Theophilus Simonton
There were three great regions of Scotch–Irish settlement in America: Southeastern Pennsylvania, the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and the Piedmont country of North and South Carolina.
It is believed that Theophilus Simonton, wife Mary Smith Simonton and children came to America from County Tyrone, Ireland, about 1725 and landed in Lewes Delaware.
Theophilus came to this country with his entire family and very possibly, a sister Jane Ann and a brother John. In Delaware records it appears that Jane Ann Simonton married Robert Frame. John Simonton is shown as a land owner around this period as well. Theophilus Simonton’s children appeared to be between 1 and 20 years old when they arrived in America. The family lived in Lewes where Theophilus apparently worked with Mary’s brother Archibald Smith.
Archibald Smith and Mary Smith Simonton originated from the Glebe of Urney, Tyrone, Ulster Ireland. Proof of this is in the Will of Archibald Smith and records from Ulster on the Archibald Smith family land. It can be assumed that the Simonton Family was living nearby in Tyrone, Ulster and since Theophilus Simonton and Mary his wife had all of their six Children in Ireland, they lived with Mary’s family on or near the Glebe of Urney with the Smith family. A Glebe are the lands owned by the Church and farmed by the families of the area. The Glebe of Urney is within 10 miles or so of Strabane, Tyrone, Ulster, Ireland. Many immigrants left Ulster from the port of Strabane in the first migration wave in 1717-1718 to America.
After this short period where about 3500 persons were allowed to leave Ireland, migration was shut down and then in 1725 there was the beginning of another period where England allowed people to leave Ireland. Another 10,000 or so left and came to America.
Mary Smith Simonton’s brother Archibald had settled in Lewes Delaware before 1713 and was a successful merchant. Archibald Smith died in 1729 and left 200 acres of land to Mary. It appears that the Theophilus Simonton family sold this land and since Scotch-Irish settlers were being welcomed and the possibility of land was available in the territory of Pennsylvania the family moved to the Conestoga Manor, Township, Lancaster Co., PA. In the Court Records of 3 May 1737, Lancaster Co., PA, a 51 years old Theophilus Simonton appears on the Tax List. This would suggest a birthdate of 1686.
The Penn Family established Conestoga Manor and in the Manor of 18,000 acres there was a 3000-acre area set aside as the Proprieties. Theophilus Simonton and his children cleared land in the Properties and established their homes. Conestoga Manor was changed to Manor Township, Lancaster Co. PA in 1759 after the Simonton’s had gone to NC.
Examples of Pennsylvania log cabins in the 1700’s:
Stone house @1730
Storage: 
Household goods: 
Theophilus was a farmer who worked his own land with his family and very proudly referred to himself as a YEOMAN Farmer which means landowner who works the land himself. The Simonton family, like many others, owned livestock and probably grew a variety of crops such as wheat, flax and rye. Their diet would also have included wild game and native fruits and vegetables, which were plentiful in the area.
It was in Conestoga township that the first court of General Quarter Sessions of the peace was held, at the house of John Postlethwait, for the county of Lancaster, “the 5th day of August in the third year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, the second, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc.” (i.e., 1729). The Tavern, was an important public house in the Indian trading region near Conestoga. John Postlethwaite invited the first court to meet here beginning that summer. The first case brought to trial was a thief, who was sentenced to be publicly whipped on his bare back.
From 1751 – 1755, his Excellency Arthur Dobbs, Governor in Chief over his Majesty’s Province of North Carolina was very instrumental in bringing three colonies of Ulstermen to North Carolina. He wrote in 1755 of seventy-five families who had settled on land he owned in North Carolina: “They are a colony from Pennsylvania of what we call Scotch-Irish Presbyterians who with others had settled together in order to have a teacher, i.e., a minister of their own opinion and choice”. Theophilus’ children, except for William (the youngest, born in 1716), married in PA and went to Rowan Co NC around 1750-1754 and settled on land that was available through Granville Land Grants, specifically in the Fourth Creek settlement.
After Theophilus Simonton died in 1754 in Lancaster PA and was buried on his land in PA, Mary and his son William, his youngest son, and the “grandchildren” came to Rowan Co. NC. Also believed that daughter Mary who married Samuel Thornton in Lancaster Co. PA and Patrick Duffey came with them at this time. Patrick Duffey was a person who the Senior Theophilus Simonton brought over from Ireland as he was a close friend of his family Or possibly a brother in Law and so he worked for The Senior Theophilus in PA.
Theophilus Simonton’s will was probated in Rowan Co but he died and he was buried in Lancaster Co PA. He is buried on the land he so loved in a private cemetery. Today there is a very small stand of trees in the middle of a beautifully tilled field just below where he lived.