Vic Dunn to Present at NGS 2021 Live!

Vic Dunn, CG

SESSION NUMBER: NGS2104-LV-18 DATE & TIME: Thursday, 20 May 2021 at 3:45 p.m.

In the early 1600s while the settlements at Jamestown and Plymouth were being established, another mass group of settlers emigrated from the borderlands of northern England and southern Scotland to the northern section of Ireland known as Ulster. They were primarily Presbyterians along with a smattering of Anglicans who established the Church of Ireland. They initially struggled with the native Irish, many of whom had been evicted from their homes. In the eighteenth century, the Scotch-Irish faced additional challenges with landlords raising rents and discrimination of Presbyterians. Many decided to seek new opportunities in America with some settling in South Carolina, New England, and New Jersey. However, the majority started new lives in Pennsylvania. After settling in southeastern Pennsylvania in the early eighteenth century, these elusive ancestors began migrating southward into Virginia and the Carolinas.

This session focuses on the migration from Pennsylvania and later directly from Ireland to Virginia through the Great Wagon Road. Migration out of Virginia is also discussed as are settlement patterns throughout the Valley and Southside Virginia. While methods of locating land owing ancestors are discussed such as deeds and land grants, much focus is placed on identifying non-land-owning ancestors through court records, tax records, manuscript sources, and the few surviving church records. Local histories and their pitfalls are analyzed.

BIO: Vic Dunn, CG, is IGHR’s Virginia track coordinator. A Mosher Award recipient, he is a past board member of BCG, NGS, and the Virginia Genealogical Society.

To learn more about the NGS 2021 Virtual Family History Conference’s week-long events, 17-21 May, visit the conference and download a copy of the program brochure. A discounted Early Bird registration fee is available through 15 March 2021.