Tracing
the Scots-Irish
© By Cindy Thomson
Cindy lives
in central Ohio. Her
website is: Writing
your Family's Legacy
Originally published
in January-February 2005 issue of Everton's Genealogical Helper, reproduced
here with permission of the author. |
They've been called a people without
a name. Their roots go back to Scotland, but don't
think tartans and bagpipes. They were Lowlanders,
mostly coming from the border regions of Galloway, Dumfries,
Renfrewshire, Ayrshire, Argyllshire and Lanarkshire in
the west and Edinburgh, the Lothians and Berwichshire in
the east. They spoke English and were Protestant,
specifically Presbyterian.
They were different from their Highland
cousins. They didn't wear kilts, didn't belong to
clans, or speak Gaelic. But they weren't English
either. They didn't support the Anglican Church. They
held onto the memory of bloody massacres that their ancestors
suffered at the hands of English conquerors centuries earlier.
Their history in Scotland was not pleasant. These
people were caught, both geographically and politically,
between the English to the south and the Highlanders to
the north.
In the seventeenth century, when Scottish
and English land-grant owners sought tenants to populate
the northern region of Ireland and drive out the Catholics,
the Lowland Scots fit the bill. They were not Catholic
and they spoke English. To the English monarchy,
the Lowland Scots were preferable to the Irish Catholics. The
downtrodden Lowlanders had suffered endless cattle raids,
had themselves resorted to such raids because of their
poverty, and had lived on infertile, over-farmed land for
centuries. The prospect of large, bountiful tenant
farms in Ireland, a short jaunt across the Irish Sea, was
more than appealing.
But as the decades passed, the transplanted
Scots became known as dissenters. They did not vow
allegiance to the Church of England, detesting tithing
to a church they didn't support, and were governed by the
Penal Laws. Those laws prevented dissenters from
voting, bearing arms or serving in the military. Dissenters
could not be married, baptized or buried with the assistance
of any minister who was not ordained by the church of the
state. |
| WHY DID THEY COME TO AMERICA |
The answer seems obvious, but by the
eighteenth century some of the restrictive laws had loosened. Despite
that, the dissenters were bitter. To further aggravate
the situation, when rents came due on many of the farms
they lived on, the cost rose double -- or more. This
practice was called rack-renting. Those who worked
in the linen industry also suffered at this time because
England had begun preventing the Irish from exporting their
product beyond the mother country.
Family members who had already ventured
to America sent back glowing reports about the fruitful
land. Ship owners sent men to the countryside to
extol the benefits of emigration to the peasants. While
some departed seeking adventure, most Ulster residents
didn't want to leave Ireland, but their backs were against
the wall. Ireland held no opportunities.
There were five time periods when the
Scots-Irish emigrated in large numbers: 1717-18,
when a destructive drought killed crops, the linen industry
was crippled and rack-renting prevailed; 1725-29, when
continued rack-renting and poverty prompted such a massive
departure that even the English Parliament became concerned
(it feared losing Protestant majority in the area); 1740-41,
when a famine struck and letters from relatives living
in America were persuasive; 1754-55, a time of a disastrous
drought; and 1771-1775, when leases on the large estate
of the marquis of Donegal in County Antrim expired and
the tenants couldn't afford to renew them. Years
when economic pressures in Ireland were the greatest were
when large exoduses occurred. The numbers dropped during
the years of the French and Indian Wars (1754-63) and came
to a crashing halt during the American Revolution.
Today, the people living in Ulster still
remember their relatives who sailed for America. Located
in County Tyrone, the Ulster
American Folk Park boasts an early eighteenth century
stone house that once stood in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It
was built by Samuel Fulton, an emigrant from Northern Ireland.
The Scots-Irish, like other groups of
American immigrants, came to the New World to escape economic
and religious hardships. Wealthy people and people
of influence rarely braved the harsh Atlantic voyage. The
Scots-Irish had plenty of reason to come, and come they
did. It's estimated that between 1717 and 1775, a
quarter-million people emigrated from Ulster to America. At
the time of the American Revolution, at least one out of
every 15 Americans was Scots-Irish.
Ocean travel was not inexpensive, and
most often the people willing to make the trip were the
ones who could least afford it. Most came as indentured
servants. Someone in America would pay for the passage,
and the traveler would labor in return for a period of
time, usually between one and seven years. At the
term's end, the person usually had acquired a trade. In
addition, some were given clothes and money. Not
all indentured servants were treated well, however. Some
were handled more harshly than slaves from Africa because
indentured servants were temporary help, not valued property. |
| THE NAME AND MIGRATION
ROUTES |
The Scots-Irish
of the eighteenth century considered themselves Irish. Many
came from families who had lived in Ireland for 150 years. It
wasn't until the Irish immigrants of the 1845-49 potato
famine arrived that this group began distinguishing themselves
as Scots-Irish. Today
the distinction helps researchers identify the group. By
and large, the Scots-Irish migration was complete when the
American Revolution began in earnest in 1776. Conversely,
nearly all of the Irish-Catholic immigrants arrived in America
in the middle of the nineteenth century or later.
The early Scots-Irish pioneers to America settled in the
western part of Pennsylvania, where they found the Quakers
more to their liking than the Catholics in Maryland or
the Anglicans in Virginia. Most of the Scots-Irish
arrived in Philadelphia, so records held in that area might
prove beneficial to researchers. The Free
Library of Philadelphia holds local records and is a Government
Depository Library. 1 The
Lancaster County Historical Society holds some unique sources such as the Jasper
Yeates Colonial Law Library, which holds volumes belonging to
the local lawyer who was a delegate to the Constitutional
Convention in 1787 and Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme
Court in 1791. It also contains local atlases and
family records.
By 1730 the Scots-Irish had made their way into the lush
Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, the most western region
of the British Colonies. The Scots-Irish, serving
as a buffer against the Indians, enjoyed religious freedom
because they were virtually ignored by the tidewater Virginians. A
large number settled in the area covered today by Augusta
and Rockbridge counties. The
Library of Virginia is a valuable resource for researching in this area and
houses a special collection of rare books dating from the
fifteenth century. The local
courthouses also hold
information.
Always on the move, the Scots-Irish populated the Piedmont
country of the Carolinas in the mid-eighteenth century. Many
of these settlers were new arrivals from Ulster who found
Pennsylvania and Virginia too crowded for their liking
and moved southward; some were migrating from northern
regions for the second, third, or even fourth time. The
State Library of North Carolina would be a good place to
research settlers in this area.
After the war with England ended in 1783, the Royal Proclamation
of 1763, which had declared lands west of the mountains
off-limits to white settlers, was ignored. The restless
Scots-Irish led the way behind such trailblazers as Daniel
Boone. The Kentucky History
Center (see Everton's
Family History Magazine, January / February 2004) will
help researchers trace ancestors who moved through the
Cumberland Gap.
|
As the Scots-Irish moved into the
frontier, away from the Presbyterian influence, many became
Methodists or Baptists; some abandoned their faith altogether.
They intermarried -- the reason that so many Americans
can trace their roots to this group. Most lost
their native dialect or blended it with others. Today's
Appalachian dialects are forms of Scottish and Irish brogues. There
are not Scots-Irish parades or ethnic neighborhoods; these
people became fully American.
Many of the founding fathers, including John Hancock and
Charles Thomson, were of Scots-Irish heritage. Fourteen
U.S. presidents ranging from Andrew Jackson to George W.
Bush boast Scots-Irish bloodlines.
The Presbyterian Church had a direct influence on America's
educational system. Church members often emigrated
together and the dearth of ministers in America was a problem. Presbyterian
ministers were required to be educated, and there were
not enough coming to America from Scottish institutions.
The solution was for America to educate its own, and so
universities sprung up. In addition, the Scots-Irish
embraced the conviction of John Knox to put a school in
every parish for the education of the general public. Most
emigrants from Ulster could write their names on ships'
registers. They carried a belief in the
importance of education with them into the frontier.
The Scots-Irish almost without exception supported America's
freedom fight; they were fierce patriots. Having
been oppressed by Ireland by the English Parliament, they
were unwilling to endure more tyranny in their new home. The
Scots-Irish, however, did not come to America to escape
the strict rules of their Presbyterian faith. In
fact, the customs of that religion formed the basis by
our government -- early officials were influenced by the
religion's system of courts while building the American
system.
Economically, the Scots-Irish had an impact because they
practiced self-reliance -- God helps those who help themselves. They
can be credited neither with originating this concept
nor the concept of freedom, but their large numbers at
the time of the American Revolution helped to ingrain their
convictions into those of America's.
Although researchers should seek to understand their particular
ancestors and their customs, convictions and motivations,
all Americans can claim the Scots-Irish as their forbears,
whether they find Scots-Irish blood in their lines or not. THis
group has had a lasting influence on our society.
Endnote:
1. Libraries designated as Federal Depositories
maintain information from all three government branches
and assure free public access. For more information,
visit: GPO Access
|
In addition to the Ulster American Folk Park outdoor museum
in Ireland, the Scots-Irish are represented at the Frontier
Culture Museum, 1290 Richmond Ave., Staunton, VA 24402; 540.332.7850
The site in Ireland has a building originally constructed
in Pennsylvania, but this American museum features farm
buildings from County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
|
| RESEARCH LIBARARIES AND
SOCIETIES - Links provided as available |
Free
Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia,
PA 19103; 215.686.5322
Lancaster County
Pennsylvania Genealogy
Lancaster
County Historical Society, 230 North President
Ave., Lancaster, PA 17603; 717-392-4633
Rockbridge
County Virginia Courthouse, 2 S. Main, Lexington,
VA 24450; 540.463.2232
Augusta Virginia County Courthouse, 6 E. Johnson St.,
Staunton, VA 24401-4301; 540.245.5321
Library
of Virginia, 800 East Broad St., Richmond, VA
23219-8000; 804-692.3500
State
Library of North Carolina, 4641 Mail Service Center,
Raleigh, NC 27699-4641; 919.807.7400
Kentucky History
Center, 100 W. Broadway, Frankfort, KY
40601-1931; 501.564.1792 |
The Scots-Irish in American
(particularly early settlers of Western Pennsylvania):
The
Scotch-Irish in America, Their History, Traits, Institutions
and Influences, Especially as Illustrated in the Early
Settlers of Western Pennsylvania and their Descendants,
by John Walker Dinsmore, Published by the Winona Publishing
Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1906
Lynx 2 Ulster: A website dedicated to providing information on the history of Ulster and the Scotch Irish/Ulster Scots. It contains: A time line history of Ulster which goes into very fine detail - in some cases hour by hour. A detailed description of the migration of people from Ulster to the New World in the 1700's. Describing the conditions in Ulster prior to the migrations and the hardships and successes gained in America. This information is very surname rich and is useful to genealogists. this section also includes: - A list of ships arriving in New England from Ireland from 1714 - 1720 - Signatories of the Petition to Governor Shute in 1718 - A list of Members of the Charitable Irish Society in Boston - A list of names of fathers on the Presbyterian Baptismal Records in Boston, 1730-1736 - A list of surnames showing home towns of Ulster families, 1691-1718. A Siege of Londonderry Database which tells the story of the siege and features a surname search where you can identify people (and in most cases some biographical info) who are mentioned in the Primary and Secondary sources as being present during the Siege (on either side). Also features portraits of the main players and other illustrations.
Ulster Ancestry
Famous People with Scots-Irish Blood
Ulster Historical Foundation
Northern Irish References
Chronicles
of the Scots-Irish Settlement in Virginia,
extracted from Original Court Records of Augusta County
1745-1800, by Lyman Chalkley
Canada's Ulster-Scots
Resources for linguistic information on the Scots-Irish
General Register Office for Scotland
Genealogy How To - New Records for Tracking Your Scottish Ancestors
Scotland's People - Connecting Generations
National Archives of Scotland
The Court of the Lord Lyon
Ellis Island Foundation - Passenger Lists
Authentic Ireland Travel - A History of Scottish Kilts |
Will be added later ..... |
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