An Irish branch of a German family migrating to America may sound complicated, but it really is not. The Irish connection of our family actually refers to Northern Ireland rather than Ireland, per se. The fact that our family is found in Northern Ireland is even more evidence the origins of the HERREN’S was in some other location. The reason is that few, if any, of the people who settled Ulster, Northern Ireland were natives, or even Irish. They were Protestant rather than Catholic, which is the religion of Ireland. And they were relocated rather than being native to the area.
When the first HERREN family members migrated to England, probably in the early 1600’s, they most likely joined a “trading company” in order to obtain passage to the colonies. In exchange for their transportation they became “redemptioners” and were obligated to the company for a specific number of years, usually seven, or until the fees were repaid. It is obvious that our family joined the Virginia Company because that trading company was also responsible for the settlement of Ulster, Northern Ireland.
The Ulster Settlement began about the same time as the colonization of Virginia. Under King James I and King Charles II, the border between Catholic Ireland and Protestant Scotland was the source of constant problems. In an attempt to reduce tensions and avert hostilities, Northern Ireland, Ulster in particular, was established as a buffer zone between the two factions. Settlers in the area became known as Scotch-Irish, even though they were not Irish. Primarily, they were descendants of Scottish clans who lived in the Lowland areas plus German and French Huguenot Protestants who had joined the Virginia Company to become colonists.
The involvement of the Virginia Company within Ulster occurred because some of the financial backers of the company were Scottish. This group of backers became known as the “Fifty-nine Scottish Undertakers” and they were rewarded with land grants in Ulster. The condition for granting the land was that the area be settled by Protestants, preferably Scots. To comply with terms of the agreement they settled persons of various nationalities who had become redemptioners with their trading company. Members of the HERREN family were apparently among this group and became the Irish Branch of the family.
One of the stories that has been handed down in our family “lore” concerns the migration from Ireland and seems to substantiate this historical record. Family “lore” or verbal history is usually fairly accurate, even though, it sometimes embellishes to some degree. Our family story tells of the group sailing for the colonies aboard two separate ships. One of the vessels encountered a heavy storm and was forced to return to England for repairs. Upon returning to England, the family was resettled in Ireland, and it took seven years for them to accumulate enough money to make another crossing.(14) As you can see, our story closely approximates the historical account of the settlement of Ulster, especially the use of redemptioners as settlers. Our account was reportedly told by one of the grandmothers in the family and handed down from generation to generation, and it varies only by the personalization.
Irish family records are scarce, particularly about direct lineage, but it is well recognized that the Irish branch used the Herr(o)n spelling of the name for the most part. Information that is available from Ireland is generally found in Presbyterian Church records and among the lists of Scotch-Irish who migrated to America.
Church records show many familiar family names that also appear in colonial records. For example, Hugh Herron of Nagherally Down was a ruling elder of the church in 1700; James of Newry Down, a ruling elder in 1711 and James of Venecash an elder in 1710; Sammuel of Lisburn and Antrim was a witness in 1704 and a ruling elder in 1706, while Sammuel of Ballee Down was an elder in 1706, and yet another Sammuel Herron of Sea Patrick Down was a petitioner in 1716 and a commissioner in 1718; and William of Menterburn and Tyrons was an elder in 1710. Note that there are duplicate listings of both James and Sammuel. These are probably the same persons since terms of office do not overlap and they are listed separately. Most of these same names appear later in North Carolina records.
These so called Scotch Irish settlers began migrating to the colonies in large numbers just after 1700, about the time the second group of German immigrants began to take advantage of the Immigration Act of 1709, which granted naturalization and English citizenship to foreign protestants coming to America. Our family was a part of both the Scotch Irish and German groups since some came from Ireland some directly from Germany. The ones from Ulster, North Ireland apparently came afterward since they settled primarily in North Carolina and the first groups came to Pennsylvania. Records show, however, that both groups communicated and started appearing in several colonies.
In effect, our family came to America as Pennsylvania Dutch, although, they were German, and not Dutch; and as Scotch Irish though they were not Irish and certainly not Scottish.