The year is 1750. The EISELE/ISLEY family has arrived in Pennsylvania, which had been founded in 1681. The name Pennsylvania does not appear before William Penn petitioned the King in that year. Not much is known about our family after they arrived in Pennsylvania. They probably lived somewhere in the Delaware Valley. Family tradition says that Ludwig, the father, became ill during the voyage to America and died a few months after arrival in the New World.

Pennsylvania - southeastern portion 1756

How long did Malachi and his family stay in Pennsylvania? Once again, there is no known documentation that provides an answer. Why did they leave Pennsylvania for North Carolina? Again, we do not know. Perhaps they had seen flyers advertising land for sale in North Carolina. What is known is that the cost of land in eastern Pennsylvania was expensive in comparison. A fifty-acre farm in Lancaster County, PA would have cost 7 pounds 10 shillings in 1750. In the Granville District of North Carolina, which comprised the upper half of the state, five shillings would buy 100 acres. (Note: This statement is not meant as an implication that our family lived in Lancaster County. We do not know where they lived in Pennsylvania). We do know that Malachi’s son Philip was born in Pennsylvania in 1751. In his testimony dated July 25, 1833 to amend his explanation of facts regarding his application for Revolutionary War benefits, Philip stated: “he was (as he has always been informed by his parents and believes) born in the state of Pennsylvania in the year 1751 and was removed into Orange County N Carolina when an infant . . . .” Based on this testimony, our family probably moved to North Carolina around 1752-1756. If emphasis is put on the word “infant”, Rex believes the time frame is more likely 1752-1753.

The map to the right shows the most common routes from Pennsylvania to North Carolina during the period our family moved to North Carolina. Early German and Scotch-Irish settlers used what became known as the Great Wagon Road to move from Pennsylvania southward through the Shenandoah Valley through Virginia and the Carolinas to Georgia, a distance of about 800 miles. By the early 1740s, a road beginning in Philadelphia (sometimes referred to as the Lancaster Pike) connected the Pennsylvania communities of Lancaster, York, and Gettysburg. The road then continued on to Chambersburg and Greencastle and southward to Winchester. After 1750 the Piedmont areas of North Carolina and Georgia attracted new settlers. From Winchester to Roanoke the Great Wagon Road and the Great Valley Road were the same road, but at Roanoke, the Wagon Road went through the Staunton Gap and on south to North Carolina. This was the first great interior migration in our nation's history.

Great Philadelphia Wagon Raod - Map Source:  Cordelia Camp, ed., Influence of Geography upon Early North Carolina (Raleigh:  Carolina Charter Tercentenary Commission, 1963).

Our Isley family settled in the area of Orange County that is now the present day Alamance County. Orange County was established in 1752 and at that time contained all or part of 12 present day counties. Guilford County was not established until 1771 and Alamance County even later in 1849. Below are two excerpts about those who settled in the area that became Alamance County. These excerpts are from Centennial History of Alamance County 1849 - 1949 by Walter Whitaker. Printed in the United States by the Dowd Press, Inc. Charlotte, NC.

Three distinct groups led the movement and established colonies in the area which became Alamance County. To the Cane Creek section, near the present village of Snow Camp, came a group of Pennsylvania Quakers; east and north of the Haw River settled Scotch-Irish Presbyterians; and along the western boundary of Alamance Creek a large number of Lutheran and Reformed settlers found new homes. Most of them were agriculturists, and few villages were built. Along the Alamance were the Albrights, Holts, Shoffners, Mosers, ISLEYS, Kimes, Staleys, Halls, Trolingers, Whitsetts, Heltons, Hornadays, Reitzels, and other Germanic folk.  Pg14-15

In 1754 the taxable population of Orange County, which then included Alamance, was listed as 950 white men, 35 negroes and 15 women-and there are indications that more than a thousand families had settled within the area. Pg 25

Malachi, Mary Magdalene, and Philip are believed to have initially stopped in the general vicinity of today’s Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church. Malachi and Frederick Moser are credited as being founders and members of Saint Paul in 1763. Malachi eventually settled on land just north of the future Friendship United Methodist Church.

Malachi Home Site

Mary Magdalene, wife of Malachi, born July 22, 1729 in Germany, died December 24, 1790. Malachi, born in 1725 in Germany, died May 3, 1808. Both are buried in Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church Cemetery. Malachi and Mary Magdalene’s children: PHILLIP ISLEY, born 1751, remained in North Carolina until 1822 when he and his second wife Mary Ann Cameron moved to Georgia. His son George also made the move to Georgia. Some of Philip’s descendants eventually migrated to Alabama, Missouri, Oregon, Washington, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas. More on Philip. GEORGE ISLEY, born April 3, 1768, and his wife Barbara Graves remained in North Carolina. Some of his descendants migrated to Illinois, Alabama, Kansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Texas and Oklahoma. More on George. MALACHI II ISLEY, born circa 1769, and his wife Kitty/Katie Harte remained in North Carolina. Some of his descendants migrated to Illinois, Missouri, Texas, Kansas and Arkansas. More on Malachi II.

NOTE:  The states listed above are ONLY based on census documentation. The most recent census records that have been released are the 1930 records. Most of the 1930 census is not yet indexed. The states listed above would most certainly only be a portion of the states where our current Isley families live.

NOTE:  Much of the information on this page comes from: Col. Rex M. Isley, The Malachi Isley Story:  With Emphasis on the Malachi > Philip > Martin > Daniel > Jacob L > John Moody Line (Burlington, NC: Alamance County Genealogical Society, 2003)

Street in Alamance County in 1900 Centennial History of  Alamance County 1849-1959, p. 144

North Carolina Maps - coming soon