Early Scottish Settlement

In 1846 the historian Samuel Eager wrote of Scotchtown in his History of Orange County and admitted, “we cannot learn from any of the present inhabitants at what time this region was first settled.” According to Mr. Eager, the names McCarter, McVey, McWhorter, McInnis, McLaughlin and McCord were some of the earliest associated with the neighborhood. [1] An article dated June 1872 included those same families, but also referred to McWilliams, McNeal, McClure, and others “less Scotch in name, but none the less in composition.” [2] The large number of Scottish families eventually gave rise to the name of the area, and also gives us a clue as to the nature of its early settlement.

According to early accounts, the actual settlement of the Town of Wallkill, of which Scotchtown is a part, did not occur until sometime after 1761. [3] The dates of the original patents range from 1724 to 1761, but these lands were perhaps purchased for speculative purposes and “it is doubtful whether there was any settlement upon them until near the close of that period.” [4] Interestingly, the years between 1760 and 1775 were a time of intense emigration from Scotland to the colony of New York. This period of settlement coincided with the end of the French and Indian War (1756-1763), when many Scots who came to fight for the English chose to settle in the province after peace had been declared. [5]

A perfect example of this phenomenon occurring locally would be the case of George Murray, who settled near what is now Middletown. Born in Inverness, Scotland, he arrived in North America as an impressed soldier with the British army. [6] He was with General Braddock's troops in 1755 when they were ambushed by a combined force of French and Indians. Braddock and many of his men were killed. Murray must have been among the survivors from that battle that were led to safety by Lieutenant Colonel George Washington. After Braddock's defeat, George Murray settled in Reading, Pennsylvania and there he married a Miss Snyder. He also participated in the assault on Quebec by General Wolfe in 1759. He and his wife subsequently moved to this area where they reared eight sons and one daughter and spent their remaining years. He may have been the same George Murray (or a relative of him) who, on Sept. 26, 1750, secured a share of a patent for 4000 acres of land that now includes a large section of Scotchtown. [7] During the Revolution, George Murray joined the “Association of Exempts,” a group of former soldiers living in Wallkill who were, because of their age, not required to respond when the militia was called into action. On June 19, 1778 these men volunteered their services and promised to answer any call to arms despite being between fifty and fifty-five years old. [8]

The success of early Scottish settlers would have generated interest with family and friends back home in their native land and further promoted the idea of emigration to America. As Mr. Eager observed, “It does not appear that the Scotch emigrated to any location in the County in such considerable numbers as they did in other parts of the State, except to the single district of Scotchtown.” There is at least one other extant tradition directly linking a Scotchtown family to the nation of Scotland. This remarkable story of one of Scotchtown’s founding mothers captures the often-unrecognized emotional conflict that only immigrants to this country, past and present, can fully appreciate: 

Mrs. McInnis was a strong minded, open hearted young woman, free and pure as the mountain air of her native Highlands. It is said that after the marriage ceremony had been performed, and she became Mrs. McInnis, her husband informed the clergyman that he had thoughts of emigrating to America, who endeavored to dissuade him by all the offhand arguments he was possessed of, but all to no purpose. Finding him fixed in his determination to leave the country, and withal a little vexed at his obstinacy and improper appreciation of argument, he turned away from him, and addressed himself to Mrs. McInnis, said:

    

“If your husband goes, as I fear he will, you ought not to go with him, but stay at home.”

 

To this she replied in fervent strains, dictated by her new born feelings fresh gushing from the heart–“Sir, you have just united us for weal and woe and for life, and will you be the first to break the bonds yourself have made? I will follow him, sir, if he goes to the ends of the earth.”

 

The clergyman stood rebuked by the strong affection of the Scottish maid, and the argument closed. Though hard and trying to the feelings it may have been, yet this new married couple soon left for America, and with others stamped the impress of their native land upon the hilltops of this, never to be effaced. [9]

We will never know exactly why so many Scottish families gravitated to Scotchtown. The forested hills, rocky soil and cool streams may have reminded them of their native land. The success of the earliest settlers may have convinced other families in Scotland to come to America. What we can say for sure is that a common culture and religion created economic and familial bonds between the Scotch and Scotch-Irish settlers already living in the vicinity. These families intermarried, conducted business together, and fought alongside each other against hostile Indians and later the English. Such forces, and undoubtedly others, drew them around the ridges and crests of Three Mile Hill, an area of elevated ground where the neighborhood of Scotchtown was born.

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