John Kilgore

Notes:

Source: Clan Kilgore, by John K. Johnston, 1925, - 1994 Edition with Index, edited by F. Clay Kilgore, booklet found at the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, Library & Archives Division, Pittsburgh, PA (11-2003).

Kilgore Family in Pennsylvania

John Kilgore

In America, the Kilgores have proven themselves to be a thrifty, energetic and representative people, loyal to church and state; and engaged with credit in the fields of agriculture, literature, theology, science and art. The family has played an honorable part in the formation of our great Republic, and has always assisted in maintaining its existence; by furnishing a generous list of names to the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican, Civil, Spanish-American and the late World War (I). Nor has the Kilgore family been less active in peaceful pursuits, having filled positions of public trust with honor, and in common with other true lovers of their adopted country, the American branch of the clan has contributed to the growth and progress of this great Republic by loyal service in the professions of engineering, law, medicine, pedagogics, art and theology.

From well authenticated sources, it is learned that the American branches of the Kilgour (Kilgore) clan first settled in the lower part of Chester County, Pennsylvania, about 1730; remaining there until 1737, when they moved to Cumberland County, PA. The names of these pioneers were John Kilgore and his three sons: James, Charles and Samuel, who came from Dongaheady, County Down, Ireland, where James Kilgore, the father of John, was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church in 1707.

John Kilgore died in Chester County, March 7, 1731. He had a numerous progeny, and from his hearth-side his family emigrated, and in time spread over many parts of the United States and Canada. His will was recorded May 9, 1731. Some five years later James Kilgore and his wife, Elizabeth Jack Kilgore, and his brothers, Charles and Samuel, moved from Chester County to the Cumberland Valley, taking up land in Newton Township, near what is now Newville, Cumberland County.

Children of John Kilgore and ?? : James, Charles, and Samuel.

Source: The Kilgore Workbook, Brothers James, Charles and Samuel Kilgore of Pennsylvania - and their Descendants, compiled by Rita H. Davis, 1996. Archived in the Cumberland County Historical Society and Hamilton Library Association, L.2000.119.01.

John married . [Group Sheet]

1. James William Kilgore was born in 1701 in Donagheady,County Down,North Ireland; died in 1781 in Of Cumberland,PA.
2. Living
3. Living

Notes:

Source: Cumberland County Historical Society, FF-569-KILGORE

Two-page chart( see Bonny's Kilgore File)

According to the 'Clan Kilgore' as compiled & written by John Kilgore Johnston, Tyrone, PA (1927),

Kilgour was an ancient parish in Fifeshire, Scotland, which lies to the north of the Firth of Forth. It is now incorporated with the parish of Falkland. The church of the ancient parish of Kilgour stood originally at Kilgore, two miles west of the present town of Falkland, and before the Reformation, belonged to the Priory of St. Andrews.

It is historically certain the the ancestral home of the Clan Kilgour was in the above mentioned parish, as the name is still common in that part of Scotland.

Why do we find them in Ireland? According to "Clan Kilgore" - "A branch of the Kilgour Clan was transported to Elset, Ireland, along with hundreds of other Scotchmen, by King James I in 1616, and later by Cromwell, who adopted this method of colonizing the Emerald Island with Protestants, in order to keep Catholic Ireland in subjection. This explains the rapid spread of the clan in Ulster, who never too kindly to the Land of their adoption, and the big emigration to America started a century or so later."

James Kilgour, b. c. 1635?, was a Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church of Donagheady (also spelled DONAGHADEE), around 1707, according to parish registers of that church.