Person:William Paisley (3)

(The following letter was written by Rev. Samuel Paisley, son of William Pailsey and Deliverance Paine, to his nephewSamuel Paisley, of Montgomery County, Illinois, who was a son of Rev. Samuel Paisley's brother John and his wife JaneRankin. This copy is made from a copy in the possession of mygrandmother Paisley in her lifetime. It serves as the bestintroduction I can give to a sketch of the Paisley family.William Marion Sikes)."Edgefield, Moore County N. C.,July 22nd, 1850.""My ever dear Nephew:I received your kind letter of February 25th and begansoon after to write to you, but having concluded to give yousome account of our ancestors I stopped writing to try to getmore correct information, but not having an opportunity toget that information I shall delay no longer but write whatlittle I know, believing it will be gratifying to you and toposterity after we are in the eternal world to know even thelittle I now write.We have certain information that our ancestorsemigrated from Scotland to Ireland. And if we ask how itcame to pass that the North of Ireland came to be inhabitedby Scotch, history informs us that the English government byconquering the Irish and forcing them to submit to Englishlaws and English governor, and to acknowledge the king'ssupremacy in religion and consider him head of the Church inEngland and few privileges that were left them were used bythe priest and nobility to promote religion.In the reign of King James I a conspiracy was formed bythe Earls of Tyroonnell and Tyrone, of the province of Ulster,against the government in expectation of aid from the courtsof France and Spain; their plan was discovered in time toprevent its execution. The Earls fled and left their vastestates, containing half a million acres, to the mercy of theking. These lands were divided among the favorites of theking by his directions, preference was given to people fromWest of Scotland. They were chiefly Presbyterians whenPrelacy was afterwards established in Scotland in the year1637, to which as Presbyterians they could not submit, andbeing greatly persecuted many more were compelled toemigrate, and in Ireland they found a safe retreat.Among these were our ancestors who settled in theCounty of Tyrone where my grandfather William Paisley wasborn, the year of his birth unknown, but must have beenbetween 1700 and 1705. He lived there until he marriedElenor (Nelley) McLean in the year 1736 or 1737, and soonafter emigrated to this country, then the colonies of GreatBritain, and settled on the Schuylkill River, twenty milesabove Philadelphia, where he lived on rented land, where byindustry and good management he raised six children incomfortable circumstances and saved money enough to bringhis family to Carolina and to purchase land for them.His first wife, (my grandmother) died in Pennsylvania andhe afterwards married Catherine Hamilton. His children werethree sons and three daughters. His first child was Jane,born 1737 or 1738, was married to John White inPennsylvania, but afterwards removed to North Carolinawhere he died February 1787. His widow Jane wasafterwards married to William Goudy, Esquire. After hisdeath she removed with her daughter Martha, who wasmarried to Joseph McDowell, to Kentucky where he died, Ibelieve, in 1804. Jane had but one child.William and Nelley Paisley's next was Robert, born in theyear 1739. Their third child, William, my father and yourgrandfather, was born December 23rd, 1741, old style. Theirnext, John, was born 1745. Their fifth child Margaret, wasborn 1747. Their youngest, Mary, was born 1750. Heremoved to North Carolina in the year 1765. My father wasmarried to Deliverance Paine in November 1763, lived inPennsylvania until his first son John (your father) was bornAugust 10, 1764. They removed