Welcome to the website for the descendants of Peter Hairston, who arrived in America in the early 1700's.
On the following pages you will find photos and information on the history of the Hairston family in America. Some of the old homes are still standing and Cooleemee has been designated a National Historic Landmark.
Early records show that Peter Hairston and his family lived in Donegal, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania about 1730 and that they received a "Blunston License" in 1737. Other than these two references, I am not aware of any other documents pertaining to their stay in Pennsylvania or where they lived prior to 1743.
Stories have been handed down through the years, but there are no written records. As an example, these stories mention that Peter Hairston's wife was an "Irish Lady Of Rank". What does this term mean? Did she arrive in America or die at sea? How many children did she have?
Many family members and friends have been very kind over the past twenty years by providing me with letters, old bibles, birth certificates, pictures of cemetery markers, and very extensive computer generated genealogies. The problem is that they do not agree regarding the first Peter Hairston, his wife and their children. I am not even sure how many children they had. The wills of Peter Hairston's children led us to believe that there were at least five children, others may not have been mentioned or were not living. If you have knowledge of any information or documents pertaining to the Hairston family before 1743, it would greatly help us to complete our family tree.
Please be patient, although the information you see here was gathered by many people, I am only one person and create these web pages in my spare time. I apologize to those people who have sent wonderful emails with much information, only to have that information sit idle until I find time to add it to the website.
Thank you.
Robert Hairston