McCorkle Family Roots

 The History and Genealogy of Samuel and Sarah McCorkle and their Descendants

(including McCorkel, McCorkell, McCorcle, McCorkhill, McCorkill, McCarcle,
McKorkle, McCorkendale, McCorkindale, McCorquodale, Corkill, Corkhill, etc.)

Created: 1996
Hosted by Dave Woody

 
(A link to the McCorkle database and pedigree is located at the end of the historical section.)

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The Ulstermen

        In the early 1700s, several families of McCorkles and many other Scot-Irish Presbyterians immigrated to America and settled near the Susquehanna River in the Derry and Paxtang region of Lancaster County (now Dauphin County), Pennsylvania. Although a few of these Pennsylvania immigrates may have came directly from Scotland and elsewhere, the vast majority were undoubtedly Ulster Scots that had moved from Scotland to Ulster, Ireland during the King James “plantation” period which began about 1610.

            Contrary to the popular American image of the kilted, Gaelic speaking, bagpipe playing, Highland Scot, the immigrant “Ulstermen” were mainly descendants of Lowland Scots and many had embraced Presbyterianism. Many were descendants of Saxons, Romans and Scandinavians (Vikings) and their customs and habits were more English than Scottish. That is not to say that there weren’t ethnic Scots in the Lowlands; however, even these people had been anglicized by the 17^th century.

            Whatever their ethnic origins, almost all were fleeing the persecution, religious wars, famine and other hardships that were rampant in both Scotland and Ireland. After the siege of Londonderry in 1689, the Ulster Scots felt abandoned by the monarchy that had earlier persuaded them to move from Scotland to Ireland. To the Church of Ireland, the Presbyterians were “dissenters” and they were compelled to pay tithes to support the state church. In addition, land ownership in Ulster was largely determined by the King of England who rewarded his well placed followers with large tracts which the landlords divided and rented to the Ulstermen. At the beginning of the 18^th century, these rents were raised significantly increasing the financial burden on their already beleaguered tenants. All of these events led to a mass exodus from Ulster.

            The Presbyterians and many other persecuted religious denominations came to "Penn's Woods" because the Quaker proprietor, William Penn, had instituted laws explicitly guaranteeing freedom of worship, trial by jury, protection of property and many other laws that were part of the United States Constitution written over one-hundred year later. In 1681, as repayment for a debt to Penn's father, Admiral William Penn, King Charles II had granted William Penn some 45,000 squares miles north of the Maryland border. With the help of his friend, Prince James, the Duke of York, Penn established Philadelphia and, by 1682, had sold some 500,000 acres of 500 acre plots at the nominal price of £10 each. The image at the right is from the 1887 research of William H. Egle, the prolific historian of Pennsylvania. The first primary evidence of any McCorkle in this area is found in two 1737 Paxtang land warrants that mention Samuel McCorkle as a neighbor. Also, the 1745/46 and 1749/50 contributions of Samuel McCorkle are mentioned in the Subscription Account Book of Rev. John Roan, who ministered the Presbyterian congregations of Derry, Paxtang and Mt. Joy between 1745 and 1775. Rev. Roan is recorded as being from Greenshaw/Grenshaw, Ireland. In modern Northern Ireland, there are nine Townlands named Gransha, including one in county Donegal. Derry Church (originally Spring Creek) was built in 1720 at a site 14 miles east of modern day Harrisburg and Paxtang Church (originally called Fishing Creek) was located about 3 miles east of Harrisburg. Paxtang is now a part of Harrisburg, the county seat and state capital. Similarly, Matthew McKorkell (1746) and John McCorkle (1746-1748) were subscribers for the support of Rev. Adam Boyd, the pastor of the Brandywine Manor Presbyterian Church in the forks of the Brandywine Creek in Chester County, Pennsylvania. A little later, the surnames found in the 1774-1785 Tax Lists of Chester County bear an amazing resemblance to the surnames found in Augusta and Rockbridge Counties, Virginia. Included in these lists are the McCorkle given names of James, Archibald, Patrick, George, Robert, William and Mary. For a very brief overview of the early Pennsylvania McCorkles, as well as other McCorkle historical information, see the “McCorkle Gleanings” link below.
            Even though claims that these early Pennsylvania McCorkles came directly from Argyllshire, Scotland have been published, we have never seen any evidence at all to substantiate this assertion. In fact, all primary evidence indicates these McCorkles, or their ancestors, had previously moved to Ireland from Scotland or the Isle of Man and this event could have occurred one hundred years or more before they came to the Colonies. From all accounts, the immigrant McCorkles considered themselves to be Irish and they named their Pennsylvania settlements of Derry, Londonderry, Rapho, Mt. Joy and Donegal after their Irish homelands.
           
            "The Muster Roll of County Donnagall 1630 A.D." includes soldiers Andrew and John mcCorkill in the employ of Lady Conningham, widow of Sir James Conningham, knight, in the Barony de Rapho. In 1610, King James I of England awarded confiscated Ulster lands to many Scottish nobles, knights, adventurers and others who had won distinction while serving James when he was King James of Scotland. These "undertakers" agreed to bring forty-eight English or Scotch men to their Ulster plantations. Among the Scottish grantees was Sir James Cunningham, laird of Glangarnocke, Ayr (Ayrshire), Scotland, who received two 1000 acre grants in the Barony of Rapho. So it seems almost certain that these McCorkills came to Ulster between 1610 and 1630, probably from Ayrshire, Scotland. Ayrshire is on the Firth of Clyde on the west coast of Scotland.  The 1663 Donegal Hearth Money Rolls include William McCorckell, James m'Corkle and Archibald m'Corckle. Later, the Hearth tax enumerations from the 1685 Laggan district, county Donegal, list James and Andrew M’Corckle and also contain a large number of the same surnames found in early 18^th century Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and a little later in Augusta and Rockbridge Counties, Virginia. For instance, Robert and John Cunningham, natives of north Ireland settled in Augusta about 1735. The recently transcribed Burt Presbyterian Kirk (Church) records in county Donegal include births of Josias, John and George McKorkel/McKorkell between 1679 and 1681/82, as well as, the marriages of Alexander, Andrew, James (3) and Rebecca McCorcle, occurring between 1695 and 1710. Again, the Burt Kirk record includes many of the surnames found in early Lancaster, Augusta and Rockbridge Counties. In 1707, an Andrew McCorkell executed a will in the Diocese of Raphoe, county Donegal. In our search for verifiable evidence in Ulster, we would like to acknowledge the assistance of William Joseph (Joe) McCorkell of Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
            However, variations of the McCorkell name appear quite frequently in the early history of the Isle of Man, a large island in the Irish Sea about halfway between Ireland and England/Scotland border. The Scandinavians (Vikings) conquered, settled and ruled the Isle of Man from about 800 until 1266. They brought with them the surname MacCorkhill (and variations), which is a contraction of Mac-Pór-Ketill, meaning son of Thorr of the kettle, a favorite Scandinavian deity. The earliest known evidence of Isle of Man surnames is the "Declaration of the Bishop, Abbot and Clergy against the Claim of Sir Stephen Lestrop, A. D. 1408" which includes the name of Donald MacCorkyll, the Rector of the Church of St. Mary of Balylagh. The original document is in Latin, so it has been transcribed and translated. In a transcribed Latin version, the name is Donaldus Mc Corkyll and Dilnow Mc Corkyll.  The MacCorkyll surname has been noted as an example of a Manx (the nearly extinct language of the Isle of Man) name with Scandinavian origins. However, the Mc/Mac prefix was slowly discarded over the years and by the early 17^th century, this surname prefix had almost disappeared on the Isle of Man. In 1266, the island came under the rule of the Scots and in 1405, the English replaced the Scots. Other variations of McCorkill and Corkill have been recorded on the Isle of Man in 1430, 1511, 1515, 1532, 1632, 1650 and 1652. Some of the given names noted were William, John, Thomas, Edward, Edmund and Gibbon. Interestingly, Corkill and Corkhill are still relatively common surnames on the Isle of Man and very rare in the rest of the world. It might be very interesting if one of the descendants on the Isle of Man would join the McCorkle DNA Project. Also, the 1850 U. S. census shows about ten male Corkills (and variations) that listed their birthplace as the Isle of Man. 
            So, Donald MacCorkyll/McCorkyll was a parish rector on the Isle on Man shortly after rule was transferred from the Scots to the English. It seems to us that Donald, or his ancestors, most likely emigrated from Scotland during the rule of the Scots. As to early 17^th century migration patterns in the British Isles, an illuminating comment from an Ulster historian seems to be quite pertinent: in 1609 "Belfast workers were engaged in the construction of Chichester's town, and many families of English, Scots and Manx were resident". If true, this leaves the door open for another McCorkill migration path to Ulster at the beginning of the Plantation period.
           To see a 1677 map of northeast Ulster, southwest Scotland and the Isle of Man click here.

Beverly Manor, Alias the Irish Tract

            By the late 1730s, many of the Pennsylvania McCorkles and allied families had moved down the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road to the Staunton area of Augusta County, Virginia. Augusta County was officially formed from Orange County in 1738; however, until the Augusta County Court was organized in December 1745, the legal business of Augusta was transacted in Orange County Court. The newcomers purchased land from William Beverly in an area known as Beverly Manor. In 1732, Beverly, a renowned land promoter of the time, had petitioned the Colonial Council in Williamsburg to obtain land in the Shenandoah Valley. Beverly was sure he could entice a number of people from Pennsylvania to settle in the Shenandoah if he had land to sell.
            While the government at Williamsburg and the Church of England (and America) did not relish the idea of Presbyterians in Virginia, they did approve of the barrier to the Native Americans that these settlers provided. So Beverly was provided with a large tract, but when the surveyors arrived in 1736, they noted that some people from Pennsylvania were already settled there. The historian, Oren Morton, states that Beverly initiated an "ejectment" suit against a James McCorkle because McCorkle was already living on the tract when the survey team arrived. The court ruled that McCorkle could remain after he paid Beverly for the property. This small section of a 1736 settlement map of Beverly Manor shows the farm of Samuel McCorkle slightly northwest of the confluence of Mill and Christian Creeks, about six miles southeast of Staunton. The farm of Robert McCorkle (deed dated 1749) is shown about one-half mile to the east and the farm of James McCorkle (deed dated 1747) was less than a mile to the north. Although the deed for Samuel's property is not extant, he was noted as a property owner in 1749. The entire map, by cartographer James Hildebrand, may be viewed at the Augusta County GenWeb site. By 1743, Beverly Manor was also known as the Irish Tract and was so noted by Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson (father of President Thomas Jefferson) on their map of Virginia published in 1755. This is added evidence as to national origins of most of the residents of Beverly Manor.
            Some other McCorkle males mentioned in early records are: Alexander, Archibald,  Andrew, Patrick, William, Benjamin, and John. From Beverly Manor, some of the McCorkles soon moved south down the valley to Rockbridge and Montgomery Counties, Virginia, then west on the Wilderness Trail into Green County, Kentucky, Lawrence County, Ohio and Ray County, Missouri.  Other Virginian McCorkles continued south into South Carolina and, in about 1790, some of this clan moved north into Bourbon and Fayette Counties, Kentucky, then on to Miami County, Ohio.