George II, 1700 -1800

George II (1683 - 1760) sat upon the throne. It was the mid-1700's. The British Kingdom of England and Ireland was a contested monarchy. George was the least capable of the four Georges and lacked the strength of either his father or his son. Scotland was in revolt, France was at war and Spain was an enemy. The colonies were being settled in the New World.

The Hanovers were never a close family. George II, even in childhood, choose to side against his father in state affairs. He despised the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, and spoke out against his policies. Walpole was the power under George I. Most believed when the son rose to the throne, Walpole would be gone from the political scene. However, when George II seized power, his advisers proved inadequate, almost from the first, and, from necessity, he had to turn back to Walpole to get his government in shape. Quickly the former Prime Minister reinserted himself under the son, through the Queen, and, once again, Walpole became the true power in the Isles.

During his reign, George II fought wars against France and Spain, France's ally. On the domestic front, he was faced with an unruly Scotland and the Jacobite movement, which arose in both Ireland and Scotland over the right of succession and the rightful king, the Hanover heir or one of the Stuarts, who had been dethroned to place the Hanovers in power initially.

As he fought on the continent, he sent English loyalists into Scotland and Ireland to hold the commoners in check and under his thumb and to deal with the Jacobite rebellion. After aborted attempts under George I, and George II, history shows only four actual attempts to overthrow the rule of the Hanovers and return the Catholic Stuarts to the throne. The Irish rose up against the Hanovers in 1688, as soon as James Ii was cast aside. They sent an Irish brigade to France to fight against the English in the continental wars. In 1689-92, the Scottish highlanders fought against the lowlanders and the English. In the end they too swore an oath to George. The Stuarts lead a rising in 1715 but it had little success and the English easily defeated them. In 1745 George II raised an army to crush the Jacobite uprising, the last battles fought on English soil.

Against this backdrop, those who did the King's bidding, earned the King's favor. One of the King's desire was to deal with the Scots. Against this troubling rebellion, George sent those most loyal, both royalty and commoners. Those who held the Scots or Irish in their place were rewarded, with land grants, first in Ireland, then in the new colonies, in America.

All through the eastern seaboard, loyal subjects of the throne arrived, bearing grants from George. Many of these were fro the middle colonies, Virginia, Georgia, the Carolinas. A large section of the Shenandoah Valley was given to settlers in such a manner, awarded by George II for the loyalty shown in service to the throne, in putting the rebels down and serving as mercenaries for the King. Many such land grants were landed out during his reign for this type of service. It saved the King funds and helped to settled the British held lands in America with people loyal to the monarchy.

One such man was John Galford, given a land grant for a holding in the Shenandoah for his prior service. He settled near other families with similar histories. His wife and he had four sons and they cleared the wilderness from their land and grew crops and began to make a life, something like a farm life in southern England.

It has been alleged that John was of Scottish heritage and he or rather his son, John Thomas Galford, was awarded the land grant by George II. John Thomas Galford was born in 1757. He would have been 3 years old when George II died. It is not possible for the land grant to have been issued to him. Equally, it is not possible for the grant to have come from George III. By the time George III was on the throne and John Thomas was even 15 years old, the War for Independence was under way.

Looking at the other issue, given the likelihood the grant did come from George II, who did issue such land grant freely, it had to have gone to John Galford. Of course, he may have passed it on to his son. Either way, it is not possible for John Galford, or his children, to have been of Scottish decent. George was extremely prejudiced against both the Scots and the Irish. They were Catholic, he was Protestant. He was at war with them. They sided with the Stuarts against his family, the Hanovers. Historically, this would have amounted to one of the most unique grants ever issued.

Anyway, the Galfords settled in the Shenandoah. They had 288 acres provided in the original grant, though part was sold off. John had four sons. three sons apparently liked the valley and they stayed and their children and their children's children stayed.

Eventually one son decided to join the western migration, following paths set by the likes of Daniel Boone and others before him. He moved out of the Valley and headed west across the Appalachians, stopping in the Ohio Valley, near modern-day Columbus. There he settle down and began to settle down again.

The other three sons stayed in the Valley and their children and grandchildren settled the Valley and moved into homes of their own there in throughout northern Virginia and southern Pennsylvania. Distant offspring of these sons still reside in these places today.