Our Laird Family History
My immigrant ancestor John Laird immigrated from Donegal, Ireland ca 1792. Irish records are scarce before 1800, but there were records of Lairds (and Snodgrasses, the family of John’s wife Mary) in the Raphoe area of Donegal as early as the 1660’s.
The Scottish immigration to Ireland started a few decades earlier and it has always been assumed that the Lairds were originally from Scotland and had come to Ireland sometime before the period of these early records. It is a continuing task of mine – daunting and maybe impossible – to try to tie John and his family to the earlier Lairds and Snodgrasses in Donegal, and hope to find even earlier ancestry in Scotland.
John came to Lancaster County Pennsylvania - and once he had earned the cost, he sent for his family. They joined him and shortly after moved to Washington County, Pennsylvania, where John and his wife Mary Snodgrass Laird lived out their lives. His tombstone in Claysville, Pennsylvania is at left.
One of John’s sons was Jesse Laird - who married and started a family in Pennsylvania, but moved to Dearborn County, Indiana ca 1813. He had seventeen children between his two wives. One was my g-g-grandfather Joseph Laird.
Joseph Laird served in the Indiana Cavalry in the civil war, and when he returned he married Eliza Sanks. His widowed mother, brothers, a niece, his young wife, and he moved to Vermilion County, Illinois, where Lairds have lived ever since.
This page introduces that Laird history. Jesse Laird’s parents and siblings remained in southwest Pennsylvania, and then three of his children remained in Dearborn County, as the rest of his children moved to points west.
The story of the arrival of that first Laird of our ancestry in the United States - John Laird of Donegal, Ireland - is presented in the 1893 Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania. It is the only known reference to the location of the Laird Irish heritage. The biography of John Laird, the original John’s grandson - is included, and recounts the arrival and family of the original John Laird:
Jesse Laird, my g-g-g-grandfather, is listed above as part of the family who came over ca 1800 from Ireland. He was born in 1788, married Mary Tharp in Pennsylvania in 1807 - and after starting their family - moved to Dearborn County, Indiana ca 1813. Jesse’s wife Mary died in 1837 and the next year he remarried Nancy Priest, mother of my g-g-grandfather Joseph Laird. Between Mary and Nancy, Jesse was father to at least seventeen children. An accompanying page will chronicle his life. A second page will describe his children with first wife Mary Tharp, and their families. A third page will describe his children with second wife Nancy Priest, and their families. Each of the pages of Jesse and his wives will not only list his children - but will list his sixty-four known grand-children, so that the Laird lines in the United States from Jesse will be clear. Below is Jesse Laird’s obituary from the Lawrenceburgh Democratic Register of Friday November 17, 1865.
After Jesse’s death, my ancestor Joseph Laird, along with his wife, mother, two brothers and a niece, came to Vermilion County, Illinois. That is where the next generations of Laird’s lived - down to my father who was born there, and cousins who still live there.
Many Lairds remained in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Three of Jesse’s children remained in Dearborn County, Indiana, but most of them moved to other parts of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri. Descendants live across the country. Over time, it is my hope to recount stories of these different Lairds. Until then, I would be happy to answer inquiries about any branch of these Lairds.