Billy Kennedy: Ex-US president Jimmy Carter could trace roots back to Northern Ireland, with Scots-Irish ancestor in Antrim
American president Jimmy Carter, who died at the weekend aged 100, was of Scots-Irish lineage from his father's side.
The Democratic politician could trace his roots back to Co Antrim man Andrew Cowan, an Ulster Presbyterian settler who moved with other migrant families to Boonesborough near Abbeville in South Carolina upcountry between 1763 and 1775.
In a personal letter I received from Jimmy Carter on January 9, 1998, the president confirmed his Ulster-Scots family roots. The letter came after I had visited Boonesborough to conduct research for my series of Scots-Irish Chronicles books and conducted a lecture for the Boonesborough Historical and Geneological Society.
Andrew Cowan (1742-1786) was one of a group of mainly Ulster emigrants who were settled in a buffer territory between white and Cherokee native American Indian lands at Long Cane in the Carolina up-country.
Sophronia Caroline Pratt, the great-granddaughter of Andrew Cowan, was the great-grandmother of President Carter who was born at Plains, Georgia in 1924 not far away from the homeland of his descendants. He is acknowledged as one of the 17 Ulster-Scots American presidents, Carrickfergus "son" Andrew Jackson being the first in 1829.
Some of the first Boonesborough settlers came into the Carolina port of Charleston, others into Philadelphia and after a spell in Pennsylvania moved to South Carolina via the Great Wagon Road and the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
Andrew Cowan was allocated 300 acres of land at Boonesborough on February 23, 1772 and his wife Ann (1756-1831 and he had seven children, three sons and four daughters, who married into other Scots-Irish families of the region – the Brownlees, Seawrights, Hawthornes, and Riches.
It was from Isaac Cowan, Andrew's eldest son and his son John that the Carter link was forged. Isaac married Jane Seawright who was also of Ulster-Scots extraction and their son John married a Sarah B Clinkscales.
President Carter was elected to the White House as a Democrat in November 1976, narrowly defeating Republican Gerry Ford.
A strong Baptist by faith, Jimmy Carter sustained intense pressure in the Iran crisis of 1979-81 and it is arguably this which cost him a second term in the White House.
Carter had many detractors, but he earned this tribute from House of Representatives Speaker 'Irish American' Thomas P. Tip' O'Neill: "When it came to understanding the outstanding issues of the day Jimmy Carter was the smartest I've ever known. The range and extent of his knowledge were outstanding; he could speak with authority about energy, the nuclear issue, space, travel, the Middle East, Latin America, human rights, and American history."
In a first letter to me dated May 17,1997, President Carter admitted the only information he had about his forebear Andrew Cowan was that he was born in Abbeville County, South Carolina about 1742 and died in 1786; married Ann who was born about 1745 and died in 1831. Isaac Cowan was born in 1764 and married Jane Seawright and their son married Sarah B Clintscales.
In the subsequent letter to me on January 9, 1998, acknowledging a hard-back copy of my Scots-Irish in the Carolinas book, President Carter said: "Thank you for sending me a copy of your book. I appreciate your thoughtfulness in remembering me and send you warm wishes throughout the New Year. Sincerely, Jimmy Carter."
Eleanor Rosalynn Carter, President Carter's wife, died on November 19, 2023, after an illness, aged 96.
The Scots-Irish in the Carolinas by Billy Kennedy 1997. Published by Ambassador/Causeway