Robeson County NcArchives Biographies.....Family, McBryde ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/nc/ncfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Sam West sam.west.1@gmail.com March 5, 2014, 11:34 pm Source: Many Author: Sam West The McBryde Family The Upper Cape Fear River Valley, which encompasses present day Hoke, Cumberland, Moore, Scotland and Upper Robeson Counties, was viewed as the proverbial promised land by many of the early Scottish Highlanders. They emigrated to this area primarily from Argyllshire, Kintyre Peninsula and surrounding areas of northern Scotland, beginning in the late 1730s. Following the Battle of Culloden in 1745 and the subsequent destruction of the Clan system, increasingly large numbers flooded into this area, continuing through the remainder of the 18th Century. John McBryde and his wife, Mary Gilchrist, were among early Highlanders who came to the Colony of North Carolina prior to the Revolutionary War. It is commonly accepted that they came prior to Mary Gilchrist McBrydes’s siblings, i.e., John and Malcolm Gilchrist and a sister married to an Iver McMurchy, who are proven to have arrived in1770. In Lumber River Scots, by Angus W. McLean, et al, it is stated that the McBryde family arrived in 1763; but this lacks documentation. Newly found primary documents suggest that they were still in Scotland in 1767. Early records in Bladen County indicate that not until the year 1774 did the name of John McBryde appear. Sally McBryde, daughter of John McBryde and Mary Gilchrist, gave her age as 83, born Scotland, on the Robeson Co. census, therefore, born circa 1767. The McBrydes would have arrived between 1767 and 1774. They settled in the upper part of Bladen County a few miles south of old Rockfish Creek. In 1787, this area became Robeson County, and since 1911, Hoke County. John, Malcolm and Mary Gilchrist and the sister married to Iver McMurchy were the children of Angus Gilchrist, Argyllshire, Kintyre Peninsula, Balnakiel Estate (three miles east of the village of Clachan), and North Loch Kirran farm. John McBryde’s family occupied an adjacent farm where he was born. John McBryde and Mary Gilchrist, born in 1736, were first cousins and married in 1759. John McBryde died in upper Bladen [later Robeson, now Hoke] County, North Carolina in 1785. Mary Gilchrist McBryde died in Robeson County (now Hoke) in 1792. They were buried in the old Mill Prong Cemetery, now known as McEachern Cemetery, established in conjunction with the Mill Prong House built in 1802 by John Gilchrist and completed by Archibald McEachern. In the late 1800s, a McBryde great-great grandchild, likely a descendant of their son, Duncan McBryde, installed permanent headstones that are pictured below. The original markers were likely pine slabs, known as "lighter". John Gilchrist and his wife, Effie McMillan, John McBryde and his wife, Mary Gilchrist are clustered in the same row of graves, nearby, as in Scotland. Many of the headstones bearing the names of Currie, McBryde, McLean, McMillan, McPhaul, Purcell, Smith, reflect a relationship to the Gilchrist/McBryde families. Purcell, et als, briefly noted the McBryde family and, relying heavily on hearsay, listed the children of John and Mary Gilchrist McBryde as Duncan, John II, Angus, Archibald, and a, Mary McBryde, married to Archibald Smith, who moved to Chesterfield District, SC. There is currently no further record of a daughter, Mary Smith. There are proofs for all the sons and of two daughters, Margaret Smith and Sally Stewart, based on a Robeson County Article of Agreement, dated May 22, 1819. Their names along with their brother Duncan, appeared in a division of the estate of their brother, Angus McBryde. Lands divided were located in both Robeson (now Hoke) and Richmond (now Scotland) Counties. Margaret Smith sold her share to Duncan. Sally Stewart acquired 470 acres, including 50 acres patented by Archibald McBryde and 24 acres east of Mill Branch, patented by John McBryde. Also, 100 acres in Richmond County that had belonged to her brother, Archibald, and had been transferred to Angus. Therefore, the children of John McBryde and Mary Gilchrist are: 1) Duncan McBryde, born in Kintyre, Argyllshire, Scotland in 1762/3, died in upper Robeson County on December 11, 1838, at the age of 76. He was married to Jennet (Brown), born in 1767/8, and died August 2, 1819 at the age of 52. They are buried adjacent to his parents in the Mill Prong/McEachern Cemetery (now Hoke County). 2) John McBryde, II. Little is known. McLean et al indicated that he died unmarried. There is an estate inventory for a John McBryde of Richmond County (probably Scotland County) dated in 1791, located in the North Carolina State Archives. A bond for the inventory was posted by Duncan McBryde, Administrator. On November 3, 1794, a John McBryde sold to Duncan McBryde 50 acres of land on the east side of Drowning Creek and north of Lowerys swamp, witnessed by Angus and Archibald McBryde. This suggests that John McBryde, the father, may not have died as early as 1785 or that John McBryde II did not die until after 1794. 3) Archibald McBryde. According to McLean, et al, married and lived for a number of years near Spring Hill, Richmond Co., NC and afterwards moved to Alabama. However, an Article of Agreement, dated March 26, 1795, shows Archibald McBryde’s (Intestate estate) lands in Richmond County were divided between his "lawful heirs", Angus McBryde and Duncan McBryde, witnessed by John and Angus Gilchrist. Therefore, Archibald McBryde likely died in Robeson County without issue. 4) Angus McBryde. He was perhaps named for his maternal grandfather, Angus Gilchrist. According to an Article of Agreement for the division of his estate, dated May 22, 1819, he died without issue, leaving lands in Robeson (now Hoke) and Richmond (now Scotland) Counties to his brother, Duncan McBryde and sisters, Margaret (McBryde) Smith and Sally (McBryde) Stewart. 5) Margaret McBryde. Married a Smith, died after 1819 where she appears on an Article of Agreement with her siblings, Duncan and Sally Stewart. She was widowed by then as she represented herself and listed no spouse. Nothing more is known of Margaret McBryde Smith. Mary Smith, listed by McLean, et al, may be Margaret Smith. 6) Sarah "Sally" McBryde was born in Scotland circa 1767, died in Robeson (now Hoke) County, in 1857, circa 90 years. She was married to one Daniel Stewart, who had died by the year 1819. She appears on the 1820 census with one son and three daughters. Children: A) Celia Stewart, who died without issue; B) Mary Stewart, who married Neill Kelly; C) Archibald Stewart, born 1806/7, died August 1842, Intestate, and without issue; and D) Jennet E. Stewart, born circa 1818, died after 1880, buried Mohler Cemetery, Goldthwaite, Mills Co., TX, married Alexander Duncan McNeill, son of "Wild" Archie McNeill, grandson of "Long" Duncan McNeill of Red Springs, Robeson County, died without issue. Alexander and Jennet McNeill, left Robeson County after 1858, moving to Sabine Parish, LA then to Bosque County, Texas where Alexander McNeill died January 23,1873, buried in old Valley Mills Cemetery. Their nephew, Daniel Stewart Kelly, arrived in Bosque Co. by 1870. By 1880, the widowed Jennet Stewart McNeill had moved with Daniel Stewart Kelly and his family to an area of Lampasas County that later became Mills County, TX. With her death, Daniel Stewart Kelly became the only known issue of the children of Daniel Stewart and Sarah "Sally" McBryde. Sally Stewart appears on the 1850 Census, Robeson County and variously as Sarah or Sally on Robeson County deeds, as Sarah on her estate records with Alexander Duncan McNeill as administrator. In 1849, Neill Kelly served on a Board to found Spring Branch Academy, Red Springs, Robeson County. Sources: "The Gilchrists of Kintyre, Scotland" by Robert W. Gilchrist; Tax Records of Bladen County, 1768-1789, Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC; Robeson Co., NC Deeds (Stewart, McBryde); Sarah Stewart Estate Papers, NC State Archives; Millprong / McEachern Cemetery Records; Censuses: 1850 Robeson Co., NC, 1860 Sabine Parish, LA; 1870 Bosque Co., TX, 1880 Lampasas Co., TX; J. E. Purcell, et al, Lumber River Scots (1942); Robeson Co. Marriage Bond, Neill Kelly and Mary Stewart; "Long" Duncan McNeill Bible; Vivian Kelly Travis NSDAR Application #791118; Ham-Boyer Bible. Research by Sam. West, 4770 Old Whiteville Road, Lumberton, NC 28358: Bladen, Cumberland, Richmond, Robeson, and Scotland Counties, NC. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/nc/robeson/bios/family33nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ncfiles/ File size: 9.0 Kb