I've been told that my heritage is scotch-irish....have been told by scottish people that these people were

Question

basically, ex-pats who moved from scotland to ireland, but then insisted upon keeping scottisch traditions. They view them as less than people and I was even told to forget my heritage as I would be dissapointed! Is this the consesus view or did I just come across some people with chips on their shoulders?

Thanks for the help, I for one, think Scotland is amazing ('cept for neds) and people have been emigrating/immigrating since the dawn of man....it doesn't mean they aren't proud of their motherland, just that there are promises elsewhere.

I realize that scotch is a drink by the way...in America however, this particular ethnic group is commonly referred to as scotch.....

jjjjjjj-is that why I like wild turkey so much?:)

whether it's anything to be proud of or not, several of our presidents have been scots-irish

Wendy C, I should have said, I have seen a very thorough family tree and know exactly where my paternal family is from in scotland-I meant that I have heard it called "scotch-irish". No, of course there shouldn't be generalizations, I am merely interested in finding out who these people were and the impressions they made...

Answer 1

i think they had chips on their shoulders....i'm scottish n proud to be...

Answer 2

I believe those people who have told you to forget about your heritage are not the type of people I would be proud to have as friends.

Evie gave you a good view of what Scotch-Irish has traditionallly meant. Actually the Scots and the Irish are cousins. The Celts settled Ireland and for awhile it was called Scotia. Then some crossed over to what is now called Scotland. There were different type of people in Ireland and Scotland before the coming of the Celts that they assimilated with. Therefore the Irish and Scots are not exactly the same people but closely related.

When the Scots went to Ireland they did not assimilate with the Irish there as much as the Anglo Normans who immigrated to Ireland earlier. Religious differences between the Scots and the Irish were the reason.

Now it is true in the American South the Scotch Irish gave us the name Hilbilly. Many settled in the moutainous regions of North Carolina, Tennessee etc and they had been followers of King Billy.

Many were famous for cockfighting, moonshine whiskey etc.

However, many of our Presidents are of Scotch-Irish ancestry, including Andrew Jackson. Patrick Henry was Scotch Irish. Actually the Scotch Irish were such great patriots during the period before the Revelution that they were called Rabid Radicals Ready for Revolution.

The English were on the coastline. The rugged Scotch Irish and Germans settled the western part of the Southern colonies. They kicked down the door to the wilderness. They cleared the land, built roads and once they made it habitable the English who in the South were mostly of gentry background moved to join them. Later the Catholic Irish came and were largely responsible for building the railroads.

Anglo Saxon narrowly means English but today what is called the Anglo Saxon people of the American South are really a blend of those English aristocrats, Scots, Scotch Irish, German (called Dutch in colonial days) and French Huguenots.

My father's father was orange with a little green and his mother was green with a little orange.

A note about the Scots and Scotch-Irish. Northern Louisiana has many people who proudly call themselves "redcoats." Among them are Scottish Jacobites. Very interesting. The Jacobites fought for their prince Bonnie Prince Charlie against George I and George II. When George III came to the throne they decided they wanted to get as far away as possible and immigrated to Virginia and the Carolinas.
Once they got there they didn't get along with the Scotch Irish and since the Scotch-Irish were like I said formerly, Rabid Radicals Ready for Revolution, the Jacobites joined forces with their old nemesis the Crown of England.

France gave the safe haven into the Louisiana territory after the Revolutionary War.

Our family had friends who helped raise us in our younger days. They were "redcoats" from Louisiana. The wife was half English and half Jacobite. Let me tell you. They didn't celebrate the 4th of July until after World War II.

It was why the Battle of New Orleans was so important in the War of 1812. If England could have joined those forces in the Northern Louisiana and other parts of what had been the Louisiana Territory, (Arkansas and Missouri), the war would definitely lasted longer.

Answer 3

Dear Carl, What a great question. I'll start my answer now but I'll have to finish later because I'm taking a friend to a prayer service shortly. She is going through terrible health problems and a very ugly divorce so I'm doing everything I can to encourage her. Your REAL first name? - I try to live up to my name which means "friend". I'd prefer not to say my actual name at this point because of the tendencies of some of my pseudo-Christian relatives. Your APPROXIMATE age (be specific, if you like)? I reached my 59th birthday this month. Your nationality? I'm an American with lots of European ancestors. Your "religious" position (if any?) Born again Christian. Your occupation? Christian Grandmother Extrordinaire Ex-wife Ex-internal auditor; ex-banker (who learned that you discern counterfeits by studying the REAL thing rather than the counterfeits) Your favourite food? Leftovers - that's because I'm too busy to cook but my children really like my meatloaf and Sunshine cake. Your favourite pastime? Studying the Bible to share what I learn with others and playing with my 22 month old grandson. Why you are here in R & S? Getting to know others who love to study the Bible. Your unfulfilled (as yet) ambition? To read the Bible from cover-to-cover with small groups of people aiming for a total of 850 people give-or-take a few. I arrived at that number when I was studying Elijah's Showdown with the FALSE prophets on Mount Carmel. Meanwhile I've been giving away all kinds of Bibles. I've given The Daily Walk Bible to lots of people who would like to read the Bible but are worried that they won't be able to understand it. I've given new moms the Mom's Devotional Bible and I've given new dads the Men of Integrity Bible. I've given copies of the Life Application Bible and the NIV Study Bible along with The Daily Bible in Chronological Order. Edit: Carl, I've just got to ask What is unfortunate about being 38? And dear Princess YumYum, What is the wrong side of 50? I have been enjoying the RIGHT side of 50 for the past 9 years and 49 was just a foretaste. For His glory, JOYfilled

Answer 4

The Scotch-Irish are descended from Scots who moved to Ireland to either administer or work on estates granted by the British monarch. I would imagine the range of character among them was about the same as was found in contemporary Scotland - nothing to take special pride or shame in. Those who subsequently moved to America generally inhabited the upper ranges of the south and some of the midwest - often very hard working and staunchly Protestant.

Answer 5

It is incorrectly called Scotch-Irish. It is correctly called Scots-Irish. They weren't necessarily Scots who moved to Ireland -- but they were probably lowlanders who descended from Irish originally.

They did come to America and kept some of their scottish traditions. These people settled in Maryland, VA, North and South Carolina, and eventually moved westward into KY, TN, MO, and later the Oregon trail.

There is absolutely NO REASON to be disappointed in this heritage. They came to this country just like immigrants from other countries, because they wanted to own land and build lives for their families.

The Scottish people who have been telling you this stuff are really ignorant and show their bigotry.

Answer 6

"Scotch-Irish" is an American term for the descendants of the Ulster Scots who left Lowland Scotland for Ulster, or as it is now called Northern Ireland, during the reigns of James I (or VI) and Charles I. Twenty-one miles from mainland Scotland, tenants who had previously paid exorbitant tack fees on a yearly basis could now lease farms from 21 years to life, plowing much more fertile land than they had been able to scratch a subsistence living out of in southwestern Scotland.

In the years prior to 1610, Scottish landlords had increased the "feu" for yearly rent, and tenant farmers who had worked the land for generations saw their farms let out to other higher bidders. Accordingly, ambitious farmers and their families took a very short trip across the Irish Sea to acquire much better farm land under long-term leases. Several generations later, again out bid on their leases under the rack-rent system and also pushed off their Irish land by drought, Ulster-Scots immigrated to the New World the generation before the American Revolution. Both their emigration out of Scotland and Northern Ireland was also occasioned by the restrictions put upon members of the Church of Scotland. Thus, like most American immigrants, the Scotch-Irish came to the New World drawn by either economic opportunity or religious and political freedom.

Most Americans of Scots-Irish lineage probably have some Lowland and Highland Scots' ancestors apart from their Scots-Irish ones if my family history is any indication. Scottish immigration seems to have come in two waves: Comparatively well-to-do Lowland Scots turned Virginia planters came from about 1700 until shortly before the American Revolution while Highland Scots came around 1800, driven to the New World because 1) they feared that their sons would be drafted into the British Army to fight the Napoleonic Wars, or 2) the clearances drove them off their crofts. The middle-class Scots-Irish, on the other hand, for the most part immigrated around 1750. Scots-Irish, Highland and Lowland immigrants primarily came in family groups, which, in turn, emigrated together across the American Continent. In the American South, they would have run in to each other in church since for the most part they would have been members of the Presbyterian Church, or its American offshoot, The Disciples of Christ (The Christian Church), or else eventually Methodists or Baptists (since these denominations didn't demand the formal seminary education of their circuit riders that the Presbyterian Church did of its ministers).

Answer 7

None of the above.
The generalization of Scotch-Irish is just that. Genealogically speaking.. you descend from individual persons. "I've been told that..." suggests relying on traditions and opinions, which are always open to dispute and debate. Not to mention argumentative persons on public boards (as is clear from prior replies). It might be more open from a historical point, or you can focus on finding grandpa Jones (or Wallace or O'Reilly) and proving his actual place of birth and ancestry.
Genealogy isn't meant to be a political debate.

Answer 8

Scottish and Irish are merely people who fled England to develop their own lifestyles,traditions and religions.Sounds like the first settlers in the U.S. doesn't it? So be proud of your heritage!!!!!! Don't worry about those with warped ideas!!

Answer 9

I think if I was Scots/Irish I would be very offended about your question, I have friends from both countries and I think they are the salt of the earth. I think the person who made the comment about the whiskey is not that far off the mark.

Answer 10

In the 1500, Irish migrated to Northern Scottland because they were protestants (or do I have that reversed?) under Mary Queen of Scotts I believe. They are also knows OrangeMen.

I have the same combination so I've researched this. You can research your family names to get where in the Islands they lived. Then research that location's history and you will get your family history.

Answer 11

The Scotch-Irish referred to concerning your heritage most likely is the Scotch and Irish whiskeys your dad had drank before having sex with your mother.

Additional: My mom's mother told me that one when she said we had some Scotch-Irish in our blood.

Additional2: I always thought it was funny.

Although we truly were partially of the Scots-Irish descent (the rest being German, Norwegian and Native American) they never seemed all that ambivalent about it, tending to act as though it was a good and strong heritage.