1726. From 1760 to 1770 settlements
rapidly sprung up in various places throughout Western Pennsylvania.
Soon after 1767 emigrants settled on the Youghiogheny, the Monongahela
and its tributaries, and in the years 1770 and 1771, Washington County
was colonized. Soon after the wave of population extended to the Ohio
River. From this time forward Western Pennsylvania was characteristically
Scotch-Irish.

These hardy sons were foremost in the French and Indian Wars. The
Revolutionary struggle caused them to turn their attention to
statesmanship and combat,--every one of whom was loyal to the cause of
independence. The patriot army had its full share of Scotch-Irish
representation. That thunderbolt of war, Anthony Wayne,[6] hailed from
the County of Chester. The ardent manner in which the cause of the
patriots was espoused is illustrated, in a notice of a marriage that
took place in 1778, in Lancaster County, the contracting parties being
of the Ulster race. The couple is denominated "very sincere Whigs."

It "was truly a Whig wedding, as there were present many young gentlemen
and ladies, and not one of the gentlemen but had been out when called on
in the service of his country; and it was well known that the groom, in
particular, had proved his heroism, as well as Whigism, in several
battles and skirmishes. After the marriage was ended, a motion was made,
and heartily agreed to by all present, that the young unmarried ladies
should form themselves into an association by the name of the 'Whig
Association of Unmarried Young Ladies of America,' in which they should
pledge their honor that they would never give their hand in marriage to
any gentleman until he had first proved himself a patriot, in readily
turning out when called to defend his country from slavery, by a
spirited and brave conduct, as they would not wish to be the mothers of
a race of slaves and cowards'"[7]

Pennsylvania was the gateway and first resting place, and the source of
Scotch-Irish adventure and enterprise as they moved west and south. The
wave of emigration striking the eastern border of Pennsylvania, in a
measure was deflected southward through Maryland, Virginia, the
Carolinas, reaching and crossing the Savannah river, though met at
various points by counter streams of the same race, which had entered
the continent through Charleston and other southern ports. Leaving
Pennsylvania and turning southward, the first colony into which the
stream po