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[Scotch-Arsh]

This is an article written by a local author




Scots-Irish in Appalachia
By Scott Nicholson


The Scots-Irish heritage celebrated in the Appalachian mountains often seems heavier on the Scots than the Irish, but Ireland had its share of influence on the culture that goes beyond kilts and bagpipes.


The Scots-Irish that settled in the region came here partly as a result of English political and religious domination, as the Scots were "imported" to the Northern Ireland province of Ulster to help tame some of the rebellious spirit of the Irish. The Presbyterian denomination, as well as the Roman Catholic Church, often clashed with the Anglican Church of England, and the echoes of that conflict still rage today between Protestant and Catholic Irish.

As Presbyterians were pushed out of government power, they began looking for religious freedom, and American offered a fresh start both spiritually and economically.

Billy Kennedy, author of several books on the Scots-Irish migration to the New World, estimates that quarter million Scots-Irish came to America from the early 1700’s through the Revolutionary War. A famine in Ireland around 1740 also caused an immigration push.

Upon landing in the New World, the Scots-Irish found the English colonial government here just as unpalatable as they had in their homeland, so they often pushed from Pennsylvania into new territories beyond British influence. The sparsely-settled Southern Appalachians served this purpose well, and there may have been another instinctive factor in the decision. Some geologic evidence suggests that Appalachia is part of an ancient mountain chain that runs through the northern United Kingdom.

"Scots-Irish" was also used as a term to help differentiate those from the Ulster province from Irish Catholics who came from other parts of Ireland. The Scots-Irish had a rather severe and stubborn reputation, and church and education were heavily entwined.

Their brand of Protestantism served as the foundation for the Baptist and Methodist faiths of today, though they brought a talent for making corn whiskey to go along with their distaste for government, which lives on in the unfortunate stereotype of the paranoid hillbilly.

Ireland also lent its lingual influence to the region, and the Irish word "seisiun" lives on in American English as "session," a term for a musical gathering.

Other words that have Irish roots are "galore" (go leor in Irish, meaning "enough" or "plenty"), "shanty" (sean tigh, meaning "old house"), "slob" (slaba, meaning "mud"), "slew" (sluagh, meaning "host, army, or crowd"), "smithereens" (smidirini, meaning "small pieces"), and "whiskey" (uisce beatha, meaning "water of life").

According to linguist Lorien Hightale, a lot of mountain vernacular comes from Gaelic and Celtic roots. Examples include the use of "what" in place of "that," as in "He’s the man what went to church."

Another is the use of "on" to demark the bestowing of emotions, as in "She was loving on that boy."

For those of us who are sometimes grammatically incorrect, we can lay some "blame" on the Scots-Irish influence, as in the use of "Who with?" instead of the formal "With whom?"

Hightale said there is no word for "only" in Gaelic, so "There is not but one" or "There ain’t but one" are ways to get around saying "There is only one."

Similarly, "I’m a-fixin’ to milk the cow" has its roots in "fix" as a Gaelic synonym for "do" or "make" and "a-going" is from the phrase "ag dul."

Of course, music is the area most often recognized for providing a Celtic influence that continues to this day. Ballads and hymns from the church were popular because they could be sung without accompaniment.

The Irish are often associated with the harp, but that sophisticated and expensive instrument was often limited to the ruling classes that were allied with England. Penny whistles and bagpipes were native to Scotland and Ireland, but neither made a major impact on Appalachian music.

However, the fiddle does play a prominent role both historically and currently, as well as the lilting Appalachian style that has its foundation in the Irish and Scottish reels. In truth, Appalachian music is a blend of a number of influences, including the African-American banjo and the European guitar.

(Copyright 2003 by Scott Nicholson)

[rabroy]

''We are suprised to hear ourselves termed Irish people. We are people of
the Scottish race in Ulster.  It is hard in this new land to be identified with
the very people to whom we have always been opposed''  Thus angrily and emphatically objected one of the Ulster clergymen to the remark by an offical terming them''a parcel of Irish''   He had landed in 1718 in
Massachussetts along with 800 of his fellow countrymen. He himself,like
many who had sailed with him,had taken an active part in the defence of
Londonderry. It must have been extremely galling to veterans of the heroic stand in the'Maiden City' to be classed as similar in race to those who had been it and trying to drive them out of Ulster. This careless
lumping together of the two distinct races,has often been repeated,and has
led to much misunderstanding and, even more, misrepresentation.  It has
especially in America,been very much to the detriment of those of Ulster-
Scottish blood. As a result of that protest and others later,the settlers from
Ulster came to be known as the''Scotch-Irish'. Whilst this term did make a
distinction between them and the Celtic Irish,it has often been taken as a
combination of the two races. It is a great pity the term used had not been
''Ulster Scots'' as it would surely have been more accurate and would have
preventedthe Southern Irish and the so-called Irish Americans from claiming outstanding Ulster Scottish achivements in America to their advantage.
CALL ME FOR AN ULSTER FRY CALL ME ULSTER-SCOT,BUT DON'T CALL
                                    ME    YANKEE

[NornIrn]

I prefer the term Scots-Irish to Scotch-Irish - it makes us sound slightly less alcoholic :?

[Scotch-Arsh]

In my area particulary it makes my blood boil at times that our Scos-Irish or Ulster_Scot heritage is much overlooked.
About 10 miles fom my house every year we have a Highland games festival complete with bagpipes and kilts in 90 degree heat.
We have celtic festivals and a St. Patricks day parade.
I've agued with people "We're not Irish or highland Scots we're a different breed.
We have Scottish blood , Irish blood many have some Cherokee.
We're Germano-Celtic lot , the Appalachian Scots-Irish.

[rabroy]

I can understand where your coming from,but i think it is partly our own
fault. If you use irish at all in describing yourself,then i think you are leaving yourself open to being associated[in ordinary peoples minds]
with all forms of Irishness,and as pointed out in my last post it give 'The
Irish' the right to claim Ulster-Scots achivements
The Rev Brett Ingram on''Northern Ireland-
''From the moment that Lloyd George coined an unprounceable,geographically incorrect,insidiously loaded name''
''Northern Ireland'', our ancient land was anaemic.  The only way to reverse that sepsis is to call your country by its 3,000 year old name,and
never let across your lips that multi-syllabic,geographically absurd,amorphous and nondescript travesty.  The size of Ulster has varied
down the ages-as has the size of France and Switzerland,Poland and
Germany. None of these countries dropped their sacred name when their
area diminished. THE GREATEST DANGER TO ULSTER IS--- NORTHERN
IRELAND

[Scotch-Arsh]

How about Ulster-Appalachians? Since our folk here aren't from Ulster(some like myself have never been there) We are of strong Ulster stock.

[rabroy]

A lot of folk in the States could describe themselves as Ulster-Scots even
though they never have been to Ulster. James Buchanan 16th Preisident
said''My Ulster blood is my most priceless heritage'' 'Stonewall' Jackson
J.E.B. Stuart were both of Ulster-Scots stock. There is a plaque unveiled
to 'Stonewall' on the shores of Lough Neagh,it was unveiled by the U.S.
Consul General in 1967

[stonewall]

[quote=Guest,Mar 22 2005, 03:57 PM]
I am new to this forum and took an interest because being from belfast myself ,  my own daughter and her mother are from the region in southwest PA,

Can one claim Scots-Irish if from Ulster.

What if none of your family can be traced from scotland,

I do have relatives in scotland but they have moved recently.

I am from Ulster and proud of it.   however I would refer to myself as Irish.   My daughter would be refered as Irish - American,






You are what you percieve yourself to be.  Iam an Ulster-Scot and proud of the achivements of the folk who came from Scotland to America via Ulster,an area roughly the size of Yorkshire.

In the building of America the Ulster-Scots were in the forefront.  The Irish played practically no part whatsoever in the early days of the fledgling nation.  The Irish who came later, after the potato famine became known as Irish-American.

The Scots from Ulster, on their arrival in America were called Irish.  They strongly objected to this,and because of their protests became known as the Scotch-Irish.  They were still not completely happy with this,but in the end had to settle for it,as it did show them as different from the post-famine Irish.

At the end of the day if you class yourself as Irish thats your prerogative,and the same goes for your daughter as an Irish-American.

[Ptarmigan]

I am a Scot, & have been living in Ulster for 14 years now, but I will always consider myself to be a Scotsman & proud of it, so no hyphenated names for me - thankyou!  

I can see though, how the Protestant folk who were planted here wanted to hang onto their anscestry, when confronted by the massed native folks here.  

So when I look at these terms, I can appreciate the 'Ulster-Scots' label, showing that they are first from Ulster, where they were born, but can trace their line back to Scotland.

But by the same thinking, I would say it'd make more sense to call those folks living in Appalachia, whose forefathers came from Ulster - 'Appalachian-Ulster', for surely they are not ashamed of where they live?  

Surely that'd give more of a sense that they were happy with their new home, but just wanted to remember their roots.  

Those folks, whose forefathers had moved directly from Scotland then, could be classed as Appalachian-Scots.  

As for those folks whose forefathers came over from Ireland - why does the 'Irish' come first?  
Surely they are American-Irish?  
Or Appalachian-Irish if applicable?  

Cheers

[Ptarmigan]

Something Rabroy said earlier, has me confused:

"This careless lumping together of the two distinct races,has often been repeated,and has led to much misunderstanding and, even more, misrepresentation. It has especially in America,been very much to the detriment of those of Ulster-Scottish blood.

This question of 'Race' has me baffled!

The Dictionary says:

RACE:

Anthropology.
a. any of the traditional divisions of humankind, the commonest being the Caucasian, Mongoloid, and Negro, characterized by supposedly distinctive and universal physical characteristics: no longer in technical use.
b. an arbitrary classification of modern humans, sometimes, esp. formerly, based on any or a combination of various physical characteristics, as skin color, facial form, or eye shape, and now frequently based on such genetic markers as blood groups.
c. a human population partially isolated reproductively from other populations, whose members share a greater degree of physical and genetic similarity with one another than with other humans.

So surely the Scots & the Irish are all the same race after all - i.e. Caucasian, aren't they?
I mean, we all came from the same stock originally, didn't we?
Surely for one race to be separate from another, it takes more than just a matter of which religion each adopts.
It must, because appx 16% of all Scots are Catholic & also numerous Catholics & Protestants have actually changed their religion over the centuries.
If it were as superficial a distinction as that, then you might as well say that every football team's supporters were a different race from every other  

Perhaps the acid test for a race is if you strip 100 of each of them, & line them up - side by side.
I'm sure everyone could distinguish the Caucasians from the Mongoloid from the Negro immediately.
However, if you did the same with 100 Irish folk & 100 Scottish folk there is no way you could tell one from the other - unless of course they were allowed to keep on their underpants & that way the Celtic & Rangers 'Y Fronts' would give the game away, every time!  

[Fried Green Apples]

Hi!  I'm new and up until just a week or so ago I found out I am an Appalachian- Scots-Irish.  I had always been told that we were Irish, but in my genealogical research, I find mostly English coupled with Ulster-Scots and then just regular Scots coming directly from Scotland. (also some Germans too, but that was no surprise at all!)  Has anyone had this problem before?  We had been very proud of our Irish Heritage and all, but then to find out that all my Irish turned out to be Scots living in Ireland blew my mind.  I don't mind, ya understand, it is just weird to think all your life you are one thing, to just learn it was not so and you are really something else, quite different.  Strange for sure, but I guess when you dig into your family's past, ya learn alot of stuff you never expected or even thought to be possible.  Well, I have enjoyed reading the entries in this forum.  Hope to make some new friends!

Good night!