James Usher
James Usher is my earliest known ancestor. According to family letters, he and his wife Mary DUNN arrived in Wilmington, NC circa 1804, when son Patrick was "two or three years old" according to a legal affadavit signed years later by Ann USHER, James' younger sister. They are said to be among the nine children of William USHER and Ann SHIELDS of Ireland.
According to Ann, they emigrated from Stradbally, Queen's County, (now Laois). Ann's affadavit is part of the records of the Henry McKoy Papers, Southern Historical Collection, UNC Libraries, UNC-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, along with numerous other family items.
In the U.S. James was a member of St. John's Masonic Lodge, worked diligently to bring the Catholic Church to SE North Carolina, representing the Catholic Church at a national level, and also operated a shipping business between the Carolinas and the islands, trading in slaves, rum, store goods, etc.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~usher/usherusa/html/northcarolina.htm
