The Big Y Test Reveals a common Hays ancestor in 1550 CE for Patrick Hays (1720s PA) and John Hays (1740s VA) and a distinct DNA line for Patrick Hays (PA).
Four of us Ulster Scot Hays whose ancestors migrated to the America’s in the early 1700s have completed the Big Y 700 at Family Tree DNA and have family trees going back to either Patrick Hays settling in Derry, PA 1728 or John Hays settling in Augusta, VA in 1740. DNA indicates that both have a common ancestry from Ulster, Ireland. With a mutation from a common ancestor in 1550 and a second mutation in 1750. Persons with the “Hays” surname and lacking recorded evidence of ancestry may be able to use the Big Y DNA test to identify their line back to Scotland through Northern Ireland and the pioneer settlers in PA and VA in America in the 1720s and 1740s respectively.
If I’m reading this correctly, our common ancestor is R-FT115175. He was in 1550 CE (1296-1706) the parent group from which R-FT115690 mutated from. R-FT115690 is the parent of R-FT116536 which mutated in 1750 CE (1657-1857). We have 2 persons with R-FT116536 and they trace to Patrick Hays 1705-1790 in PA. We have 2 persons with R-FT116590 who trace their ancestry (highly suspected) to John Hays 1674-1750 in VA. Thus any person doing research on their Hays line who matches an ancestor in the line of the 4 listed can be reasonably certain (barring any errors in the genealogy trees) that they are from the Patrick Hays or John Hays lines. The R-FT116590 shows relations to John Hays from the mutation in 1550 which may be a relative 175 years before his birth. The R-FT116536 mutation may be Patrick Hays himself or his father or grandfather and as such relation may be through his brothers, or an unknown cousin, who migrated with him in the early 1700s.
R-FT116590 and R-FT116536 family trees: (As reported by the individuals, Patrick or John into the 1800s).
R-FT116536 Patrick Hays 1705-1790, Samuel Hays ? Dauphin County, PA – 1805 Warren, Kentucky, William Hays 10 Mar 1761 Augusta, VA – 25 Sep 1851 Warren Kentucky, Daniel Hays 1799 ? – 1862 Warren, KY.
R-FT116536 Patrick Hays 1705-1790, Samuel Hays 1741 Dauphin County, PA 1805 Bowling Green, KY, James Hays 1758 Augusta, VA (1783 lived in Davidson, TN) – 1830 Warren County, KY, John Hays 1785 Lincoln County, KY – ?, James Samuel Hays 1822 Bowling Green, KY – 1860 Marlin, TX.
R-FT116590 John Hays (unconfirmed) 1720 Bangor, Ireland – ? Augusta, VA, Unknown Hays, William Hays 1753 VA – 1831 Wythe, VA, Jacob Hays 1785 Rich Valley, Montgomery, VA – 1858 Brunswick, MO
R-FT116590 (me) John Hays 1674-1750, James Hays unk (Ulster)-unk, James Hays unk-unk, William Hays 3 Mar 1773 Rockbridge, VA – 10 Sep 1857 Greene, TN, George Hays 1802 Blue Springs, Greene, TN – 1866 Blue Springs, Greene, TN, William A. Hays 1835 Clear Creek, Greene, TN – 1911 Cedar Lane, Greene, TN.
At Family Tree DNA, the 67 Marker YDNA has 2 persons with a genetic distance of 3 steps from me, one traced back to Patrick Hays and one traced back to John Hays. FTDNA advises that at 111 markers 0 steps removed is accurate to 6 generations, 1 step is 9 generations, and 2 steps are 11 generations. At 111 there are 2 persons 5 steps removed with 1 tracing to John Hays and 1 tracing to Patrick Hays and one 6 steps removed tracing to Patrick Hays. The 67 and 37 marker tests show the Y-DNA Haplogroup R-M269 which mutated 4000 years ago (with 14 mutations to R-FT115175) thus any Y-DNA test below the Big-Y 700 will not provide any help in determining which Hays line you came from given he common ancestor R-FT115175 in 1550 Scotland and the common ancestor branches from R-FT116590 in late 1600-early 1700s Ulster Ireland.
These Hays arrived, most likely, in Philadelphia settled on the edge of the European settlements between existing original settlers and the natives (which we will discuss further in later blogs). There were scant written records when the Hays arrived in America and the European settlements didn’t venture far inland from the coastal settlements. As an example Patrick Hays settlement in Dauphin County in 1728 was well beyond the “Walking Purchase” of land from the Lenape (Delaware) Indians in 1737. The settlement in the Shenandoah River Valley of Virginia of John Hays in the 1740s likewise was intended to provide a buffer between the original settlers in Jamestown and the natives, luckily recorded in the Lyman Chalkley “Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement of Virginia.”
By 1700 the powerful Iroquois Federation (originally 5 tribes: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca adding a 6th, the Tuscarora in 1722) controlled most of present day NY, PA, VA and the lands west to the Ohio River Valley and beyond (control claimed by other tribes also). The 1722 Treaty of Albany (NY) was supposed to stop settlement beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains at the Great Warriors Path (southeast of the Appalachian Mountains) but the number of settlers outpaced available land and settlement continued west in PA and then southwest following the Shenandoah Valley. In 1742 a party of Onondaga and Oneida Indians skirmished with the Augusta, VA Militia and in 1744 at the Treaty of Lancaster the Iroquois sold the Shenandoah Valley which increased settlements and development of the Great Wagon Road (former Great Warriors Path) which stretched from Philadelphia to Gettysburg then southwest to Roanoke and then south into the Piedmont of North Carolina and continuing through South Carolina ending at Augusta, GA on the Savannah River.
The Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County PA states that Patrick Hays was born in Donegal, Ireland in 1705 and arrived in PA settling in Dauphin County, Derry, PA in 1728 with his brothers, Hugh, William, and James. Patrick had 5 sons (David, Robert, William, Samuel, and Patrick). James is presumed dead by 1751 and brother Hugh and William travel to Virginia in the early 1750s with Hugh returning to PA until his death with only a daughter recorded. Patricks 2 sons, William (b. 1737) and Samuel (b. 1741) also travel to Virginia.
John Hays and Patrick Hays (VA) self imported to Orange County, Virginia in 1740 from Northern Ireland via Philadelphia (unknown arrival year). As self importers they were entitled to settle land which was awarded in two grants, one the Beverly Grant and the other the Borden Grant (which we will explore in depth in a future blog). Patrick settled with his wife Frances and children Joan, William, Margaret, Catherine, and Ruth. John’s wife was Rebecca with children Charles, Andrew, Barbara, Joan, and Robert.
Patrick’s (PA) brothers Hugh and William travelled to Virginia in the 1750s and his sons William (1737) married (1767 ) Jean Taylor and Samuel (1741) married unknown and removed to Virginia also. It is possible they continued down the road into North Carolina also given the Indian hostilities occurring at the time. The French and Indian War, 1754-1763 caused much movement between Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina which ended with the treaty of Paris with England controlling the Ohio Country. In 1763 a Royal Proclamation was issued preventing settlement past the Appalachian Mountains to try to prevent conflict with the Indians.
Thus, due to a hostile frontier, and until the end of the Revolutionary War 1775-1873, settlement was restricted and movement amongst the Hays ancestors of Patrick and John Hays occurred mostly in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina with many moving back and forth as hostilities moved about. Excursions into Kentucky began with Daniel Boone and his son in law Capt. William B. Hays cutting the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap and the Wautauga Settlement on leased land from the Cherokee in East Tennessee but widespread settlement wasn’t to occur until the end of the war. Virginia (who controlled Kentucky) ceded their wilderness land to the Federal Government in 1783 and North Carolina (which controlled Tennessee) started land grants and then ceded their wilderness lands to the Federal Government in 1790. Many of our Hays ancestors continued their pioneering with land grants in TN and KY.
I must admit that when I first learned of my “Hays” connection to Clan Hay and the Earl of Errol that I bought highland music CD’s (search CD on the internet kids), including some in Gaelic, and even ordered up a complete Prince Charlie with the intent to attend the Scottish Highland games in my area as I was “Scottish”. Alas I was to learn that if I transported back in time and showed up with my ancestors in 1500’s Scotland wearing a Kilt and speaking Gaelic I would certainly be killed as a raider from the north looking to steal cattle. My ancestor then most likely spoke Scots and dressed in wool or animal skin clothing.
I had no sense of my ancestry beyond my father, a depression era dust bowl “Okie” who migrated to California, as in the Grapes of Wrath diaspora, and it was only when I did a deep dive into my genealogy (including DNA) that I learned of my American Pioneer Ancestors, arriving in this new world from the lowlands of Scotland with a couple or more generation stop in Northern Ireland. While I have not researched the line beyond the 1700s in America there are general circumstances applied to all the migrators of that era and location which tell us why they came to America.
It has been speculated, based upon DNA, that my ancestry came to Scotland with the Norman invasion and there intermingled with the Anglo-Saxons, most likely in Bernicia which was the northern part of Northumbria which is present day southeast Scotland (south of Edinburg). There were multiple cadet houses and Hay holdings throughout Scotland and the specific area my line is from has not been determined. Additionally after hundreds of years in Scotland we migrated to Ulster with other Presbyterians and the formation of the plantations in Northern Ireland in the 1600s at some point.
So the questions that comes to my mind is why did my ancestors migrate from Scotland to Northern Ireland in the 1600s and then on to America in the early 1700s? Economic reasons? Religious persecution? War or famine? What was their life like and how did they live? Most historical writings are based upon the aristocracy or church with only passing mention of the daily lives of the common man. I did find one specific source, “The Scotch-Irish: A Social History” by James G. Leyburn, University of North Carolina Press, 1962. My writings here are based greatly on that and also by multiple readings of other works, although I found this one, unlike many which focus on the ruling establishment and major historical events, to speak to the every day life and times of the common man of which my ancestors came from. It can be borrowed from the libraries at archive.org at https://archive.org/details/scotchirishsocia0000leyb/page/n5/mode/2up.
The Scotch-Irish: A Social History by James G. Leyburn
Given my ancestors came to America as farmers I highly suspected that they were farmers in Ulster and Scotland, part of the peasant class. While the term peasant is often given a negative connotation it actually means a tiller of the soil, or a farmer (not to be confused with serf which was an economic slave tied to a feudal landowner). While the social hierarchy was Lords (Nobility with title), Gentry and Lairds (landowners) and Burghers (well off Merchants), then tenants (peasants) each had a responsibility to the others in the feudal system. The Lord was expected to provide protection for all those under him and in return they were bound to provide military service to the nobleman. The tenant paid rent to the Laird (or the Lords agent) and was given a lease on specific lands. In daily life and business, and especially when on a campaign, they would have been in close contact with each other.
Prior to the reformation few could read or write and this included most nobles. The only education was in schools taught in Latin which was to prepare them for a life as Clergy in the Catholic Church. After the Reformation Noble, Gentry, and Peasant alike sent their children to the same Presbyterian School, if available, and it was based upon merit which should continue on to University. This common purpose to advance a common religion would have brought the adherents even closer regardless of class. Even though there were distinct classes they interacted freely, often, and without airs.
As an example of the unity, “An Old Kirk Chronicle: being a history of Auldhame, Tyninghame, and Whitekirk in East Lothian by Rev. P. Lately Waddell, B.D., Minister of the united parish; author of “the Gospel of the Kingdom” published by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburg and London, MDCCXCIII [(M=1000+D=500+CC=200=1700+(XC=100-10=90)+III=3 which is 1793 if my Roman math and internet search is correct] pg. 107 states;
“ Mariche 18, 1638. the said day the minister product the Covenant to the session, and red the same before them. … All the men of the parish, gentle, for the moment solemnized and brought face to face with ‘the great name of the Lord their God,’ write their names below the glowing words,… Lauders and Cunninghames, Jacksons and Ewarts, Kers and Hays, for one day at least lifted above their common toil and out of their jealousies and strife, exalted with a new enthusiasm and bound together by the sacred pledge.”
While not all Hays were covenanters most at that period i suspect were Presbyterian, the official religion of Scotland, as were their Lords and Lairds and as such a sense of community was strengthened.
That said, the Tenant Farmers were free to move about as leases expired and changed and they were not bound to a specific Lord as they are in a Clan or strict Feudal System (serf) except when on his holdings. Shortages of labor, especially for labor of the correct religion or loyalty allowed the Peasant some flexibility in moving about as leases expired, although kith and kin still provided the best opportunity for the best lease. Scotland of pre 1600 was mostly isolated from England and France in markets and trade and any agricultural advancements were isolated from them also. Agricultural production was low, at barely above the subsistence level and as such no industry or trade centers formed of any size and the Burghs in Scotland, unlike the Boroughs in England, traded mostly locally produced goods.
The tenants were broken down into the Kindly (lands to one tenant) or Joint Tenant which was multiple families together forming a Plowgate. A Plowgate was made up of at least 8 oxen which were needed to pull a single plow. Kindly and Joint Tenants would rent to a Subtenant who was given a “tack”, a small piece of land on which to place a shack and a garden. Lairds would usually rent to relatives thus preserving the best parcels for the extended family. Leases were broken into an infield and outfield with the infield broken into separate strips, a “run-rig” leased by lot every few years the payment a percentage of the crops and eggs and fowl to the big house. The outfield, usually about six times larger than the infield, was similarly divided. The frequent changing of lands provided no incentives to improve it.
Oats and Barley were the staples and the outfield would be planted with oats until the soil was poor and then weeds would overcome the field and it would be used for grazing of cattle. There were no fences or stone walls dividing the land and as such cattle and horses grazing crops was a problem and cause for conflict among neighbors. Oat cakes were the common staple, a mixture of oats and water fried on a flat skillet and oatmeal, greens, and homemade beer and ale rounded out the diet with a piece of mutton or other meat occasionally if an animal died.
Having been almost continually at war with England, and in between suffering raiding by opposing Scottish Feudal Estates, English Estates to the south and Highland Clans to the north and west, the lowlands of Scotland were decimated. There existed nary a tree, the bogs and wetlands were undrained due to no knowledge of current agricultural practices. There were no fences or stone walls defining holdings and cattle wandered with trespass upon others holdings and plantings.
People wore animal skins and wool clothes and a cap, many going barefoot or wearing rudimentary leather shoes but most wearing wool clothing. Huts were built of stone with no mortar so mud and straw was stuffed into the cracks against the cold. They had thatched roofs with a hole in the center to allow smoke from the cook fire to escape. They had earthen floors, rocks for chairs, and people slept on one side of the hut on thatch or heather beds on the ground and the animals were tethered on the other side of the hut. While rudimentary they could easily be rebuilt after being destroyed during a raid or war. Personal cleanliness was not yet a virtue and it was considered bad luck to clean a butter churn so hair, human or animal, was common in the butter. Vermin were common, the huts dirty and stunk, breeding a lot of illness.
Plows were made of wood and it took 8-12 animals to pull it and required the manpower of all available men within the plow gate. The plow made a shallow rut and not a furrow and they could plow about 1/2 an acre a day. They used straw harnesses and rope made from hair, harrows were made of wood or even branches tied together. Crop production was at the mercy of drought, heavy rains, flood, poor soils, and frosts in addition to loss from conflicts. Ill fed milk cows produced only 2 pints a day and when winter supplies ran low they would bleed the cows to make blood-meal. In spring everyone participated in “the lifting” as weak undernourished cows and horses had to be lifted onto their feet to get to the grazing fields.
They lived at, or barely above, a subsistence level so in most years there was enough to eat and a small excess to trade which would be at the fair in the burgh. The entire family would attend to escape the day to day drudgery of work. Farmers sold wool, cattle, and horses. Merchants sold the wares of tinsmiths, coopers, shoemakers, and haberdashers (clothing and sewing supplies). Salt was a required commodity for preserving meats, iron (in a good year) and fish were also traded for. Scotland lacked industry and everyday items and arms were imported such as armor, spears, bows and arrows, cart wheels, and wheelbarrows.
Given their subsistence lifestyle there is no indication the nature of people was depressed. They enjoyed the fair which included Drambooths offering whiskey, shooting galleries, boxing booths, swings, and sideshows. Localities had their local singers, harpists, and pipe players. Yule, Easter, and Saints Days were celebrated until the Reformation and the church looking down on such events.
Boys were married when they could do a man’s work and was able to bear arms often as young as 14. Girls were married when she was nubile, often as young as 12, a necessity with a life expectancy in the early 30’s. Neighbors were expected to provide a feast at the ceremony and essentials for setting up a household. Weddings were festive with feasting, dancing, and ribaldry although the Kirk attempted to change the wedding practices. Women attended to the duties of house and children but also were expected to labor in the field, especially when the men were called away to war.
Men were bound to serve 40 days in service of the lord for war. Eager to go they were equally eager to get back home and many would after a week or two regardless if the war was over or not. When called to war the men brought their own weapons, wooden pike or spear, an axe or a short sword, a knife, and a targe (a small round wooded shield covered with animal skin). They carried a small metal plate and would use it to cook their oat cakes with the meal including any animals plundered in the march. War, raiding, and defending against raids fostered an adventurous spirit and many younger sons of the gentry and farming class sought their fortunes in other countries in wars or in merchandise.
The peasant of Scotland lacked the humility of others in England and Western Europe as the system was reliant on loyalty to a laird or lord who proved his quality as a man and had earned the loyalty. Justice, and the responsibility for life and goods in his domain, was the responsibility of the lord and thus it was a system of men and not laws. Within this system a tenant versus tenant dispute assured a reasonable chance at a fair hearing and resolution of the dispute. Smaller claims were heard by the laird and higher by the lord but in most instances justice was delivered at the hand of the offended. The phrase might makes right applies to the times. Hundreds of years later the Clan feuds of rural America trace back to Scotland.
Scotland was changed greatly by the Reformation which in Scotland was generally a peaceful affair (for the times) with the people won over to the ideals of Presbyterianism. It introduced a measure of democracy in church governance, fostered a community belief in morality (enforced by the Kirk), and introduced rudimentary education to the masses so they may themselves search the word of the bible. Saints Days celebrations were replaced with attendance at inordinately long sermons and attending to religious beliefs and practices. The failing of the official church was the failing of all official churches in that they looked to dismiss all others although unlike other religions Presbyterians only fined and imprisoned non converts in lieu of death.
1600s Scotland lacked the rule of law, science, industry, and trade. The Renaissance was late in coming and the Scot, lord. laird, and peasant alike lived in a hostile environment with few years passed where there was not war. They often held the same surname and were bound together by loyalty but were loyal where loyalty was earned. They were devoutly religious and loyal to the Kirk and Presbyterianism and active participants in religious education and affairs of the church and this fostered morality, dignity and worth of all people, self discipline and a disciplined society, and the individual being of primary importance as a moral self created a moral society.
Any current study of the Scot-Irish “race” and attempts to apply attributes based upon the race (as DNA research shows us) is erroneous at best. The lowland Scot was a genetic product of multiple introductions of tribes over time; Gaels (Celts), Bretons (Celts), Angles (Germanic), Saxon (Germanic), Scots (Celtic via Ireland), Picts (unknown), Norse (Vikings and Danes), Normans (historically Viking), and others. The genetic mix is different for each village, clan, and individual and so to assign a trait to a class of people based upon genetics is bound to fail. IMHO, the nature versus nurture debate lies more so with the nurture and the environment brought up in.
That said the Scot of the lowland of this time was described as Stoic and Dour. It is often attributed to race or religion IMHO it is the times in which they lived which made such a hardy, stern, and bold people who could endure hardship which was upon their doorstep daily. The hierarchy of the Presbyterian Church, the Kirk, was such that the people were involved in the church and many were devout worshippers often willing to lose their life or freedom before denying their beliefs which added to their dour nature and loyalty to one another. The Presbyterian lowland Scot was formed by isolation of country, turbulent affairs, and poverty but was not a subjugated individual.
To assign generalities to the “Scot-Irish” also ignores the social status upon migration, time of migration, and the cause of the migration (persecution, famine, war, etc.). Whether young single men searching for fame and fortune or entire families and communities relocating two conditions need to be present to foster migration, hard times in your current location and the perception of better opportunities where you are going. Hard times existed in the lowlands of Scotland and given the opportunities to farm in Northern Ireland it is understandable that many would look to relocate there in the 1600s, my ancestors among them.
Next up, Ulster Scot Presbyterians in Northern Ireland in the 1600s.
There is little known about the native populations east of the Mississippi River in 1500. Much of what we do know comes from oral histories presented to European sources in the 1600s. When the last ice age receded the land bridge between the Americas and other continents was cut off. So unlike Europe and Asia which developed trade and exchange of ideas, America was left to itself and it missed improvements in farming, manufacture and written languages. The natives east of the Mississippi were a stone age tribal society of hunter-gatherers or farming combined with hunter-gathering.
Algonquian (i.e. Pequots, Narragansettes, Leni Lenape, Mahican), Siouan (i.e., Catawba, Sioux, Biloxi), and Iroquois (i.e. Mohawk, Huron, Susquehannock) were the three main language families east of the Mississippi in the north, Muskogean (i.e. Creek, Chickasaw, Alabama) is in the southeast but there were multiple sub dialects for the various tribes for all language groups. For our purposes I divide the tribes into two areas, the Northeast tribes and the Southeast Tribes. The Northeast covers the area north of the Ohio River around the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean and south to the Susquehanna River Valley and coastal Virginia. The Southeast includes the area south of the Ohio River and from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Ocean including the Gulf of Mexico Coast.
These varied tribes were often at war with each other pushed by conflict over resources and past or present offenses. The primary farming tribes were the Iroquois Tribes but all tribes were combined hunters, gatherers, and farmers according to the local climate and resources. Northeast Rivers provided fish and northern frost killed crops so they relied more on the former. Western fringe tribes had an abundance of Buffalo and so relied more on hunting. But all northeast tribes were familiar with “the 3 sisters,” corn, beans, and squash. Algonquian and Siouan (leaning towards hunter-gatherer) tribes built wickiups (wigwams), a 20’ round pole house made of a wood frame covered in woven mats or bark with a single fire in the center which held a 3 generation family. Iroquoian’s (leaning more to farming and hunter-gathering) built longhouses, 20+ feet wide and 40 to 400 feet long using material similar to the wickiups. Fires were placed in the center walkway and interior walls were built to divide areas for nuclear families, holding from 5 to 10 families in each longhouse.
Prior to European contact all tribes wore clothes made from animals hides. Men wore a breech cloth, leggings and a cape in cold weather. Women wore a skirt, legging and a cape in cold weather and both wore moccasins. Weapons of war and hunting were the bow and arrow, tomahawk, lance, and war club with arrowheads and knives made of flint. They made armor and defensive shields of wood. They trapped with snares, foot hold traps (made of wood), and deadfall traps. Fish were caught in weirs and speared. Land for farming and also hunting grounds were cleared by burning and trees were felled by girdling it or burning it all around.
Generally, most Tribes were broken up into Clans with Clan Chiefs beholden to the Tribal Chief, a hierarchal tribal system. Marriage occurred across Clans within a Tribe but not within a Clan, offering genetic diversity and also promoting unity between Clans. Marriage was a loose contract among the young but more so monogamous with the older persons. The right of inheritance was within the Mothers Clan so a male child born to a Clan Princess had rights to hierarchy in her Clan and not his fathers. The primary male responsible for a male child was the mothers brother and the rest of the adult males. Woman controlled decision making in most of the internal workings of the Clan and men held decision making for external matters such as war, setting or moving Tribes and Clans living spaces, etc. Given similarities, there was variation and no standard across the many tribes.
When Europeans made contact with the native tribes they brought diseases which the natives had no immunity too. The larger farming villages (the Iroquoian tribes) were hit harder by these diseases due to greater contact between the their people but none of the tribes escaped these plagues. Raiding other tribes and taking slaves, who were often made a part of that tribe, to replace lost members to disease or warfare, was common and with the reduction in numbers of tribesmen greater pressure was put upon tribes to replace losses.
The earliest contact with Europeans was in the first decade of 1500 as English, French, and Spanish fishermen started fishing in the vicinity of the Grand Banks off of present day Newfoundland. Proof of this was found in a Huron Village excavation by archeologists in present day Whitchurch-Stouffville in Ontario, Canda (located north of Toronto). Dating to 1500, the site was named the Mantle and covered over 10 acres and held 98 longhouses and held between 1500-1800 people. This is 5 times larger than the average Iroquoian village size of that time. Additionally part of an axe was found ceremonially buried and an investigation into the source of it revealed it came from the Basque region in Spain. The Curse of the Axe is a documentary of the find. Unfortunately, transfer of iron from tribe to tribe most likely marked the transfer of European diseases.
Spanish Conquest:
Diego Riberio Map of North America 1520
In 1513 Ponce de Leon landed on the coast of Florida and claimed it for Spain. At the time the Calusa Tribe controlled southwest Florida. Described as a warlike tribe, Calusa meaning “fierce people,” they were also good sailors using Cypress dugouts and traveling as far as Cuba in them. They would have been familiar with he poor treatment of natives by the Spanish. Ponce de Leon returned in 1521 landing on the western side of Florida. Put upon by the Calusa de Leon was wounded most likely by a poison arrow. The expedition sailed back to Cuba where Ponce de Leon died.
In 1526 Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon took 600 to settle in the Americas. In 1504 de Ayllon landed at Hispaniola (Present day Haiti and Dominican Republic) and gained wealth and power then he married into a prominent Caribbean family. In 1521 de Ayllon financed an expedition to gather slaves in the Bahamas but finding it depopulated the expedition turned northwest in search of land rumored to be in the region. They landed at Winyah Bay in present day South Carolina and took 60 slaves from the Cofitachequi Tribe. An Indian named “Francisco de Chicora” learned Spanish and came to be owned by de Ayllon. Reports from the expedition and Chicora told de Ayllon stories about his homeland and its riches. De Ayllon brought Chicora to Spain and secured a contract with the King to establish a settlement.
Landing at Winyah Bay the 600 men, including some women, children, and African slaves, they then continued south to an unknown location where they established a town. Most of the inhabitants succumbed to cold, hunger, disease, and conflict with natives. When de Ayllon died the surviving colonists broke into factions fighting over control. After only 3 months the 150 survivors abandoned the settlement and returned to Hispaniola. The African slaves ran off and settled with the natives.
In 1527 the Spanish Narvaez expedition led by Panfilo de Narvaez, intending to establish a colony in Mexico, was hit by a hurricane and landed on the West coast of Florida north of Tampa Bay. He landed 300 men ashore and there was some trading of goods with local natives and they advised him he could find food and gold to the North. They continued north on foot and the remaining ships were to follow by sea, but the parties were never to find each other. Narvaez attacked the next village he came to and took prisoners. As they continued the natives began to attack them by setting ambushes.
By using ambushes the natives negated the Spanish advantages of gunpowder, armor, and horses. They could get off 5 arrows to one from the Spanish crossbows or before an arquebus could be loaded and fired. Their bows weren’t strong enough to penetrate the armor but they learned to shoot at the soft spot, the neck and lower body not covered by armor. Forest terrain provided concealment and also prevented the use of horses to run them down. The Spanish advantages worked best in open fields such as around the settlements.
Over the next 3 months they found the villages deserted and as they moved they were under constant ambushes. They decided to build boats and sail to Mexico and for the next month turned their armor into tools and built boats. Disease, starvation, and attacks had reduced their number to 242 when they sailed. Storms, thirst, and starvation reduced the expedition to 80 and they were hit by a hurricane and driven apart and landed in various spots in present day TX. One party was attacked and killed by natives but two others met friendly natives who brought them food and water. Reduced to about 160 men they decided to winter over in TX.
Their numbers dwindled over the next 4 years and by 1542 only 4 were left alive held captive by a native tribe. The 4 escaped and walked northwest, along the Rio Grande turning West and then south eventually hitting the Gulf of California and going along the West coast of Mexico. Unlike many of the eastern coastal tribes which were hostile to the Spanish the interior tribes treated them as honored guests. They were escorted from village to village and in 1536 arrived at the Spanish frontier outpost at Culiacan Central west coast of present day Mexico) and thus ended the Narvaez expedition.
In 1539 Hernando De Soto sailed from Cuba in 5 ships and landed in Florida, present day Tampa Bay, with an army of 1000 men and 350 horses. Landing 300 on shore, they were attacked by the natives at dawn but drove the attackers away. As with the Narvaez expedition the natives would attack the Spanish in ambush. When counter attacked they retreated away from the armored soldiers and horsemen. But as soon as they turned the natives would again attack. As De Soto’s expedition progressed they encountered increasing resistance. De Soto then learned of a Spaniard in the custody of a native tribe.
A party from Narvaez ships had gone to shore and was put upon by the natives with 4 taken prisoner to Chief Ucita. 3 were slowly killed by arrows and the 4th was stretched over a fire to be burned to death but his screams caused the Chief’s daughter to take pity on him and he was removed from the fire. Knowing at some point that her father would put him to death she spirited the Spaniard, Juan Ortiz, to a neighboring tribe where she had close relations to the Chief, Mocoso. When Ortiz was given safety Chief Ucita aligned with neighboring tribes against Chief Mocoso.
De Soto learned of this and sent a party of lancers into Mocoso’s lands to retrieve his fellow Spaniard. But Ortiz had also leaned of De Soto and was given leave to go find him with an escort to assure his safety on the condition that Ortiz entreat De Soto to not lay waste to his territory or harm his people. The parties came upon each other and the lancers advanced and the natives fled, save one who announced himself as a Spanish Christian. De Soto now had an interpreter and a person with knowledge of the natives.
De Soto’s expedition, like Narvaez before him, was met with constant harassment by arrows as it moved. Taking some natives prisoner, the Spaniards turned their dogs loose on them causing a brutal death. At the next village De Soto sent to the Chief for a friendly chat, the Chief responded he wanted no friendship, “War only, and never-ending shall be waged against the invaders of our soil,” said the Chief.
It was De Soto’s practice to take a Chief captive to obtain the support of his tribe. He did so with 3 brothers who were Chief’s of 3 tribes. But one hatched a plan of resistance and put up 10,000 warriors against De Soto’s 1000 thinking that 10 to 1 in numbers would overcome the armor of the Spaniards. By the end of several days of fighting the land was left in desolation and 1300 warriors had been killed in battle. As De Soto moved the natives continued to harass and several were killed at each assault and some taken prisoner and put in chains and used as carriers. If the natives fled their village upon approach the Spaniards would just use the abandoned houses for shelter and harvest the planted crops. It was De Soto’s plan to winter in Apalachee on the Florida panhandle.
The Apalachee tribe had met the Spanish at the Narvaez expedition and were familiar with firearm, horse, crossbow, and armor. Upon approaching the village the battle began and ran on for 2 days with the Spaniards pushing forward slowly. They came upon a palisade manned by many Apalachee warriors. The heavily armed dismounted horsemen were able to breach it and put the natives to flight. The Spaniards set up a camp but the natives continued to assault it all night, this now the 4th night of battle. De Soto and his horsemen assaulted the stronghold of the Chief, capturing him and securing his winter quarters.
De Soto made contact with his ships and sent them west to find a harbor, which they did. Reporting back to him they found one in present day Pensacola, De Soto kept a road open between it and Apalachee. The Apalachee themselves refused to surrender and De Soto’s men were ambushed everywhere they went. Expeditions in the surrounding country failed to reveal any gold or riches to plunder. Hearing stories of riches to the North and west De Soto was to move on.
De Soto was met by the Chief of the next tribe who advised they had no gold or riches. He offered 400 of his people as porters in addition to provisions for his men. The following Chief, Patofa, met De Soto in peace and allowed his army to pass. He offered four thousand warriors and 4000 carriers to De Soto as he was in conflict with the neighboring tribe which was De Soto’s objective hearing it had gold. An expedition of 9000 started but was so large in 7 days food became scarce, and discipline began to unravel with each leader employing a heavy hand of punishment on those who failed them. Finally they came upon a well provisioned town with few inhabitants and plundered it, but every captured prisoner claimed to not to know of any other towns in the vicinity, save one native who caved in under threat of being burned alive.
De Soto’s Indian allies went ahead of him and as De Soto came to the next several towns he found all inhabitants had been killed and scalped. He sent horsemen to get Patofa to return to him as he wanted to first try to befriend the next chief and if that didn’t work then resort to hostage taking or conquest if the former didn’t work. Patofa was sent back to his village, happy to go as his tribe had gathered hundreds of scalps as vengeance for past assaults.
De Soto continued on with 100 horsemen and meeting a warrior advised he came in peace. The warrior agreed to relay the message to his queen. She met with De Soto and offered shelter and provisions in her town. Not too far distant was an abandoned town which was vacated due to a pestilence, most likely an imported European disease. De Soto also found in this town breast plates, axes, armor, and beads which he believed was from an ill fated expedition by Vasquez de Ayllon to the South Carolina coast to form a settlement. The town was on the Savannah River within days of the coast. De Soto found no gold but many pearls, about 14 bushels, many taken off of dead Chiefs in their burial grounds.
When De Soto asked for carriers and guides for his expedition the queen refused, disgusted at the behavior of the Spaniard guests in raiding the graves, and De Soto then took her captive. They travelled north and then northwest 300 miles into Cherokee territory. Fearing she would not be released as promised the queen took flight and managed to elude capture. De Soto was saddened, not by the loss of the queen but by the loss of a chest of pearls, those in perfect and valuable condition.
The next Chief offered De Soto corn and provisions and shelter in his village of about 300 houses. With ample provisions in a rich and fertile land, De Soto stayed to fatten his horses and rest his men. Searches in the nearby mountains again revealed no gold, just some copper. In lieu of robbing the graves for more pearls De Soto had the Chief show him how they are obtained. Mussels, in abundance, were collected from the streams and placed on the coals of hardwood fires to open them. The pearls were removed and the meat of the mussels used to prepare many dishes for their dinner. It now midsummer, De Soto took his leave before exhausting all provisions of the tribe.
The next Chief met De Soto and his advance party with 1500 warriors. Before they could secure De Soto as a prisoner his army arrived and it was the Chief who was taken. The Chief was then released on the promise of assistance and they built rafts and boats which De Soto used to cross a river into present day Alabama. Passing from village to village De Soto was met with hospitality at each village which offered provisions and carriers and so they passed through the land. Arriving at the main village De Soto was met in peace but took the Chief and his sister hostage for safety traveling to the ends of his lands where he released him but kept his sister hostage.
De Soto passed into Choctaw territory (Alabama and Mississippi) and met the Chief Tuscaloosa. Tuscaloosa was 7 feet tall and an impressive figure. Offering peace, De Soto noticed he was often in consult with sub chiefs and many warriors were arriving. De Soto took him hostage but allowed him to ride along on horseback with a large pack horse the only one big enough to carry his large frame. They crossed the Alabama River on rafts headed to Mauvila, the Chiefs stronghold. It was the Chiefs intent to amass his warriors and take the Spaniards there. Tuscaloosa continued to provide provisions and carriers but several incidents, including the disappearance of 2 of De Soto’s men made it apparent the Chief was planning something. De Soto hoped to avoid conflict, rest in Mauvila, then strike south to Pensacola to meet his ships which were supposed to bring provisions.
Mauvila was located at the confluence of the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers. It was more of a fortress than a town with palisade walls planted in the ground and tied together. At every 50 paces there were holes cut to allow darts and arrows to be shot through and the fortress held 90 houses capable of holding 750 people each. It contained two gates and the land around the fort was cleared of trees and brush. De Soto entered with the Chief, having only his advance party fo about 100 men. De Soto saw the ruse to lure him in but lacked the men to do otherwise. Inside the fort was filled with 10,000 warriors and no women or children, with towers and walls manned by heavily armed warriors.
De Soto was shown his quarters and those of his party and advised his army could encamp outside the walls, thus splitting his army. When De Soto asked Tuscaloosa to stay with him for the noon meal he replied he was tired of De Soto’s company and this was his land and not De Soto’s. De Soto could go in peace but the Chief would be staying in his stronghold and with that took his leave. De Soto sent a messenger to get Tuscaloosa for the noon day meal which was ignored twice. On the third the messenger shouted loudly and a warrior came out of the door and confronted the messenger angrily.
Another warrior behind him placed bow and arrow in his hand and he made out as if to fire at a crowd of Spaniards. A cavalier then took sword in hand and cut him down, dead. He was put upon by the warriors son who fired 6 arrows quickly, which bounced off his armor. He then put upon him striking the helmet with the bow and causing blood to flow and he was also then put to the sword and killed and the Spanish party retreated. The 10,000 warriors then came out of the houses and attacked the Spaniards.
De Soto made it to his horse and even though shot in the thigh rallied his men away from the walls to lure the warriors away and then counter attacked. Over 9 hours the battle raged with many Spaniards killed and many more warriors slaughtered. De Soto managed to make it to the gate and outside the fortress and the warriors closed the gate. Tuscaloosa expected to wait out the Spaniards and attack them in the forest but on arrival at the fortress the carriers had brought all the Spaniards equipment, plunder, and supplies inside the fort. Also several soldiers were still inside the fort, trapped in one of the houses.
De Soto attacked one of the gates with 200 men, 100 with shields and battle axes, 100 with lances and swords. They mowed down the gate and advanced to the house holding the hostages, killing hundreds of warriors in the process. They then set the place on fire, which quickly spread from house to house and tower burning all. The Spaniards retreated to a nearby field. The warrior attacked, were repulsed, and attacked again. Dead and wounded warriors numbered 3000 while the Spaniards lost 80 men and forty horses.
The spaniards stayed there for a month resting and caring for the wounded. De Soto received word that the ships with supplies made it too Pensacola but kept it from his men. The consensus of the men is that they should return to Pensacola and take ship out of North America as there was no plunder and riches to be gained in this country of half naked savages. Consulting his officers, De Soto learned that to return to Pensacola he would lose the support of his men to continue the expedition. De Soto looked to his own self interest not wanting to return empty handed and a failure, and ordered the expedition to go north and continue on.
After five days the expedition found themselves on a wide river with 1500 warriors on the other side. When De Soto offered peace to the Chief he responded he wanted a war of fire and blood as he had heard of the destruction of Mauvila. After 12 days of building rafts the Spaniards crossed and made quick work of decimating the warriors. Traveling on they came into the lands of the Chickasaw. Here De Soto befriended a Chief and was given shelter and provisions. But conflict started almost immediately with 3 Indians caught raiding the Spaniards swine, two were killed and the 3rd had his hands cut off. The Chief did not complain, but when 2 Spaniards were caught stealing furs from the Chief’s hut he demanded the same treatment which De Soto ordered. However, the translator advised the Chief De Soto wanted the men pardoned and the Chief did so.
One dark and stormy night warriors passed the Spaniard sentinels and set fire to the huts they inhabited. They were driven out into battle with the warriors. The warriors were eventually repulsed but not before De Soto lost 40 men in the flames, all his swine which were burned in the fort, as were 50 horses in addition to all their supplies and provisions. Many were naked having not time to gather their clothes and now had to spend the night outside on a cold march night. They moved off a distance and made a forge and bellows with a bear hide to re-temper their words damaged in the fire, built lances and saddle horns of ash and shields from buffalo hides and in a week were on the march again.
In 3 days they came upon another group, naked with fully painted bodies for war, they stood behind palisades. The warriors erred in leaving their fortress and the Spaniards routed them, sending them in retreat and in hast they became stuck in the narrow entrance and were cut down. The Spaniards then gained the interior and a great carnage ensued. The location was most likely near the Yazoo River in Mississippi. De Soto continued northerly and in 8 days came to the Mississippi River.
De Soto went to the nearest village and asked for time to build vessels to cross the Mississippi on. The Chief replied he was under another Chief who would want them to war but De Soto advised he would not harm or ravage the province and he was not attacked. In making his vessels the party was approached and attacked by water. Raiding parties rained arrows down on them but when it was apparent it wouldn’t stop the work the party withdrew. A party of 7000 warriors, Sioux, appeared on the opposite shore as De Soto crossed in 4 barges and but were defeated on the Spanish landing. The expedition continued on meeting a friendly tribe, the Chief Casqui.
De Soto continued his quest for gold with Casqui and 5000 warriors and 3000 baggage bearers along. Prior to arrival at the neighboring town controlled by Chief Capaha, Casqui went forward with select warriors to scout but in actuality to attack an enemy he had lost many battles to. Casqui and his warriors killed many and desecrated the burial ground of his enemies; remains were pulled from coffins and heads of his defeated warriors were taken down from poles and replaced with the heads of his new victims. Thus for the second time De Soto was befriended to involve him in the tribal politics of the area.
Capaha had removed to an island and peace offerings from De Soto were declined. De Soto attacked in 70 canoes supplied by Casqui with 200 of his men and 3000 of Casqui’s. Upon arriving at the island the force could barely make shore due to the great defense of Capaha’s warriors. Faced with strong opposition the 3000 of Casqui’s warriors fled in their canoes leaving the Spaniards to certain destruction. They were saved only when Capaha called for a cessation and offered De Soto peace. De Soto was able to broker a peace between the two Chief’s but Capaha advised Casqui that he was victorious only because of the Spaniards and that they would leave at some point but he would still be there, a warning of future retribution.
De Soto continued to wander looking for gold and wintered over his third year. Losing his interpreter made the going harder and he was down to 400 efficient men and forty horses. Finally De Soto gave up his westward march and looked to return to the Mississippi and build 2 Brigantines, one to go to Cuba and the other Mexico to get supplies for the expedition. The more he moved the more hostile Indians he encountered. He went to the Arkansas River, a tributary to the Mississippi River and down to the Mississippi. Finding a friendly Chief De Soto settled into his care for shelter and provisions.
But nightly the Chief and warriors would cross the Mississippi River, De Soto suspecting he was making alliances with neighboring tribes. It was here that De Soto became ill and died. Luis de Moscoso was put in charge before De Soto died and he feared to let the Indians know of the death as they thought De Soto was immortal. Moscoso had De Soto secretly buried but several warriors suspected the sick De Soto had been buried there so Moscoso moved the body and put it in the Mississippi River.
The remaining Spaniards were hopeful that De Soto’s death would mean a movement to return to Cuba but Mosco decided to continue the quest and marched for a year in a long circle leaving any place the Spaniards went in death and destruction as their numbers decreased also. Finally he returned to the place of De Soto’s death. Knowing they now wanted to leave the natives provided shelter and provisions as they set about attempting to build ships. Finding 30 spies from a neighboring tribe in his camp Moscoso cut off their hands and sent them home mutilated.
The summer of 1543 the Spaniards finished building their vessels and with only 350 men left in the expedition embarked down the Mississippi assuming it would take them to the Gulf of Mexico. It was here the Chief of the mutilated Indians would get his revenge as fleets of canoes with thousands of warriors put upon the Spaniards. All but 8 of the horses were killed and just about every Spaniard wounded. On the 4th day 4 of the vessels were cut off and 48 killed or drowned. A couple days later they landed to graze the last of the horses and lost them, killed by arrows with the handlers barely escaping the attack. The Spaniards finally suffered greater losses than their assailants and after 16 days of assault the Indians left.
They made it to the Gulf and decided to push out to sea instead of holding to the shore. A gale hit, scattered them, and pushed them back to shore and they spent 2 months slowly navigating the shore line before returning to civilization. De Soto’s ships waited in Pensacola until it apparent he was not returning. They came back every year and sailed the Gulf looking for information on the party, finally learning of its failure and losses from word spread by the arrival of the remains of the expedition in Mexico.
In 1535 Esteban Gomez explored the eat coast of North America from Florida to Maine and the Penobscot Bay looking for the Northwest passage. Finding no route to the riches of the East he took a load of slaves from the natives, most likely one of the Abenaki tribes in Maine, and returned them to Spain to be sold. It was common for explorers to take natives hostage as slaves to be sold, guides, or future interpreters.
1559 Tristan de Luna landed at Pensacola Bay in an effort to establish a base of support to establish a colony on Santa Elena (Parr’s Island). It was it by a hurricane which killed many and sank 6 ships, grounded a 7th, and ruined supplies. Survivors moved inland (present day Alabama) for several months then returned to the coast. Finally in 1561 the effort to settle was abandoned concluding northwest Florida was too dangerous to settle and it was ignored for over 100 years.
French and Spanish conflict:
In 1562 French Huguenots settled Charlesfort on Parr’s Island, South Carolina. Looking to secure a piece of America for France, 28 men were left on Parr’s Island, South Carolina, to build a settlement and their leader, Jean Ribault, returning to France to secure supplies but he was arrested by the English and imprisoned for 2 years preventing his return. The Orista and Guale Tribes originally supplied the colony but when their provisions were severely taxed they withdrew support. A mutiny occurred due to strict discipline and most of their supplies were burned. They built their own open boat and all but one sailed back towards Europe. Lacking supplies they were reduced to cannibalism before being rescued by an English Vessel. The Spanish came from Cuba and burned the fort and took captive the one Frenchman who was living with local Indians.
Santa Elena. The Spanish built a fort on top of the French fort, San Felipe, in 1566 and occupied it until 1570 when it was destroyed by fire. They built a second fort nearby, San Felipe II, to house 250 troops which arrived from Spain. In 1566 225 settlers, farmers and families and Catholic Missionaries, arrived from Spain. In 1577, due to cruel treatment, the Guale and Orista Tribes attacked the settlement together and it was abandoned. In 1577 the French returned and their ship wrecked in Port Royal Sound so they built a fort but were put upon by the natives and many killed and the rest captured. The Spanish returned, attacked the Guale and Orista’s and secured the French from their captors then promptly hanged most of them. The Spanish built Fort San Marcos and then a second larger fort nearby but they abandoned it in 1587 in favor of St. Augustine after learning of Sir Walter Raliegh’s Roanoke Island settlement and fearing an attack by the English Sir Francis Drake operating in the Caribbean and attacking Spanish settlements.
About 1564 300 French Huguenots sailed to Florida to settle, hold the land for France, and drive out the Spanish. They settled at the mouth of the St. John’s River building a triangle shaped fort there, Fort Caroline. Initially they got along with the Timucua Indians but when their supplies ran short they looked to the natives who declined causing conflict. To counter this French Protestant settlement Phillip II of Spain sent Pedro Menendez de Avilez and 600 men to Florida. Unknown to them Ribault had been freed and was returning to Florida with provisions for the Huguenots.
Menendez was badly beaten by storms but managed to reach Florida with 5 ships only to find Ribault already there. In 1565 Menendez founded St. Augustine and began to build earthworks and a fort. Menendez fleet couldn’t compete with Ribault’s and he sent away his larger ships. Ribault emptied Fort Caroline of most of the men looking to strike the Spaniards and drive them from Florida. Menendez noticed a heavy storm coming and proceeded overland with a part of his force to attack Fort Caroline. Not expecting an attack in foul weather the fort was easily taken as the few raining men were getting out of bed in the morning. Mendez put all the men to death by sword. Menendez returned to St. Augustine to learn that the 2 vessels of the French fleet had been wrecked in the storm and the rest scattered. Survivors on the beach surrendered to Menendez and he offered them life to convert to Catholicism, which few did, and 111 were put to the sword. A second party was found with Ribault and all were put to death.
The Spanish were mostly men and turned to the Timucua for food and wives. This caused conflict between them and the Timucua began to attack the Spanish to try to drive them out. Menendez established Santa Elena as his Capital and St. Augustine was used primarily as a fort. Over time it grew and was settled but it suffered many disasters. And in 1586 Sir Francis Drake burned St. Augustine to the ground. Spain decided to consolidate holdings and in 1587 abandoned Santa Elena and made St. Augustine the Capital of Florida. Short of food they were saved by Dona Maria Melendez, a Timucua ruler of an Indian mission town and a Christian (as was her mother) and she had married one of the Spanish soldiers. Being part of the hereditary elite class she was respected by the Spanish. Her son was to become the Chief of another Indian mission Town.
Marriage with native women was common in the Spanish colonies due to the lack of women. The class system was royalty (anyone with a connection to royalty); then a peninsular, a person born in Spain; criollos, a Spanish person born in the Americas; mixed races; and Africans. The cultures also became mixed, part native Timucua and part Spanish. Catholic missionaries and the establishment of mission towns was spreading Christianity and also the mixed cultures in Florida and West Florida.
France in Canada
In 1534 French navigator Jacques Cartier was looking for the Northwest Passage when he discovered the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence River. He would return in 1535 and sail the St. Lawrence to the city of Hochelaga. Here he took 2 sons of the Chief back to France with him. Cartier returned to North America in 1536 and guided by the 2 natives he had brought back sailed up the St. Lawrence River and established a base near an Iroquois Village. From there he proceeded further upriver to Montreal and a 2nd Iroquois Village but returned to his base the same day. Wintering over they lost 25 men to disease during a cold, brutal winter. They also began to have conflicts with the locals and when spring arrived Cartier took several Chief’s hostage and returned to France.
In 1541 Cartier was to lead another expedition, this one including Jean-Francois de la Roque de Robal to establish a colony to secure french claims over those of Spain. Cartier sailed first and settled in Quebec, Roberval was delayed for one year. They suffered another bitter winter and again the actions of the Europeans raised the hostilities of the local natives. Cartier found what he thought were gold and diamonds and that spring sailed for France only to meet Roberval en route and be ordered back. Cartier stole away and returned to France only to find the gold and diamonds were worthless minerals. Roberval spent one winter in Canada then abandoned the colony. The land was called “Canada” by Cartier after the Mohawk word for town or village.
Iroquois, Huron, Algonquin, Delaware, Susquehannock, Neutrals, Wenronhronon, and Mohicans:
The Mohawk Indians:
There are differing views on which tribe of Iroquois Cartier met at Montreal. Some claim it to be the Mohawk and some the Hurons. Many believing that the Mohawk are related to the Huron and split from that tribe. There can be no definitive answer as to the tribes in this area as at that time it broke out in war shortly after the visit and tribal lands were changed for all due to the conflict. According to spoken history to the Champlain Party in 1603, the Algonquin Tribe (an Algonquian speaking tribe) and the Mohawk Tribe (Iroquoian) were at peace in the St. Lawrence Valley. 3 Mohawks were killed by 6 Algonquins when hunting together. The Algonquins refused redress and the Mohawks swore and oath to perish to a man or have revenge.
Mohawk tradition is that they were driven from the St.Lawrence Valley by the “Adirondacks,” a derogatory name for the Algonquins used by the Mohawks. With their numbers reduced the Mohawks withdrew to the mountains in Vermont east of Lake Champlain and built their strength and numbers before attacking again. When put upon the Algonquins asked the Huron for assistance and they joined in. The Hurons suffered greatly in the battles as they sat between the Mohawk and the Algonquins. Most likely weakened by war and disease, the Mohawks themselves moved south along Lake George to the Hudson River then west into the Mohawk Valley.
As discussed in “Eastern American Geography Guiding Settlement” the area where the Mohawk settled is a crossing point for north-south travel and also travel west to the Great Lakes and ultimately the Ohio River Valley. Originally the area was unsettled as the location would put a tribe in conflict with all using the routes west and North-South, the Mahicans in the Hudson River Valley and the Albany NY area south to the Catskill Mountains, The Algonquins in the Ottawa River Valley (Montreal to Kingston, Canada), and the Huron Tribes southwest of the Algonquins and north of Lake Ontario. Additionally, the Mohawk were in conflict with (east to west) the Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca Tribes.
The Great Peace (Dekanawida and Hiawatha) and the Iroquois Federation:
Some references have the Federation occurring in the mid 1500s while most have it occurring about 1570-80 and some later. If a life was taken between the tribes tribute had to be negotiated, often a life for a life, slavery to the offended family for loss of labor, or tribute, and if not agreed to then retribution would be brought against the offending tribe and so it went back and forth. The oral tradition of the Iroquois Confederacy tells the story of “The Great Peacemakers” which brought the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca together. They instituted The Great Law outlining the rights and responsibilities of the 5 Nations Federation. Each nation maintained their own internal control but in matters between Nations and in matters concerning other Nations the Federation Council ruled. Tribute for loss of life was a settled matter of law ending the feuds back and forth.
The Federation is important as now hunting lands were held in common as was defense of the Federation against outside enemies. The Mohawk claimed control of the area just north of Albany, NY around Lake George and Lake Champlain and north to the St. Lawrence River, the Cayuga a rectangle just north of the PA border to the St. Lawrence River, the Onondaga a rectangle from north of the PA line to Lake Ontario, the Oneida a rectangle from north of the PA line to Lake Ontario, and the Seneca a flat top triangle at Lake Ontario to almost the PA border. While the claimed territory was difficult for the Federation to control at the edges in the 1500s the east-west pass through the Appalachian Mountain Range, the Mohawk River was in complete control of the Federation as was access to the Susquehanna and Delaware River headwaters and access from them to the Schoharie Creek and Mohawk River junction to points north and west.
The Mohawks, Onondagas, and Senecas were the elder brothers of the Iroquois Federation, the Oneidas and Cayugas the younger brothers. The Mohawks were given precedence as the first of the older brothers and speculation is that they were the descendants of the original tribe from which the others branched out. Each tribe was divided by clans and marriages did not occur within the same clan. Rights were passed down maternally and so a father from the wolf clan marrying a mother from the turtle clan would have offspring living in the turtle clan and grow to hold positions in that clan. The primary male to a son would be his uncle and the rest of the males in the clan.
By 1600 the Algonquins were located north of the upper St. Lawrence River just north of the Mohawk lands. The Huron were located on the lower St. Lawrence River and north of Lake Ontario and bordering the all 5 Iroquois tribes. The Mahicans (Mohicans) were located in the Hudson River Valley above NYC and the Catskill Mountains bordering the Mohawk on the East. The Delaware were in the Delaware River Valley bordering the Mohawk on the South The Susquehannock, west of the Delaware, bordered the Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. The Wenronhronon were south of and on Lake Erie west of the Seneca. The Neutrals were north of Lake Erie and west of the Seneca. (britannica.com map) By forming the Federation (definitely by 1590) the Iroquois were not only able to keep the surrounding tribe from their territory, they gained the strength to expand their territory.
English Attempted Settlement of Virginia:
In 1584 Sir Walter Raleigh obtained a patent from Queen Elizabeth for a settlement in North America and sent two vessels to scout a location and they landed on Roanoke Island (present day North Carolina) and named the country Virginia in honor of the virgin queen. In 1585 600 men went to establish a colony to settle it and from which the English could control shipping lanes in the Americas and the adjacent Islands. The expeditions larger vessels had to anchor outside of the sounds around the island and one of them was lost in a storm with many supplies. 108 men were left to build a temporary shelter and the expedition returned to England to return with supplies the following year. Instead of planting food the men began to look for gold, using the natives they called Croatan’s (Croatan also the name of nearby present day Hatteras Island).
The English name Croatan’s might be the Secotan Tribe or the Chawanok or Weapemoc tribes, a tribe (or affiliate) of the Roanoke Indians, part of the Algonquian Tribes of the Carolinas. Tension increased between the English and natives and when smallpox broke out in the tribes Chief Wingina of the Secotan changed his name to Pemisapan and tried to cut off all aid to the English. His plan was to attack small bands of English when they went in search of food. For this the English preemptively killed him. Shortly after Sir Francis Drake’s fleet arrived and the decision for all to return to England was made abandoning the colony.
On the return to England two of the Secotan’s, Manteo and Towate, joined them on the voyage. Additionally they carried back to England tobacco, maize (the Europeans called all grains such as wheat and oats corn and maize was referred to as Indian Corn), and potatoes. They also carried word of a temperate climate and rich soils. While initial attempts at settlement were looking to support expeditions to plunder gold and silver and support their conflicts with other European nations and increase their power, the information certainly had some thinking of colonization, to plant (and hence the word Plantation) like they had attempted in Ireland.
Shortly after they left Roanoke a supply ship with 400 men arrived and found the colony abandoned. After interviewing some natives they learned it had returned to England with Drake. The decision was made to also return to England but 15 men were left for an English presence and to protect Raleigh’s patent claims. Raleigh decided to attempt another settlement but due to conflict with the Secotan he decided to move it to Chesapeake Bay.
In 1587 115 men, women, and children under the lead of John White, mostly middle class Londoners (looking to become landed gentry?), set off for America. When they landed on Roanoke Island the fort and buildings were destroyed and the 15 men gone. Bones of one man was found and presumed to be one of them killed by Indians. Shortly after that one of the colonists was killed by an Indian. Manteo had returned with them and a settler and he were sent to establish relations with the Croatan (Secotan). The Croatan advised a larger federation of tribes inland had attacked the settlement and killed the 15 men.
The settlement decided to move 50 miles up Albermarle Sound. White was to return to England and resupply for the settlers and return the next year. Word of the impending Spanish Armada’s attack on England resulted in all ships being held in England. Two smaller ships of White were allowed to leave with supplies but they were raided by French Pirates and the supplies taken. Smith finally secured ships in 1590 and went to Roanoke Island and found “CRO” carved into a tree and “Croatan” on logs from which a palisades had been built. Inside it appeared the buildings had been dismantled and chests belonging to Smith had been buried but subsequently dug up and ransacked. They had agreed before his leaving that if they relocated the location would be carved into a tree and if they were under duress they would carve a cross. Smith was certain they had relocated and Smith searched Croatan Island and the area around Roanoke but no one from the colony was found.
Several attempts to locate the colony over the next couple of decades revealed no clues and there are many lost colony theories. The colonists were absorbed into local Indian populations either settling with them or captured as slaves. Chief Powhattan had the Powhattan Tribe kill them but the lack of bones and evidence at the site disputes that. England and Spain were at war and there was much activity in these remote areas and they may have attacked. Disease was a possibility and would explain the lack of bodies as they would have been disposed of away from the healthy, most likely into the sea. Other theories are cannibalism, witchcraft, and supernatural or religious explanations.
Conclusion of the DNA diaspora in the Americas:
The DNA diaspora which came out of Africa split and one turned west ending in Great Britain and the other turned east, across Asia, Beringia, and into the Americas. Geography kept them apart for 10,000 plus years. Europe advanced from a Clan (tribal) society, through a feudal society and for the most part were nation states. In the Americas they were still mostly a tribal society, aside from the great empires in South America which compare to the feudal society of Europe. Unfortunately for the inhabitants of the Americas geography kept them from the advancements which occurred in Europe, Asia and Africa most importantly horses and large pack animals, Iron and metal working, and gunpowder and the invention of firearms and cannons. Thus they lacked the tools to compete with the Europeans in war.
In the world from the 1500s to the 1600s the Right of Conquest was the rule including in the tribes of the Americas. Feudal states developed into nation states due to the threats from neighboring nation states. The interactions between England, Scotland, and Ireland are good examples of this. Add to this fervent religious beliefs with little or no toleration for the beliefs of others. For natives in America this meant the Europeans, who had little or no remorse for killing others of their kind for being the wrong religion or nationality, had little or no remorse over plundering and killing the natives, as the natives did among themselves. It was a hard cruel world with much brutality.
Word of the white man must have travelled to the interior of northeast and southeast North America. Cartier’s contact in the St. Lawrence River would travel by word of mouth into the Great Lakes. And Spanish incursions and De Soto’s expedition from Florida to the Mississippi would travel up the Mississippi River and the Ohio River. And word of the Roanoke Settlement would travel across the eastern seaboard. And there most likely were many contacts and interactions not recorded. De Soto’s pillaging across the Southeast and the taking of Indians as slaves would have the tribes react cautiously with the whites and their power of metal weapons, tools, and armor would be both feared and desired to be possessed for their own uses. We see some of the tribes using the power of the Europeans against their enemies, risking subservience to gain power.
As word of the whites travelled so did the diseases they introduced into the Americas. Contact with whites was more often than is indicated in written history. An example is in the documentary “Curse of the Axe” which states that the tribe in contact with the fishermen who had temporary summer work sheds on the coast and traded with them is no longer there with no oral history of where they went. And between them and the Algonquins was an Iroquois Tribe (unrelated to the Iroquois Federation) which is also gone. Some estimates have the death toll from European diseases as high as 70-90% of the native population. If hit with disease and weakened by decreasing numbers of warriors in the tribe it would most certainly be defeated and/or incorporated into neighboring tribes.
Tribes who had their numbers depleted by war with Europeans and by disease would look to their historic enemies as sources of slave labor and to build the strength of their tribe. Women and children taken slave were most often incorporated into the tribe over time giving the tribe strength of numbers. Conflict between enemies would cause larger alliances such as Powhattan of the Powhattan tribe in Virginia and the best example being the Iroquois Federation which controlled over 1/2 of present day New York State. And so even though there was no permanent settlement outside of Florida, European contact had begun to change the interaction of the natives in North America between themselves. The 1600s will only see more.
We know from our DNA tests that John Hays who settled in VA and Patrick Hays (and brothers) who settled in PA had a common ancestor, that when arriving in America they were Presbyterian and came most likely from the tenant farmer class most likely from the Scottish lowlands, most likely southwest Scotland, then into Ulster before coming to America. Even without specific dates and locations for the diaspora we can learn much of their reasoning for the moves by looking at history in general.
The DNA diaspora which paused in Scotland continues west to North America.
In 1500 Scotland and England were separate states each with their own king, but both with a waning feudal system moving towards a Nation State but with the Lords wielding much power. Ireland was under the Clan System with the great Clan Chiefs taking turns at being in charge of all with England looking to control as the century progressed. All were Roman Catholic, as was most of Europe at the start of the century but the reformation; Luther in Germany followed by Calvin and then his followers, saw protestants split from Roman Catholics and then Protestants further divide into various factions of Episcopal’s, Presbyters, and Congregationalists. Spain was the major power with the largest navy at the start of the century but after Columbus discovered the new world all naval powers were looking for a passage to Asia.
The search for the northwest passage ended up in the discovery of the Americas. Shortly thereafter attempts to establish settlements and control centered around the exploitation of the resources and natives. Columbus exploited Hispaniola and Spain established a settlement in 1502 and fanned out from there; Jamaica 1509, Trinidad 1510, Florida in 1513, and conquered South America starting in 1519. The French began with Cartier in present day Canada in 1534 and French Huguenots tried to settle in Florida in 1562 but no permanent settlement were made by 1600. Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584 tried for England in Virginia but failed there. It would be in the 1600s before we see any settlements as Spains power decreased in relation to the other European powers.
After Columbus in 1497 we have John Cabot sailing for England landing in present Newfoundland claiming it for king. “The Curse of the Axe,” a documentary about an iron axe buried in a Wyandot village reveals that it is from the Basque region of Spain and it came to present day Canada with Spanish fishermen and whalers who set up summer camps on shore, evidence of early contact. In 1507 Amerigo Vespucci sailing for Spain made several trips, accurate accounts are under dispute, and he wrote 2 books of his adventures which were widely read and spurred interest in the new world. He claimed to sail the Guif of Mexico and the coast from Florida too Chesapeake Bay and it seems to be accepted at the time as maps made of his writings had the area named “America” in his honor.
In 1513 Ponce de Leon landed in Florida and claimed it for Spain and in 1519 Hernan Cortez landed in Mexico and claiming it for Spain he then proceeded to then conquer the Aztecs. France got into the act with Giovanni Verrazzano in 1524 landing in present day NY and Narraganset Bay. Also in 1524 Esteban Gomez for Spain sailed the eastern seaboard from Florida to Nova Scotia, failing to find a passage he took a large number of Indians prisoner to sell as slaves so he had something to show for his journey. Diego Ribero made a hand drawn map of America from Gomez trip, and in 1527 created the Padron Real Map of the world as it was then known.
In 1534 French navigator Jacques Cartier was looking for the Northwest Passage when he discovered the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence River. He would return in 1535 and sail the St. Lawrence to the city of Hochelaga (present day Montreal, more under East America following). Hernando de Soto landed in Florida near present day Tampa Bay with a large force and for the next 3 years explored and conquered the southeast of America, finally discovering the Mississippi River (more under Eastern America).
St Augustine Florida was settled by Spain in 1565 to buffer a settlement by French Huguenots in Fort Caroline, present day Jacksonville. And in 1584 Sir Walter Raleigh explored Roanoke, present day North Carolina and in 1585 returned to set up a colony (more on these in Eastern America). Unlike future endeavors to settle and live and farm, these pre 1600 settlements were to buffer other countries advantages to trade and act as posts from which to privateer. Spanish settlements were bases on which to exploit the locals and local resources.
Early Spanish settlements in the Caribbean Isles and South and Central America had 2 objectives; convert to Catholicism and exploit the riches which could be plundered and sent back to Spain. The Pizarro conquest of Peru and Cortez’ conquest of Mexico are two good examples of this. As the century progressed, the reformation moving away from “Popish Rome” control then added another incentive for European powers to be at odds with each other for the reformed also included conversion to Protestantism, the penalty for non conversion to one or the other often being death. English, French, and Dutch decisions in the Americas was to offset the Spanish Naval superiority. Unfortunately for Spain, the loss of much of the Spanish Armada in 1588 to England was to tip the balance of power by 1600 from Spain controlling all of the Americas to French control of present day Canada and the Ohio and Mississippi River, Dutch control of present day NY, and English control of the Southeast and New England in the Northeast.
Scotland and England
In 1502 King James IV and Henry VII entered into the Treaty of Perpetual Peace in an effort to end the continuous off and on conflicts between the two nations. Under the treaty James IV is to marry Margaret Tudor, eldest daughter of Henry VII. A son is born to them who will eventually become King James V of Scotland. In 1507 King Henry VIII is crowned King of England.
In 1513 King Henry VIII declares war on France and invades them. King James IV decides to support France and marches to Northumberland and meets an English army at Flodden on 9 September, 1513. The English used both long bows and artillery against the Scots and then the two sides met in a medieval hand to hand combat battle which ended up with the Scots losing 10,000 men to the English 1200. King James IV was killed. Also William the 4th Earl of Errol and Lord High Constable died at the Kings side and John Hay, 2nd Lord Hay of Yester was killed in the battle and I expect many a Hay(s) of all social ranks died there, the feudal loyalty coming before country.
James V was an infant and various Regents and persons were vying for control and at 12 years of age he was crowned but in 1524 he was taken hostage by his stepfather and held for captive for 3 years but in 1528 he escaped and returned to power. Due to raids north and south by both sides the border region had developed into a lawless area with reivers on both sides plundering. In 1530 James imposed order on the bandit country as he solidified his control of Scotland. He married the French Kings daughter, Madeleine of Valous who died shortly thereafter. He then married Mary of Guise, their only child to live was Mary (Queen of Scots), born 1542.
In 1542 James V dies and Mary is crowned Queen of Scots and Marie de guise becomes Queen regent with many others vying for control. In 1544 King Henry VIII begins the “rough wooing,” cross border raids to entice an arranged marriage to his son Edward so Mary is brought to France for safe keeping as a result. She is betrothed to Dauphin Francis, Son of King Henry II of France. Henry VIII died in 1547 and his 9 year old son Edward came to the throne but he ruled only 9 years before dying. Mary I (Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII) rose to be Queen of England in 1553 but married Prince Phillip of Spain and returned the country to Catholicism. After a short reign Mary I died in 1558 and Elizabeth I came to the throne in England. She immediately reinstated the Church of England with her at the head.
In 1532 King Henry VIII separated from the Roman Catholic Church and formed an Episcopal (of Bishops) church with him at the head. The lands and riches of the Catholic Church now were in Henry VIII possession. John Knox was involved in the reformist movement and in 1546 got caught up in the take over of St. Andrews Castle by protestants in which a cardinal was killed. A year later it was taken back at the request of regent Mary of Guise by the French. Knox was imprisoned and banished to England in 1549 where he worked with the Church of England. When Mary I took over control of England he was forced to leave and went to Geneva to study.
Clan Hay divided on the religious issue but it has been written that many brothers chose opposing sides to save their lands and titles so the depth of belief versus political expediency is not known. That said, many held deep religious beliefs for which they were willing to die for. The northern Hay, the Earl of Errol remained Catholic and many in the southern lowlands reformed to Presbyterianism. We find reference to the Hays signing the reformation oath, In An Old Kirk Chronicle Waddell writes of the Covenant in Tyninghame (East Lothian), Scotland; “Lauders and Cunninghames, Jacksons and Warts, Kers and Hays, for one day at least lifted above their common toil and out of their jealousies and strife, exalted with a new enthusiasm and bound together by the sacred pledge.” (An Old Kirk Chronicle being a history of Auldhame, Tyninghame, and Whitekirk in East Lothian” by Rev. P. Lately Waddell, B.D. 1818)
In 1558 Mary married Francis, Dauphin of France and in 1559 he came to the throne of France but lived only one year. Back in Scotland in 1556 John Knox found that the reformation had taken hold in Scotland with many of the nobility supporting it which kept the Queen regent at bay. When summoned to Edinburg by the Bishops Knox had so many followers that his hearing was called off. Knox returned to Geneva but in 1559 came back to Scotland.
Summoned to Edinburg by the Queen Regent, Knox and the protestants instead went to the walled city of Perth. Preaching at St. John the Baptist Church Knox’s fiery sermon grew into a riot. A mob attacked the friaries and looted gold and silver. The Queen Regent offered to allow the protestants to leave the town and promised not to garrison it with French, but when garrisoned with those on the French payroll several nobles left her and joined the protestants. Knox based himself at St. Andrews and protestant reinforcements were expected coming in against the expected French response.
Knox asked Elizabeth I for assistance as the uprising grew across all of lowland Scotland. When French troops arrived in Leith the protestants retook Edinburg and in 1559 the Scottish nobility deposed Mary of Guise from the Regency. Her secretary, William Maitland switched sides and took over government administration and English troops then arrived. Mary of Guise died suddenly in 1560 which opened the door to an end of hostilities with both the French and English leaving Scotland.
The Scottish Parliament met to settle religious matters and they abolished the jurisdiction of the pope, condemned all doctrine and practice not of the reformed faith, and forbade the celebration of mass in Scotland. The church, pronounced kirk in Scots, was to be organized by Knox who chose a Presbytery system along democratic lines. Additionally, the system included plans for national education. In 1561 Mary, Queen of Scots returned to her throne and 5 days later attended mass. After a minor incident she issued a proclamation there would be no alteration on the current state of religion. She met with Knox and a contentious relationship ensued over several meetings over several years. With nobles support leaning towards Mary, Knox’s influence over political events waned.
In 1565 Mary married Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, a fellow Catholic, and this caused many Protestant Lords to rebel but the rebellion fizzled out. Lord Darnley demanded a Crown Matrimonial which would make him a co-sovereign of Scotland and sole ruler if he outlived Mary. Mary denied it. When she became pregnant the child was rumored to be her private secretary. Darnley, with a group of Protestant Lords murdered the secretary in front of the pregnant Mary. Darnley switched sides again and with Mary escaped to Edinburg. In 1566 she gave birth to Charles James, the future James VI of Scotland.
It was rumored that Mary was having an affair with the Duke of Bothwell. In 1567 Mary prompted Darnell to return to Edinburg. He stayed at a house in the city walls to recuperate from an illness and Mary visited daily, indicating a reconciliation. But in the early morning hours an explosion was heard and the house blown up and Darnley was found in the garden, apparently suffocated. Many suspects were reduced to Bothwell and he was charged but not convicted. In 1567 Bothwell abducted Mary and they were married according to protestant rites, Bothwell having divorced his wife 12 days prior.
26 Scottish nobles revolted and Mary and Bothwell formed an army to meet theirs. Facing off, negotiations occurred as Mary’s army dwindled through desertion. Bothwell was allowed to leave the field and the Lords took Mary to Edinburg where she was imprisoned. She miscarried twins while imprisoned and was then forced to abdicate in favor of her son with James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray as Regent. In 1568 she escaped and raised an army but was defeated by Moray. Mary escaped to England and her supporters and those of Moray kept battling for control. Moray was assassinated and the next Regent, James paternal grandfather, was fatally wounded by Mary’s supporters. Several others follow and in 1579 James takes over himself.
In 1582 at 16 James is taken prisoner but liberated in 1583 and takes increasing control of Scotland. Kept under house arrest by Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots was eventually implicated in a plot against Elizabeth and beheaded in 1587. James married Anne of Denmark in 1589 and proved himself a successful diplomat and administrator, keeping the Lords in line and happy. In 1586 he signed the Treaty of Berwick setting himself up as successor to the childless queen of England.
While written history marks the major political and religious events in the stories of the leaders, the population lives the history. The continuous strife and conflict would leave the tenant farmer in precarious circumstances, barely able to survive, especially in the border region and western lowlands. Indeed, on the borders the conflict was so bad that farming was almost completely abandoned because of the raids by border reivers. Religious beliefs ran so deep that people were willing to die for them. Conversion for the farmer would usually follow the choice of the leaders. In every battle or conflict the tenant farmer would be called to duty such as at Flodden were we see 23 leaders falling, certainly hundreds of Hay’s also met their demise.
Ireland and England
In 1500 Ireland was under a Clan system and Catholic. England Was trying to assert control over the country by controlling the Clan Chiefs. Under these chief’s were lesser and sub chief’s who controlled smaller Clans and Septs, mostly Anglo Norman and Hiberno Norman Barons. In 1534 the Lord Deputy General of Ireland was the 9th Earl of Kildare and he was called to London under charges of disloyalty leaving his son, Thomas Fitzgerald, in charge. When rumors reached Thomas Fitzgerald that his father had been killed, Fitzgerald renounced allegiance to Henry VIII and swore allegiance to papal authority and he seized Dublin.
Henry’s new Lord Deputy, Sir William Skeffington, retook Dublin and then stormed Fitzgeralds stronghold. Lacking aid from Scotland or Spain Fitzgerald surrendered. Over the next year and a half the rebellion was put down and Fitzgerald and 5 uncles were hanged. Henry VIII solidified his control over the country and in 1541 declared himself King of Ireland reinforced by the Irish Parliament voting in a statute proclaiming him so.
When Elizabeth I came to power she was the Supreme Governor of the Church of Ireland, the Irish Episcopal counterpart to the Church of England. Papal authority was denied and Catholic Bishops and Priests were persecuted. She also placed English men in charge of affairs in an effort to control the Lords and Barons. This led to the Desmond Rebellion in 1569 and the rebellion continued to the Munster Rebellion in 1583 when the rebellion was finally put down with Desmond killed and his 300,000 acres of land escheated. To further Anglicization of Ireland the lands were to be broken up into portions up to 12,000 acres and English families would be settled, or “planted” on it. By 1598 4000 English people had been planted, the first plantation system.
Hugh O’Neill was orphaned when his father, Fear Dorcha O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone was murdered. He was raised as an English Gentleman. He attended court in London and the Irish Parliament and in the Munster Rebellion fought with the English. In 1587 Hugh O’Neill was given the Title of Earl of Tyrone and so like his father before him carried claim to the O’Neill Gaelic title from the north of Ireland and also the English title of Earl. He gained control of the O’Neill title in 1592 and with it control of all the O’Neill lands. In taking the title he had made himself into a ruthless and powerful warlord. Within his domain the peasantry were treated as serfs and he used their labor to generate cash flow which was then invested in muskets, ammunition, and pikes to arm his military.
Elizabeth was placing English Sheriff’s throughout Ireland. She was to grant the freemen, the tenant farmers, property rights to their land and the rent paid to the agents of the queen, thus removing the political and legal control of the Irish Lords. For O’Neill this meant that he could not muster and maintain his army. O’Neill was in contact with the King of Spain who was providing money, arms, and military advisors to him. This while he maneuvered to get himself named Lord President of Ulster. When he wasn’t so named he openly joined the rebellion against England.
O’Neill’s rebellion slowly turned into a self declared holy war for Irish independence. The English attacked Ulster and were repelled. The victory caused the rebellion to spread across all of Ireland. Open rebellion in Munster with the aid of O’Neill’s forces resulted in the Munster Plantation being completely destroyed. Native Lords who remained loyal to England saw their people side with the rebels. England, saddled with a war in the Spanish Netherlands was stretched thin.
The Earl of Essex arrived in Ireland with 17,000 troops but he had nothing but disastrous expeditions and ended up signing a humiliating truce with Hugh O’Neill. Walled up in defensive quarters, disease brought death and a reduction in Essex forces. He challenged O’Neill to a single combat to settle the war but O’Neill didn’t respond. The tide began to turn in the South when Munster was retaken. In the North the English employed a scorched earth policy figuring to deny the rebels food and reinforcements. And so as they went about they killed, burned, and destroyed all they came across sparing neither woman or child.
In 1601 the Spanish finally arrived with 3000 troops in Kinsale in the South. English Commander Mountjoy with 7000 went to meet them. O’Neill marched from the North to sandwich the English between two forces. Irish foot soldiers were met by English cavalry and routed and several hundred killed. The Spanish and Irish withdrew and the Spanish surrendered under terms, being allowed to return to Spain. The Irish then began to withdraw north to defend Ulster. The question now was what terms the Irish could get in their losing battle.
O’Neill was reduced to guerrilla tactics as the English armies now swept across Ireland burning and killing as they went. The destruction caused famine so deep that the locals resorted to cannibalism. O’Neill’s sub Lords began to surrender under terms and by 1603 O’Neill himself surrendered under terms to Mountjoy. O’Neill and the other lords received full pardons and abandon their Irish titles but keep the English ones. In 1604 Mountjoy pardoned all rebels. The war left England bankrupt. In addition, English and Welsh men conscripted to fight the war suffered 30,000 dead. O’Neill reported 70,000 dead in action. Over the countryside 100,000 died from war, disease, and starvation which was 10% of the population of Ireland then. The land lay waste, Ulster was totally destroyed.
European powers and rulers in 1600
In 1603 Queen Elizabeth died and James the VI of Scotland was crowned James I of England thus he controlled England, Scotland, and Ireland.
The Netherlands in 1500 were ruled by the Catholic Habsburgs from Spain and control eventually given to Philip II. Over time the country became more Protestant with the reformation and in 1566 mobs rioted and smashed churches and Philip II sent an army to restore order but instead it formed a police state. A popular uprising begins and William the Orange takes control of the uprising and war with Spain starts. William of Orange was assassinated in 1584 and the crown offered to Henry III of France and Elizabeth I of England but both decline but do send military assistance.
The provinces in the north were Calvanist and supported religious toleration. Those in the south were Catholic and supported reconciliation with Spain. In 1588 the seven northern provinces set themselves up as a republic with each province independent appointing their own stadholder and having one vote in a states general which needs to vote unanimously. The Stadholder in Holland and Zeeland is the son of William of Orange, Maurice of Nassau and he is appointed stadholder in 3 more provinces giving his a lot of control. He forms an army and navy and pushes Spain south.
In 1596 both France and England recognize the new republic but it won’t be until the end of the 30 years war and and peace with Spain that Netherlands is formally divided from the south Spanish Netherlands, today known as Belgium. The Stadholder in 1600 was Frederick Henry of the House of Orange.
France in the 1500’s was at war with Italy in the early part of the century and also impacted by the reformation starting mid century. French Protestants, called Huguenots, were brutally suppressed and France was in a state of civil war from 1562 to 1598 over religion until the Edict of Nantes supported religious toleration. The King of France was Henry IV of the House of Bourbon as we start the 1600s.
Spain in the 1500’s was building the first global empire and one of the largest in world history. Isabella I and Ferdinand II authorized the Columbus expedition in 1492. In 1516 Charles I, Holy Emperor was the King of Spain and the Holy Roman Emperor. In addition to vast European holdings, Spain conquered the empires of Mexico and South America and also the Philippine Islands among other locations. In 1556 he abdicated and Philip II became King of Spain (Rome went to his brother Ferdinand). Philip II married Mary I of England but her death prevented any control of that nation by him. War with the Netherlands and England in the latter half of the century drained his treasury and the Spanish Armada incident in 1588 weakened his navy. The plague hit Spain at the end of the century and Philip II died in 1598. The King of Spain in 1600 was Philip III of the House of Habsburg.
The decisions of these Monarch’s and their governments and their successors would greatly impact my Hays ancestors movement from Scotland to Ireland in the 1600s and to North America in the 1700s.
