Ephraim Monroe Liles, Sr. was born in Brunswick, Virginia in 1720. Brunswick, Virginia, was not yet a fully organized county but was instead a frontier region on the cusp of formal colonial settlement. It was a rugged and sparsely populated area that represented the western edge of the British colonial expansion in Virginia.

Life was very much a frontier existence, with settlers living in isolated homesteads rather than established towns. The formation of Brunswick County was part of Governor Alexander Spotswood's strategy to settle Virginia's western lands.

This was intended to serve as a buffer against French influence and potential Native American conflict as European powers vied for control of the continent. The economy would have been overwhelmingly agrarian.

Ephraim is of Scotch Irish descent. The story begins in the Scottish Lowlands and Northern England in the 17th century. Many people from these areas, predominantly Presbyterian Protestants, were encouraged or moved to the northern province of Ulster in Ireland as part of the "Plantation of Ulster." This was a deliberate policy by the English Crown to settle Protestants in Ireland to solidify control and promote the Protestant faith.

For a few generations, these Scottish settlers lived in Ulster. While they were still culturally Scottish and largely maintained their Presbyterian faith, they faced a unique set of challenges. They were often caught between the established Anglican English (who discriminated against them due to their Presbyterianism) and the native Catholic Irish (who resented their presence on confiscated lands). This period in Ulster fostered a strong sense of independence, self-reliance, and often a deep suspicion of authority.

Facing economic hardship (like rising rents and restrictions on trade), religious discrimination, and political disenfranchisement in Ulster, large numbers of these Ulster Scots began to emigrate to North America. They primarily landed in ports like Philadelphia and then moved inland, following major wagon roads (like the Great Philadelphia Road) to settle the backcountry and frontier regions, particularly in:

• Pennsylvania (where many initially landed)

• Virginia (especially the Shenandoah Valley)

• The Carolinas (Piedmont and Appalachian regions)

These settlers were often the first Europeans to push into the American frontier. Their experiences of clearing land, dealing with Native American tribes, and relying on their own resources shaped them into fiercely independent, resourceful, and often tough individuals.

Many historians consider them "archetypal" Americans, embodying traits like self-reliance and improvisation that became hallmarks of the American character. Initially, they often referred to themselves simply as "Irish." However, in the 19th century, as large numbers of Catholic Irish immigrants arrived (especially after the Great Irish Famine), the term "Scotch-Irish" became widely used in the United States. This was primarily a way for the descendants of the earlier Protestant Ulster Scots to differentiate themselves from the newer, often impoverished, Catholic Irish immigrants, who faced significant discrimination.

From the age of five or six, boys like Ephraim were expected to be miniature frontiersmen, fetching water, chopping wood, tending to livestock, and weeding the tobacco fields. His mom died when he was 10.

In 1740 he married Margaret Lyther, who was also from a part of Virginia largely unsettled by colonists. They lived in Brunswick county, Virginia, a burgeoning frontier area. It was an established county with a functioning local government. Fort Christanna, a trading post and school for Native American children, was established in the area (1714-1718) and played a role in attracting early European settlers.

While the fort itself closed by 1718, some Native American tribes like the Saponi and Tutelo continued to live on allotted land nearby into the 1730s and 1740s, though many began to move further north around 1730. This suggests a landscape where Native American presence was still felt, though European settlement was increasingly dominant.

Like much of colonial Virginia, the economy of Brunswick County centered on tobacco cultivation. This was the primary cash crop, driving land acquisition and labor demands. While indentured servitude was still present, Virginia was increasingly a "slave society" by the 1740s, with a growing reliance on enslaved labor.

Ephraim was a planter and a landowner, which would make him wealthy for the area. I found a record of him selling an enslaved person named Ned to another planter, so I know that he used the labor of enslaved people.

Many Indigenous children, primarily from the Saponi, Tutelo, Occaneechi, and other Siouan tribes, found themselves at or near Fort Christanna because their communities were encouraged or compelled to relocate there by Governor Alexander Spotswood. The fort was intended to offer protection from hostile tribes (like the Iroquois) and from encroaching European settlers, acting as a buffer zone.

A central feature of Fort Christanna was the "Indian School," established by Spotswood, who even paid the schoolmaster, Charles Griffin, out of his own pocket. Children were taught English and the Anglican religion.

The primary aim of the school was to "re-educate and indoctrinate" Indigenous children into English culture and Christianity. This was a common colonial policy to exert influence and control over Native populations.

Having Indigenous children within the fort and attending the school was also a deliberate strategy to prevent attacks from their tribes, essentially holding the children as a form of leverage.

Ephraim relocated the family to Fairfield, South Carolina, a quintessential frontier region. I know they were there by 1748, when their second son, Arromanus, was born. They have the claim of being the first white settlers in the county. The future town of Winnsboro (the county seat) wouldn't even be loosely settled for another seven years.

The main groups arriving at this time were Scotch-Irish immigrants, making their way down from Pennsylvania and Virginia along routes that would later become the Great Wagon Road. There were also some English and French Huguenot planters moving inland from the coast.

The area was still very much a Native American domain, primarily used as hunting grounds by the Catawba and possibly other Siouan tribes like the Wateree. While outright conflict might not have been constant, settlers would have been acutely aware of and sometimes interacted with Indigenous populations.