Descendants of William Lewis of Ulster, Ireland

Generation #1

There is no proof that Lydia Frances Hutto is descended from this Lewis family. Connections between the Lydia Lewis who married Jacob Hutto, Jr. and this Lewis family are based solely on conjecture and are included here to stimulate further research.

William Lewis of Ulster, Ireland (Conjecture)

William Lewis was reportedly born about 1650 in France to Jean Louis, a Huguenot descendant of the original Welsh Lewis family. Forced to flee France after the Edict of Nantes in 1687, the family returned to their ancestral homeland in Radnorshire, Wales, where William's father Anglicized the family name to Lewis. Although not an immigrant to America, William Lewis of Ulster, Ireland, was the progenitor of the line of Lewises who settled the Carolinas.

John and William's family were part of a larger migration of French Huguenots to Britain and Ireland; as a large contingent of Huguenots are cited having served with King William at the 1690 Battle of the Boyne in Ulster, Ireland. Did John and William migrate first to Ulster in service of the King? Perhaps. 

On 13th August 1689 one of William III's most senior commanders, the Duke of Schomberg, brought twelve regiments of foot ashore at Ballyholme Bay in County Down. . .With his army augmented by fresh arrivals to nearly 20,000, including two battalions of Dutch infantry and four Huguenot regiments, Schomberg marched south to Newry early in September. . . .

    "Williamite Wars," BBC History Timelines, No date <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/ni/schomberg.shtml> 19 February 2005.

After 1690 William is found in Ulster and his father, John, is found at the ancestral home in Wales where he was a noted soldier, attaining the rank of Colonel of the First Foot Guard.

In about 1690 in Ulster, Ireland, William married Mary McClelland b. c. 1667 in Scotland. Having settled down, William set up practice as a lawyer. William and Mary along with other Protestants become part of the social class know as Planters; as Protestants were deliberately planted amidst the most Catholic section of Ireland. William and Mary lived the remainder of the lives in Ulster. And, William is reported to have died in about 1720.

Of note, this Planter Migration was only marginally successful. Many of the children of the original Planters found their conditions unbearable; as they were treated nearly as harshly by their English landlords as were the indigenous Irish. As new lands in the American Colonies were opened for settlement, large numbers of the Scot-Irish (Welsh-Irish) took their leave, migrating to America. Accordingly, William's son, William, left Ireland for North Carolina.

The first actual settlement of the Scotch-Irish in North Carolina was not in the Piedmont, but in the Tidewater region, and they arrived by sea rather than by way of Pennsylvania.

On November 29, 1735, Governor Johnston informed his Council that Arthur Dobbs (later to become governor of the province), "and some other gentlemen of distinction in Ireland," and Mr. Henry McCulloch, a merchant of London (later agent for Lord Granville) had written him "respecting their intention of sending over to this province several poor Protestant families with design of raising flax and hemp."

They asked for a grant of 60,000 acres of land in New Hanover County. Their request was granted and in the next year (1736) the settlers arrived at their land on the Black River (now Duplin County), where they organized themselves into two congregations, Goshen and the Grove.

    "Colonial Records of North Carolina Vol. IV,  pp. 72-73," The Ducan Family GenWeb Page, 1 April 2001 <http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~oespiers/D-E-F/DUNCAN.html> 3 February 2005.

    Children

    1. William Lewis II b. 1690 County Donegal, Ireland

Generation #2

Caveat

This site is provided for reference only. Except where specifically cited, information contained is conjecture and should not be considered as fact.
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