CHAPTER 22: HISTORICAL NOTES

SCOTCH-IRISH IMMEGRATION

In his remembrances Dr. William Henry Hyten says that the HYTEN family is Scotch-Irish. What this means is that they have their roots in the Ulster part of old Ireland that is now Northern Ireland. The name Scotch-Irish or Scots-Irish didn't actually appear until the 1890s. [1] The first Ulster immigrants called themselves "Ulster Irish", "Northern Irish" or "Presbyterian Irish".

When James IV of Scotland also became James I of England in 1603 he had to deal with the long history of animosity along the border between his two realms. His solution was to ‘encourage’ border residents to move to Northern Ireland. When the northern Irish chiefs were removed in 1607, immigration was made much easier. He replaced the chiefs with Scottish overlords who brought over Scottish lowland farmers to work the land. Between 1620 and 1642 nearly 120,000 colonists (mainly Presbyterian Scots) arrived in Ireland to help undertake “…the reduction to civility of the Gaelic speaking.”

This system began to fall apart when Cromwell overthrew the English throne in 1641. During the English Civil Wars of 1642-1652, Scottish captives were often sold at £15-20 per head as indentured laborers. Between 1654 and 1660, over 3000 persons with four to ten year periods of indenture were shipped from Bristol alone.

When Charles II restored the throne in 1660, it was as a Catholic throne. Things didn’t improve for the Ulsters because his 1661 Corporation Act forbade the Presbyterian religion that the Scotch Ulsters embraced. By the time of the 1689 Irish uprising life had deteriorated in the north.  The 1703 Test Act further isolated Ulster Presbyterians.

In Scotch-Irish Family Research Made Simple it says that beginning in 1717 there were five great waves of Scotch-Irish immigration from Ulster, in what is now Northern Ireland, to the American colonies (1717-8, 1725-9, 1740-1, 1754-5, and 1771-5). Fueled by Scotch-Irish immigrants, Pennsylvania grew from 24,500 to 85,700 between 1710 and 1730.

Those who left were mostly all Presbyterians who moved more because of drought and depression than because of religious persecution.  Typically they were very poor people who settled on the frontier. Western Maryland was such a place at the time.  By 1790 there were over 250,000 here, the second largest group of immigrants in America.

The Presbyterians weren’t the only religious groups seeking refuge in Maryland. In the mid 1680s France’s Louis XIV revoked religious tolerance laws resulting in many Huguenots being driven out of their French homeland. The Turpin family supposedly had French roots.

MARYLAND HISTORY

Reading a history of pre-revolutionary war Maryland, I made the following observations as they relate to the HYTEN Family History:

In the 17th century between 1500 and 2000 indentured servants arrived in Maryland each year. Being indentured meant owing a set amount of time of your labor in exchange for the cost of your passage. In reality it meant a year or two or even more of slave labor. Occasionally a cash settlement was given at the end of the indenture period but not always. Records show that the Cawoods and Darnells both came to America from England as indentured workers.

Passage from Ulster to America cost just £5, but it was still outside the reach of these dirt farmers. This meant that many were forced to indenture themselves in order to make the move. This is likely the case for the HYTENs. They show up in the Maryland records in the 1700s, but not as land holders.

On the whole the settlers of Maryland had to work hard to earn a living.  Most grew tobacco, the value of which changed greatly from year to year.  On top of that the earliest settlers had taken the best land making it even harder on those arriving later. It was not unusual for people to move on in search of a better life. For many, especially those finishing their indenture period, that meant free land over the mountains to the west.

In the early days of settling Maryland (1632-1700) most of the activity was limited to the near East and West shores of the Chesapeake Bay.  Just after the turn of the century several new towns sprang up as waterside trading centers.  Among these in 1729 was Port Tobacco in Charles County just south of where the HYTEN name first appeared.  The August 31, 1776, records of Port Tobacco list Joseph Hyton.

In 1700 Maryland's population was 31,000 and in 1704 13% were black.  By 1760 there were 162,000 and in 1762 30% were black. It is said that the Hytens may have left Kentucky due to anti-slavery feelings so, earlier; they might have left Maryland for that reason too.

In 1770 just before the HYTENs first appeared in a census there were 220,000 settlers in Maryland.  In 1700 one third of the state's planters died in debt.  By 1770 this had improved to only 10% dying in debt.

The area where Josiah Heighton last lived in Maryland and where his four children were born is now Montgomery County.  When it was first settled in the 1740s it was referred to as the Monocacy Valley.  Daniel Dulany visited the area in 1744 and decided to make his fortune developing the area.  He took a patent on 20,000 acres and settled an agent, Thomas Cresp, there in a place that he called Fredrick Town, now Frederick.  By 1770 it had more residents than the capitol, Annapolis.  The area's rich loam soil attracted German immigrants and with them a minority of Scotch-Irish.   Apparently this Scotch-Irish segment included the Hytens, Darnells, Turpins and Caywoods.

Frederick County was formed in 1748 but, as of 1776, Montgomery and Washington Counties still hadn’t spilt off.  By 1787 there was a Montgomery County, and a bill of sale between Joseph Heighton and William Vears was recorded there. In the 1790 Montgomery County census there were listed two Heighton families among its residents, Josiah and Joseph.

Less than 30 miles away from Frederick is Hagerstown, where William Caywood Hyten is said to have been born.  Hagerstown is only about four miles from the Potomac River where  Stephen Henson Hyten is said to have swam as a youth. 

On the whole the settlers of Maryland had to work hard to earn a living.  Most grew tobacco, the value of which changed greatly from year to year.  It was not unusual for people to move on in search of a better life.

MONTGOMERY CO., KENTUCKY

William Hyten’s 1890 recollections say that he grew up in the 1820’s near ‘Grass Lick’ church outside of Mt. Sterling, KY. Today in 2001 that church still exists. Grassy Lick Methodist Church claims to be the oldest Methodist church in Kentucky. The present brick structure was built in 1856 and has a plaque outside commemorating its longevity.

Heading west on High St., the street on the north side of the Montgomery County courthouse, it is 4.5 miles out High St. and Grassy Lick Road to a T-intersection. The church lies just around the corner to the left.

Until the past ten years the hilly countryside around Mt. Sterling had been tobacco country just as was Charles County, Maryland from which Josiah Hyten had come with his family around 1797. Today, an occasional plot of tobacco still stands, but the land mostly lies fallow.

Heading back toward town two miles near where William said that his father purchased land, there stands today a modest farm on the south, a mansion-like house on the north, and a big church complex just west of that. It is easy to picture the entire area as it was in the early 1800’s as you drive the narrow winding road.

 The Beers and Lanagan “1879 Map of Montgomery County, Kentucky” doesn’t show any HYTENs owning property. They had all been gone at least thirty-five years by then. It does indicate several land owners whose names frequent the HYTEN Family Tree both there and later in Indiana ad Illinois. Using the Grassy Lick church as a reference point, J. McDaniel lived straight north. G.W. Goodpaster (a name from the HITEN Family Tree) was just east of him and C.O. Moberly and R. Goodpaster next further east. North of them was W.A. Boyd. In the far northern reaches of the county, five miles away, there was J. McDaniel, H. Caywood, J. Arnold, and W. Flanders.  S. Carrington lived about two miles ENE of town.

Today there are a lot of Goodpasters in the Mt. Sterling phone book as well as Darnells, Carringtons, Caywoods, McDaniels, and Boyds.

 

 

HARRISON COUNTY, KENTUCKY

 

Like Montgomery County, Harrison County was a thriving tobacco growing area until very late in the twentieth century. Today most of the hilly ground remains unused. Bourbon County, which lies between Montgomery and Harrison, is less hilly and supports a large thoroughbred horse industry.

CUMBERLAND COUNTY, ILLINOIS

Thomas Otho Hyten settled in Cumberland County shortly after the time that it became a county separate from Coles County in 1843. The county was named after the road that caused the area to grow. The Cumberland or National Highway first left Cumberland, MD, in 1817. By 1832 it reached Illinois on its way on to Vandalia, IL, and St. Louis, MO.

In 1838 the county was still mostly covered in joint grass eight to ten feet high. In the hilly southern part of the county there was coal and clay for brick making. Though somewhat swampy in places, the north was rich farmland.

In 1855 the Illinois Central Railroad established a station at what was in 1856 to become the village of Neoga. Less than a mile west of the present village limits is where Thomas Otho Hyten had settled about 1853. By 1884 Neoga Township was the wealthiest in Cumberland County owing to its prosperous farms. At the time it was the largest city in the county with over 2000 inhabitants but it was never to grow so now it is just a sleepy little village.

HYTEN FAMILY CEMETERY NEAR DANVILLE, INDIANA

Long ago Arlene Hyten-Rainey had told me about finding the grave of William Caywood Hyten on a farm in Indiana. I knew where it was but never visited it until my son Mark Bonham Hyten moved to Indianapolis. My first visit in 1997 came with the help of Jon Flathers who lives just down the road on what’s left of his family’s farm dating from the same 1800s time frame as the Hyten farm. I returned to study the site in November of 1999.

In his 1894 remembrance William Henry Hyten says that in October 1833 his father, William Caywood Hyten, moved his family from Montgomery County, KY, to Hendricks County, IN. Upon arriving in Indiana, they wintered with his in-laws, the Darnells. In the spring William Caywood bought 80 acres for $1.25 per acre. On it he built a log home 18 x 26, 1 1/2 stories high “ ... well put up for the times.” Later he bought the neighboring 80 acre tract from a man named McPeters for $2.50 per acre.

This property is located in what is now the southeast corner of the intersection of Washington St. and 300 N road, three miles north of the courthouse square in Danville, IN. While the property is clearly identifiable on the 1878 Middle Township plat map, it is not listed in the HYTEN name.  The southern portion of the original 80 acres is listed as belonging the J. F. Arnold, who is the second husband of Johnson Allen Hyten’s wife, Juliann Darnell Hyten. Across the 300 N road is the Flathers farm and property owned by J. C. Moberly. William Caywood’s daughters Sarah and Mary married Moberleys. Also in the area are farms owned by J. Gorrell, F. Hardwick, J. Caywood, W. McDaniel, S. McClung, Parker, W. Gentry, Depew, and Todd, all names connected to the HYTEN family tree. Also of interest is the name Cox, that of the wife of the yet unconnected William Hyten.

The southern-most forty acres of the original Hyten farm is now owned by Steve Myers. The farm’s address is 2867 Washington St., Danville. IL. From the deed, the cemetery part of it is described as “Section 27, T16N, R1W. 50 rods south of road 300, and 50 rods east of road ...(Washington St.)” In our November 21, 1999, discussion Steve told me that he bought the property in three sections, the southern 20 acres, followed by 11 acres next to the road, and finally 9 acres east of that. The original or southern section of 20 acres supposedly contains the cemetery but in fact it lies in the southeast corner of the final 9 acres. The Myers home sits near the middle of the site, well off the road in amongst the trees that cover the eastern portion of the property.

When I first visited the site in 1997, Myers had a twenty-foot wide path mowed back from the house to the edge of the cemetery which sat in the woods. The lawn-like grass is lined by a natural wooded setting, home to deer, owls, and other wildlife typical of the region.

Apparently hunters had used the cemetery as a camping grounds as a fire pit was evident and rubbish abounded. Myers cleaned the area up, leaning fallen tombstones against trees and occasionally hacking down the weeds. I was surprised that he had gone to that much trouble given that he really had no idea who the HYTENs were. In fact in 1999 he still wasn’t aware that there were HYTENs in nearby Brownsburg and Indianapolis.

I went to the cemetery with the intention of conducting a sort of archeological dig, or more accurately shallow surface probe, hoping to find other stones near the surface. I found the site thickly covered with leaves but fairly clear of the briars and brush I remembered from two years previous. After raking the site, looking closely, I saw that the four standing stones were in a north-south line about 28 feet long. Allowing about four feet per grave as indicated by the two stones which stood adjacent to each other, there should have been 8 graves.

At the south end of the line is a six foot high monument with one side dedicated to William Caywood Hyten and the other to his wife Eliza Darnell Hyten. Sitting on a 24” cube is a 16” square x 8” high chunk of hard marble with “Mother” on the north, “Hyten” on the west, and “Father” on the south. On the north side of the 37” obelisk that tops the monument is written “Eliza / (/=change lines) wife of / W.C. Hyten / died / Sept. 30, 1871 / after / 42 ys. 10 m.”. Below are six lines of writing that are totally obscured by weathering. It appears that there is some sort of carving above the name Hyten but it, too, is illegible. On the south, with some difficulty, you can read “Wm. C. Hyten / died / June 22, 1882 / after / 92 ys. 5 m. ??”. Again there appears to be six lines below.

Immediately next to the monument, to the north, is an 18” diameter tree. Buried on the other side of it, in what I would guess to be the next grave position, I found the top half of a soft marble headstone, 9” w x 11” h. Below a design, that I guess is a sheep, is written “David P.H. / son of / J.A. & J.J.”  On the other side of the tree leaned a similar piece of stone 15” tall with  “Died / June 15, 1851 / Aged 6 ys. 9m. / 23 d”. It wasn’t till I talked to Mrs. Myers that I realized these were part of the same stone. It was then that I could see “Hyten” across the break line. Against the other side of tree was leaning a small marble with the initials “D.P.H.H.” carved on it.

The problem is that I have no record of a David P.H. Hyten. His birth date would seem to have been about August 24, 1844, but this is well before Johnson Allen Hyten and Juliann’s marriage. Still, it must be a son which they didn’t register.

After a blank space in the grave line there is a half of leaning limestone headstone, 12’”w x 13” high, which was badly eroded. Poking around, I found the top half just below the surface. Protected from the elements, it was in better condition. The rounded top had a nice design possibly of flowers and a sheep. The line which might have the  names was eroded but might have begun with MIL; at least the L is clear. It’s quite a stretch but this could be William Caywood Hyten’s long lost sister Milly.

Next to that grave there are then two “open” spots, though I found a twelve inch diameter boulder just below the surface in the position nearest the stone. The soil all around was quite rocky, but I had the feeling that the top of each grave was “protected” by rock fill.

Against the big tree is also a large marble stone with a rounded top on which is carved “Armilda / dau’t of/ W. & E. Hyten / died / July 16, 1857 / aged / 35 yr. 3 m. 22 d.” Below that five lines of writing of which I could make out only the following: “all flesh is a ? ? all ? /glory of man as His ? of grass(sic) / the fl.. ? ? ? ? / but th.n and of the ? ? / ? ? ? ?.

Off the line, against a smaller tree, is the 15”w x 31” high limestone headstone of “Johnson Allen Hyten, died, Oct. 23, 1856, aged, 30 ys. 7 m. 28d.” These later two stones could have occupied any of the three open spots.

At the north end of this line is a limestone headstone without legible writing on it though it appears to have its top half missing. Finally is a monument for Thomas Flathers, Jon’s grandfather. Thomas was married to Mary (Polly) Darnall, the sister of Willam Caywood’s wife Elizabeth (Eliza) Darnall.

As I was leaving I asked the Myers to burn off the area. When I return, I’ll rake the area with hope of finding more stone fragments. Maybe I’ll also rig up a probing rod in order to get deeper than the six inches my spade penetrated. Also I’ll spray herbicides to keep the weeds down. I did cut back limbs enough so that Steve might be able to mow some in the area.

Steve Myers indicated that HYTENs were welcome to visit the site even if he is not at home. It would probably be appropriate to phone ahead to let them know you are coming. I have his unlisted number.

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[1] In Scotland it is rude to call a person Scotch because that refers to whiskey. They prefer Scots.