Patriot Ancestor - History of the family of Major Thomas Blair of Guilford County, North Carolina

I am a descendant of Major Thomas Blair who married the widow, Jane Ruth McCuiston in about 1763 in the part of Rowan County, North Carolina that became Guilford County in 1771.  I descend from their daughter, Martha Blair, born February 12, 1771 in Guilford County, NC, who married her first cousin, John Blair, born October 22, 1767 in the part of Rowan County, NC. that became Guilford county in 1771.  John and Martha Blair married on April 27, 1790 in Guilford County, North Carolina, and soon moved to Logan County, Kentucky, and then to Tennessee, first settling in Davidson County where her brothers, John Calhoun Blair and Samuel Ruth Blair had settled about 1785.  Samuel Ruth Blair also participated in the American Revolution, and in his War Pension File there is an affidavit stating that Martha Blair was a sister of Samuel Ruth Blair. 

Patriot Ancestor - William Adams

Parents:      William James Adams and Lydia Martin
Birth:          1733, County Antrim, Londonderry, Northern Ireland
Death:         November 27, 1799, York County, South Carolina, USA
Wife:           Margaret Ewart
Parents:       Robert Ewart and Catherine Catherwood
Birth:           1746
Married:      North Carolina 1765
Death:         1824
Children:     Francis Adams, Kathrine Adams (Carrigan), Jean H. Adams (Campbell),
                    Robert E. Adams, James S. Adams, William Adams, Jr., Rachel Adams,
                    (Barnett), Margaret Adams (Watson), Joseph R. Adams, Elizabeth Adams,
                    John B. Adams

In 1740 William Adams age 7 moved with his family from Ireland to the American Colonies. They were part of the waves of Presbyterian Scots-Irish immigrants moving to America. These Scots-Irish immigrants were seeking religious freedom from taxation by the British Government for support of the established Anglican Church of England and the liberty to allow them to practice their Presbyterianism. This Scots-Irish migration of nearly 500,000 to the American Colonies, by the time of the American Revolution, would become a major part of its military core. Unoccupied prior to 1730, the Virginia and Carolina Piedmont areas were settled by these people as they began to come down the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road from Pennsylvania and other parts of America . By 1750 they had moved into North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.