What do you know about the people who went from Scotland to Ireland and then ended up in America? What started the immigration? Why are there at least three different names these people go by? With all these changes it is no wonder it is a task to find your ancestors from these areas of the world. Hopefully knowing some of the following historical facts will help you in your search.
There are 3 million people who claim to have Scots-Irish ancestry. Ethnically the Scots-Irish are Scottish. Throughout history English kings were always trying to interfere in areas of Ireland. But in the 1500s the Tudor Dynasty made it the Crown's mission to bring Ireland under control. The tensions were both political as well as religious. After the Protestant Reformation when England became Protestant, Ireland stayed Catholic. Add to this that when the Scottish King James became the King of England, Scotland was now also Protestant with the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. It was King James that came up with the plan to take the depopulated northern area of Ireland known as Ulster and send over tenet settlers. This started in 1609.
Yet, by the early 1700s there was a mass immigration from the Ulster area to America. The first cause of mass immigration was that in 1710 the 20 year leases given to the Scottish who moved to Ulster were up and the landlords thought it would be a good time to raise the rents in large amounts. Many were evicted from their lands. The second reason was religious in nature. Under British rule only the people who belonged to the Church of Ireland (a branch of the Anglican Church) had a chance for political rights. While the Scottish Presbyterians were better off than the Irish Catholics they were still politically disadvantaged.
The Scotch-Irish, later replaced by Scots-Irish, were known to be stubbornly independent, to stay away from authority, and to have pioneered many areas. The first wave settled in Pennsylvania and later waves of Scots-Irish went into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and the Carolinas. They even settled across the Appalachian mountains. Because of their stubbornness, the need for independence, and being fervent Protestants, the "Scots-Irish" embraced the term "Ulster-Scots" for themselves in the mid-1800s to separate themselves from Catholic Irish coming into America.
Hopefully, knowing the path that the Ulster-Scots took will help you to be able to find records. The lack of early information except on tombstones or personal family information may be difficult. Don’t forget to look up county histories, we have found a lot of information from these. Also use your collateral family lines to look for information. Church records and land records can be good sources too. May you find your Ulster-Scots roots easily and with speed.
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