Kellswater to Abbeville to Sparta to Margaret McCloskey

Remember the baseball doubleplay combination: Tinkers to Evers to Chance. No? Neither do I. Remember who did the comedy routine: Who's on first? I don't though I remember the routine.

Anyway, in our chat this morning Marjorie came up with a new combination: Kellswater to Abbeville to Sparta to Margaret McCloskey. Though it's really more of a fugue, coming back to the beginning. Anyhow it's based on the page about Carol Pirtle's book from August 10 (see previous post).

Marjorie points out (and correct me if I'm wrong) Marjorie McCloskey, Michael Harshaw's wife and our great great grandmother, was baptised in the Kellswater church in Ireland. (Note to self, that's something I've got to link to on the site.) In 1772 there was a large migration from Kellswater to the Abbeville, South Carolina area. Subsequently, as reported by Ms. Pirtle and others, people migrated from there to Randolph County, Illinois. They formed the Bethel church in the Reformed Presbyterian denomination. And that was where Michael was ordained. The fact that Margaret may well have had connections to people in the area, perhaps through the Rosboroughs, may have played a role in where they settled.

(Note: I thought I had written documentation of the "ordained" bit, but if I did, I lost it. Being scandalously uninformed about matters Presbyterian, I googled the question: "who can ordain a Presbyterian minister." The answer is the "Presbytery". As the partial obit of Michael says, he was "called" by the "Six Mile Prairie" congregation but it's unclear what ceremonies might have occurred, but as Rev. Sam Wylie was the senior minister in the area, it's reasonable to assume that he was there at the installation.)