Bales

The Bales surname (and its many variants including Bale, Baile, Bailes, Bayle, Bayles, and Bailey) is of Old French origin. The word Bail(e) referred to “the wall of the outer court of a feudal castle,” and the word came to be an occupational moniker given to the guardian of a court or castle.

Despite talk of our surname originating with the prefix “O” (as in O’Bales) this is just not the case. You would be hard-pressed to even find the surname O’Bales, however the name McBale is a legitimate Irish surname. Oddly enough in some instances the surname Bales – but not in our case – is of Czech or Slovak origin and is a derived from the personal name Baltazar.

Our Bales ancestors were “Scotch-Irish,” an American term later used to describe the Irish Protestant immigrants to the United States who came from the province of Ulster in Northern Ireland. The majority of the co-called Scotch-Irish were descended from English, Scottish, Welsh, and even mainland European families, mostly farmers, who had been transplanted (by the English crown) to Northern Ireland beginning in the early 1600’s to help pacify the rebellious nature of the native Irish.

Due to famine and other factors many of their Scotch-Irish descendants headed to the American colonies in the 18th century, including about 250,000 between 1717 and 1770. Most departed from the port of Londonderry in northern Ireland for the long, arduous journey (often up to two months) aboard sailing vessels to the entry ports of Boston and New York.

The initial wave of Scotch-Irish mainly settled in the New England area, but before long these immigrants were arriving at the entry port of Philadelphia in greater numbers. Many settled in the nearby area - especially Lancaster Co. - but before long overcrowding along the coast saw them push westward across the Allegheny Mountains.

A large group settled in the Pittsburgh region, while the majority traveled south along the Great Wagon Road (modern-day Route 81). At Big Lick, Virginia, (which became Roanoke in 1882) they split - either continuing south into the Carolinas and Georgia or moving further west into Tennessee or Kentucky. In particular many with the Bales surname made their way to Tennessee. Eventually, the majority of the Scotch-Irish, well-known for being from rugged stock but frowned upon as having a lower class pedigree, settled in the secluded hills along the southern portion of the Appalachian Mountains.

Our particular Bales forefathers probably originated in central or northern France, migrated to England or Scotland after the Norman Conquest of 1066, moved to Northern Ireland in the early 1600’s, and then came to southwestern Pennsylvania in the mid 1800’s. It is quite likely that our Bales’ left the Old Country in response to the Great Potato Famine of 1845-49, when a fungus devastated the Irish potato crop and caused rampant starvation. During 1845-49 over a million Irish peasants died and another half million (the beginning of the second major wave of Irish immigration) fled to the United States and Canada.

My earliest record of our Bales ancestors in the United States is Thomas Bales - born in Ireland, married to Johanna “Hannah” Lynch, living in Fayette Co, Pennsylvania, in about 1880. (See the Thomas Bales page)

Lynch

The Lynch surname (and variants Linch or O’Lynch) has several origins. A Gaelic (from the Gaels, a native Irish people who spread to Scotland and the Isle of Man) origin of Lynch, from the original form of O’Loingsigh, refers to a person who was a sailor or mariner. An Old French origin of the name, originally de Lynch, possibly referred to a person that lived near a lynch – “a narrow strip of trees along a plowed field.”

Our Lynch ancestors were most likely native Irish. However I have not ruled out that they were of Scotch-Irish stock, the Irish Protestant immigrants to the United States who came from the province of Ulster in Northern Ireland. The Lynch family could have originally been native to Gaelic Ireland or possibly came to Great Britain from France after the Norman Conquest of 1066.

Our particular Lynch ancestors, whether they were native Irish or Scotch-Irish, emigrated from Ireland (possibly via a stop in Wales) to America in the mid 1800’s. They most likely came in response to the deplorable conditions caused by the Great Potato Famine of 1845-49.

My earliest definitive record of our Lynch ancestors in the United States is John & Hannah Lynch – both born in Ireland and living in Allegheny Township, Blair Co., Pennsylvania, in 1860 with six children. (See the John & Hannah Lynch page)

Travis

Travis (and is variants Traver, Travers, Traviss, and Travys) is a popular German surname. The name Travis, actually derived from the Old French word traverse and meaning “to cross,” was an occupational name basically referring to a gatekeeper or gatherer of tolls along a road, thoroughfare, or bridge.

Many German people bearing the Travis surname settled in either Lancashire or Yorkshire County in northern England after the Norman Conquest of 1066, and resettled in Northern Ireland sometime after the early 1600’s (whose later referred to as Scotch-Irish). However, I believe our particular Travis ancestors emigrated directly from Germany to America.

The initial native Germans to arrive in the British colonies in America were part of the settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1608. The first real significant numbers of German immigrants (mostly farmers) arrived at the ports of New York and Philadelphia between 1680 and 1760, seeking land ownership opportunities and freedom from religious persecution and military conscription. This group primarily settled in Pennsylvania and upstate New York. Many of these Pennsylvania-based German immigrants, from various religious backgrounds including Lutherans, Anabaptists, Amish, and Mennonites, formed traditional, tight-knit religious sects and came to be referred to as the Pennsylvania Germans or more popularly as the Pennsylvania Dutch.

The largest period of German immigration occurred during 1848-1914. Numerous revolutions in Europe in 1848 spurred a massive flood of central European immigration to America. The vanguard of this migration included many people known as the “Forty-Eighters,” those you had supported political reform (including unification of the various German states) but were compelled to flee when the 1848 revolution failed. From 1848 until the outbreak of the Great War (World War I) in 1914, an astonishing six million or more Germans immigrated to the United States. This wave of immigrants migrated to the Midwest, settling primarily in Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin where the farming lands were similar to those of central Germany.

When our particular Travis ancestors emigrated from Germany to America is unknown. It is entirely possible our Travis family was settled in southeastern Ohio as early as 1785. In 1860 there were quite a few Travis families living in northwestern Virginia, an area which broke away from Virginia during the American Civil War (1861-65) and became the state of West Virginia in June 1863.

My earliest definitive record of our Travis ancestors in the United States is Abraham “Abe” Travis - born in Virginia (now West Virginia) in about 1861. I am researching a clan of several Travis households in the Wetzel Co., West Virginia, area - just southwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – which I believe Abraham may be related to. (See the Abraham Travis & Elizabeth Campbell page)

Campbell

The Campbell surname has two separate origins: One is derived from the ancient Gaelic surname Mac Cathmhaoil, and native to Ireland, and the other is from the Clan Campbell, one of the most powerful and hated of the rugged Scottish Highlands clans.

Where our particular Campbell ancestors originated from (either Ireland or Scotland) and when they arrived in America is unknown at this time. But they were in the southwestern Pennsylvania region as early as 1832.

My earliest definitive record of our Campbell ancestors in the United States is Elizabeth Campbell - born in Fayette Co., Pennsylvania, in about 1862. In 1860 there are numerous Campbell families living throughout Fayette Co. as well as in the neighboring areas. I believe her father and mother were born in Virginia (now West Virginia) and Pennsylvania respectively, but I am still exploring this. (See the Abraham Travis & Elizabeth Campbell page)