John Cathey

1672 - 1742  (70 years)

• Name	John Cathey  [1, 2, 3, 4]
  Birth	1672	Pennsylvania   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Death	13 Sep 1742	Paxton, Lancaster, Pennsylvania   [1]
  Notes	Family Cathey originated from the ancient Scottish clan Macfie. The Gaelic spelling of the name is MacDHUBHSHITH, and is interpreted to mean: Mac = the son; Dhuibh = the dark, or black haired one; shith = in peace. With the break-up of the clan, and with the increased importance of a formal written name, we find many different alliterations of the name Macfie -- MacPhee, McDuffee, Duffy, Mahaffey, Fee, McGuffey, MacCathie, Cathie, Cathey, and others can all trace their origins to the clan Macfie. Clan Macfie Th e ancestral home of clan Macfie is the Island of Colonsay, located off the western coast of Scotland in the Firth of Lorne. Another smaller island, Oronsay, was used for religious and burial purposes and could be walked to at low tides. In the fifteenth century the political situation changed for the clan when Lordship of the Scottish Isles was appropriated by the Scottish crown. Clan Macfie was forced to share Colonsay with another clan evicted from their own island. Then, in 1615, clan Macfie joined in the losing side of a rebellion and because of that were dispossessed from the Island of Colonsay. At this time the members of clan Macfie largely dispersed -- some traveled to the Scottish colony in the Ulster area of northern Ireland; others went elsewhere in southern Scotland, some of whom later also went to Ireland . Catheys in America James8 Cathey (ca. 1685 - 1764): The first Cathey specifically identified in this genealogy is James, born about 1685 in the Ulster region of Northern Ireland of Scottish ancestry. He married in Ireland around 1708 and had seven children, some born in Ireland, some in America. He and his family came to America probably in 1715 or shortly thereafter. Following land records left by James over the forty-five years he lived in America, we can track him from Maryland to Pennsylvania to Virginia and finally to North Carolina. His migrations took him from Pennsylvania down the Great Wagon Road through the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where he settled in Augusta County. James was a farmer who purchased and sold a number of parcels, several larger than one thousand acres. He also established a mill for the grinding of grain. He served as Captain in the Augusta County, Virginia militia in 1742 when it was organized to defend the community against Indian attacks. James Cathey migrated to North Carolina in 1749, bringing with him children, in-laws, grandchildren, and other friends and relatives. They settled in Rowan County and established what was called the Cathey Settlement, the first town to be established in North Carolina not on a navigable river. There he was appointed Justice of the Peace by the North Carolina Colonial Assembly. They established a church on son George's property, the Thyatira Presbyterian Church, which was then the westernmost church in all of North Carolina and beyond. Settling in North Carolina was a truly a pioneering effort. U lster Scots The English, with superior wealth and might, conquered Ireland in the twelfth century but had difficulty subduing the people, due to its remoteness as a separate island, and the fact that the Irish were Catholic and did not wish to bend to the authority of the rule of the Church of England. James I, King of England (who was also James VI, King of Scots) believed the solution lie in colonizing Ireland with persons of a friendlier persuasion. In the early 1600's the English drove the Irish out of Northern Ireland and in the Ulster area began to establish a power base from which they could effectively rule Ireland by colonizing it with largely Scottish Presbyterians. The Scottish colonization was initially successful, but in 1641 the Irish Catholics revolted and recaptured Northern Ireland. England was then in the midst of a civil war and was not able to attend to the Irish situation until 1649 when Oliver Cromwell led an army to Ireland and virtually annihilated the Irish leadership. Northern Ireland was resettled with Scots. Again in 1688 the Irish almost overran Northern Ireland, although this time the Scots were able to hold out until an army came to their aid two years later. Now, even after three hundred years have passed, little has changed -- the Irish Catholics still want Northern Ireland back and the Protestants are still holding out, and the fighting and hatred continues. exodus from Ireland In the early 1700's things did not fare well for those in Ireland -- neither the Scots colonized in Northern Ireland nor the Irish themselves. Both the Irish Catholics and the Scotch Presbyterians were ruthlessly persecuted by the Church of England. The English government progressively tightened its rule and authority over the people. And, the Scots and the Irish continued to harass each other. These factors, combined with a succession of famines, caused a great exodus to America. The Catheys were part of that exodus. Sources: The Catheys -- Haywood Co., N.C.; Walter Kerr Cathey; 1980. Cathey Family History and Genealogy; Boyt Henderson Cathey. Map Guide to American Migration Routes, 1735-1815; William Dollarhide; 1997. Cathey The earlier generations of the Cathey family in America is well-researched and documented. One major source for the Cathey family is: Cathey Family History and Genealogy Volume I (1700-1900) by Boyt Henderson Cathey (BHC), 1993. This brief annotation of information is drawn from this source, Cathey Kith and Kin (Cathey Reunion Organization Newsletter), and other sources as noted. Early history of the Catheys, from Maury County TN History and Families (Turner Publ., 1998), pp 221-2: The ancestry of the Maury County Cathey family goes back to the ancestral home on the island of Colonsay and Oronsay off the western coast of Scotland. In 1493, the Cathey family, members of the McFie clan, were driven from the islands to Galloway and Carrick in the lowlands of Scotland after their land was taken away by the Scottish Crown. Between 1611-1618, the Cathey5s migrated to Ulster, North Ireland, after powerful landlords confiscated their lands. Mary Cathie Gillis, of Glasgow, Scotland, wrote: The process was aided by the English Crown persecution, killing and banishment of many who would not deny their Presbyterian beliefs.. the Cathey5s took to Ireland and to America, their religion, their firm belief in a good education, and a character to work and to prosper.. The Catheys remained in Ireland 90-100 years before migrating to America. Edna Carson Cathey Trotter (Columbia Daily Herald, 29-Jul-1971; reprint 1972 Cathey Kith and Kin, p. 4) writes: Tradition says that the Catheys lived on an island off the coast of Scotland, that they owned two islands and used one for a burying ground. Later they lived on the Scottish mainland. They went from Scotland to Ireland, didn5t remain there long and came to this country soon after 1700. There were possibly four brothers and their families who came together and settled in Pennsylvania. The one that we are directly descended from is John Cathey. The Catheys came to County Monaghan, Ireland, from Isle of Colonsay, Scotland, after the chief of their Clan MacPhie was killed in 1623. Archibald Cathey b. 1660, John Cathey b. 1668, and Alexander Cathey b. 1675, were all born in Monaghan. William Moorhead, John May, and Samuel Given married some of the children of Arch, John and Alex. The Catheys emigrated to Lancaster, Pennsylvania about 1720, many of them moving south to Virginia and North Carolina by 1740. So they could have lived in Monaghan from about 1625 to 1720. James Leyburn wrote an excellent social history, entitled The Scotch Irish (UNC press, 1962). He describes the abject poverty and lawlessness prevailing in Scotland in the seventeenth century and earlier. There was much then to induce the tenent farmers of the Scottish lowlands to emigrate to the Ulster Plantation, established in northern Ireland after 1610. Later religious and poltical turmoil induced further migration of the Scots Irish to America, beginning in 1717/8. A second, larger wave of Scots Irish migrated during 1725-1729. Cathey FAMILY CHRONICLE The Origins of the Cathey Family Family Name: The derivation of the Cathey family name is believed to be from the Clan McAfie (Scotland). The Gaelic spelling is MacDubhSithe" meaning 'Son of the Dark Fairy or Elf'. The ancestral home of the Macfies was on the Island of Colonsay, off the coast of Scotland. They were descendants of low land Scots. In a rebellion against King Malcomb of Scotland in 1615, the Chief of the Clan was killed. He was murdered at the Standing Stone. The lordship of the Isles changed in the fifteenth century. The name Macfie was changed into many different spellings over the years. Our family kept the Anglo spelling of Cathey. It is believed many of the Catheys emigrated to Monaghan County, Ulster, Northern Ireland, perhaps as early as 1611-1618. The Catheys lived there approximately ninety to one hundred years before immigrating to America. The earliest known Cathey descendant in America was James Cathey, born in Ulster, North Ireland in 1685. He was a millwright. At the age of thirty-three, he married a woman known only as Ann in 1708. James5 records show that he purchased land in Cecil, Maryland in 1718 and remained there until 1724. In a peace agreement with the Indians, James Cathey was issued 200 acres of land that was recorded in the Samuel Blunston Register under Thomas Penn in 1732. It did not take long for the Catheys to learn Virginia and North Carolina were where they wanted to settle--there was better and cheaper land. They moved their belongings by wagon and oxen over the Great Wagon Road to the great valley of Virginia, along the Shenandoah River near Staunton, where they lived between 1730-1743. James was deeded 1,350 acres by King George II for the sum of sixteen pounds, 15 shillings. After leaving Augusta County, West Virginia, a road crosses the Yadkin River leading to the Irish settlement near Mills Bridge, Salisbury, North Carolina. By 1760, Salisbury had been settled. James Cathey5s deed shows the Cathey household in Anson County colony of North Carolina. It was known as the Cathey Settlement, an Irish enclave of fourteen families, ten miles west of Salisbury. The Catheys were the first English-speaking settlement. Here in the Cathey Settlement, James was granted 3,752 acres. Soon thereafter, he became ill, and left one-half of his plantation to his wife, Ann, and one-half to a nephew, John Branden. Records show that later, his two grandsons were deeded the original mill site. James knew how important it was for the people of the wilderness to be able to mill and grind their own grain. E. H. Cathey, in the year 2000 edition of Cathey Kith and Kin Newsletter, makes a case that the brothers John and James Cathey (sons of Alexander and Margaret Cathey), of Clones Parish in western County Monahan, Ireland, were in this first or second wave of emigration. If so, the John Cathey listed in Generation 2 (below) [RN = 301 in the Boyt Cathey enumeration] would have been about 66 years old when he settled on the frontier at Conodoguinet Creek in present day Cumberland County, PA, in 1733. He would have been the patriarch of the American Catheys. James Cathey born c. 1685 Ulster died c. 1757 Rowan Co., NC. Recently we have concluded that he was the son of Alexander Cathey and wife Margaret who never came to America. John Cathey b. 1667 Ulster died 1743 in PA was his (James') older brother. John's second wife was Ann ???? who apparently had a Cathey husband prior to marriage to John. John had a will that has been a great help. There was a George Cathey b. c. 1700 who was a son of Ann by her first husband. This George came to America & died in Rowan Co., NC (we think). His widow Jean and grown sons moved to Mecklenberg Co., NC where Jean died in 1777. She is buried at Steele Creek Pres. Ch. near Charlotte Airport. M. R. Long (1942), in General Griffith Rutherford & Allied families, writes that King George II granted a tract of land in Mecklenburg, NC, to John Alexander Cathey. The Catheys, among the first settlers of North Carolina, received grants of land as early as 1742. Much of the summary information for Generations 1-4, presented below (exclusive of NOTES), is taken from the Cathey Genealogy prepared by Marty Gant[1] [1], and retains his Record Number (RN) annotation. Also given are Boyt H. Cathey5s reference number (BHC RN). Generation 1 1. 1 Cathey [10270], born in Ireland. He married unknown. Children of Cathey were as follows: + 2 i John2 Cathey [8502] (BHC RN=403), born in Ulster, Ireland. He married Ann (---) [7378]. + 3 ii James2 Cathey [6437] (BHC RN=401), born 1680/89 in Ulster, Ireland. He married Ann (---) [6438]. ?{+ 4 iii Sarah2 Cathey [10341] (BHC RN = 7566), born abt. 1700 in Ulster, Ireland. She married (1) Samuel Givens [10340]. She married (2) Robert Allen [10329]}. + 5 iv Elizabeth2 Cathey [16652], born abt. 1691 in Ulster, Ireland. She married John Brandon [16653]. (John Brandon, Sr, b. abt 1691) + 6 v Mary2 Cathey [16659] married John Brandon (Captain) [33817]. + 7 vi 2 Cathey [33834] married Ann (---) [7378]. Notes: Boyt Cathey lists Sarah [his RN = 7566] as the daughter of John Cathey in Generation #2. (Q.v.). E. H. Cathey lists as children of Alexander and Margaret Cathey (of Clones Parish; both died in 1698): Jean, b. Abt 1665; John, b. Abt 1667; Margaret, b. Abt 1677; Katherine; b. Abt 1677; Ann, b. Abt 1679; {Mary Elizabeth, b. Abt 1684, married a John Brandon} James, CHR 3-Jul-1694. E. H. Cathey writes in the 2002 edition of Cathey Kith and Kin: James Cathey (BHC RN 401) and family (about 8 individuals total) arrived first, perhaps with the Brandons. The earliest documented date for a Cathey in America was October 1, 1720. According to record, James landed at Philadelphia. He lived first, as far as known, in Milford Hundred, Cecil County, Maryland and then East Tottingham Township, Chester County PA. Later, other groups would arrive. It is likely that many of the Cathey5s (including John Cathey5s daughters, Hannah and Maley) arrived in America as indentured servants, to pay for their transportation. EHC estimates that about half of the Scotch-Irish immigrants came to America indentured. Billy Kennedy, "The Scots-Irish in the Carolinas, Causeway Press (1997), p. 162 : The Catheys. This family moved from C. Monagham in Ireland about 1718 and settled in south western Pennsylvania. James Cathey is recorded in 1719 as owning land on the Delaware River in Cecil County, Maryland; by 1724 he resided in Chester County, Pennsylvania and in 1733 held 200 acres at Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania. Five years later his son William owned 466 acres in the Beverly Manor of the Shenadoah Valley and by 1743 the Cathey Virginian land holdings (at Beverly Manor and Orange County) had reached 2,350 acres. James and George Cathey moved to Rowan County, North Carolina in 1749, settling west of the Yadkin River in the area known as the "Irish Settlement". The Catheys were a typical Scots-Irish Presbyterian family whose prosperity came about through sheer determination and hard work. R.W. Ramsey, Carolina Cradle (UNC Press, 1964). Pages 37-8 (see also Cathey Kith and Kin, 1969); By the spring of 1749, the Irish settlement consisted of at least fourteen families, including those of James Cathey, George Cathey, .. with respect to the settlement process, few names carry more significance than that of James Cathey. He and his son George were the leaders in what was probably the first English-speaking settlement to be established in North Carolina (or, indeed, in the entire South, exclusive of Virginia) so far from a navigable river. .. it was on George Cathey5s land that the settlers constructed the earliest known religious edifice west of the Yadkin - Thyatira Presbyterian church. By 1736, James and George were in Lancaster Co., the home of John Cathey (brother of James and father of Alexander Cathey). John Cathey died in Lancaster county in 1743, whereupon his son Alexander joined the other Catheys in Virginia. .. Sometime prior to 1751, William Cathey died, leaving his land in the Shenandoah to an older brother (John) still living in Ireland. The latter came to America to claim the land, but moved to North Carolina upon discovering that the rest of the family had done so. The Catheys The Catheys trace back at least to the Lowlands of Scotland in the 17th century. The spelling in English before their migration to America was probably "Cathie" or "Cathy". The Cathey's were members of the ancient Clan MacFie, who were the hereditary record keepers of the Hebrides Isles. The ancestral home of the MacFie Clan was the island of Colonsay, located off the western coast of Scotland. Another smaller island, Oronsay, was used by the MacFies for religious purposes and as a burial ground. Ancient records show that the MacFies occupied Colonsay and Oronsay as early as the 13th century. The Catheys were some of the early settlers of Ulster in the 17th century. It has not been determined whether or not the Catheys were planted as part of the 1610 plantation program approved by King James or whetherthey settled in Ulster prior to that time. Among the early Cathey settlers arriving in America from Ulster was James Cathey, born @1685 in Ulster, Ireland, who has been documented in Cecil County Maryland in 1718. (James may possibly have been George5s brother). John Cathey, son of James, arrived between 1746 and 1751. Most of the Catheys in the United States descend from James, John and George Cathey. The migration path of James Cathey has been well documented. Records prove that James Cathey moved from Maryland into Lancaster Counter, Pennsylvania in the early 1730's. During the late 1730's, the Catheys had moved into Augusta County, Virginia, to what was called "The Beverly Manor". A land grant dated 13 August, 1743 from the "Colony and Dominion of Virginia" to James Cathey gave him 1,350 acres of land on the Shenandoah River. James Cathey had migrated to Anson County in the Colony of North Carolina by the late 1740's. The portion of Anson County in which they settled became Rowan County in 1753. The Cathey Settlement or "Irish Settlement" was located west of present Salisbury, North Carolina, where James Cathey (d.1757) had settled by 1749. John Cathey's Will 1742 , Old Lancaster, PA In his 1742 WILL John mentions "my daughter Eleanor (Cathey) Moorehead. She married William Moorehead, who was born in Monaghan Co. Ulster about 1704. It is assumed that John had two additional daughters, other children (?) He also mentions a grandson, John Graham and a granddaughter, Jane Brindle. He was burial was at Old Lancaster Co. PA.
  Person ID	I19239	McKenzie Genealogy
  Last Modified	25 Apr 2011

  
  

  Family	Ann Lnu,   b. 1672, Pennsylvania d. 1761, Rowan, North Carolina (Age 89 years)
  Marriage	Abt 1700  [1]
  Children	1. Elizabeth Cathey,   b. Abt 1691, Hanover, Dauphin, Pennsylvania d. 1733, Lane, Pennsylvania (Age ~ 42 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]   2. Eleanor Cathey,   b. Abt 1709   d. UNKNOWN  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
  Family ID	F08966	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	25 Apr 2011

  
  

• Sources

  [S013093] Underwood Family Tree, www.ancestry.com. QUAY 3 [S009674] Notes and queries: historical and genealogical chiefly relating to interior Lancaster County, Pennsylvania edited by William Henry Engle, Series, www.ancestry.com. QUAY 3 [S003713] An index to the will books and intestate records of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1729-1850, www.ancestry.com. QUAY 3 [S007205] Index to Main Families, Persons, Places and Subjects in Engle's Notes and Queries, www.ancestry.com. QUAY 3