The Origins of the McCreights History and Genealogy: Scotland, Ireland, South Carolina and North Carolina

The earliest known McCreight family originated in Scotland near Glasgow. William McCreight was there born in 1645, according to an entry in the McCreight family Bible. This was also stated in a letter from Mary Randolph (1826-1901) to her brother Edward Graves Randolph. William first appeared in the historical record in a land lease in 1695. This book deals with the history and genealogy of his descendants.England confiscated the land of the Irish nobles and colonized Ireland with Anglo-Normans and Scots. In about 1650, the English landlords began sending large numbers of Scots to re-settle Ulster in Northern Ireland. William McCreight leased land in Guilford, County Down from Sir John Magill in 1695. William had a son, also named William born in about 1680, in Scotland, assuming 1695 was the date his father came to Ulster. William’s son William lease fifty acres in Mullahead, Guilford on the 10th of September 1716. He had five known sons and one daughter.William’s son David McCreight’s marriage record to Mary Harper on the 20th of July 1732 was found in County Antrim, Ahogill parish. David McCreight and Mary Harper had one daughter and three sons, who were baptized in the same parish between 1734 and 1746. Two other sons were named in David’s will, but no baptismal records were found. The marriage record of David’s son William to Agnes Smith in 1759 was found in the same parish. William and Agnes had two sons baptized in Ireland between 1761 and 1764. Two more sons and two daughters appeared in William’s will.When the English landlords raised the rents to the point that the land could not support the costs, the Reverend William Martin leased five ships to take his entire congregation of over a thousand Scots from Northern Ireland to the South Carolina Colony. These ships all sailed in 1772 between the 25th of August and the 27th of October. The second ship, the Lord Dunlace, had smallpox on board and was quarantined for seven weeks off Sullivan’s Island. The last ship, the Freemason, arrived on the 22nd of December.The McCreights sailed on the third ship, the Pennsylvania Farmer, that landed in Charleston, South Carolina on the 19th of December. The passenger list of the Pennsylvania Farmer states the size land grants the passengers received. The land was free of charge, but the passengers were required to pay a 5 survey and registration fee. This was about four month’s wages in Ireland. Those who swore they could not pay were classified as poor people and were exempt from payment. All of the McCreights payed the fee and all of their land grants were found in the South Carolina archives. Only four McCreight names were listed on the Pennsylvania Farmer passenger list. However, their wives and children were known to have been in South Carolina. Many ships did not list wives and children travelling as a family. Since an additional fifty acres was given for a spouse and each child, it can be calculated from the land grant size that there were fifteen McCreights onboard the ship Pennsylvania Farmer. However, the first census was taken in America eight years later in 1790. That census listed forty-five McCreights living in Fairfield County, South Carolina in six households.The remainder of this book deals with the history and genealogies of the McCreights in Scotland, Ireland. South Carolina and North Carolina, who are descended from William McCreight for eleven generations.