Publisher's Synopsis
When Alexander Joyce, a Scots-Irish settler, writes to his children on November 6, 1777, he is nearing his death. Now living in Guilford County, North Carolina, he is eager to tell his family about the Joyce family history. From his birth in Ballynahinch, County Down, Ireland, to his arrival in Colonial Virginia and Pennsylvania, he has much to share. Leaving Ireland during the Year of the Slaughter in 1740, Alexander survived famine, starvation, and political and religious persecution. But now, as he faces the last years of his life, he wishes to educate his relatives about the family origins from Banff, Scotland, and about his journey to the New World. And along the way, the history of early America is told through the correspondence between him and his family. From the importance of the Great Wagon Road to the American Revolution, commonplace subjects for that era are discussed.Based largely on genealogical documentation, the story of Alexander Joyce is not just about this particular Joyce family, but rather, it is also about the early American experience. From the struggle of religious dissenters to establish religious tolerance, to the achievements of pioneers who settled on the frontier, all aspects of society are examined. And Although there is some historical fiction woven in with factual events and people in these letters, both genres represent a greater historical truth when presented together
