McFarlands and Septs in Ireland
By Mary Helen Haines, ©2014
Part 6
Immigration to America
Starting in the 1600s, Scotsmen who lived in Ireland began thinking that life in America might offer more economic opportunity as well as full freedom to practice their Presbyterian religion. A classic history of this migration and its many causes can be found in James G. Leyburn’s 1962 book The Scotch-Irish- A Social History. There was minimal immigration before 1700 from Ulster, but the years 1718-1719 opened the floodgates bringing an estimated quarter million Ulstermen to America by the time of the American Revolution. (p. 157) For many Americans of Scots-Irish descent, tracing back to a particular locale in northern Ireland can be difficult. My purpose in this article was to gather as many McFarland names that had dates of passage and places of origin attached. This might prove helpful to some of you searching for that connection. Due to the length of the list, I have limited it to the McFarland surname in the early immigration years; however the sources listed might be useful to Wilsons, Williams, Robbs, Blacks, and the many more MacFarlane septs.
Ship Records:
In most of the ship records I have found for McFarland families, the port of departure is Londonderry. This is logical and goes along with the scant records available that show McFarlands mostly living in Donegal and Tyrone, rather than the eastern part of Ulster.
From the research done by Charles Knowles Bolton we know that several McFarland families were part of the big migration that took place in 1718 and 1719. In these earliest years, ships did not keep records of their passengers; however we know by the earliest tax records and church records in Scots-Irish settlements in America who arrived on these early ships. Among the earliest settlers in Massachusetts were Daniel McFarland from County Tyrone, and his sons Andrew McFarland, John McFarland, and James McFarland, who seems to have arrived first. (Bolton, p. 183) James ended up in the area of Brunswick, Maine near the Canadian border. In Chester County Pennsylvania, Robert McFarland and his sons Robert and James McFarland came to an area named by the settlers in 1722 Donegal township that today is Lancaster County. (p. 271)
USING SCOTLAND’S MAPS - PART I (by PFM) from Loch Sloy! March 2013, rev May 2015
Scotland has one of the finest collections of maps and charts in existence. For members of Clan MacFarlane Worldwide, and their descendants coming originally from Arrochar, Loch Lomondside and Gartartan in Scotland, one of the very best sources is the National Library of Scotland (NLS) located in Edinburgh and available on line at http://maps.nls.uk/. Quoting them; “In our Map images resource you can access and view over 48,000 maps as high-resolution, colour, zoomable images. The maps date between 1560 and 1961 and relate primarily to Scotland.”
SOME SHIPS NAMED “CLAN MACFARLANE”
(P F McFarlin in Loch Sloy! pp 25, 26 - Sept 2012)
Four ships are presented here which were made in or near Glasgow, Scotland from the 1800's up to 1943 during World War II.
Some were sailing vessels and others steam propulsion. With photos.
- The Scottish Nation: Or the Surnames, Families, Literature, Honours, and Biographical History of the People of Scotland
- The Earls of Lennox and The MacFarlane Chiefs
- The MacFarlane Country
- Clan MacFarlane History According to A history of the highlands and of the highland clans
- Clan MacFarlane History according to The Stoddard Family