My Great-Grandfather x 4, Hiding in Plain Sight

Your ancestors may be waiting for you to rediscover them. “I think you get help from the other side sometimes,” says genealogist Carol Moore in Elon, NC. “I think they want to be found.” At a library in Alamance County, NC during Scottish-American History Month, I stumbled upon a display of books, quickly perused the index of one of the books for “Buie” and re-discovered my fourth great-grandfather: Archibald Buie, born in Jura, Argyll, Scotland in 1705. His surname in the Gaelic was Buidhe, meaning “yellow (or fair-haired)” sons or a cept of the MacDonald clan.

He arrived in Wilmington, or Brunswick, NC in September, 1739 at the age of 34, as part of a large group of 350 Highland Scots. He and his family were the first documented Buies to set foot in the New World, according to the Directory of Scots in the Carolinas.

They made their way with other settlers from Argyll, Scotland to a colony 100 miles west of Wilmington, in what was then Cumberland County. The trip over must have been arduous, because his father, Neill Buie (1680-1739), my fifth great-grandfather, died shortly after arriving at the age of 59. His mother, Christine McPherson (1685-1740), my fifth great-grandmother, apparently never recovered. She died a year later at the age of 55.

“When Archibald Buie set foot on colonial North Carolina soil at Wilmington in 1739, he faced numerous challenges,” the directory states. “His only possessions were the clothes on his back and the small articles he and his family could carry. Although he had a limited knowledge of the English language, the Scot felt definitely more comfortable conversing in his native Gaelic. The land and the climate were different, and he knew that adaptation would be necessary in order to make a living and provide for his family.

“But not everything was an adversity. His friends from Jura – the McCraines, the Clarks, the McDougalds, and the rest – were with him and would endure the same hardships.”

Yet there is no documented evidence they tried to recreate the Scottish clan system in America.

“And the government was with him, for in February, 1740, ‘as an encouragement to Protestants to remove from Europe to this Province”, the Colonial Council exempted persons arriving in groups of forty or more from paying any public or county tax for ten years.

“After the landing, Archibald and his family boarded small pole boats or long boats and made their way up the Cape Fear River for about 100 miles. The journey lasted over a week. Archibald finally found the place he wanted where bottom land faced the Cape Fear near the mouth of a small stream.

“Archibald returned to Wilmington with his family in early June, 1740, and presented his petition for land grant to the Colonial Council, and after payment of fees, he received the title to 320 acres on the southwest side of the Cape Fear in the vicinity of what would be later called Buies Creek.

“The same procedure would be followed by the other Buies who later came to the Cape Fear region; however, for convenience, they would be allowed to deliver their requests for grants at county courts rather than be compelled to travel to the council.

“Archibald was granted 200 more acres on the north side of the Cape Fear in 1746.”

His brother Daniel was also granted land. There were probably more Buies in this group since only 22 of the 350 persons received land grants.

Buies Creek branches into three streams coursing northward with the left, center, and right forks known as Archibald Buies Creek, Daniel Buies Creek and Hugh McCranies Creek.

The land is now in Harnett County. “Archie Buie was the first settler of what was to become the town of Lillington, his nearest neighbor was William Stevens, 3 miles away.”

‘Hypocrites!’

The Presbytery of Inverary in Scotland sought to establish its presence in the Argyll colony of North Carolina. In 1755 the Synod of Philadelphia sent Rev. Hugh McAden, who could not speak Gaelic, to North Carolina on horseback to the Scots. After preaching to a group of Highlanders at “Bluff” Hector McNeill’s home, he wrote “the people understood scarcely a word I said – the poorest singers I ever heard in all my life.”

A few days later McAden held a service at Alexander McKay’s home on the western frontier of the Scotch settlements and preached “to a small congregation mostly of Highlanders, who were very much obliged to me for coming, and highly pleased with my discourse. Though alas, I am afraid it was all feigned and hypocritical.” After the service the Scots remained around the house all night, drinking and cursing, and kept poor McAden awake.

CapeFearClans.com recounted:

“The first known religious history of this section was in 1757 when a Scotsman, Rev. James Campbell, came on infrequent trips from his pastorates at Long Street and Bluff Churches in the Cape Fear Section, and preached in a grove at McPhaul’s Mill. During the Revolutionary period, he spoke openly in favor of freedom of the colonies which displeased his Scottish listeners, still loyal to the King, to such an extent that he was forced to leave. He went to Guilford county but returned in later years where he died and is buried across the Cape Fear River from old Bluff Church. After the Revolution, occasional ministers passed through this section but the first recorded sermons in Red Springs were by a Presbyterian, Rev. Archibald Buie in 1821, and in that same year by “Father” John Monroe, a Baptist divine from the Spring Hill community. These and later services were held in a log hut near the present Liberty Manufacturing plant–years were to pass before a frame building was built in the center of a fine stand of pines near the hotel and used as a school and place for recreation as well as a church.”

Gaelic-speaking Slaves?

“The language barrier was real,” the directory states. “As early as 1739 some of the “Argyll Colony” leaders had requested “a clergyman who can speak the Highland language since… many cannot speak any other language”. A well-to-do Scotswoman disembarked from a ship in Wilmington and overheard two men conversing in Gaelic. Turning around, she was horrified to discover they were Negroes. Another friendly black lady greeted her with “Ceud mile failte” meaning “one hundred-thousand welcomes.” The Scotswoman initially reeled in horror because she concluded that her predecessor Highlanders had turned dark-skinned because of the Carolina climate. Apparently, however, even the slaves spoke Gaelic.”

Jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie certainly believed in the Gaelic influence of his music, according to The Scotsmen newspaper.

Founding a Church

In 1756, Rev. James Campbell, a Gaelic-speaking Presbyterian minister, settled on the Cape Fear. On October 18, 1758, several men, including Archibald Buie, contracted Rev. Campbell to preach to the Scotch settlers. He dutifully ministered for many years, at first in the homes of Roger McNeill and Alexander McKay on alternate Sundays. In 1758, he began preaching at John Dobbin’s house on Barbeque Creek. Finally, in 1765, a log church was built near the Dobbin’s house known as Barbeque Church.

Nourished by the sermons at the old Jura church at Kilearnadil, Archie Buie and several others were quite knowledgeable of doctrine. They were known as “the Little Ministers of Barbeque.”

Archie was a founding member of Barbecue Creek Presbyterian Church, now near Sanford. It was founded in 1758 and still exists. On a church sign is the Gaelic phrase: CEUD MILE FAILTE, meaning “One Hundred Thousand Welcomes!”

Since distances for the pioneers to the church were so far, one wonders how often they attended worship together. These were the days of circuit-riding ministers on horseback, staying with families in small communities until those communities were able to build a church.

Calvinist or Spartan Worship 

The church historian Rev. James D. MacKenzie described the worship at the first Barbeque church: “The building had no chimney, for the worshipers inside did not believe in being comfortable in church. There was no piano or organ there, for they did not believe in using instrumental music in the worship of God. Nor were there hymnbooks. They didn’t believe in hymns either. Their hymnbook was the Bible, and they sang the Psalms of David which had long before been rendered in verse form and set to music. There was no carpet down the center aisle and no upholstered pulpit furniture. But the love of God was there, and this was sufficient for them.”

Archie Buie was an elder in the church. According to Duane Meyer’s 1960 book, The Highland Scots of North Carolina 1732-1776, “the elders of Barbecue Church, noted for their piety and knowledge of doctrine, were Gilbert Clark, Duncan Buie, Archibald Buie, and Daniel Cameron.” Duncan Buie (1726-1819), my fourth great-uncle, was one of Archibald’s sons. But Ann Allen, Archie’s wife, was not his mother. His mother is not listed in Ancestry.com, and there is very little information on Ann Allen.

Famous, Legendary Neighbor

The legendary Flora MacDonald attended the church while she lived in North Carolina from 1774-1779. She, as well as most of the Highlanders in the area, were British loyalists, former Jacobite supporters of Bonnie Prince Charlie against England’s King George. After losing the Battle of Culloden in 1745, if they wanted their lives spared, they vowed, with a sword at their necks, eternal loyalty to the crown. Ironically, because of this pledge, they backed the losing side 30 years later as well. The Highlanders fought on the side of the crown at the first engagement of the revolutionary war, the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge in February, 1776.

In Same Business — Trees and Turpentine  — For Six Generations

My grandfather x 4 and his male family members and descendants for more than 100 years were in the tar, pitch, and turpentine business, made from longleaf pine. North Carolina “became famous throughout the world for its turpentine products,” The News and Observer reported in a retrospective, “NC Provided Turpentine to the World“: “The process was simple, and not costly. All that was needed was a tree, an axe, a bucket and crude dipping paddle, and a workman with a strong back.”

But once the pine trees in Harnett County were bled dry, Archibald’s descendants were required to move on.  “With the exception of the introduction of copper stills in the distillation of crude tar, no improvement was made in the industry in 200 years,” The News and Observer reported. The industry died in the first decade of the 20th century after most of the state’s trees were bled dry, and succumbed to the national demand for lumber. Over the last century, North Carolina’s forests have largely disappeared.

Scot or American? 

Archibald Buie died in Barbecue Creek, NC in May, 1781 at the age of 76. He did not live to see the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, with the Treaty of Paris. I wonder if he ever felt like an American, or was he still a loyalist to the crown, and a Gaelic-speaking Scotsman?

His brothers included Gilbert (1705-1781), Donald (1707-1750) and Daniel (1709-1779); he had at least one sister, Mary (1708-death unknown).

Four Sons, Two Daughters, Nine Slaves

His survivors included sons Gilbert, Duncan, Archibald, and possibly John (born 1735/39);  daughters Catherine and Mary; slaves Peter, Charles,William, Glascoe, Hannah, Jersie, Rachel, Jack, and Fannie.

Descendants

I am six generations removed from him. I am descended from

• his son Archibald (1735–1811), born on the Isle of Jura. 
• his grandson Archibald (1774-1857), born in Cumberland County and died in Marion County, near Dillon, SC.
• his great-grandson, Archibald “Archie” Smith Buie (1819-1895), born near Dillon, SC and died in Robeson County, NC.
• his great-grand grandson or my grandfather, William Graham Buie (1864-1947), born near Dillon, SC and died in Wagram, NC.
• his great-great-grandson or my father, John McNair Buie (1910-1988).

Gravestone located in Harnett County, NC

Archibald Buie is buried in McAlester Family Cemetery, on the grounds of Keith Hills Golf Course in Buies Creek. This record contradicts others. It says he died in 1774, not 1781. It asserts his daughter was Janet Buie McAlester (b. 27 Sep 1758 – d. 11 Nov 1824). It says his wife was Mary McCraine Buie, who died in 1765. It says his sister was Catherine Buie McCraine, born after 1700 and death date unknown. 

Drill Deeper:

• Times-News article on Elon Genealogy and Family History Center.
• Journey to Jura, Scotland where my Buie ancestors came from.
• North Carolina Scots, the heritage of my father’s family.
• Scottish-American History Month
• Archibald Buie, born in Jura, Argyll, Scotland in 1705.
• Archibald Buie profile on Geni.com.
• NC Provided Turpentine to the World (News and Observer, 2014)
• Christine McPherson (1685-1740)
• Barbecue Creek Presbyterian Church
• Old Jura church at Kilearnadil
• Duane Meyer’s 1960 book, The Highland Scots of North Carolina 1732-1776
• Flora MacDonald
• Gaelic-speaking slaves of 18th century America. “I have been to Africa many times in search of my cultural identity, but it was in the Highlands that I found the cultural roots of black America. We as black Americans have lived under a misconception. Our cultural roots are more Afro-Gaelic than Afro-American.”
• New study underway into Jacobite links to the slave trade
• The Highlanders who helped build America
• The Argyll Colony Plus blog and membership organization.
• The Argyll Colonist List of 1739.