into the hands Almighty God who givith and my body to the earth from whence it was taken to be disposed in decent funeral according to the discretion of my Executors and [unknown word] such worldly Estate when with it hath pleased God to bless me in this life I give and dispose of in the manner following -- I give and bequeath One Hundred pounds to the Apostate Congregation of Pencader to be paid to Mr. Henderson and his Session and by whom to be put to in trust for the support of the Gospel in that Congregation and if that Congregation should fail from the being of a Congregation that Money to be giving into the hands of the members of the apostate Presbytery in Pennsylvania to be disposed for what religious use they so cause, I like wise bequeath to my Friend James Wallace's two sons Adam and James the sum of Sixty five pounds Thirteen Shillings and four Pence to be equally divided between the two, Also I bequeath to my Cousin John McDowell in Cumberland County and Province of Pennsylvania the Sum of five pounds and the Bed that stands up stairs;to his son Samuel McDowell the sum of thirty pounds, and to his daughter Rachel the Sum of ten pounds, and to my Cousin William McDowell, James McDowell and Thomas McDowell the sum of eight pounds each, likewise I give and bequeath unto James Gask of Port Norris in the Kingdom of Ireland Son of John Gask deceased the sum of thirty pounds and a Red and white coverlid and a pair of sheets together with what lining cloath is in the house not made up; Also I give to J. Sable Emmet the sum of five pounds, likewise I give and bequeath to Ann Ralsone and Joan Beaty the Sum of one pound each; also I bequeath twelve pounds to be given to help to bring in a minister from Scotland for the Relief of the back settlement and this to be giving in to the hands of Mr. Henderson to be paid for that use; and I give to Matthew Henderson son of M.B. Henderson the sum of five pounds, also I give to the trustees of Oxford Congregation to help in repairing the old Meeting House or in building a new one the sum of ten pounds.   Likewise I bequeath to John Murphy's Wife (falber thr) a pounds worth of cloaths and to Rachal McDowell daughter of John McDowell a green and white coverlid and a pair of sheets, also one stuf Coate to Hugh Wallace.  Also I give to Ann Crage Servant to James Wallace the sum of four pounds with a pair of sheets, and all the remainder of my household furniture such as Bed and Bed Cloths Clock Table, chests, Chairs Pewter and all other articles not named I bequeath to Adam Wallace and James Wallace, and for the Remainder of my Estate if any there be after all my lawful Debts and funeral Charges are paid I order it to be equally divided between William McDowell and Samuel McDowell, son of John McDowell and I do hereby constitute and appoint my friend James Wallace and Samuel Hutchison whole and sole Executors of this my last will and testaments by me made or done as Witness my hand and seal this eighth day of July in the year of our Lord one thousandSeven and Seventy five. 1775.  I Likewise will that all the Bequeaths be paid in Pennsylvania Currency

[his seal]

Samuel McDowell

Signed sealed published and pronounced as the last will and testament of Samuel

McDowell in the presents of his witness. Samuel Bradford, Robert McAndles Richard Kirland Cecil County S C on the first day of January 1776 Then came Samuel Bradford and Richard Kirkland two of the subscribing evidence to the within last will and Testament of Samuel McDowell late of Cecil County deceased and made oath on the holy Evangels of Almighty God that they did so the Testator therein names sign and seal this will and that they heard him publish pronounce and declare the same to be his last will and testament; that at the time of his so doing he was to the best of their apprehensions of sound and disposing mind memory and understand; and that they and Robert McAndles respectively subscribed their names a witness to this will in the presence and at the request of the Testator and in the presence of each other, Certified by Baruch Williams Dep. Comsy Cecil County.

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Thanks so much for your support, and did you note that the blog has now received over 80,000 hits!! Lots of people out there looking for a Bradford (though they're probably looking for the Governor....ah well....who isn't?!).

Thanks again, and would love to hear from all of you, either in the Comments section or to the email address above, especially if you have any interesting Miller-Bradford information to follow.

Take Care,

Donna

From An Expert on Delmarva Bradfords

Delmarva Forestlands

(photo courtesy of http://www.delsjourney.com)

I am happy to share an email from Adam Bradford, one of the foremost authorities on Delmarva [Delaware, Maryland and Virginia] Bradford genealogies, and one who has spear-headed the Bradford DNA project. The email provides some extremely interesting links that I highly advise exploring.

Thanks Adam!

Thanks, Donna.  The website link you provided, [http://delmarvabradfords.com/dna/results.php]is my website, and it also displays the results from the DNA project.  I have intensely studied all the Bradford families of the lower Delmarva, including my own, and that's the main focus of the site.  

This is a summary of the available evidence on my own earliest known ancestor: http://www.delmarvabradfords.com/docs/Bradford.Worcester.Samuel.William.pdf.  

A couple years ago I wrote a little something on the search for my Samuel's origins:http://www.delmarvabradfords.com/docs/Bradford.Worcester.Samuel.origins.pdf.   This document is way out of date at this point, and needs to be updated.  At the time I wrote it, I theorized that the Whiskey Rebellion Bradfords might be related, because they are Scots-Irish.  Subsequently, a few representatives from their lines had their DNA tested and my hypothesis was confirmed.  Right now we have several independent Bradford lineages that we know share a common heritage based on DNA evidence. All these Bradford lineages are also quite closely related to the Braidwood family of Scotland.  Our best guess is that a branch of Braidwoods (or possibly Bradfutes, who lived nearby in Scotland) went to Ireland during the plantation of Ulster, where their surname became Anglicized to Bradford.  Then, representatives of this Irish branch of Braidwood/Bradfute came to America, whether at once or in separate migrations, it's hard to tell.  

Researching Our Ulster Lines

Discovering that Rebecca Bradford's father, Samuel Bradford, is of Scots-Irish origin (as verified by the Bradford DNA project - search previous posts for more information), has been a mixed blessing. After years and years of research, it is great to know where he came from, but the bad news is that there are so few records available for that area in the 1600's and 1700's.

Thus, I am grateful for some wonderful websites like the Ancestry Ireland/Ulster Historical Foundation website (http://ancestryireland.com/). 

I love their free online newsletter (http://www.ulsterancestry.com/sign-up-form.html) and hold out hope that someday I will see the name BRADFORD while reading it!

Here is another interesting site for those of us with Scots-Irish Ancestry:
http://www.ulsterscotstrail.com/taxonomy/term/1

Hopefully sites like this will help us to pinpoint precisely which county and town in Ulster Samuel came from, as we have just about exhausted the U. S. records available

Enjoy!
Donna

From One of Our Followers!

COLONIAL MARYLAND

I am so excited that some of you are submitting information to the blog.

Thanks to one of our blog followers, Wendell, for the following information. He mentions two William Millers. It would be wonderful if the first one mentioned were our ancestor. That William served at Valley Forge. He died in 1793 and is buried in Essex County, Virginia. As far I can ascertain, this William is not related to us [if you Google "William Miller, Valley Forge," you can probably confirm this].

However, the second William mentioned in this request below is our William Miller. Thanks for sending in this information, Wendell! We will answer your questions in the next post.

Keep the information coming! Email me or use the Comments section below.
Thanks! - Donna

(p.s. I don't know if you have watched the counter to the right, but there have been over 78,500 hits to this blog, so it is a good place to post your genealogy questions!)

From Wendell:

William Miller of Fayette County – I am trying to research my Miller ancestors. I recently discovered that Abraham Miller, b. abt 1787 in Fayette county PA. is my 3^rd great grandfather. According to some information I have, which was taken from a page from a book History of Descendants of the William Miller Families, his father was William Miller, who was a Revolutionary War soldier, who served at Valley Forge. His wife supposedly molded bullets and carried them to the soldiers. [note from Donna: Again, research indicates that this William Miller is not related to us].

I, also found another query concerning a William Miller, who also was in the Revolutionary War, was also a large landowner and was from Fayette County. His wife was Rebecca Bradford.

Abraham b. abt 1787 married Nancy Blackburn b. abt. 1795   who was born in Salem, Columbiana county, Ohio. Their Children

Sally Miller m. George Slavih –                      8 children

Jane Miller m. Joseph Gilmer –                       8 children

John Blackburn Miller m, Sarah Shaffer  -   12 children

Stephen Miller m. Nancy Hartzel -                  7 children

Jessie Miller   - Died in school while studying for the ministry in 1840

William Armstrong Miller m. Rebecca Cecelia Pow

Bradford Miller – Died in 1824 at age 5

Nancy Ann Miller b. 19 Oct. 1826 d. 2 Apr. 1904 m. Samuel Little  b. 28 Apr. 1824 d. 5 Jan. 1914.  They had  7 children   Nancy is my 2^nd great grandmother. I, have several

pictures of their children.

NOTE: Could Abraham and Nancy’s son BRADFORD be named after Abraham’s mother’s maiden name?

I would like any information that would confirm that William is the father of Abraham and any documentation that William was in the Revolutionary War. (My sister, at one time was interested in joining the DAR. 

Looking For Information about Nancy Agnes Miller and Catherine Snyder?

I received the following email from someone looking for information about the parents of Nancy Agnes Miller (abt 1800 - 1856), and about the ancestry of Catherine Snyder (see below).

If anyone has any more information, please respond below in Comments or write me at miller.and.bradford@gmail.com. Thanks!

1.    I found your discussion about William Miller of Fayette County, PA  at genforum.

I am spreading a wide net hoping to break through abrick wall.

Looking for the parents of Nancy Agnes Miller (abt 1800 - 1856)

and her husband  David Shafer (abt 1800-1879)

Shafer could be spelled Shaffer, Schaffer or Shaeffer

 

David Shaffer purchased land on Feb 6 1837 at Stark Co, Ohio. 

1850 Federal Census Osnaburg Twp, Stark Co, Ohio. 

    David Shaeffer, M, age 51, born in Pennsylvania

    Nancy, F, age 50, born in Pennsylvania

    Henry, M, age 15, born in Ohio, Farmer

    Daniel, M, age 11, born in Ohio

    Nancy, F, age 5, born in Ohio

I do not know where David abd Nancy were born in PA,  The children were all born at Stark Co, Ohio

Does anything look familiar?

2.   I am also related to a Catherine Snyder(1797-1856), buried Hols Co, OH.  Her parents were George Snyder/Schnieder and Margaret Miller of Holmes Co.  Margartet was of Swiss-German descent, daughter of Martin Miller and Anna Maria Eck of Derry Twp, Westmoreland Co, PA

Discover Your Story

Have you heard about this new search engine that filters out everything else and only gives you genealogy results? It's awesome and is at: http://www.mocavo.com/

I have only used the free part of the service and it was great, and there is also an expanded low-cost service.

Have fun exploring! - Donna