Scotch-Irish-L Archives

Archiver > Scotch-Irish > 2001-03 > 0985461489


From: "Merle, Linda" <>
Subject: RE: [Scotch-Irish] English Customs (Caveat emptor))
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2001 11:18:09 -0800


Hi Carl, what country were they in? Ireland escaped the witch burnings
that swept across Europe, so wondering what country they were in. If
they claim it was Ireland....well, maybe you might wonder how much
poteen they were putting away. If Scotland, well, they barbequed a lot
of witches over there. On the other hand if they aren't clear where
they were, the witch burning is a strong clue that they were either
deep into the poteen or living in Scotland.

Linda Merle

-----Original Message-----
From: agnew1 [mailto:]
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2001 4:15 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [Scotch-Irish] English Customs (Caveat emptor))


Hi List

I have the personal papers of some of my Scotch-Irish ancestors that show
them taking part in witch burnings, something that would horrify anyone
today! But was, from the papers I have been reading from my ancestors
diaries, an accepted part of society in the 17th century Scotch-Irish. I
try not to use the current society rules or ethics to judge someone who
lived 500 years before. It's not a valid rule stick to view them them by.
They had social and economic pressures and issues that might not be as valid
today. Such as the role of religion, agriculture and military obligations.
For this reason they have to be viewed in light of how their behavior
compared with that of their peers. Otherwise our perspective might be
invalid and not as reliable to develop an understanding of the rules they
lived by!
Carl Stevenson

______________________________

This thread: