The Ulster Scot Historical Society of Belfast’s map shows many members of the family settled in County Antrim. The family names, with many Johns and Williams, are found in fourteen places.
The organized Scots settlement in Ireland had begun in the first decade of the 17th century; but by far the largest influx occurred between 1660 and 1680. This Protestant group, primarily Presbyterian, was superimposed on a scanty Catholic population. The five counties of Ulster were divided into large estates parceled out to Royal favorites, who in turn settled the countryside with Scots’ Presbyterians. They were promised land to encourage them to immigrate but never received the land.
Family tradition has it that we became Presbyterians around the time the Presbyterian Church was introduced in Scotland by John Knox in 1560. When Charles I, King of England from 1625–1649, attempted to exercise jurisdiction over the Presbyterian Church, many Scots took refuge in the north of Ireland, in County Down and County Antrim. That is where the Historical Society found the Fairey Family.
Whatever the reason for the immigration, the settlement was an immediate success. The industrious Scots drained the fens of Antrim, built new towns in all counties, and in general forced the hitherto marginally productive land to put forth. There were, of course, drawbacks. The Scotsdid not own the land, holding it only on leasehold from English landlords. They were also barred by law from holding public office, voting, or even purchasing land. All of this was ostensibly based on the fact that only persons subscribing to the established Church of England were permitted those rights – and the Scots had no intention of changing faith. But without question, the religious restrictions were merely a tool by which the power and wealth were held inviolate by those in authority.
Restricted as they were, the Scots developed a large weaving industry, during winter months, turning out cloth on looms in their cottages and farming during season. So successful and competitive were they, that the English Parliament, under pressure from the English businessmen and weavers, passed legislation which killed the whole of the Scottish effort. By 1750, because of such restrictions, rising rents, a growing population, etc., social conditions demanded change. This was not forthcoming, and emigration provided the solution. It is estimated that half the population of Ulster migrated to America between 1763 and the outbreak of the American Revolution. Like those immigrants, our family took the next step to America. Early family records state that John William Fairey and his infant son Jesse William came over on the ship “Prince of Wales.”
Determined to select South Carolina’s new pioneers and not to accept any more convicts into the colony, Gov. Boone of South Carolina together with one John Rea (a large landowner), arranged with the Londonderry Shipping Company to provide two ships for transportation of persons desiring to emigrate to the colony. In August 1763, an advertisement appeared in the Belfast Newsletter (a newspaper), announcing that the “Falls,” registered at 200 tons, and the “Prince of Wales,” registered at 240 tons, would depart from Belfast, Ireland for Charleston in the Province of South Carolina. Terms and conditions required that all emigrants be of good character, Protestant, and in good health. Convicts, streetwalkers, and other vile, ordinary, and common persons were admonished not to make application. In addition, handbills were distributed by the shipping company’s sub-agents throughout the countryside of counties Antrim and Down.
Colonial Office records in London advise that the “Falls” departed from Belfast in the third week of November 1763, and the “Prince of Wales” in the fourth week. The ships arrived in Charleston on January 9, 1764 and January 20, 1764, respectively. The “Falls” carried 80 passengers, all of whom hailed from county Down; 26 of them had signed the terms of an indenture in response to a £5 offer by the shipping company. The “Prince of Wales” carried 175 passengers, all of whom came from county Antrim, but no mention is made of anyone in that group having indentured.
According to Irish records, Colonial Office records, and Charleston, South Carolina records, as well as newspaper reports in both Belfast, Ireland, and in Charleston in America, these two ships were the only ones to have sailed from Ulster and arrived in Charleston in 1764. Each issue of The South Carolina Gazette, in a continuous article titled “Marine Intelligence,” carried a listing of all ships to arrive in or leave from Charleston. Because copies of all issues of that newspaper for 1764 still exist, no one article is missing.
Royal Council Journals, now deposited in the Archives Building in Columbia, South Carolina, contain a partial list of persons “recently having arrived” from Ireland on the ship “Prince Henry” who applied for land grants and the payment of the Bounty. These persons are further described as being members of a dissenting congregation (Presbyterians). No mention is made of the ship “Prince of Wales” in those particular records. A cross check, however, shows that one John Egger was Master (Purser) and John Brown was Captain of the “Prince Henry” and, according to Irish reports and Henry Laurens’ Memoirs, these same men held the same positions on the “Prince of Wales.” The “Prince Henry” and the “Prince of Wales” were one and the same vessel!
No passenger list is known to exist showing those on board either the “Falls” or the “Prince of Wales,” but an examination of several collateral records accounts for all 80 on board the “Falls,” and no member of the Fairey family is included. Therefore, by elimination, they were on the “Prince of Wales.” Passengers on the “Falls” all hailed from County Down; those on the “Prince of Wales” from County Antrim in Ireland.
Royal Council Journals dated January 24, 1764, name members of the Barr family, Andrew Frederick, and one William McElroy among those persons on board “Prince Henry.” William McElroy is included in the J.D.D. Fairey account in connection with the date of the arrival of family members, along with two other names, William Nivenprincer and George Dowdall. McElroy is also mentioned in the Royal Council Journals as applying for a land grant, as having recently arrived in the province on board the ship “Prince Henry.” Not all on board made immediate applications for land grants; some preferred to wait until they could select locations or for other various personal reasons. John William Fairy seems to have fallen into this category.
According to three family accounts, John William Fairy with his infant son, Jesse, arrived from Ireland in 1764. One account states that he left his wife in Ireland intending to send for her later after having become established, but the others state that he was a widower. If he still had a living wife when he arrived in America, he would probably have left his infant son, Jesse, with her, and then, after having established a home, sent for them both. This history assumes he was widowed before he left Ireland with Jesse.
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The second of the five shiploads of new settlers to arrive that same year and month, was the “Pennsylvania Farmer,” bearing, among others, a James Fairy, who also appeared before the Royal Council to apply for a grant of land. This grant was approved for 150 acres on January 6, 1773, and delivered and laid out February 2, 1774 – it was also located in Colonial Craven County.
Because these Faireys did not come to South Carolina until 1773, almost a decade after John William’s 1764 arrival (according to family records) and after his 1771 land grant petition which he received in 1772, we know John William did not come with them. However, since they all probably came from County Antrim (the Belfast area), they may have been related. It is also possible they had contacts in South Carolina, but there is no record of this.
Taken from the Fairy Family History . . . http://www.orangeburgh.org/fairey-family
