Our Scottish Ancestory

PROVABLE FACTS: My maiden name is Conaway

My DNA shows I am 43% Scottish

My DNA shows my Father is over 50% Scottish

My earliest proven paternal ancestor is Arthur Conaway

American Biographical Index shows Arthur Conaway as being born 1750 in South Carolina. 

Arthur Conaway applied for a Plat For 100 Acres In Granville County - Date: 7/9/1771 - in early South Carolina land grants, the amount of land a settler received was primarily determined by the "headright" system, which allocated land based on the size of the grantee's family and servants, with 50 acres becoming the standard headright.  Headright Grants: The initial policy for royal grants entitled settlers to headright grants of 50 acres for each member of the household, including slaves and servants.  The below indicated Arthur was likely 21, married, and without children.

1790 Census of Orangeburg County, South Carolina shows Arthur Conaway and wife with 5 males under 16 & 4 daughters (5 females - wife & 4 daughters).

September 15, 1705 an Enfeoffmement ( the act of granting ownership of land or property, often in exchange for service or a promise of loyalty. It's historically significant as a key part of feudalism, where vassals received land in return for military service and allegiance. In modern legal contexts, it refers to the transfer of an estate in land, documented in writing, similar to the concept of a deed) was written by Henry Bower giving 300 acres Plantation on Edisto island to (John Kennoway & other pastors listed) for one of them to come to the Carolinas as a “Presbitorian” or Independent Minister upon Edisto land.  At that time Edisto was in Colleton County next to Granville County and both of those counties were part of Orangeburg District.  The document is long and confusing.  More is written into it 1717 & then it is registered 1742.

Apparently John Kennoway accepted the offer to come to the Carolinas as their preacher and he arrived by ship 1710.

John Kenneway arrived in South Carolina 1710 as documented in the Directory of Scots in the Carolinas, 1680-1830. Volume 2.

The earliest Conaway in Granville county, SC was John Kennoway (from Scotland) who applied for 500 acres 2/25/1715

After his arrival in South Carolina, John Kennaway applied for land in Colleton County - 1711 500 acres, 1715 304 acres & 1715 80 acres

In 1733 both John Kennoway & John Connaway were listed in a Memorial for 9 tracts containing 3,099 acres in Berkley and Craven Counties.  It is not known if this is 2 separate people.

It should be noted that Colleton County was next to Granville County and both of those counties were part of Orangeburg District. In 1707 a George Conway was mentioned in a memo in Colleton County.  He does not appear in any other documents for that county.  In 1774 Edward Conaway was mentioned in land adjacent to another person & 1774 Robt. Conaway was a witness in a dispute on a judgment roll (both of them in Colleton County).  Those 2 men could not be found in any other documents.

Since John Kennoway is the only Conaway any spelling in Granville County, SC, in that time period except for Arthur, that suggests he could possibly have been Arthur's ancestor (father or grandfather) depending on whether John Kennoway & John Conaway mentioned in the above mentioned memorial were one or two people.  This fact has NOT yet been proven.

Just FYI - Arthur's son William Conaway (who later went by Conway) was a minister.

https://www.houseofnames.com/kennoway-family-crest  - The ancient Pictish-Scottish family that first used the name Kennoway lived in the parish of Kennoway in the county of Fife. The surname Kennoway belongs to the category of habitation names, which are derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennoway - Kennoway derives from Scottish Gaelic, though the exact meaning is obscure. The name was first recorded as Kennachin in 1160. The first element 'kenn' is from the Gaelic ceann meaning 'head', 'top' or 'end'. The second and final elements, 'ach' and 'in' appear to both be suffixes indicating location. Taken together, the name appears to mean 'head- or end-place, place at the head or end'. – much more on this page.

Thought the below might be helpful; however, Arthur, named his 5th son after himself.

1 John - ?John Kennoway

2 Charles - ?Wife's father

3 Henry - ?Arthur's kin

4 William - ?Wife's kin

5 Arthur - himself

Scottish boys' naming patterns

The traditional patterns used when naming Scottish boys were as follows:

• The family's first son was named after his paternal grandfather (father's father)
• The second son was named after his maternal grandfather (mother's father)
• The third son was usually named after his father

Scottish ancestral naming patterns

The Scots seemed to like complicating matters back in the day, as there was yet another set of naming patterns that used the names of ancestors rather than the parents' siblings. This "ancestral pattern" was outlined by U.S. family historian, John B Robb, in his 2012 paper; "The Scottish Onomastic Child-naming Pattern". According to Robb, the pattern for boys follows the one above until the third son where it then became:

• The family's third son was named after his father's father's father.
• The fourth son was named after his mother's mother's father.
• The fifth son was named after his father's mother's father.