Cunningham Family

Looking for Scottish Ancestors

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Lizzie S
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Nov 12, 2018 11:56 am

Cunningham Family

Post by Lizzie S » Sat Feb 17, 2024 5:14 pm

Hello, Its been a long time since I posted here!
As always stuck with a mystery.
I have a Margaret Cunningham b 1712 in Dalmeny, West Lothian to Edward Cunningham and Janet Hill. It looks as though she married James Dowglass in1737 in Uphall and they had two children James b 1739 and Peter b 1743. I imagine there must be others but they are all I have found. What happened to the family? I can find no death records but a hint on Ancestry took me to the My heritage site and here several trees have Margarets death in West Virginia USA 1763.
I'd like to know if this is likely and how I can find out more/proof.
In hope,
Lizzie

SarahND
Site Admin
Posts: 5635
Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:47 am
Location: France

Re: Cunningham Family

Post by SarahND » Sun Feb 18, 2024 9:46 am

Good morning, Lizzie,

It is certainly possible that your Margaret died in what is now West Virginia (just plain Virginia back then.) There was a thriving settlement of immigrants from Scotland and Ireland in that area at that time. I have some ancestors who were part of the mix.

There are a number of possible Douglass/ Douglas records in the extremely helpful book: "Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, 1745-1800. Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County” by Lyman Chalkley. I thought I remembered that it could be accessed for free on some website or other, but I’m not finding it now, except behind a paywall at Ancestry and MyHeritage.

Most of these are land records and you would have to access the full originals to see if there were any hints as to the origin of the people mentioned. You might be lucky!

Best wishes,
Sarah

Lizzie S
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Nov 12, 2018 11:56 am

Re: Cunningham Family

Post by Lizzie S » Sun Feb 18, 2024 5:54 pm

Thanks Sarah.

Perhaps I'll have to put my hand in my pocket and subscribe for a months membership of Ancestry World Wide.

Regards

Lizzie

Lizzie S
Posts: 30
Joined: Mon Nov 12, 2018 11:56 am

Re: Cunningham Family

Post by Lizzie S » Sun Feb 18, 2024 6:28 pm

Hi Sarah,
Went into myheritage and somehow had access to the book and was able to download it :D
No just have to plough through it all :!:
Thanks again for the info.

Lizzie

SarahND
Site Admin
Posts: 5635
Joined: Thu Apr 27, 2006 12:47 am
Location: France

Re: Cunningham Family

Post by SarahND » Sun Feb 18, 2024 6:35 pm

I also just found that the Chalkley volumes are available for free on HathiTrust: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009029527

The ideal is to see the complete records, rather than abstracts, but maybe you have to go to the Library of Virginia or the Augusta County courthouse for that. In any case, it's worth a good look at the abstracts to narrow things down.

Oh, I see you found it! You just have to plough through, I'm afraid, but it makes interesting reading. :lol:

Best wishes,

Sarah