David Crockett_ The Lion of the West - Michael Wallis [11]
Transplanted to these confiscated lands in the area of Northern Ireland known as Ulster, the predominantly Presbyterian Scots, including members of the Crockett family, brought with them a bitter dislike for the pope and the Roman Catholic Church, a dislike that turned to hatred after a few generations had occupied lands in Ulster. Irish attempts to isolate and eradicate the Scots caused them out of necessity to become more rigid and self-reliant. This created an intense animosity between the transplanted Protestant Scots and the disposed Irish Catholics, which led to the resentment and strife that continued for many years to come.17
Finally, the Scots-Irish had their fill of social, religious, political, and especially economic oppression. They boarded ships and moved to America in a mass migration of more than a quarter of a million people during the years 1718 to 1775. They settled in the backcountry of Pennsylvania, since the best land there had long been taken. Among the ranks of the stalwart Scots-Irish who left the North Tyrone–East Donegal area in the early eighteenth century and migrated to America were David Crockett’s grandparents.18 The Crockett family’s adventure had only just begun.
THREE
THE CROCKETTS ARRIVE
DESPITE THE BEST EFFORTS of legions of diligent researchers and historians, David Crockett’s genealogy has always been confusing. Even identifying which members of Crockett’s immediate family were the first to leave Ireland with other Scots-Irish and sail to America is an uncertain proposition.
In his autobiography, David Crockett writes: “My father’s name was John Crockett, and he was of Irish descent. He was either born in Ireland or on a passage from that country to America across the Atlantic. He was by profession a farmer, and spent the early part of his life in the state of Pennsylvania.”1
While many authors have accepted this statement as fact, some respected Crockett scholars disagree and contend that Crockett erred. It was actually David’s grandfather, also named David, and sometimes referred to as David the elder to distinguish him from his famous grandson, who was born about 1725 in Ireland, or aboard ship at the time of the migration across the Atlantic.2 The fact remains that the Crocketts came to America just as other Ulster Scots did, aboard a heaving and crowded immigrant ship.
Some Ulstermen and their families, weary of warfare and religious persecution, were so desperate for free and fertile land that they paid their way by signing on as indentured servants. But first they had to survive the dangerous Atlantic crossing, which, depending on the winds, could take anywhere from three weeks to three months. Not only were the ships overloaded, but rations were short, the food vermin-ridden, and the water stagnant. The entire vessel, especially lower decks, reeked from the stench of dysentery, vomit, sweat, and rot. Every soul aboard suffered from lice infestations and a multitude of other maladies. Hunger and thirst were constant, and some passengers died by drinking salt water or their own urine. Burial at sea was particularly difficult; survivors had to watch the shrouded corpses of loved ones cast into the sea. The despair and tension often erupted into brawls, even between family members.
Yet, even with all the horrors that had to be endured aboard ship, the weary and bedraggled passengers believed they had arrived in the Promised Land when the journey to American shores finally ended. Immigrant ships docked at various ports of entry, where enticing advertisements