I got this off the internet a couple of years ago:
McGARRAH GENEALOGY

I have traced my own ancestry back through seven generations to an individual, who spelled his name
McGarraugh, and who immigrated to Pennsylvania in the mid to late 1700's. I was able to verify several details by
contacting and eventually visiting some distant cousins who still live in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately the
information ends there for me so far but I am interested in other branches of the family and particularly in any
links to Europe. I have pursued this to a small degree with an Internet friend in Scotland but the trail is still cold. I
would enjoy corresponding with anyone else interested in McGarrah family history. Here is a summary of my
research to date.

MCGARRAH FAMILY ORIGINS

Two facts become quickly apparent when researching the McGarrah (originally spelled McGarraugh)
family name. First, it is not very common, and second, it is easily misspelled. A July, 1995 search of
the UK telephone directory on CD ROM revealed only one McGarrah (no McGarraugh's) in southern
England although there were a few close spelling variations scattered around the area. A search of
similar CD ROM records for the US produced less than two hundred McGarrah families. I hope to
analyze these records in more detail as time permits. Some of the spelling variations (errors?) that I
have encountered include: McGara, McGarah, McGarry, McGarragh, McGarrough, McGaraugh,
and McGerraugh. .Analyzing the McGarrah name yields some basic facts that apply to many Scottish
surnames. The prefix "Mc" is a shortened version of "Mac" and comes from the Scottish Gaelic
language meaning "son of". The Highland Scots (Celts) used "Mac" to denote a family's ancestral
history as in MacPherson or "son of the parson". The Lowland Scots tended to simply add "son" to a
surname to achieve this meaning as in Johnson or "son of John". A possible interpretation of the
name McGarraugh might be "son of Gareth, Garret, or Garrick". According to some reference books
the meaning of these names can be interpreted as "mighty spear maker", although this is nothing but
a guess on my part. Additional research will hopefully reveal more accurate origins of the
McGarraugh family name. The patriarch of my family line in the United States of America was Joseph
McGarraugh. Unsubstantiated family tradition indicates he emigrated from county Ulster in northern
Ireland in the 1750's or 1760's. His son Robert became a well documented pioneer Presbyterian
minister so it can be reasonably deduced that this was Joseph's probable religious background also.No
documented evidence has been found to date linking Joseph McGarraugh to Ireland or Scotland.
Thus, unfortunately, the trail of my verifiable family history ends in Pennsylvania in the late 1700's.
The following general information is, however, of interest and probably applies to the McGarraugh
family in Europe.

THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN IRELAND

The term "Scotch-Irish" is not, as might be assumed, an indication of a mixed Scottish and Irish
descent. It is properly used as a distinctive race name for the descendants in America of the early
Scotch Presbyterian emigrants from Ireland. These Scotch people, for a hundred years or more after
1600, settled with their families in Ulster, in the northern part of Ireland. Beginning in the early 1700's,
after having long suffered under great civil and religious oppression imposed by England, they moved
on to a more promising home in America. The Scotch-Irish were distinct from the Scots who came to
America directly from Scotland. The Scotch-Irish were Scotsmen who had been induced to migrate to
Ireland to occupy lands which had been confiscated from Irish rebels during the reigns of Elizabeth and
James I of England. This migration began in 1610 and lasted for many years. It resulted in the Scotch
occupation of Ulster, comprising nine counties in northern Ireland, and the Scotch subsequently
became the predominant race throughout that region. These Ulster colonists, who were Presbyterians,
held their ground against the Irish Catholics and eventually prospered despite the handicap of a barren
soil and the necessity of border fighting with the native Irish. .After about a century, the English
government destroyed their prosperity by prohibiting the export of their woolens and other products,
and at the same time threatening their religion by requiring them to pay tithes to the Anglican Church.
As the long term leases of the Scotch-Irish ended after 1710, the English landlords steeply increased
the rents. Rather than sign new leases, tens of thousands of tenants embarked in successive waves of
emigration. The documentation of actual emigration from Ulster is very meager and incomplete. Few
records have been preserved of the departure of vessels from ports in Scotland or Ireland before the
1800's. Passenger lists that have survived owe their existence more to accident than design. Most of
the passenger ships sailing from Ireland during the eighteenth century were bound for the Quaker
colony. Pennsylvania thus became the center of the Presbyterian settlements in the New World. The
emigrants to Pennsylvania usually landed at one of three ports, Lewes, Newcastle (both in Delaware,
which was then a part of Pennsylvania), or Philadelphia. Presbyterian congregations had been
established in these towns before 1698.

THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN PENNSYLVANIA

The Scotch-Irish were often coldly received at the colonial ports and most of them pushed out to the
edge of the American wilderness which at that time in Pennsylvania was roughly defined as the land
west of the Allegheny mountains. There they occupied the land with scant regard for ownership,
believing that "it was against the laws of God and nature that so much land should be idle while so
many Christians wanted it to labor on and to raise bread." They also fought the Indians as earlier they
had fought the Irish. The Indian title to the lands in south western Pennsylvania, comprising the
present counties of Fayette, Westmoreland, Allegheny, and Washington, was purchased by the Penns
in 1769, and was thus opened for development. This was the area into which Joseph McGarraugh and
his wife decided to settle in the 1770's. Reverend James Finley organized Rehobeth church in 1771 in
Rostraver township, Westmoreland county, between the "forks of the Youghiogheny" river (the area
near its junction with the Monongahela). Family records say it was in this church that Joseph's son
Robert received the call to become a minister.

THE SCOTCH-IRISH IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

At the time of the American Revolution there was no government-sponsored army. Most able bodied
men instead belonged to a unit of their state militia. The militia was similar to our present day national
guard and consisted of citizen-soldiers who were available to protect the population as needed. Even
though the American people distrusted a standing army, Congress realized one was necessary and
created the Continental Army in 1775. After the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, the pure Scots
and Irish tended to be Loyalists while the Scotch-Irish, who hated the English, almost all became
patriots. Throughout the war the Continental Army complemented rather than supplanted the state
militias. It was in the 3rd Battalion of the Westmoreland County Militia that Joseph McGarraugh
served from 1778 to 1783, holding the rank of Major. This group was also known as the "Rangers on
the Frontiers". Greeting enemy forces with small scale warfare and maintaining internal security were
only two of the militia's functions. They also fought Indians, garrisoned forts, guarded prisoners of war,
collected intelligence, rallied the war weary, transported supplies, and battled British foragers.

The preceding limited overview of the Scotch-Irish and their history establishes a reasonable perspective from which to view the McGarrah family ancestors.



MCGARRAH FAMILY ANCESTORS IN AMERICA

MCGARRAUGH, JOSEPH (1745 - 1810) emigrated from Ireland to America
+MOORE PENNOCK (PINNICK), JANE (ELIZABETH) (1747 - 1809)
. PENNOCK (PINNICK), unknown (? - ) child by first marriage
. MCGARRAUGH, ROBERT (1771 - 1839) pioneer Presbyterian minister
. +STILLE, LAVINA (1773 - 1837)
. . MCGARRAH, JOSEPH (1797 - 1848) last generation of our line in Pa
. . +MCCAIN, ELEANOR (REBECCA) (1793 - 1827)
. . . MCGARRAH, HULDAH (1820/22 - 1826) aged 4/6 years
. . . MCGARRAH, ROBERT ALEXANDER (1825) aged 3 months
. . . SON - NO NAME (1826) aged 2 days
. . +CALLEN, MARGARET (PEGGY) (1795 - ?) moved to Illinois 1854
. . . MCGARRAH, ANGELINE (? - ) died at 10 years
. . . MCGARRAH, JOTHAM (1830 - 1897) had D.A.R. descendants
. . . MCGARRAH, LOUISA (1832 - )
. . . MCGARRAH, HARVEY REDRICK (1838 - 1911) Civil War veteran
. . . +GRAVES, LAURA M. (1846 - 1908)
. . . . MCGARRAH, JOSEPHINE L. (1870 - ) married Frank Griffin
. . . . MCGARRAH, LEWIS HARVEY (1871 - 1960)
. . . . +MARSHALL, JANE MCCLURE (1881 - 1964)
. . . . . MCGARRAH, BRUCE HARVEY (1915 - ) only child
. . . . . +VAUGHAN, ESTHER AILEEN (1920 - 1993)
. . . . . . MCGARRAH, RONALD HARVEY (1942 - )
. . . . . . MCGARRAH, ROBERT VAUGHAN (1953 - )
. . . . . . +STARK, MARY ELAINE (1958 - )
. . . . . . . MCGARRAH, ROY STARK (1983 - )
. . . . . . . MCGARRAH, PATRICIA ANN (1988 - )
. . . . MCGARRAH, LULU M. (1872 - 1927) never married
. . . . MCGARRAH, HARRY W. (1877 - 1941) divorced, no children
. . . . MCGARRAH, GEORGE W. (1881 - 1936) never married
. . . . MCGARRAH, VESTA L. (1888 - 1941) never married
. . MCGARRAUGH, HANNAH (1799 - 1876)
. . MCGARRAUGH, JOHN D. (1801 - 1889) descendants still in Pa
. . MCGARRAUGH, JANE (1803 - 1874)
. . MCGARRAUGH, ELIZABETH (1805 - ) died in infancy
. . MCGARRAUGH, POLLY (1807 - 1854)
. . MCGARRAUGH, THOMAS (1809 - ) died in infancy
. . MCGARRAUGH, LAVINA (1814 - 1881)
. . MCGARRAUGH, ROBERT (1812 - 1860)
. MCGARRAUGH, MARY (1775 - 1799)
. MCGARRAUGH, ELIZABETH (1778 - 1855) had D.A.R. descendants
. MCGARRAUGH, JOSEPH (1785 - 1822)
. MCGARRAUGH, THOMAS (1780 - 1860)



TIME LINE OF MCGARRAH FAMILY HISTORY

1745 Joseph McGarraugh senior is born in Scotland or Ireland (est)
1760's Joseph senior emigrates to America (est)
1769 Joseph senior marries Jane Moore (Pennock) in Pa. (est)
1771 Robert McGarraugh is born in Bedford Co. Pa. (later Fayette Co.)
1778-83 Joseph senior serves as Major in the Rangers of the Frontier
1795 Robert marries Lavina Stille near Fayette Co. Pa.
1797 Joseph McGarrah is born in Fayette Co. Pa. in September
1803 Robert is licensed as Presbyterian minister
1804 Rev. Robert and his family move to Armstrong Co. Pa.
1807 Rev. Robert helps found the Concord church
1809 Joseph senior makes his will on Jul 3rd
1810 Joseph senior dies on Feb 11th in Fayette Co. Pa.
1822 Rev. Robert becomes minister of the Concord church
1824 Joseph marries Eleanor McCain in Armstrong Co. Pa. (est)
1825 Joseph's son Robert Alexander dies at age 3 months
1826 Joseph's un-named second son dies at age 2 days
1826 Joseph's daughter Huldah dies at age 4 - 6 years
1827 Joseph's wife Eleanor dies in Armstrong Co. Pa. at age 34
1829 Joseph marries Margaret Callen in Armstrong Co. Pa. (est)
1837 Rev. Robert retires as minister of the Concord church
1837 Rev. Robert's wife Lavina dies in Armstrong Co. Pa. on Dec 25th
1837 Joseph and Margaret move to Venango Co. Pa. in May
1838 Harvey McGarrah is born in Venango Co. Pa. on Jul 10th
1839 Rev. Robert dies in Armstrong Co. Pa. on Jul 13th
1848 Joseph dies in Reno Pa. in September
1854 Harvey and his mother and siblings move to Marshall Co. Il.
1859 Harvey travels as a teamster to Denver Colorado and back
1861 Harvey enlists in the Union Army on Aug 16th
1863 Harvey is wounded in siege of Vicksburg on May 22nd
1864 Harvey is promoted to Sergeant on May 21st
1866 Harvey is discharged from the Union Army on Jan 21st
1869 Harvey marries Laura Graves on Oct 31st
1871 Lewis McGarrah is born near Sparland Il. on Jun 5th
1908 Harvey's wife Laura dies on Feb 18th
1908 Harvey enters the National Home D V S on Oct 13th
1909 Lewis marries Jane Marshall in Peoria Co. on Mar 20th
1910 Harvey is discharged from the National Home D V S on Sep 14th
1910 Harvey enters the soldiers home in Quincy on Sep 17th
1911 Harvey dies in Quincy Il. Aug 15th, buried in Peoria Aug 18th
1915 Bruce McGarrah is born in Peoria Co. Il. on Apr 11th
1941 Bruce marries Esther Vaughan in Canton Il. on Nov 20th
1953 Robert McGarrah is born in Canton Il. on May 15th
1960 Lewis dies in Canton Il. on Dec 9th
1980 Robert marries Mary Stark in Peoria Il. on May 24th
1983 Roy McGarrah is born in Peoria Il. on Dec 28th
1988 Patricia McGarrah is born in Peoria Il. on Mar 18th
1993 Esther McGarrah dies in Canton Il. on Jun 14th (age 72)



Here is a genealogy link to Jeff McGarrah, who is descended from a different line.
Please send any comments via e-mail to rmcgarra@concentric.net. Thanks!

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ROBERT W.
McGARRAH

Born: March 3, 1837, in Armstrong
Co., PA
Died: March 21, 1865 in
Andersonville Prison and is buried
there.
Corporal of Company F, 103rd
Pennsylvania. Mustered December 7,
1861, captured in Plymouth, NC, on
April 20, 1864, and taken to
Andersonville Prison where he died 11
months later.

Contributed by Craig R. McGarrah, his brother's
3rd great grandson.

JOSEPH
MACGARRAUGH

b: July 23, 1732 in County Ulster,
Ireland
d: 1810, near Brownsville, PA (?)
Served in Revolutionary War under
Colonel Cook and as a Major in
command of the Westmoreland County
Raiders in the French & Indian Wars.

Contributed by Craig R. McGarrah, his 5th great
grandson.