From "Genealogical History of the Families of McConnells, Martins, Barbers, Wilsons, Bairds, McCalls and Morris", by Newton W. McConnell, 1913

Pages 1 to 5:

DEDICATION.

This book is tenderly dedicated to the memory of the dead of the families described herein.

N.W.M.

FORWARD.

I make no claim of literary merit for this book. I have followed no model in its arrangement. My keynote has been my father and my mother. It is my first effort at bookmaking. Nearly all the material has been gathered, and the entire composition has been done during the passing of my eighty‑first year.

My father was a Scotch‑Irishman, and my mother, if not wholly, was largely, of Irish ancestry. They were both Presbyterians, to the manor born. His church and its duties constituted a large share of my father's life. He was an ardent student of the Bible. In spirit and in truth, his faith in the Bible knew no wavering or halting. He accepted it as true from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation. His great men were John Knox, John Calvin, and Martin Luther. He was opposed to prelacy, and especially that which came from Rome. He was proud of the race from which he bad descended. His father was a Revolutionary soldier. He was proud of that fact. He had three uncles, James, Robert and Benjamin, Armstrong, who were Revolutionary soldiers. His grandmother, Tabitha Ward McConnell, was of a family who fought for Independence.

My mother's grandfather, John Barber, was a captain and served as such two years and a half in the Revolutionary War, in the State of North Carolina. A great uncle of my mother, Josiah Martin, was a Revolutionary soldier, and near the close of the struggle was a lieutenant.

A brother, of her grandmother, Adam Baird, was a Revolutionary soldier, and fought at the battle of Kings Mountain. It seems to me then, that my children and their descendants, and all my collateral kindred in whose veins runs any of the blood, descended from these Scotch‑Irish and Irish patriots, ought to know what their ancestors helped to achieve.

These considerations determined me to devote a portion of my book to the history of the Scotch‑Irish race, and their achievements; another portion to the Presbyterian Church, and its influence in the Revolutionary struggle; and another portion to the history of the two crucial battles which initiated a series of events that swiftly culminated in the triumph of the cause of liberty, not only of America but of the civilized world, at Yorktown, on the 19th of October, 1781.

Tables of pedigree and genealogies are dry and uninteresting in themselves, and especially to the general reader. I hope that what I have written upon the topics above indicated will entitle my book to be read and preserved and handed down from one generation to another by my family.

My own history has been written for the special benefit of my immediate family.

I have made free use of the information obtained by the researches of Charles A. Hanna, in a work published in two volumes, in Philadelphia, in 1902, entitled "The Scotch‑Irish, or the Scot in North Britain, North Ireland, and North America."

I have also made a similar use of the information obtained by the researches of Dr. Draper, the Secretary of the Historical Society of the State (if Wisconsin, in a work published by him in 1881, entitled, "Kings Mountain and Its Heroes." This work is exhaustive of the subject.

I have also made a like use of seven volumes of the "Proceedings of the Scotch‑Irish Association of America."

I take occasion to thus acknowledge my indebtedness to these authorities. I also take occasion to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mary Ellen Baker for valuable assistance rendered in the genealogical part of my work, and especially the genealogy of Josiah Martin, from whom, she is a lineal descendant.

I make a similar acknowledgment to Sarah Jane Baird Weatherly, for valuable aid in regard to the family of Bairds. She is a lineal descendant of Adam Baird, one of the heroes of King's Mountain.

I also acknowledge my indebtedness to Dr. L. C. Glenn, Professor of Geology, in Vanderbilt University, for valuable aid in regard to the history of John Barber, Mary Wray, and the Wilson family. I acknowledge my indebtedness to various other parties, whose help, while not so great as those mentioned, has been invaluable to me.

The genealogies are very incomplete, but as much is furnished as could be gathered in the few months which I have been able to devote to the subject.