MACDUFF/DUFF Time
period ca. 1746 My 8th
generation back great grandfather was SAMUEL DUFF who was born between
1715 and 1720. He and his extended family are first found in 1767 Tax
Records in Rowan County North Carolina, American Colonies. We
believe he arrived between 1746 and early 1760s, and that he was one of
the two Samuels DUFF who fled Scotland in September 1746 after being
identified as Jacobites and participants in the battle at Culloden. (We
understand from oral history that they went to stay with family in
Northern Ireland until they could safely leave there for the Colonies. We
know a William DUFF was Captain of a ship that sailed from
Scotland/Ireland to the Colonies during that time.) Only 'one'
record has been found that fits his time period. We 'think' he is one of
the 36 children born to Patrick DUFF and either Ann Innes or Mary Urquhart.
Our Samuel is believed to have had a grandson named Arthur DUFF who was a
physician in Scotland ca. 1769, city/place unknown. The
sons and sons-in-law of Samuel proudly served during the Revolutionary
War, as did men we believe were his brothers, Shadrach DUFF killed at
Guilford County Court House, Greensboro, North Carolina; and David DUFF
who died at Kings Mountain. Almost all who were not too infirm
served in some capacity during that time. Samuel
and Margaret DUFF's descendants now number well over 10,000 in the USA,
and they pioneered into the wilderness of this vast country, fighting
Indians and nature for a piece of land and freedom to be and do as they
wished. My line extends from Samuel and Margaret's son William and
wife Agnes Thatcher DUFF- they moved with parents, siblings and neighbors
from NC to Washington County Virginia during the 1780s; their son; John
and Sarah Hanes/Haynes DUFF; who moved with their family of eight children
and relatives, to Monroe County (Cherokee Territory) Tennessee in 1824; to
their son's family who moved to Lyon and Marshall Counties in Kentucky.
There my line stayed and that is where I was born in 1937. Others moved
into newer territories in Illinois, Missouri, Texas, Colorado, Oregon and
California at very early dates in those state's formations. I
have been researching the DUFF family for over 35 years and have never
discovered that important link to a family in Scotland. Oral history says
that Samuel Duff was disowned by his family so they would not be accused
of supporting the Jacobites and could save their vast estates and wealth
from seizure by the King of England. Some of these holdings are
still in the descendants of the DUFF families in Scotland. The
original Land Grant given to Samuel DUFF for service in the Revolutionary
War is still owned by his descendants in Virginia. I have stood
where they winnowed wheat, where the huge dog-trot barn built of huge
virgin timbers, still stands. I have one of the square cut nails
they made to secure the shingles to the roof. The roof is long rotted
away, but those timbers still stand proud and strong, protected by a metal
shield built above, not touching the building, to protect it from the
elements. Sheep are raised on this land as they were then, along
with horses, fowl and grains. To say I am PROUD of being a DUFF is
an understatement.. I am very proud to be their descendant! From
a loving, great, great, great, great, great, great, great,
great-granddaughter; who has now added two more Samuel & Margaret DUFF
generations through my two sons and their children!
Bonnie Duff-Smith, Texas USA |
