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This is about a group of
immigrants from the north of Ireland in the 18th Century who
came to be known as the Scotch-Irish, which is a completely American term
and very misleading--since very few of the people in this migration had
any Irish blood at all. To understand who these people really were, a
brief history lesson is needed. Over a period of several centuries, there
was almost constant war between England and Scotland. The battles took
place in the border counties of both countries and the people who lived
there, whether English or Scottish, were living in a war zone. This made
their lives quite different than anywhere else in the British Isles; they
had much more in common with each other than with the rest of England or
the rest of Scotland. The men were very warrior-like and often away at
battle. They lived with constant economic oppression because soldiers
trampled their crops, rustlers stole their livestock, taxes were high, and
wages were low. The border kept changing; sometimes both countries claimed
the border counties at once. Eventually, many of these went to the north
of Ireland during the great Plantation period of the 17th
century, settling in the province of Ulster. In the period between 1717
and 1775, these descendants of people from the English and Scottish Border
lands (also known as “borderers”) came into the port at Philadelphia in
great numbers. They came from the Ulster counties of Donegal, Derry, Down,
Armagh, Antrim, and Tyrone.. A few native Irish came with them, but most
of the people in this migration were of English or Scottish extraction who
had been in Ireland at least four generations. When they arrived, their
behavior, dress, and speech patterns were so very different from those
people (mostly Quakers) already living in Pennsylvania that they were
rejected, ridiculed, and called "Scotch-Irish"--a derogatory term used to
be certain nobody would think they were English!
The reason for this
migration was much different than previous immigrants. The yearning for
religious freedom was there, but for the most part it involved the pursuit
of material betterment. They were not the poorest of the poor (those
people didn't have enough money to migrate) but they were mostly from the
economic lower class. They were farmers and semi-skilled craftsmen. They
were of mixed religious backgrounds. The largest number were Presbyterian,
but there were Anglicans and other Protestant Denominations represented as
well. In spite of their poverty, they were a very proud people--and this
was a source of further irritation to their neighbors. They settled in the
"back- country" of Pennsylvania and, when the roads to the south began to
open, they left and went down into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. They
continued to follow this pattern of living in the "back country" for
years, going first into the Carolinas, then into Tennessee and Kentucky,
then further west to Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma (If this was
the migratory pattern of your ancestors, they may have been Scotch-Irish).
Family life was different
for these immigrants from the north of Ireland . They lived mostly in
nuclear families, but the extended family was much more extended than for
most other people. The family extended out for 4 generations and connected
one nuclear family to another and one generation to the next. This group
was somewhat like a Highland clan. “Clans” tended to live and move
together. This was the way in the borderlands of England and Scotland and
it continued to be the way in the north of Ireland as well as in the back
country of America. These descendants of “Borderers” had large families
just like the Puritans. The age at marriage was much younger than in any
of the groups of British immigrants. The average age for men was 21 and
for women 19. Weddings were wild affairs, full of ritual, and costly.
Sometimes brides were abducted, usually (but not always) willingly. First
cousins often married to "keep it in the clan". There was a shortage of
clergy in the back country and sometimes couples got tired of waiting.
Premarital pregnancies were common. But they were not thought to be
scandalous. They often made a joke of it! Family life was very different.
Men were warriors and women were workers. For generations these men had to
be warriors in the old countries of Scotland, England and Ireland. The
pattern didn't change just because they migrated to America. The most
important possessions for a man were his gun and his horse. In any society
where the men go off to war, the women do much more heavy labor at home.
This was true for these Scotch-Irish as well. In these families, the women
labored in the fields right beside their husbands. Families were male
dominant; women and children were supposed to obey. These families also
had a strange mix of love and violence in their homes. And feuds between
extended families sometimes occurred.
They brought their
Borderers child-naming practices with them. There was a pattern but they
were the least likely group to follow it. The pattern in this male
dominant society was for the two eldest sons to be named after their
grandfathers and the third son after his father. They also used Biblical
names (John the most common), Teutonic names (Richard or Robert the most
common), names of Border saints, such as Andrew, Patrick, or David, Celtic
names, such as Ewan/Owen, Barry, or Roy, names from other cultures, such
as Ronald or Archibald, names of Scottish Kings, such as Alexander,
Charles, or James, names of brave border warriors, such as Wallace, Bruce,
Perry, or Howard, place names, such as Ross, Clyde, Carlisle, Tyne or
Derry. Sometimes they made up names or feminized family names and gave
them to their daughters (i.e. Hoyt=Hoyette). The most common names for
girls were the same as in all 3 of the other groups of English
immigrants--Mary, Elizabeth and Sarah. There were also some naming taboos:
they did not use Scottish Highlander names, such as Douglas, Donald,
Kenneth, Ian, or Stewart; they did not use Irish Gaelic names, such as
Sean, Kathleen, Maureen, or Sheila.
Child-rearing practices in
the back country were very different. Scotch-Irish parents were highly
indulgent and permissive. Socialization began at birth. Children,
especially boys, were taught to exercise their wills. They doted on their
male children, who were reared to have fierce pride, stubborn
independence, and a warrior's courage. Girls were taught the domestic
virtues of patience, industry, sacrifice, and devotion to others. Men
shared in the care of their children from infancy. Corporal punishment was
often used. |
