Although, there are maritime records from 1635 showing that two young men named Heron sailed for America, there is no evidence in colonial records to establish their exact connection to our family or their lineage. This lack of documentation arises primarily from a lack of records in the early settlements. Prior to 1700 there were almost no business or governmental records. Even the grants of land by the English Crown to original settlers were seldom recorded, because there was so much land available that everyone just settled where they wished, at least for the first few years.

It is believed that the two Heron’s from 1635 were, in fact, family members and that our lineage in America begins with them, but there are no confirming records to validate this conjecture. The earliest verified family member in the colonies is William Elisha HERRIN, born in 1730 either in North Carolina or Pennsylvania. His parents are not verified, but it is believed that he was one of the first born sons following the migration of the post 1700’s.

The greatest influx of HERREN family members into the colonies occurred between 1710 and 1730. This corresponds to the German migration in response to William Penn’s efforts to bring colonists to Pennsylvania. Part of these new settlers, including our forefathers, entered through Philadelphia into Pennsylvania; through North Carolina around Pamlico Sound; and through Charleston, South Carolina following the Charleston River inland.

There are entry records from Pennsylvania showing German arrivals named Herorn (obviously an error) and Herring (one of the spellings given to the family name in the colonies but shown later without the “g”) being administered the “Oath of Allegiance” for naturalization purposes. There are records of John and Thomas Herron, both of Ireland, arriving in North Carolina as well as an entry for Francis Herron of Ireland entering Pennsylvania in 1734.

The immigration of German families to the colonies continued at such a pace that the Pennsylvania legislature enacted a law to restrict their number. The law was vetoed by the governor and the migration continued. It is estimated that one third of the residents of the colony were German by the start of the Revolutionary War. About half of the HERREN family arrivals were to Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania records from 1790 show the family in York County near present day Dover; in Dauphine County; farther west in Franklin County; and on the extreme western edge of the colony in Westmoreland County in Derry and Armstrong Townships. This movement follows the pattern of most of the Pennsylvania settlers as they pushed west and southward along the great valley of the Alleghenies. By 1727, German and Scotch-Irish settlements had been established along the Shenandoah, south through the passes of the Blue Ridge Mountains into the Piedmont section of Virginia and into North Carolina to the upper branches of the Tennessee River.

Members of our family followed this route and each branch can be traced by the spelling of the name according to the last vowel. In York County, farthest east, we find Jacob Herren as well as John and Henry Herrin. Dauphin County lists Michel Herrin. Franklin County shows Patrick and James Herran along with John Herren. And in Westmoreland County, just east of Pittsburgh, we find James, William and Margaret Herron. Margaret is apparently a widow since she is listed as the head of the household with three sons and a daughter. This Pennsylvania listing indicates that that no less than four family members immigrated to the colony, since all four regular spellings of the name are shown. In addition, most of these same given names are found later in Tennessee and Kentucky.

In North Carolina, the earliest settlements were along Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, but these settlements were actually extensions of the Virginia colony. When the German, Scotch-Irish, and French Huguenots began to arrive around 1730, most of the coastal areas were already populated. The new colonists followed the rivers inland all the way to the Allegheny Mountains where they met their countrymen moving south from Pennsylvania and northward up the Holsten River from South Carolina. The interior of North Carolina was considered crude and backward by the Virginia and coastal settlers, even to the point of being called “Lubberland” by many, but settlers continued to find the land attractive. By the beginning of the Revolutionary War, some three hundred thousand people were living in North Carolina.

The census of 1790, actually the first real record of population in the new nation, shows the HERREN family primarily in Rowan; Guilford, and Mecklenburg Counties. Around Greensboro in Guilford County, some twenty listings are noted:

Anthony

Bridget

David

Elisha

Frederick

George

Henry

Jacob

Jane

Jesse

Joel

three John’s

Michail

Mitchell

Villy

Samuel

Sarah

Simon

William

It should be noted that all of this group spelled the name Heron and that the record has a notation that the name was changed from Hering.

Even thoug our forefathers disagreed with other settlers in the colony and wanted to leave, they apparently supported the American cause, because many answered the “call to arms” during the Revolutionary War. Records show that Private Allen Herron of the Salisbury District of Mecklinburg County served as a militiaman with the North Carolina Militia. Certificates #5912 and #4915 were issued to him as payment for service plus he drew a pension of $74.34 beginning March 4, 1831 when he was 76 years old.

Hugh Herron of the Salisbury District and James Herren of the Newbury District also served with the North Carolina unit and there are certificates of payment to both of them.

Matthew Herron enlisted as a corporal in Herron’s Company on July 8, 1777. He was taken prisoner on July 1, 1778, released from prison and mustered out of service in November 1779, and then re-enlisted in Major Murfree’s Company of the 2nd North Carolina Battalion. The story of “Old Matt” is one of the “family lore” tales that has been handed down, only in the family version he escaped from the British rather than being released as the military records indicate.

Another family member, Armwell Herron, served as a Captain with the 10th North Carolina Battalion from April 18, 1777 to June 1, 1788 when he retired. And last but even more relevant to Western Kentucky family members, John Herron who helped to settle the area just north of Nebo in Hopkins County in 1800 was a veteran of the Revolution. He was the oldest Revolutionary War pensioner living in Kentucky when he died in 1840 at the age of 102. He is not shown in North Carolina military records, but is believed to have served with a unit from Pennsylvania.

Several family members who fought in the Revolution received grants of land for their service instead of payment, and many of these are shown in land records of both Tennessee and Kentucky. It must be remembered that neither Kentucky nor Tennessee was a state at the time of the Revolution and that the Colonies of Virginia and North Carolina claimed land to the west as far as the Mississippi River. Most of these land grants for military service were disputed, especially in Kentucky, because the boundaries were unclear and the same land was “granted” several times to different people. Court records abound with cases concerning land granted to more than one peron and many “family feuds” began as a result.