McCubbin Family History: Scottish Gentry, Colonial Founders, and American Homesteaders

John Maccubbin (McCubbin) left his land-owning family in southwest Scotland as a very young man, perhaps to escape the growing religious persecution there but also to seek economic independence. In 1649, he arrived in the colony of Maryland as an indentured servant with a group of settlers who sought religious freedom and land, where they could become tobacco planters. By 1662, John was an independent planter in a community of Quakers on South River near Annapolis. By 1675, he had acquired some 340 acres of land, ＂Brampton,＂ where he raised his family. As Annapolis grew to became a port and the territorial capital, some of John Maccubbin’s descendants became successful business men and married into other land-owning families. Other descendants left the area for new land and economic opportunity elsewhere, some joining new immigrants in south-central Virginia. During the American Revolution, McCubbin men served in the militia and the Continental Army and, after the Revolution, claimed land in North Carolina for their military service. In 1806, they moved their families through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky, where they received land from the state. As land was opened to homesteaders farther west, younger members of the family led the way to new settlements in Illinois, Missouri, and beyond. In all of these areas, the McCubbins partnered with other families to build roads, churches, schools, and new communities. For generation after generation, they followed many of the traditions and goals of their ancestors in Scotland and Maryland. Their lives were built around land, family, and communities.