Genealogy research is one of the most popular hobbies in
America. In discovering our roots, we discover ourselves.
A few years ago when my book Songbirds are Free,
the true story of Mary Neely’s capture by Shawnee warriors was released, I was
contacted by a Neely descendant. She told me that when she was growing up, she
always felt out of place; she never looked like anybody else and it had shaken
her confidence. When she saw the picture of Mary Neely along with a police artist’s
regression sketch, she felt as though she was looking at herself. It turned out
that she lived in a part of the country that was heavily Hispanic and her pale
Irish skin, hazel eyes, light hair and slight figure was in contrast with the
olive complexions, brown eyes and hair and more robust physiques.
In learning of her Scots-Irish heritage, it opened doors for
her—just as it had for me. Since that time, I have delved deeper into my family
history. Scores of people spend untold hours placing names in perfect boxes to
form extensive family trees, but I always wanted to go deeper. I wanted to know
who my ancestors were, why they did what they did, what experiences formed
their lives.
My father and brothers were deeply involved in establishing
our more recent past, going back to the American Civil War and Revolutionary
War. I wanted to go back even further to the time before they left for America.
I wanted to know why they left all they had ever known—their culture, their
language, their friends and family, to move to a country halfway around the
world they had never visited and knew little about.
My quest for knowledge led me to William Neely. In 1608
at the age of eighteen, he left Scotland for Ulster, not knowing that the Neely
family had lived in Ulster until the 1200’s. He was, in a sense, going home
again. I wrote in Clans and Castles,
the first book of the new Checkmate
series, his thoughts as he sailed westward with Captain William Stewart:
But isn’t that why
men leave? He thought. For a man that is content with his lot, one with
standing in the community and a future laid out before him is rarely the man
that leaves for the unknown. But take a man with poor prospects of employment,
one with a doubtful future, and he has but two choices. He can remain where he
is for the simple reason that he has always been there, and take what Life may
send him; or he take his destiny into his own hands and set sail for the
unknown in search of new opportunities and a brighter future.
At the time William left Wigtownshire, the Lowlands of
Scotland had been deforested to the point that it was a crime to damage a
sapling, a tree or even a branch. The class system had ensured that those born
into nobility remained in nobility and those born with a lesser standing had
little or no prospects for improvement. Sandwiched in between the English to
their south and the Highlanders to their north, they were often caught in the
middle of the fierce battles between the two. So it was when King James I of
England offered land to Scottish Lowlanders in Ulster as part of his
colonization efforts (the same efforts that landed the British on American
shores), he jumped at the chance. He was searching to make his life better and
in so doing, he changed the course of history for his Neely descendants.
His experience was not to be smooth, however, as the Irish
continued to fight against oppressive edicts against their religion and their
native birthrights. The land that was given to Captain Stewart, which was the
land on which William first lived and worked, was sandwiched between the
Gallowglass MacSweeneys (of Highlander and Viking stock) and the Gaelic clans
of the O’Doherty, O’Donnell and more.
Going to Ulster and standing on the land my ancestors once
owned was a life-changing experience for me. Looking at the cemetery situated
on a hill so it would always overlook their holdings was like no other
experience I’d ever had. Visiting a local historian and finding our family tree
written in pencil a hundred years prior on the back of wallpaper was a memory
burned into my consciousness.
I understand why many of William Neely’s descendants chose
Virginia and Tennessee when they immigrated to America, for the rolling green
hills must have reminded them of Ireland. My ancestors became ranchers and
farmers, taking what they knew of cattle and sheep as well as farming
vegetables, and creating enterprises in America that mirrored what they had
built in Europe. They were tough and had to be tough to carve out lives for themselves
against the Native Americans warring against them—just as they had carved out lives
despite the Gaelic Irish efforts to drive them out.
In return, I’d like to think they made things better. When
visiting Ballygawley, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, I was happy to learn
that William’s descendants, who had been given 1,000 acres at
Ballygawley-Glencull, had donated land for the Irish Catholic church and
school, despite the fact that they were Protestant. I learned that during the
heated troubles between the two religions, the Neely family often hid the
priests to protect them from harm.
And later, after coming to America, I learned that Mary
Neely—the one that had been captured by the Shawnee and kept as a slave for
three years before her escape and journey home—had learned so much about Native
American medicine that people of all races traveled a hundred miles to see her
and hopefully be cured by her.
Are you interested in genealogy? Have you explored not only
the names and dates of your ancestors but also who they were, what they
accomplished and what motivated them to do what they do? I would love to hear
about it!
Read a free excerpt from Songbirds are Free, p.m.terrell's bestselling book about Mary Neely's capture, Shawnee captivity, escape and journey home. Read a free excerpt from Checkmate: Clans and Castles, based on the true story of William Neely and O'Doherty's Rebellion. p.m.terrell is the award-winning author of more than 21 books in a variety of genres, including the award-winning River Passage, the true story of the Donelson journey westward at the height of the Chickamauga Indian Wars.
