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From: "Paul Conroy" <>
Subject: Re: [DNA-R1B1C7] Check out Emigration of Scotch and Scotch-Irish toAmerica
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:45:37 -0500
References: <d67.24a21bb7.34e6ff4a@aol.com>
In-Reply-To: <d67.24a21bb7.34e6ff4a@aol.com>
George,
You probably mean well, but I truly wish you read more history, before
posting something as inaccurate as this.
Presbyterians of Scottish ancestry from Northern Ireland did NOT leave for
the US because they were oppressed by Bishops, they also did not reclaim a
country from barbarism?!
If you knew the actual history and analyzed it, you would know that England
had an area under continuous settlement and control in Ireland since the
time of the Norman invasions, that was the greater Dublin area - know as The
Pale - an area which waxed and waned over time. During the reign of Queen
Mary, they sought to increase this area by initiating the colonization of
Laois-Offaly (Queen's County, King's County), an area adjoining the Pale to
its immediate West. They cleared the land of native Irish, brought in
English colonists, gave them large land grants, set up forts with soldiers
to protect the colonists. However it was dangerous to be a colonist and most
after a while, abandoned living on their estates for most of the year, and
lived mostly in Dublin. They rented out their lands to tenant farmers,
initially poor Englishmen, but later also native Irish - over time these
areas ceased to be purely English and began to revert to being more native
Irish.
Then there were a bunch of other colonization projects in other parts of
Ireland, like Munster, etc. and they followed on the Laois-Offaly plantation
model, which was not very effective in the long term.
Northern Ireland always had the strongest and most civilized native Irish,
and very organized militarily, so they were the last area of Ireland to be
vanquished. They also had strong ties to Scotland, historically,
linguistically and culturally - the Bruce's of Scotland had tried to unite
Scotland and Ireland into one Kingdom to rival England. So England had much
to fear from such a union of closely related peoples.
So when they came to colonizing the territory of Northern Ireland, they came
up with a deft strategy to solve the problem with the other colonies of
drifting back to Irish hands over time, while also killing off the
possibility of a union of the Scottish and the Irish against them. What they
did for the most part was to give large tracts of land to Englishmen again,
but have Scottish tenants and laborers working those farms, rather than
using any Native Irish. This worked out exactly as planned for the English.
It kept the native Irish out of the colonized parts of Northern Ireland, it
drove a wedge between the Celtic cousins too.
Later on, they would try and convert all non-Church of England - aka
Episcopal in the US - people in Ireland to the Church of England. So they
enacted the Penal Laws, which punished anyone who was non-Church of England.
It forbade them all education, all civil or professional positions, and
often led to them being dispossessed of lands as well. This led to both
Scottish colonist and native Irish to be downtrodden peasants in Northern
Ireland. However the US colonies were Protestant in religion, and welcomed
protestants to their colonies, and importantly had no laws against
Presbyterians - thence the mass exodus of Scottish colonists from Northern
Ireland to the US.
It's a very old strategy - "divide and conquer" - Stalin would go on do the
same to the various ethnic groups in the Russian Empire.
Cheers,
Paul
On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 9:44 AM, <> wrote:
> _Emigration of Scotch and Scotch-Irish to America_
> (http://www.libraryireland.com/ScotchIrishSeeds/IX.php) THE emigrants to
> this country from Scotland
> and Ireland had so many things in common, and they mingled so naturally
> and
> constantly wherever they settled, that it is impossible to trace, with
> any
> accuracy, the separate streams of emigration. An approximation is all
> that will
> be attempted.
> During the bloody persecutions which prevailed in Scotland many of her
> best
> citizens were banished to America. Some of them were transported as felons
> because they would not violate their consciences; this was the only crime
> alleged against them by their accusers. Others fled because they saw no
> prospect
> in the future that in their native land they would be permitted to enjoy
> those
> modes of worship which they believed most in accordance with God's word;
> while still others were attracted to the New World by the prospect of
> improving
> their temporal affairs, which had been impaired or wholly ruined by the
> fines
> and imprisonments to which they had been subjected.
> After the disastrous battle of Dunbar (1650), a large number of prisoners
> were sent to the Plantations, as they were called, to be sold for slaves.
> A like
> disposition was made of many who took part in the Pentland rising and the
> battle of Bothwell Bridge. The oppressed congregations also furnished
> many
> colonists, who, denied all religious freedom at home, fled to this
> country. A
> large number of these Presbyterians settled, from the years 1670 to 1680,
> on the
> Elizabeth River, Virginia, and in the lower counties of Maryland, and
> established several churches at least twenty years before the close of
> the century.
>
> Several Scottish noblemen and gentlemen, who had been active in their
> opposition to the prelatic measures of their sovereign, and so incurred
> his
> displeasure, conceived the design of providing a home for their persecuted
> brethren
> in America, and in 1682 they contracted with the lords-proprietors of
> Carolina for a large landed property. In the same State, and previous to
> the year
> 1670, "several hundred able-bodied men formed a settlement on the west
> bank of
> the Ashley River and named it Charles' Town." _[1]_
> (http://www.libraryireland.com/ScotchIrishSeeds/IX.php#1) As early as
> 1662 a company of persons driven
> from Virginia by religious persecution settled on Albemarle Sound. They
> supposed they would be protected in their civil and religious rights, but
> no
> sooner did the Episcopal Church acquire the necessary prestige and power
> than
> dissenters were taxed for its support, and were disfranchised if they
> failed to
> conform. Thus were they socially and politically degraded by intolerant
> laws
> designed to prop up Episcopacy, and to escape from this injustice they
> removed
> to another colony. This settlement and a previous one on Chowan River
> were
> visited by Governor Berkley of Virginia in 1663, who appointed William
> Drummond, a Scotch Presbyterian, the first governor of the colonies
> settled in North
> Carolina. At his death (1667) the colonists numbered about five thousand.
> The congregations of Marlborough and Bladensburg, Maryland, were composed
> of
> Presbyterians who left Scotland during the persecution in the reign of
> James
> II. East Jersey subsequently received a considerable emigration, chiefly
> induced to remove there by George Scot of Pitloche, who had suffered
> everything
> short of death for his nonconformity. In his appeal to his countrymen to
> emigrate he dwelt especially upon the privilege they would have of
> enjoying their
> own modes of worship; and this appeal was seconded by letters from their
> friends who had previously settled in the province. Other companies of
> Scotchmen
> found homes in Delaware and along the York and Rappahannock Rivers in
> Virginia; while, as we have seen, a large number of colonists had entered
> the
> southern colonies, landing either at Wilmington or Charleston. Those who
> remained
> in Charleston united with Congregationalists from New England, who were
> already settled there, in forming an Independent church, but the pastors
> for many
> years belonged to the Church of Scotland. This church was gathered
> probably as
> early as 1682. In 1695 we know that a gift of one thousand pounds was
> made
> to it by Governor Joseph Blake. The French Huguenot church was
> established in
> 1686, and was the first purely Presbyterian church in South Carolina.
> Other
> churches were formed within a few years. A letter from South Carolina
> published in London (1710) states that there were at this time five
> Presbyterian
> churches in the colony, and the records show that a donation of three
> hundred
> acres of land was made in 1717 for the support of a Presbyterian minister
> on
> Edisto Island.
> North Carolina was also largely indebted to these early Scotch colonists
> for
> many of her most useful and honored citizens. As early as 1729, and again
> in
> 1736 and 1739, there were large arrivals of emigrants, who occupied the
> fertile plains along the Cape Fear River. The rebellion of 1745 caused
> many
> Highlanders to leave their native land. Shiploads of them are said to
> have landed
> at Wilmington, and from thence they made their way into the interior of
> North
> and South Carolina. Some of these were voluntary exiles, but the most of
> them
> had fled from Scotland to avoid persecution, and even death itself. For
> many
> years the Gaelic language was retained among them, and was employed by
> their
> preachers in all public services.
> As early as 1698 a colony of French Presbyterians (Huguenots), numbering
> more
> than one thousand persons, settled upon the Santee and Cooper Rivers,
> South
> Carolina. The emigration of Huguenots continued for many years, and
> various
> colonies were formed in the State. From these have descended some of the
> most
> worthy citizens in the South. Previous to the year 1700 seventy families
> of
> Swiss Presbyterians landed in the same State, and being largely mechanics
> and
> merchants made their permanent residence in Charleston.
> Though the emigration from Scotland began at an earlier period than that
> from
> the north of Ireland, it never assumed the magnitude nor the organized
> form
> of the latter, especially from the years 1715 to 1750. During these years
> America received very large accessions to its Protestant population, most
> of
> whom were Scotch-Irish, and in hearty sympathy with the Presbyterian
> Church. So
> great were the numbers from Ireland who sought refuge in this country
> that
> the civil magistrates "deplored the hallucination" which seemed to have
> seized
> the inhabitants, and which led them in such multitudes to forsake their
> adopted land.
> There were three causes impelling the inhabitants of Ulster to desert a
> country which they had reclaimed from barbarism. These were religious
> bigotry,
> commercial jealousy and the oppressive measures employed by landlords.
> Of the first little requires to be said in this connection. In the course
> of
> the previous history we have seen what evils were inflicted upon nonconfo
> rmists by an intolerant government, instigated by still more intolerant
> bishops.
> It may be well, however, to add here, and more in confirmation of
> previous
> statements than by way of elucidation, what Mr. Froude _[2]_
> (http://www.libraryireland.com/ScotchIrishSeeds/IX.php#2) has said on
> this subject: "The
> Protestant settlers in Ireland at the beginning of the seventeenth
> century were of
> the same metal with those who afterward sailed in the Mayflower
> --Presbyterians, Puritans, Independents--in search of a wider
> breathing-space than was
> allowed them at home. By an unhappy perversity they had fallen under the
> same
> stigma, and were exposed to the same inconveniences. The bishops had
> chafed
> them with persecutions. . . . The heroism with which the Scots held the
> northern
> province against the Kilkenny Parliament and Owen Roe O'Neil, was an
> insufficient offset against the sin of nonconformity. . . . This was a
> stain for
> which no excellence could atone. The persecutions were renewed, but did
> not cool
> Presbyterian loyalty. When the native race made their last effort under
> James II. to recover their lands, the Calvinists of Derry won immortal
> honor for
> themselves, and flung over the wretched annals of their adopted country a
> solitary gleam of true glory. Even this passed for nothing. They were
> still
> dissenters, still unconscious that they owed obedience to the hybrid
> successors
> of St. Patrick, the prelates of the Establishment; and no sooner was
> peace
> re-established than spleen and bigotry were again at their old work.
> Vexed with
> suits in the ecclesiastical courts, forbidden to educate their children
> in
> their own faith, treated as dangerous to a State which but for them would
> have
> had no existence, and deprived of their civil rights, the most earnest of
> them at length abandoned the unthankful service. ... If they intended to
> live as
> freemen, speaking no lies and professing openly the creed of the
> Reformation, they must seek a country where the long arm of prelacy was
> still too short
> to reach them. During the first half of the eighteenth century, Down,
> Antrim,
> Tyrone, Armagh and Derry were emptied of Protestant inhabitants, who were
> of
> more value to Ireland than California gold-mines." _[3]_
> (http://www.libraryireland.com/ScotchIrishSeeds/IX.php#3)
>
>
>
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