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Archiver > Scotch-Irish > 1999-07 > 0931623565


From: linda Merle <>
Subject: Re: Irishmen soldiering in other countries now Religion of the Scots
Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 09:19:25 -0700


H folks, my notion of this, formed from a class or two on Scottish genealogy,
and the Rev Andrews, is this:

Top of the hillSome Titled FamiliesRoman Catholic (traditionalists)
First slope down More Big FamiliesAnglican
------------
Middle class Church of Scotland
Dissenting Presbyterians
Baptists, Methodists, etc.

Poor<not interested>
Church of Scotland

One dimension of the Reformation was a class struggle between the
upper classes and the middle class. As in England and Ireland,
some very old titled families remained Roman Catholic. Some more wealthy
families supported bishops -- therefore Episcopalian. The Church of Scotland is
the default church. The Middle Class largely is involved in various splinterings
of Presbyterianianism. If you find your family did not attend Church of Scotland
but were Wee Frees, etc, it is a sign that they were middle class. Poor folk
didn't have the education or the time to go to church. They were trying to feed
themselves and were often not too welcome (not clean enough, socially
disadvantaged, etc). So they may have shown up to get married (maybe)
or get children baptized (maybe).

Of course these days in urban areas there are often many Irish Roman Catholics
of various social levels, esp. Glasgow. We're talking past.

If you look at the 1881 Gazetteer of Scotland (Wilson) you will see a lot
of religious diversity. See Genbervie, a parish in Kincardineshire. It is
6 1/2 miles long and 5 wide. It has 972 folks in 1881. It had these churches:
established (Church of Scotland), Free, and Episcopalian. Falkirk,
in Stirling: Pop 25,061: established church, 2 Free churches, 3 United
Presbyterian, Congregational, Evangelical, Union, Baptist, Episcopalian,
and Roman Catholic. So much for the notion that all Scots are Presbyterian.

Linda Merle

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