Immigrants Samuel and Nancy Wauchope of Ulster

The Immigrants Samuel and Nancy Alexander Wauchope of Ulster

It is well believed that the vast majority of today's Walkups in the United States are descended from immigrants Samuel and Nancy Alexander¹ Wauchope. Facts are sketchy, but Samuel was most likely born in about 1698 and was probably from Strabane, County Tyrone, Ulster (south of Londonderry). Other versions hold he was born in Carrick-Fergus, Ulster or in Scotland². As tradition holds, three Wauchope brothers from Scotland³ who served in General Munro's army settled in the area after the Revolutionary wars (see Pedigree of the Wauchopes in Donegal⁴⁾. They have been shown to have no connection either by family tree or Y-DNA testing to the other known Wauchopes of Ulster or Scotland (including the Walkups of Massachusetts or the Wauchopes of Niddrie). The Muster Roll of the Scots Army in Ulster of 1642 afford four real possibilities (i.e., Captain Robert Wauchope, Private Patricke Wauchope, Private Robert Wauchope, and Captain James Waghop). One James Wauchope was later found listed in the Hearth Money Rolls in 1665 and as a tenant in Castlefinn in 1663. Samuel would most likely have been one of their grandsons then. He is said to be buried near Lexington, Virginia, having died at about age 90. He had supposedly moved near his youngest son Arthur. Another account says he remained in Pennsylvania. His wife, Nancy Agnes Alexander, was said to be of French Huguenot stock and born in about 1702. She either was from Carrick-Fergus and/or they left from there in 1724. Another version states they were married in Scotland. Reports indicate they first settled in Pennsylvania. On to their purported (i.e., not proven)⁵ children:

Joseph [Stuart]⁶(alternately found listed in official records as Vachub, Wahob, Wacob, Vauchob, Wachob, Waughope, Waughub, Wauchut, Waughup, Warhop, Vohub, Wacheb, Wahub, Vahub), the first son, was reportedly born in Ulster in 1719. He died on Feb. 6, 1787, in Rockbridge County, Virginia. He was said to have married Rebecca Jane Graham, daughter of Christopher Graham, in about 1740. These Grahams are known to have come from Canonbie, Dumfriesshire, Scotland (just southeast of the Wauchope Water and east of the former village of Waughslee). It follows these Wauchopes likely came from that vicinity as well, and took their surname from this ancient placename (The family tree is replete with other surnames that were found in the surrounding area.). They settled at the Calf Pasture in 1754 near the border of Rockbridge County and Augusta County, Virginia (Calf Pasture or Rocky Spring Settlement, Augusta County, founded in 1746). By 1761 he owned three pieces of property in the settlement totaling 931 acres. In 1768, Joseph, wife Rebecca, and grown sons Christopher⁷ and Robert went to Greenbrier County, (West) Virginia. This was shortly after the end of the French and Indian War in 1763. [Note: The John reported as a son of Samuel and Nancy who married Margaret Fulton Blair was actually the above Joseph's son.]
James Alexander, the second son, was born on November 15, 1724, traditionally on the ship to America. The John Caldwell (a Presbyterian minister) party reportedly landed in New Castle, Delaware (then Pennsylvania) during the Fall season of 1727. In about 1743, John Caldwell founded the Cub Creek Church in Charlotte County, Virginia. James, who came to own land there in 1747, moved on to the Waxhaw Settlement near the border of North and South Carolina in 1752. James married Margaret Nancy Pickens, daughter of Cub Creek's Israel Pickens, in 1756 or 1757. She was born in 1740 and died on December 22, 1793. James was a noted captain in the Revolutionary war. He died on February 1, 1798. His original headstone has a shield with a wheat garb on it, which would lead one to believe that the Samuel and Nancy Wauchope line of the USA is indeed of the Niddrie Wauchopes. DNA testing shows they are not, via the male line anyway.
Elizabeth was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in about 1725. She married George McWhorter Sr. and lived at the Waxhaw Settlement.
Margaret (Mary) was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in about 1727. She married William Gay 2^nd (he died in 1755) and settled at the Calf Pasture. His father, William Gay 1^st, fought at the siege of Londonderry, Ulster. She married her second husband, William Hamilton, in 1757.
Florence was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1730. She married John Graham and settled at the Calf Pasture. He was the brother of Rebecca Graham above.
Arthur, the last son, was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1734. Or he was born in Ireland (likely Ulster) between 1740 and 1750, according to census records (if this is the same Arthur). He died in 1834. He first married Elizabeth Lockbridge. He then married Esther Mackey on August 8, 1797, who was born in about 1776. He had children with both spouses. Arthur early owned a farm along the Cowpasture River and later settled near Lexington, Virginia. His property there was where the legendary Virginia Military Institute now stands. He is also thought to have been connected to an Andrew and a William Wauchope.

Notes:
1. Of interest to many Walkups of this line, in some posted family trees Nancy is demonstrated to be a direct descendant of famed Scottish King Robert the Bruce.
2. Carrickfergus, or simply Carrick, served as the main port and administrative hub for Ulster for centuries. Being born in Scotland is not out of the realm of possibility, as it was not uncommon for some Ulster emigrants to return to or visit their remaining kin back in Scotland. Intriguingly in May 2019, while perusing a mid-1600s map of Dumfriesshire on-line, the author noted the existence of the now long gone hamlet of Carrick, just a few miles north of the Wauchope Water and a few miles west of the Ewes Water tributary, Wolfhope Burn. The author strongly believes that Wolf is merely another variation of Waugh, much like Waff is known to be. Note that there are similarly named features in Roxburghshire within close proximity to each other as well. This begs the question to the author... Could it be that this Carrick of Dumfriesshire is actually the ancient home of this line of Wauchopes? As it turns out, Carrick was barely west of the confines of the fourteenth century lands of Alexander de Wauchope (not known to be a direct ancestor via checking posted family trees). Searching the Scotland's People website records bears no fruit, as the vast majority of rural areas have no such surviving records until well into the 1700s (Records may be found for Waugh around Roxburgh, Bauchope around Stirling, and Wauchope around Edinburgh). Also even more likely potential candidates, within County Donegal, Ulster, lies the townland of Carrick just about one mile west of Castlefinn, a known Wauchope residence for centuries, and also then the townlands within County Tyrone of Carricklee just west of Strabane and Carrickone just southwest of Strabane.
3. One might pause here to ask if these Wauchopes did not rather come from England as do the Walkups of Derbyshire, and possibly be related to them. It does not seem so, as the English element of Munro's recruits was largely made up of Protestant settlers already living in Ulster particularly in counties such as Antrim and Down. These Wauchopes settled in Donegal and Tyrone in the mid-1600s. The Ulster force included troops raised across Scotland, and the available records generally identify regiments and commanders rather than every soldier's county of origin. Alas, the soldiers' county of origin would have been a game changer for family historians.
4. In possible substantiation, the estate of Joseph's eldest son, Matthew, mentions a bond on Charles Vachub of Ireland. About this time there was living one Charles Wachob, son of Samuel Waughob of County Tyrone.
5. DNA test results confirm that Joseph, James and Arthur do share a common male Wauchope ancestor that is downstream from the Balkan E-V13 haplogroup. Results thus far indicate that Joseph and James may not have been brothers, but share a common male ancestor about 1620 nonetheless.
6. Fifth great grandfather of Bruce E. Walkup. It is not certain where the middle name of Stuart comes from as suggested by some posted family trees. These trees do not provide any Stuart ancestors upstream of Joseph, as one would expect to find. Though Presbyterians rather than Catholics, it is plausible that the family supported the Stuart cause as they became disallusioned with the Crown.
7. Fourth great grandfather of Bruce E. Walkup.

This page last updated October 25, 2026