During The 1700’s, there were many people emigrating from the British Isles; so
too were many families from Ireland. The John Milligan Family from County Down,
Ireland, was just one of the many Milligan branches that made its way to the shores of
America in 1771.
As John Milligan I stepped ashore in New Castle, Pennsylvania in the 20
th
year of
his life, his beginning on this continent seemed humble; he made it to a new beginning.
Almost as if his Ol’ Ma and Da were shinnin’ down their countenance from
heaven above, John Milligan made it across the turbulent North Atlantic Sea where one
night, during a storm, the sea claimed his family’s Bible. All he had left of Ireland now
were the memories of his youthful past and the ever present Irish brogue that filled his
words.
The articles that follow are of the new beginnings that John Milligan and his
branch of the Milligan Family experienced here in America. This true telling of his story
takes us through the early years of his life in America; first living in Pennsylvania for two
years after he arrived, then moving to the North end of the Shenandoah Valley to
Berkeley County, Virginia where he lived during his experiences as a Revolutionary War
Soldier. His story is taken from his own words.
Then, in the second article, the Milligan Family continues through the early
1800’s history of American Expansionism to a new Frontier west of the Mississippi River
with the Biography of John Milligan’s name sake and son, John Milligan II who made his
way to the new Missouri Territory of 1816 which later, in 1819, after the Missouri
Compromise, became the Arkansas Territory. This article follows the John Milligan II
family from 1795-1799, through the Antebellum Years, 1840’s and 50’s of Northeastern
Arkansas and John Milligan’s Family through their Civil War history.
As a descendant of John Milligan II and at the request of my own Grandmother,
Goldie Bell Milligan and Aunt Mary (Milligan) Carlson years ago in the 1960’s, I, like
many in our Family, have become somewhat of a family historian and I want to share the
story of our Milligan Family to all who have a wish to discover and know us.
For the descendants of these two men, the articles following this pre-amble will
give you a very good idea of who your great grandpa’s really were and the lives they
lead.
For me personally, these articles will keep the memory of these men, alive within
me as I wanted to remember them by the TRUE telling of their stories. I hope you
remember them this way as well.
Best Regards,
Thomas L. Milligan
7th generation of John II |
