Dear Brisish Isles Gen Web,
I am looking for information about my great-grandfathers birthplace. His name is Samuel Tweedie Major. I was told by my grandfather, Allan Tweedy Major and my father, Wallace Trost Major, that he was born on the Tweed River in or around 1848. Allan was born in Alton, IL, USA, in 1894. Wallace was born in Hillsboro, IL, USA, January 20, 1927.
I was told by these two sourses that Samuel and his brother, John C. Major came to the United States together around 1865-1867. Glen Linxwiler, a distant cousin, claims Samuel came by ship out of the port of Dublin, Ireland in 1864.
I am really looking for any definite information. I do not know their parents' names or places of origin.
Samuel and John were in the Oklahoma Land rush of 1889 (?). The starte the Major-Bradford Cattle company around Enid. John helped Oklahoma become a state and was an elected State Representative in the first ever legislature of 1907. The state honored our family by naming the region Major County.
Samuel moved to Whitchita, Kansas, bought and sub-divided property. He did the same in Liberty, Missouri. Finally, he bought land in Hillsboro, IL. My grandfather was born in Alton, IL, a few miles away, in 1894. Samuel Tweedie Major started a Dairy Farm in Hillsboro, IL, and the Major Wholesale Coffee Co. in St. Louis, MO. Tragically, he died in a streetcar accident November of 1919, in St. Louis. Alan was the baby of five children. The only other brother was Samuel T. Major. Sisters were Margaret, Mary, and a child who parished earily in life. I have no other information, especially about Scotland.
