When We Were Greers, Part III

by Glenn N. Holliman


James Greer Comes to Maryland

The material for this posting comes from a history of Herford County, Maryland and many Joppa, Maryland historical web sites.)

Born in 1627, my generation's 8th great grandfather immigrated from Dumfries, Scotland in 1677, old for a crossing and a new start in life. However, he must have been a young fifty. He married teenager Ann Taylor, born 1660, according to some sources, in Baltimore County, Maryland. Ann was the daughter of large land owner parents, Arthur and Margaret Taylor. Both the Taylors and Greers had land along the Gunpowder River in Joppa, Maryland. 

In the map above of modern Maryland, one will find Joppatown, a new town built in the 1960s on the site of old Joppa. Joppatown (lower middle - left on the map) is just off the busy railway and motor vehicle corridors from Washington, D.C. to Boston. Gunpowder State Park is in light green just south of Joppatown. In the early 1700s, a common phrase in Maryland was that 'all roads lead to Joppa'.

Joppa was located on the Gunpowder River which flowed into the Chesapeake Bay. In the early 1700s Joppa was one of America's main ports as Baltimore City had not yet been founded. Planters like the Greers and Taylors grew tobacco and loaded it on the many wharves at Joppa.

As the back country of Pennsylvania developed in the first half of the 18th century (note map above), German and Scotch-Irish farmers 'rolled' their hogsheads of tobacco to Joppa and sent their crops to England. Joppa prospered but her days of commercial glory were numbered.

The historical marker above stands on the site of St. John's Episcopal Parish, now the site of Church of the Resurrection (Episcopal). The neighborhood was a model community built in the 1960s on the site of Joppa, which by the early 1800s had become a ghost town. Once Joppa was a leading North American port until the Gunpowder River silted up and year by year the number of ocean going vessels declined (along with the fortunes of the Greer families!)

When We Were Greers, Part II

by Glenn N. Holliman

Actually, We Were MacGregors, Griers, Griersons and More!

Scotland today is part of the United Kingdom, which includes Northern Ireland, Wales and England. The rising of King James VI of Scotland in 1603 to the throne of England bound the two nations together after centuries of strife and warfare. Scotland had been determined to maintain its independence, and England wanted no restless and fierce neighbor at its northern door.

Our Greer ancestry in Scotland begins officially with Hugh II, a King of Dalriada, a long disappeared chiefdom, probably in the lowlands not far from the Roman Emperor Hadrian's wall. In the 7th century A.D., England was being invaded by Angles, Saxons and Jutes, and were in no condition to threaten their northern Celtic kin known as Picts.

This was 33 generations ago, and probably half of North America, Australia and the U.K. are descended from this line of Scots. An interesting one was Hugh IV or 'the Poisonous', who died in 822. Quaint name. The centuries rolled by and the MacGregor named emerged, and they were 'Sirs' and 'Thanes'. They seemed to rule and be ruled in Dumfrieshire, a county across the Solway Firth from Carlisle in Scotland.

The main market town was Dumfries, still a minor port city leading to the Irish Sea. Besides the home of some of our ancestors, Robert Burns, the great Scottish poet, and James Barrie, the writer of Peter Pan, hailed from the community. Our last Scottish ancestor was Sir James Grier Sr, b. 1604 at Cape Noch, Dumfrieshire. He married in 1626 to a Mary Brown, daughter of a Presbyterian pastor (She was from Glencairn). They would be my generation's 9th great grandparents. James Sr. died in 1666 at the place of his birth, Cape Noch, Thornhill, north of Dumfries.

Above to the right, the Dumfries and Galloway Family History near the town centre.

The couple did have a child named James Greer in 1627, born also at Cape Noch. This James is the first American, having caught a ship in 1677. He sailed to the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland and started a new life in the new world at the rather ancient age of fifty.

Below the Dumfries and Galloway Archives is located in the Burns House (yes, Robert) on Burns Street. Here are then two places to check out for family history on your next trip to Scotland. Easier yet, check them out on the Internet.

The Internet is swarming with Greer and McGregor sites. Two to check would be the Greer Genealogical Website and the Greer Family of Watagua County, North Carolina. Just Google Greer and you will be busy for days. I have posted our Greer lineage on the page labeled Family Lineage. Look to the bottom of the page.

Next posting, we will follow James Greer across the Atlantic to Maryland and see how he fares in the New World....

When We Were Greers, Part I

by Glenn N. Holliman

Benjamin Greer, A Larger than Life Frontiersman from an Amazing Scottish Lineage!

As if the stories about the Boones and Wilcoxsons were not enough family lore to keep many genealogists busy, I now introduce a robust leader of the frontier, the 5th great grandfather of my generation, one Benjamin Greer. In the year 1767, Benjamin married Rachel Wilcoxson, niece of Daniel Boone. Between then and her death in 1790, the couple had ten children, one being Jesse Greer, Sr., whom we will later discuss. He later fathered five more children by a second wife, for a total of 15 new Greers.

Benjamin was born in February 9, 1746 in Albemarle County, Virginia and died in Kentucky in 1810. His parents were from Maryland and earlier ancestors from Scotland. Benjamin could be the subject of a Hollywood movie as he chased Cherokee Indians, fought as a patriot captain at the Battle of King's Mountain, thrashed a soldier caught stealing, hung Tories and later told his Baptist Church what they could do with their rules on abstinence (from drink, not sex obviously).

In this faded photo above made in the early 1920s in the Appalachian Mountains, we see Frances Wilson Osborne, a great great grand daughter of Benjamin Greer, holding her latest grandchild, Geraldine Stansberry. On the horse are Louise and Charles Stansbery.

During the life of Benjamin, the Greers, Osbornes and Wilsons settled in Watagua and Ashe Counties, North Carolina. This photo was probably made in Ashe County, North Carolina and was  uncovered in the collection of Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick.

We will look carefully at Benjamin's large life in later postings, but will first examine our amazing Greer heritage. Actually one should say McGregor and that line goes back, believe it or not, to one Hugh II, born before 680 and King of the Scottish realm of Dalriada from 691 to 695. The name McGregor became Grierson and then Grier and Greer. Before coming to Maryland in the 1680s, our ancestors hailed from southern Scotland in and around Dumfrieshire. A map of that region is below. 

When We Were Wilcoxsons, Part IV

by Glenn N. Holliman

Below, a map from Robert Morgan's book on Daniel Boone, available through Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, NC. Notice the Cumberland Gap, Boonesborough and Bryan's Station, all important places in our family history. 

In 1779 Rachel Wilcoxson Bryan, my generation's fifth great aunt, settled with her relatives, Wilcoxsons and Bryan(t)s at Bryan's Station, Kentucky. (see map above for location) There were numerous Indian attacks, the most threatening in 1782 when the women of the Station prevented it firery destruction by carrying badly needed buckets of water from the spring to the Station while surrounded by Indians. A memorial exists for their efforts. A 5th great uncle, Daniel Wilcoxson, was a captain at the Station.

Above from the Kentucky Historical Society, this drawing of the women, several our family members, leaving the protection of Bryan's Station, to collect water from a spring. The awed Shawnee held their fire, and the women returned safely to the fort with the precious liquid. The settlement was saved.

By 1779, now 60 years of age, and evidently prosperous, John Wilcoxson and Sarah, returned to the Yadkin Valley leaving Kentucky to the younger children and kin. With the American Revolution underway and Lord Granville of England no longer owner of a huge portion of North Carolina, long time settlers such as John and Sarah could now register their land with the new government.

In January 1780, John began to do so for 640 acres on both sides of Bear Creek in Rowan County, NC. Bear Creek is so named because Sarah's younger brother, Daniel Boone, had killed over 90 bears in the area in one year. (Because Daniel and others had killed so much local game, hunters had to keep moving west.)

Seemingly no place seemed safe for the extended family. British General Cornwallis had invaded South Carolina and invaded North Carolina. The Revolutionary War was also a civil war, with neighbor against neighbor. John and Sarah may have left Kentucky to avoid hostile Indians. However, they returned to find a hostile British Army and Tories! Armies marched to and fro, the biggest North Carolina battles being at Guildford Court House and Kings Mountain. Our ancestors fought at both battles.

Map from Robert Morgan's biography of Boone.

John died sometime after 1798, after selling the last of his North Carolina land to a son, William Wilcoxson, my generation's 5th great uncle. Of course, Wilcoxson land was adjacent to Squire Boone's settlement (see above map). Daniel Boone was married to Rebecca Bryan. John seemingly left no will that has been found. Nor do we know his grave site.

Sarah moved to live with a daughter, another pioneer woman, Elizabeth Wilcoxson Cutbirth ( my 5th great aunt). Sarah died there in Madison County, Kentucky in 1815. Another source has her living in southern Clark County, Kentucky, not far from Boonesboro and dying at the home of her grandson, Jesse Boone Wilcoxson, a son of Samuel Wilcoxson.