It was the Scots, who lost one of the clan wars that involved 'Bonnie Prince Charles,' that fled to North Carlolina in the 1700's.
In North Carolina they made their living logging, ship building and repitching ships from the boiled down resin from the native pine trees. It was from these 'pitchers' that North Carolina gets its nickname,
The Tarheels.I may be descended from some of these folks?
I love this stuff. It's reassuring somehow to be able to see yourself as a link in a long chain that actually goes back into those historical events. It makes the places and dates bear directly on who and where you are today.
I've managed to trace my surname back to the Alsace (now part of France, but THEN, a part of Germany) around 1690. There the trail ends.
What's interesting is that the very first one of "us" had the same name I now bear. How's that for a link to the past!