“Scotch-Irish”

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surname/tag: Scotch immigration from Northern Ireland

Direct citation from: Smith, Philip D. Jr. PhD, FSTS, GTS. Tartan for Me, “The Origins of the McCrackens”.1984. p 3.

From the coast of Galloway to the coast of Ireland is only 18 miles, an easy sail in calm weather. Many Scots were attracted to settle in Northern Ireland by the promise of inexpensive land. Others left to avoid religious and civil warfare in the 1600’s. Scottish people who settled in Northern Ireland were non-Catholics and looked to Scotland as their cultural home. The religious reformer Alexander Campbell, for example, was born in Northern Ireland but attended the University of Glasgow and was heavily influenced by non-conforming Scottish religious thinkers. ….

Until Scotland and England were officially joined in 1707, each maintained separate governments. America was an “English” possession and Scots (and Irish) were forbidden to settle in America unless through an English company—or as prisoners, sent to labor. One of the “trade-offs” of getting the Scots to agree to a joint government with the English was the right for Scots to do business with and to immigrate to America. No sooner had the ink dried on the Act of Union then the Scots were on the way, both directly and via Northern Ireland.

Scots who had lived for a while in Northern Ireland are called “Scotch-Irish” in North America to distinguish them from Roman Catholic Irish who came a hundred years later. The term does NOT mean a mixture of Scotch and Irish but designates a person of Scottish ancestry who migrated first to Northern Ireland then to America.