Scotch-Irish EMIGRANTS

This unusual term refers to those Presbyterian Scots who settled in Ulster (modern-day Northern Ireland) during the seventeenth century. From these 200,000 original settlers, up to 2 million of their descendants eventually reached North America.

The Scotch-Irish left Ulster as a result of neo-mercantilist British economic policy in the region, requirements that they pay 10% of their income to the Anglican Church, ongoing friction with their Catholic Irish neighbors, and greater economic opportunity in the New World. Although the Scotch-Irish settled throughout the colonies, they concentrated most heavily in Pennsylvania.

Contacts and sources:

• The Scotch-Irish Foundation and the Scotch-Irish Society of the United States of America

We have not completely read the books listed below. We are only suggesting them as possible sources of further information.

• Scotch-Irish Family Research Made Simple, by R.G. Campbell
• Tracing your Scottish Ancestry, by Kathleen B. Cory
• The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania, by Wayland F. Dunaway.
• Irish and Scotch-Irish Ancestral Research, by Margaret D. Falley
• The Scotch-Irish in America, by Henry Jones Ford
• The Scotch-Irish or The Scot in North Britain, North Ireland, and North America, by Charles Augustus Hanna
• Scotch Irish Pioneers in Ulster and America, by Charles Knowles
• Scottish Family History, by David Moody
• Scottish Local History, by David Moody
• Scottish Family History: A Guide to Works of Reference on the History and Genealogy of Scottish Families, by Margaret Stuart