Married a man named Lawson around 1784 Nelson Patterson wrote: I have concluded to undertake the following brief sketch for two reasons: first I desire in this way to reproduce and preserve in my family a scrap of history touching the origin of our family, of which I am satisfied there now exists no authentic copy. Perhaps there never existed but one copy of it and that was a manuscript from the hand of my paternal grandmother (Rebecca McCullough Modrall) That copy was consumed with my father house fire in the early part of the year 1834. It was according to my best recollection in substance as follows: When the crowns of England an Scotland were united on the head of James the First, (1603-1625) many of the petty Lairds of Scotland were indignant at the suppression of the House of Tudor as to lead them to acts which necessitated their immigration (to Ireland). Among them was a lowland Chieftain whose clan for generations had maintained a feud with that of a highland chieftain. They resolved on immigration, but first to avenge his hereditary foe. Stealing into the mountains with his clansmen and surrounding them in the night,they succeeded in their entire extermination. He then made his way to Ireland where he settled. It happened that about this time men in that country began to assume or receive from their neighbors, distinctive family or Sir names. The Feudal system began about that time to grow into disrepute mont the Irish and the family of what the Scotchmen had in his native land followed him to his new home in Ireland and induced the neighbors to dub him, in their broken English, Murther All (or Murtherall) He could not have through off hs name had he wished to do so, as it was given him by his neighbors. Tradition, however, furnishes no evidence that he cared for it one way or the other. But his descendants, in the course of time, began to grow somewhat resistant under the name and its origin and hence, began to plan upon the orthography. One generation rendered it Mother all and the next changed it to Motherall. This in time, degenerated into Mothera=ekl This the orthography of the name so far as I known down to the present time, in all the branches of that, same one My patrol grandmother, who was an educated lady, after emigrating to American, under took to anglicize the name and spelled it Modrall, which is, to this day, the style mont her immediate descendants only. This change in the orthography of our name has produced some confusion and difficulty to those of us who have been inclined to hunt up kinsfolk. My second reason for writing this sketch is, not that I suppose that the church or world at large is likely to have any use for my humble history, or that its publication would at any future time, benefit my fellow sinners, but that my own family may, in future years be gratified by it. My paternal grandfather, William Motheral, married in Ireland into the the McCulloch family which was also from Scotland. His wife's christian name was Rebecca. They came to America at what time precisely is now know must have been, however about the year 1774. They first settled in the state of Pennsylvania not far from the city of Philadelphia. Here my father, Robert, was born on the 12 day of June 1774. In 1776, they moved to North Carolina and settled on what was called the Mulberry Road, several miles from Guilford Courthouse