John Mark was born about 1746 in Ahoghill, County Antrim, Ireland. There he met and married Anna McCurdy, the daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Grey McCurdy on January 1, 1769. They began raising a family right away, with their first child, Jean, born on April 17, 1769, followed by their first son Samuel in 1771. John said later in life that he had been a weaver by trade in Ireland. Based on his actions once he got to America, he arrived as a wealthy man, so it is likely that he came from means.
Anna had come from a large family as the oldest of 6 children. In 1771, her mother and father, all her siblings, their spouses and any children, left for America leaving her behind with her young family. Recounted by their granddaughter many years later was the tearful goodbye of John and his sister. She said that the sister was so distraught for John leaving, that she had to be pulled from his arms and off the boat.
In 1772, Anna and John followed. From Belfast, they embarked on a 6–10-week journey by ship across the Atlantic and most likely landed in Boston. From there they continued on to Gilsum, a small town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire. It was just across the mountain from Surrey, where the McCurdy clan had settled a year earlier.
The Marks arrived in New Hampshire during a time of growing tension between the colonies and Great Britain. Like most of his community, John supported the cause for independence. It is recorded that he sponsored Josiah Comstock, a private from Sullivan who served in John’s place (Capt. William Ellis's company, in Scammel's regiment) from April 27, 1777, until he died in battle on Jan. 8, 1779. It is also family and town tradition that because Josiah died in his first battle, John Mark paid for a second substitute.
As Scots Irish immigrants, they might have faced initial challenges integrating into the predominantly English society. However, Gilsum and Surrey had significant Scots Irish populations, and for English neighbors, their Presbyterian background and strong work ethic would have helped them to find common ground. John and Anna and their children were devoted church and community members.
Gilsum, incorporated just a few years before their arrival in 1763, was still a frontier town in many respects, even by colonial standards. Adding to the difficulty, they moved from a fairly mild sea climate that rarely saw snow (Ulster), to an area that receives around 70 inches of snow a year. The Marks had to face the harsh New England winters and work hard to establish crops suitable for soil so different from that of home. As their family grew so did their community.
That did not mean there were not disagreements, and even strife in Gilsum. The first recorded fire was of the Mark family home in 1793. While the family was away attending a dedication, an angry “prominent citizen” set fire to their house because John had opposed a road that he supported. The house and furnishings were badly burned.
Over the next several years, Anna and John had six more children: William (1774), James McCurdy (1777) died of scalding in 1785, Elizabeth Grey (1779), Jennet (1783), Anna (1785), and James McCurdy (1787) the second son of that name. During that time, he was both successful in business and worked as a farmer.
According to a history of the town, John’s neighbors were not always appreciative of his farming methods. In one such encounter, a neighbor complained that John had incorrectly felled a tree that then ended on his neighbor’s land. When the neighbor complained, John spoke plainly that he was not a farmer and that he was doing the best he could to get the job done.
John also had the first store and one of the earliest taverns in Gilsum. From records found of his accounts are some of the charges from around 1792/93:
for lodging (person) 6d per night
for lodging (horse) 9d per night
for 1 lb. of “shugar” 1 shilling and 1 lb. of tea 2 -3 shillings
for a suit of “trooping clothes” 1 pound, 4 shillings
As John and Anna aged, their children married and established their own households, some remaining in Gilsum while others moved to Vermont and New York. This pattern of migration and settlement was common as the young nation expanded westward. While they had followed Anna’s family initially, around 1810 the McCurdy’s moved on to Vermont due to a scandal regarding her brother John. This time they did not follow.
Anna Mark passed away on January 21, 1824, in Surry. John lived for another eight years, dying on December 29, 1832, in Gilsum at the age of 86. It is believed that they were buried in Vessel Rock Cemetery, in Gilsum, but there is no marker on their graves, and they can no longer be found.
In death as in life, John was generous to all of his children and their descendants in his will. However, in reality he had given most of his possessions, including his lands and house away already. He did not follow the typical English way of primogeniture, and all of his children, or in the case of his son James, who had died 7 years prior, his grandchildren, were included, as well as some sons and daughters-in-law. And to show that he loved them equally, while a few got some possessions, all got mentioned, and were at least given the sum of $1.
The life of John Mark and his family exemplifies the experience of many immigrants who came to America in the mid-18th century. From their origins in Ireland to their settlement in New Hampshire, through the American Revolution and the early years of the new republic, the Marks contributed to the fabric of their adopted homeland, leaving a legacy that would be carried on by their descendants into the Midwest, where my direct ancestors eventually settled. I will continue their story in further writings.
Bibliography:
"John Mark” - WikiTree Profile." Accessed July 29, 2024. [Link].
Griffin, Patrick. "The People with No Name: Ireland's Ulster Scots, America's Scots Irish, and the Creation of a British Atlantic World, 1689-1764." Princeton University Press, 2001.
Daniell, Jere R. "Colonial New Hampshire: A History." University Press of New England, 1981.
Cole, Donald B. "Jacksonian Democracy in New Hampshire, 1800-1851." Harvard University Press, 1970.
Hayward, Silvanus. "History of the Town of Gilsum, New Hampshire from 1752 to 1879." J. B. Clarker, 1881.