A Trek into Appalachia

Notes on the article Mountain Climbing in the SEPT 2011 issue of Family Tree Magazine.


-the majority of early Appalachian settlers were English or Scots-Irish. The English came as immigrants from northern England or colonists from neighboring regions. Scots-Irish immigrants formed tiny communities in the "backcountry" as early as 1718, after finding no welcome in major colonial ports. Some claim that Scots-Irish independence, resourcefulness, and emphasis on faith and family are the foundation of Appalachian cultural values.

**guide to Scots-Irish genealogy** shopfamilytree.com/product/digital-issue-family-tree-magazine-december-2010

-many Appalachian families have Cherokee heritage, but it often wasn't talked about. Cherokee who remained in Appalachia after 1838 had done so by hiding. Fear of removal and then lingering social stigma led many families to keep their heritage quiet or invisible well into the 1900s.

**cherokeeroots.com
**archives.gov/research/native-americans

Civil War

Officially, a Union State, Missouri was internally divided between its pro-slavery sentiments and its obligation as a Union State. Never officially entering the Civil War, Missouri fought its own internal battles between the Federal Officers and its own State Forces.

The last record that I can find in regards to my McGuire ancestors is the 1860 U.S. Federal Census, listing Charles McGuire living in Pemiscot County, Missouri. Also living in this same area were his brother Robert, his sister Elizabeth and her husband Isaac Gibbs, and Charles' parents Patric Edward and Grizza.

Food for Thought

During the Civil War the residents of Pemiscot County, with few exceptions, favored the cause of the Confederacy. Guerrilla warfare was carried on, lawless gangs plundered the property of citizens, and there was a total lack of law and order in the county ... There are nine townships in the county, namely: Braggadocio, Butler, Coutre, Gayoso, Godair, Little Prairie, Little River, Pemiscot and Virginia. (--Encyclopedia of the History of Mo., 1901, Conrad, Vol. 5, pp. 83, 84, 85.)