The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #30105 Message #1939712
Posted By: GUEST
17-Jan-07 - 02:44 PM
Thread Name: Origin: Betsy Bell and Mary Grey (Child #201)
Subject: RE: Betsy Bell and Mary Grey
The 2 hills which lie close together near Newtownstewart, Co. Tyrone, in Northern Ireland are Bessy (not Betsy) Bell and Mary Gray (not Grey). I seem to recall hearing from a man who lived not too far away that they were named after 2 sisters who had died of the plague (I had previously heard the Steeleye Span song).
I suspect that they were not from the area (ie Co. Tyrone) but that the name was given to the 2 nearby hills, probably by settlers of Scottish origin, in memory of an earlier event in Scotland, and I suspect also that, though possibly 2 women were indeed killed by Indians in Virgnia, USA, as referred to above it would be stretching coincidence too much for these 2 woman to also be called BB & MG. Many Scots-Irish settled in Virginia and they may have brought the story with them and used it to name the area.
Just to confuse things further, there was I think a real Betsy Gray (from Co. Down) associated with the 1798 rebellion there. The term "Hearts of Down" springs to mind here.