More About The Covenanters, Religion of Our Miller Ancestors

"Signing the Covenant"

This Ulster Historical Foundation article below corroborates the difficulty many of us have found in searching for our Miller Covenanter ancestors (use the search box, below right, to find other posts dealing with our Covenanter ancestors).  I also did not find anything relevant to our Miller's at the referenced "rparchives" site mentioned below.  Even though our Millers and Bradfords remain elusive as ever, this article sheds light on this on this interesting, albeit obscure group of people.

" Though it is over 250 years since the signing of the Covenants of 1638 and 1643, the word Covenanter still has significance. Covenanter has been used as a general term to describe Presbyterians, though this article is focussed on its application to the Reformed Presbyterian Church. A great many people in the United States are the descendants of eighteenth-century emigrants of Covenanter background. Emigration was not confined to the eighteenth century, of course, and many Reformed Presbyterians left Ireland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to seek a new life in another part of the world.

"How difficult is it to trace Covenanter roots? It is well known that there are major obstacles to overcome in the pursuit of Irish ancestors. Researching Covenanter ancestors is especially difficult for a number of reasons. First of all, there is the paucity of Reformed Presbyterian records, such as registers of births, marriages and burials. This is discussed in more detail below.

"Secondly, there are various categories of record from which Covenanters were excluded, or rather excluded themselves, because of their religious beliefs and in particular their views on the state. They did not vote and so will not appear in freeholders’ registers. They were opposed to the payment of tithes for the support of the Church of Ireland clergy, though to what extent they were able to evade the tithe collectors is unclear.

"They do not seem to have made regularly wills that were probated as that would have meant recognising the authority of the Church of Ireland which had responsibility for all testamentary matters before 1858. Of course, as is revealed below in the discussion of the earliest session book of the Antrim congregation, there were those who broke the rules and were censured for it.

"Researching Covenanter ancestors who emigrated to America in the eighteenth century is particularly problematic. A close reading of Jean Stephenson’s meticulous Scotch-Irish migration to South Carolina will show that in very few instances is it possible to identify the Irish place of origin of the hundreds of families, many of the them Covenanter, who emigrated from Ulster in 1772.

"While the majority of these emigrants were probably from north Antrim, it is impossible to be more precise than this for all but a handful of the emigrants. One exception is Hugh McMaster, ‘late of parish of Ballymoney, Co. Antrim’, whose will of 1787 refers to his brother John back in Ballymoney and includes a bequest of money to a society of Covenanters in America. Careful sifting of records in America might reveal further references to places of origin in Ireland of Covenanter ancestors.

"An initiative that merits attention is that of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America to digitise their older publications, such as the magazines The Covenanter and Reformed Presbyterian, both founded in the nineteenth century, and make these available online (www.rparchives.org). Obituaries notices were carried in these publications and, if the deceased was from Ireland, these will often include the individual’s place of origin on the island."

Source:  http://www.ancestryireland.com/irish-presbyterianism/researching-covenanter-ancestors/http://www.ancestryireland.com/irish-presbyterianism/researching-covenanter-ancestors/ 

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Did Our Miller Ancestors Flee From Northern Ireland to Holland?

In an effort to answer this question and learn more about our Miller ancestors before they arrived in America, and especially whether or not there is a Holland connection, we are studying the lives of their religious leaders in hopes of finding clues about our ancestors. In previous posts we have discussed the relationship between our Miller's and their pastor in Ireland, the Reverend William Traill. The article below deals with William's father, Rev. Robert Traill, who was a prisoner of Cromwell for a period of time:

Rev. Robert Traill
(source: http://www.covenanter.org/RTraill/roberttraill.htm ) 

"Born in Elie, May, 1642.  After the usual prepatory studies, he was sent to the College of Edinburgh, where he distinguished himself in the several classes.  He devoted his life to the ministry and the cause of the church of his fathers.  This devotion was greatly manifested by his attendance upon Mr. James Guthrie, minister of Stirling, on the scaffold of martyrdom, 1661.  In 1666, in consequence of some copies of the Apologetical Relation, a work (penned by John Brown, of Wamphray) hated by the prelates, and condemned by the Privy Council to the flames, found in his home, he was obliged with his mother and brother to go into hiding.  It is reported that Robert Traill was in arms with the Covenanters when they were routed at Pentland Hills.  Because of this, he found it necessary to flee to Holland, where his father was already, in 1667.  Sometime around 1669, he returned to London and commenced his ministry there.  In 1677, while visiting Scotland, he was apprehended and arraigned before the Privy Council.  He refused to clear himself by their unlawful oath and was, upon little evidence, sentenced to imprisonment on the Bass rock.  He was released after three months and returned to London where he continued to officiate as pastor of a Presbyterian congregation until his death, in May, 1716," (http://www.covenanter.org/RTraill/roberttraill.htm; highlight added). 

Note that when Robert Traill fled to Holland, his father was already living there:
"The father of Robert Traill, who was minister of the Greyfriars’ Church, Edinburgh, was one of those bold witnesses for the Covenant, who lived during the stormy period of the Commonwealth, and the still more trying season of the Restoration, in which, at the age of sixty, he was banished from Scotland for life upon the charge of holding a conventicle, because he had read and expounded Scripture to a few friends who were assembled in his house. In consequence of this sentence he retired to Holland, the usual place of refuge for the exiled Presbyterians of Scotland, and there spent the rest of his life." ( http://www.electricscotland.com/history/men/traill_robert.htm )

So here is the big question: Did our Miller ancestors follow the example of the Traill's and also flee from Northern Ireland to Holland?? 

We will examine that very question in upcoming posts.

More On Rev. Traill, Minister to Our Miller Family in Donegal, Ireland

In previous posts we have learned that our William Miller's ancestry was closely associated with the Presbyterian Church in the Ballindrait area of County Donegal, Northern Ireland, and specifically with the Reverend William Trail. Here is an interesting history that includes information about Rev. Traill (see previous posts for William Traill's connection to our Miller's)

RIVER FOYLE
Courtesy of http://www.dipity.com/tickr/Flickr_foyle/

The Laggan and its Presbyterianism

Reference 3A

CHAPTER I (Excerpts)

EARLY LAGGAN HISTORY

In looking at a map of the County Donegal, it will be seen that the north- eastern part of the county, which is the most northerly part of Ireland, is a peninsula washed on the eastern side by the waters of Lough Foyle and on the western by Lough Swilly. This is Inishowen, a mountainous and, to a large extent, a barren country.

Immediately to the south of it is a fertile and comparatively flat country, lying between the river Foyle and the upper reaches of Lough Swilly, and extending in one direction from the City of Derry to Stranorlar, and in another from Lifford to Letterkenny. This is the district which in by­ gone times was well and widely known under the name of THE LAGGAN, and formed the most productive and desirable portion of the ancient territory of Tyrconnell. Never having been at any time a county or fiscal division of any kind, its boundaries were never accurately defined, but, roughly speaking, it might be said to correspond to the north Barony of Raphoe, running for a short distance at its southern end into the south Barony.

The name would appear to be a very old one. It has been conjectured, and not without good reason, that it is the place referred to by Ptolemy, a Greek writer who lived in the second century of the Christian era, and who wrote a description of the Western world, as the Logia, and which in aftertimes is called Locha by the ancient Irish, and Logan by the early

English writers. This conjecture is corroborated, and, indeed, made almost a certainty, by the fact that Ptolemy speaks of two large waters or rivers adjoining the Logia, which he calls the Argita and the Vidua, the former of which antiquaries and geographers of bygone times regarded as the Finn or river of Lough Foyle, and the latter as Lough Swilly.

Colgan, in his "Acta", describes the Laggan as "In Tir-conallia, inter due maris brachia, nempe inter sinum Loch Febhuil, et sinum de Suilech". ("In Tyrconnel, between two arms of the sea that is, be­tween the bay of Lough Foyle and the bay of Swilly". )

. . . . .  suffered for his cause, and that their only offence was refusing to appear before the Bishop's court, which was contrary to their principles, ordered their release.

At a meeting of the Laggan Presbytery, held on the 2nd of February, 1681, it was resolved that considering the providences of God towards His Church and people in Britain and Ireland, they judged it their duty to call the people under their inspection to humiliation, prayer, and fasting, and appointed the 17th of that month to be observed as a day of fasting and prayer, and drew up a paper called the Causes of the said Fast. Now this would not, in the eyes of most people, appear to be a very grievous offence. nevertheless for having the audacity to do so, four members of the Presbytery, viz., Messrs. John Hart, of Monreagh; William Trail, of Ballindrait; James Alexander, of Convoy; and Robert Campbell, of Ray, were summoned to appear before the Bench of Magistrates at St. Johnston, and afterwards at Raphoe, and were examined "anent the Causes of the Fast." But the matter did not end here. The Government seems to have looked upon this very inoffensive and, most people would think, commendable action on the part of the Presbytery as a very serious offence; for in the following June these four ministers were ordered to appear within eight days before the Lord Lieutenant and Council at Dublin. They did so, and after being closely questioned regarding the object they had in view in appointing this day of humiliation and prayer, they were bound over to appear and stand their trial at the next Assizes in Lifford. There they were found guilty of appointing and keeping a fast, and were fined in £20 each and ordered to give bail that they would not offend in a similar way in future !  This they refused to do, and were committed to gaol, where they were kept prisoners for upwards of eight months. They were not confined in the common prison, but like the Apostle Paul were permitted to dwell in their own hired house; and as the apostle did, they received all who came in unto them, for we are told they preached every Lord's Day in turn, but sometimes their hearers were driven away, and on one occasion a person who was going to hear them was apprehended by the officers of the town and bid go to church, and because he would not he was put into the stocks. At length, after sending several petitions to the council in Dublin, an order was given for their release, and the fines imposed at the Assizes reduced to twenty shillings each.

The authorities must have regarded these Laggan ministers as very dangerous and desperate men. Mr. Trail, in an account which he wrote of his examination before the council in Dublin, tells us that amongst other questions, he was asked if he was in the habit of riding through the country armed with a sword and pistols. Mr. Trail denied this charge and said there was neither sword nor gun about his house. He was also questioned about his attendance at an alleged unlawful assembly at Donoughmore, which continued from Thursday, June the 2nd, to Monday, June the 6th; but, as Mr. Trail explained, this great meeting was nothing but the week-day services usually held at the time of the keeping of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and that on this occasion he had preached.

It is sad to find that the early annals of Presbyterianism in this district are so largely made up of the oppression and afflictions to which those who adhered to it were subjected at the hand of men who should have befriended them. These Irishmen who came from Scotland were in general plain, inoffensive, industrious men, willing to endure hardship in reclaiming and cultivating the land that had fallen to their lot, and in promoting the welfare of their adopted country, and all that they asked for was to be permitted to do so in peace, and to hold to what they regarded as the truth. But the authorities both of Church and State seem to have been sadly lacking in understanding of the times, and to have thought it impossible for a man to be a Presbyterian and at the same time a useful citizen and loyal subject. Toleration and Christian charity were matters that received little consideration at the hands of the dignitaries of the only Church the law recognised or tolerated, and they appear to have regarded their Church as an instrument of government rather than a means of conveying Divine truth.

Viewed in the light of the present age, it must, I think, be admitted that these old Ulster Scots were in advance of the times in which they lived, and if the principles of civil and religious liberty for which they contended so stoutly and suffered so bitterly had been given free course, the state of our Northern Province from then up to the present would have been more pleasant and peaceable for all parties concerned than it has been, and brethren who never should have differed would have dwelt together in unity." 

Source: http://www.greencastlemuseum.org/

Were William Miller's Ancestors Covenanters?

Strabane, near Lifford, County Donegal, Ireland

In the last post, we raised the question of whether William Miller descended from members of the group known as Covenanters, and specifically the group that lived in Northern Ireland (see post entitiled "Where In Ireland - Part Two"). We can theorize, but are there any records tying the Miller's to this very persecuted group?

To set the stage, it must be remembered that William, his parents and grandparents owned properties in the Elkton, Cecil County region of Maryland and in adjoining Newscastle County, [eventually] Delaware. This area was then known as the province or territory of Pennsylvania. William's father was Abraham, and Abraham's father was David Miller. David was married to the daughter of Ninian Dunlap. A 1711 Cecil Co. land record notes that Ninian granted land to his "beloved son-in-law," David Miller, land along Christiana Creek. This is just one of several land records that verify this relationship (see previous post entitled "Miller Genealogy by Chalmers Williams - Part I" dated May 5, 2010).

Meanwhile, during the previous decades, across the sea is far-away Scotland, persecution of the Covenanters grew. A famous minister, Robert Traill, was so severely persecuted that he finally fled to Holland (http://www.covenanter.org/RTraill/roberttraill.htm). His son, Reverend William Traill, carried on his father's work, and also suffered religious oppression. One of the congregations William served was in Ballindrait near Lifford, on the eastern border of County Donegal, Ireland, near the Northern Ireland town of Strabane, County Tyrone . Of his time in Lifford we read: "The very public case of Rev William Trail at Lifford in 1681-82 raised the intensity even more. Trail, a member of a prominent Scottish family, was then serving as minister in Ballendrait, near Lifford. He and several other ministers were accused of fomenting opposition to the Oath of Supremacy and illegally calling for a fast in 1681. They were tried and imprisoned in Lifford for eight months for refusing to pay the excessive fine levied against them. They were released in Spring of 1682, but their case had been closely followed by the Ulster Scot community and no doubt seen as another object lesson.(http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/Scotch-Irish/2008-07/1215977935).

The 1680's were an especially difficult time for the Ulster Scots Covenanters (http://covenantersinulster.typepad.com/), so it is no surprise that the religious tolerance offered in America was appealing to this people. Maryland was particularly attractive in that it had passed the act of Religious Toleration in 1649 which provided that "no (Christian) person should be persecuted on account of religion, and the Eastern Shore [of Maryland] was particularly open to alternative religious persuasions."

So is there a connection between our Millers and Reverend William Traill?

A document in the Archives of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) has provided us with an astounding link between our Millers and Reverend Traill. The document cut and pasted below is exactly as it appears in the PRONI records, except that I have bolded parts pertinent to our search. The question marks in brackets indicate suggested readings of unclear words or spelling corrections by the PRONI researchers. Scholars concur and related documents confirm that the minister referred to is certainly William Traill (http://www.ulsterancestry.com/newsletter-content.php?id=227">http://www.ulsterancestry.com/newsletter-content.php?id=227).

Address by the Presbyterians of Newcastle, Pennsylvania 1706
Source: T 3762/1:PRONI
Archive: The Public Record Office, N. Ireland.
Date 11/02/1706

Right Reverend and honorable

We undersubscribers and the greatest number of us born and educated in Ireland under the ministry of one [William?] [Traill?] a presbiterian [Presbyterian?] minister formerly of Lifford, Co.Donegal] are by divine providence settled with our families at Newcastle and about it in the province of Pensilvania [Pennsylvania?] and we have for present one [Mr?] John [Wilson?] a Scots man who preacheth amongst us to whom [affordeth?] a few of different nations as we do but they are neither capable to maintain a [church?] nor build a [meeting?] house and so we are in fear dayly [daily?] to be cast [outside?] and to our great grief we and our posterity left as a prey to superstition and heresies Therefore though it may be unusual yet out of pure necessity and consideration of our soul circumstances we do most humbly address our [selves?] to you as unto our mother church and to [give us?] your advice in this our uncertain condition and if ther [there?] can be any supply granted for our small congregation which is the custom of other persuasions to doe for them of their way.

Your Supplicants shall ever pray
Newcastle
Feb 11th 1706/5

[William?] [-------?]
Abraham Emott
John Stall
Adam Wallis
James Wallace
John [Colard?]
Matthew Wallace
Thomas Wallace
David Miller
Joseph Hood
John Garner
Sam Wallace
Robert Wallis
Cornilius Cooke
Andrew Miller
David Wallis
William Wallace
Thomas Southerland
Morgan Pallan
John Emott

In addition, other sources also list Ninian Dunlap , David Miller's father-in-law) as one of the signers, including: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/KINCAID/2007-05/1179707901">http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/KINCAID/2007-05/1179707901

The PRONI document above clearly indicates that our Milllers (and perhaps Dunlaps) were from the north of Ireland, and were associated with the Covenanters. Were they part of the Ballindrait/Lifford congregations? Or does it just mean Reverend Traill was connected with those groups? The wording of the document is ambiguous, but could be construed to have the former meaning. Futher research into the records of Counties Donegal and Tyrone is certainly indicated!

(1) It will be convenient if our Miller's were from Donegal, as while it is geographically part of Ulster (Northern Ireland), politically it is part of The Republic of Ireland, and perhaps it's records are more accessible than those of the Northern Ireland counties. Sadly, those records must, by and large, be researched in person at the PRONI. We are very blessed to have the above-mentioned record, as it is one of the rare PRONI documents that is available online.

Bringing over beloved geographical names from the homeland was a very common practice among early settlers in America. It is interesting to note that William Miller's wife, Rebecca Bradford, had a Bradford uncle (James) who lived out most of his life in Strabane, Pennsylvania (see above), very near to where William and Rebecca has moved to in Fayette County. Strabane is in Northern Ireland

Where In Ireland? Part 2

In earlier posts we have discussed the Scots-Irish Northern Ireland roots of Rebecca Bradford through her father, Samuel. In this post we will examine the origins of the Millers.

For many years my brother, Bill, and I searched for records of the ancestral home of William Miller. The only clue we had was the Allen Family Record (written by William and Rebecca's grandson, George Washington Allen, in 1876). Of William's father the record states, "Abraham Miller - Born in Holland, came to America in the early part of the eighteenth century - his ancestry having fled England to Holland during a violent persecution of Protestants."

For years I interpreted this to mean that Abraham's ancestors must have been part of the Separatist-leaning Pilgrims who fled England for Holland, eventually settling in Plymouth, Massachusetts. I figured that the writer must have meant "seventeenth century." But no Miller's sailed in 1620 on Mayflower, or on later ships, and no Miller is listed in the Plymouth colony rolls. Perhaps, I thought, Abraham's ancestors remained behind in Holland, not coming to America till the 1700's ["eighteenth century"] as noted in the Allen Family Record).

However, over the past couple of years, research done by one of our Miller-Bradford Group members, Chalmers Williams, has shed new and startling light on this issue - see post entitled "Miller Genealogy by Chalmers Williams - Part 1" dated May 5, 2010.

Chalmers, very convincingly and with excellent documentation which we will examine in future posts, makes the case that the Millers were probably Ulster Scots living Northern Ireland who were "Covenanters" - members of the Church of Scotland (Presbyterians), who rejected the royal decree proclaiming the King supreme head of the church in Scotland and signed a covenant which stated that only Jesus Christ could command such a position" and swore to take up arms in defense of their beliefs. (Source: http://scottishcovenanters.org/history.htm)


This commitment let to severe persecution of the Covenanters in England, Ireland and Scotland. "The methods used to persecute and oppress the Covenanters is almost beyond belief but evidence exists for all the following : butchering, hanging, beheading, mangling, dismembering alive, quartering upon scaffolds, imprisoning, laying in irons, torturing by boots, thumbkins, fire-matches, cutting pieces out of the ears of others, banishing and selling as slaves old and young men and women in great numbers, oppressing many others in their estates, forfeiting, robbing, spoiling, pillaging their goods, casting them out of their habitations, interdicting any to reset them, under the pain of being treated after the same manner". (Source: http://www.thereformation.info/restoration.htm)

It is no wonder that the Covenanters fled. Where did they go? From one source we learn, "Another bastion for the exiled and fleeing Covenanters was Holland where there was full Communion with the Reformed Church of Holland and the Scots. There were Scottish churches in Rotterdam, Campvere, Leyden, Amsterdam, Delft, Dordrecht, the Hague and Middleburg [for the] exiled Presbyterians." (ibid)

Is this then the foundation for the claim of William Miller's grandson that his [and thus our] ancestors "fled England to Holland during a violent persecution of Protestants"?

In order to answer this question, the next post will examine whether or not any documents exist that actually tie our Millers to the Covenanters.