Ulster-Scots/Scotch-Irish (ancestors, USA, language, cities)
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Apologies in advance if this has been previously posted as I had not seen this and I found it very interesting. It begins with a "comic strip' introduction so you might have to stick it out for a couple of minutes.
A patriotic take on the Ulster-Scot emigration to North America and how these 'stubborn people' shaped the USA and it's politics. It particularly focuses on the ancestral homes of America's Scots-Irish Presidents. A vintage 1974 (27 mins) documentary.
Presented by Charles Witherspoon.
Musical ballad arrangements by Billy White.
Illustrations by Rowel Friers.
Great video and the first I've seen it. He mentions that the Jackson cottage was demolished. Could be right however, there is an 'Andrew Jackson cottage' still there and many people visit it. A courier showed me around the cottage and outside the cottage in another building there is a plaque saying that Darby's Rangers were first stationed here before going to Scotland.
A couple of videos in the cottage and outside it...
Well Ulsterman, I was going to try and see this before posting back (I want to take pictures and post them) but I've not been there yet, although it is very nearby in the beautiful State of Tennessee, Nashville to be exact.
I'm sure this will be something worth seeing.
Anyway, this will have to do for the time being.
Andrew Jackson's Hermitage - Experience the historical mansion and tranquil beauty
Family was deeply important to Andrew Jackson. He, having been an orphan himself, became the guardian and father to many children despite fathering none of his own. Jackson deeply cared for his wife, provided abundant opportunities for his children to succeed and defended his family honor in nearly everything he did.
The Man Who Put Andrew Jackson in Trump’s Oval Office Updated: FEBRUARY 2, 2017 — 3:01 AM EST
A few months ago, the historian Walter Russell Mead got a text message out of the blue from an unknown number. It turned out to be White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. Bannon, not yet banished from Trump’s inner circle, had a surprising story to tell the wonky scholar of American foreign policy: Mead, he said, was the reason President Andrew Jackson’s portrait now occupied a controversial place of honor in Donald Trump’s Oval Office.
Well Ulsterman, I was going to try and see this before posting back (I want to take pictures and post them) but I've not been there yet, although it is very nearby in the beautiful State of Tennessee, Nashville to be exact.
I'm sure this will be something worth seeing.
Anyway, this will have to do for the time being.
Andrew Jackson's Hermitage - Experience the historical mansion and tranquil beauty
Family was deeply important to Andrew Jackson. He, having been an orphan himself, became the guardian and father to many children despite fathering none of his own. Jackson deeply cared for his wife, provided abundant opportunities for his children to succeed and defended his family honor in nearly everything he did.
The Man Who Put Andrew Jackson in Trump’s Oval Office Updated: FEBRUARY 2, 2017 — 3:01 AM EST
A few months ago, the historian Walter Russell Mead got a text message out of the blue from an unknown number. It turned out to be White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. Bannon, not yet banished from Trump’s inner circle, had a surprising story to tell the wonky scholar of American foreign policy: Mead, he said, was the reason President Andrew Jackson’s portrait now occupied a controversial place of honor in Donald Trump’s Oval Office.
Good links and the first one especially was enlightening. Some words about Andrew's inauguration
WHISKY IN THE WHITE HOUSE
'The most roaring, rollicking, game-cocking, horse-racing, card-playing, mischievous fellow that ever lived
Contemporary view of Andrew Jackson.
There never was a day like it, before or since, in the history of the White House. Scots-Irish frontiersmen, and a good many who were not, crowded the new presidential mansion. They drank all the liquor, ate all the food scratched the elegant furniture with their spurs, quarrelled, were sick on the lawn and stole the silver. On 4 March 1829 Andrew Jackson, the Carrickfergus weaver's son, was inaugurated as seventh President of the United States, and the grip of the old colonial oligarchies on the chief office of the Republic was broken for ever. There was every reason why the ordinary Americans- farmers, cattle drovers, tradesmen and tavern lawyers - who in the first wave of American populist politics had elected Jackson, should rejoice. For them this was a victory of the South and West over the aristocratic East, of democracy over wealth and privilege. The rich and the privileged saw the event rather differently; this was the beginning of ' the reign of King Mob '. The inauguration celebration only confirmed that view.
The Scots-Irish patriots divided into conservative and radical, according to where their personal interests lay. Successful people like Thomas McKean, George Read and the Ballymena-born James McHenry, who was War Secretary in Washington's cabinet, were Federalists, but the majority of Scots-Irish, led by James Smith and John Armstrong, supported the Democratic-Republican Party.
Many of them. like the west Pennsylvanian radicals William Findley and John Smillie, were deeply suspicious of the Federalist Constitution of 1787, with its tendency to concentrate power at the centre. This sort of suspicion lies deep in the Scots-Irish nature. from recalcitrant clerics like Robert Blair in the seventeenth century, defying episcopal power vested in Armagh or Canterbury, to independent-minded twentieth-century Unionists resenting dictation from Downing Street.
Anti-British feeling played no small part in the Scots-Irish for the Democratic-Republicans. When the treaty with Britain negotiated by the conservative John Jay in 1794 was labelled ' pro-British ' there were violent demonstrations in Philadelphia: ' Kick this damned treaty to hell ', said the militant Ulster emigre' Blair McClenachan.
Though he was not a great political theorist, like his one-time friend and later opponent John C.Calhoun, Jackson brought about a bigger change in American politics than any other individual. He was the most positive personality ever to hold presidential office. Rugged and self-opinionated, no one made executive decisions but ' Old Hickory '. It was inevitable that he should become a folk hero, but the romantic framework that legend built round him obscures the sharp outline of the hard achiever. If Americans in the doldrums of late twentieth-century presidencies should wish to recall, like King Arthur to a modern Camelot, some past 'Chief', it is not Kennedy or Lincoln or even Washington but Andrew Jackson to whom they should look.
Unlike most great political figures, his private life was genuinely colourful. He was brought up in the Waxhaws when life there was at its most rumbustious. His father's funeral took place during a heavy snowstorm and the drunken mourners lost the body on the way to the churchyard.
A great read about a large group of Scots-Irish who, as we know, often left the coast and settled inland in the mountains - 99 cents and you will learn a LOT about American History - some of it not so positive. http://amzn.to/2EP46nW
I think those who stayed on the coasts fared a lot better. Also, many have left the Mts in the last 60 years and prospered to a degree which was/is impossible where they were. Many others headed up to the Midwest for jobs (Detroit, etc.) and they had a mixed bag - some good time, but some (now?) harder times.
I study history and am sometimes amazed by the ironies found. This group left Ireland (as did many) searching for a better life and room to move - and it's well known that the Brits have exploited Ireland for many centuries.
Well - moving thousands of miles didn't help much! $$ from New York, London, etc. bought up all the timber and mineral rights for most of the Appalachian chain and that was the end of these folks birthright (the land).
Book is written in the 1960's so quite up to date - and by a native of the Cumberland Plateau who is, of course, Scots-Irish.
Well it's difficult when you don't know what the topic is beyond "Scotch-Irish" but I will do my best:
I thought I was Scottish on my fathers side until we traced his history back farther and found his relatives originally immigrated from Ireland to Scotland, then to America. So I am part "Scotch-Irish" but even that is a misnomer. It's not Scottish at all but Irish.
So it's really incorrect to use the term "Scotch-Irish". I understand the term was used to identify one group of immigrants from arriving during one period of US history, from other groups of immigrants from Ireland. Kind of like an exclusive label.
Scots-Irish, Celtic, Anglo, etc.. are vague cultural references for those with an interest in it, but more saliently they are pre-genetics age references that attempt to loosely qualify Y-DNA haplotype membership before we knew how to test for it.
So, unless one is interested primarily in a culture that they may or may not be currently a part of, I would offer that a common y-DNA haplotype test will give you much more information about origins.
For example, my grandfather was from Scotland, though I share no Scottish culture. My interest would therefore lie, primarily, in the specific genetic tribe from which my grandfather belonged from wherever that tribe hails. Most Scottish people will come from one specific haplotype, but there will be a wide variety mixed into that political (versus genetic) group. For example, a test would tell me if I am descended from Normans or Britons on my father's side. Such a test will also give you information about your closest genetic relatives outside of your specific haplotype.
Though one can eventually get sort of okay at guessing via observable phenotype and what is known about family history, a genetic test will clear it up definitively. Try whatever test is currently recommended at eupedia.com.
A great read about a large group of Scots-Irish who, as we know, often left the coast and settled inland in the mountains - 99 cents and you will learn a LOT about American History - some of it not so positive. http://amzn.to/2EP46nW
I think those who stayed on the coasts fared a lot better. Also, many have left the Mts in the last 60 years and prospered to a degree which was/is impossible where they were. Many others headed up to the Midwest for jobs (Detroit, etc.) and they had a mixed bag - some good time, but some (now?) harder times.
I study history and am sometimes amazed by the ironies found. This group left Ireland (as did many) searching for a better life and room to move - and it's well known that the Brits have exploited Ireland for many centuries.
Well - moving thousands of miles didn't help much! $$ from New York, London, etc. bought up all the timber and mineral rights for most of the Appalachian chain and that was the end of these folks birthright (the land).
Book is written in the 1960's so quite up to date - and by a native of the Cumberland Plateau who is, of course, Scots-Irish.
Thanks for the recommendation craigirl, what is the name of the book? I'd be interested in reading this and see if they have it or are able to get it at our library.
I do some research myself (genealogical purposes) on the people who emigrated to America from England, Scotland and Ireland during the colonial period. There are quite a few good books on the lives and fate of the people of Appalachia.
A Hillbilly Syllabus December 10, 2017 by Eric Kerl
Since the publication of JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy, just before the “election” of Donald Trump, the people of Appalachia have been discovered again. Perplexed by the specter of white poverty and apparent backwardness, liberals and progressives turned to Vance’s Elegy to understand Appalachians.
Instead, what they found was a blame-the-victim and culture of poverty narrative that wouldn’t pass the smell test of racism in any other case.
Good links and the first one especially was enlightening. Some words about Andrew's inauguration
WHISKY IN THE WHITE HOUSE
'The most roaring, rollicking, game-cocking, horse-racing, card-playing, mischievous fellow that ever lived
Contemporary view of Andrew Jackson.
There never was a day like it, before or since, in the history of the White House. Scots-Irish frontiersmen, and a good many who were not, crowded the new presidential mansion. They drank all the liquor, ate all the food scratched the elegant furniture with their spurs, quarrelled, were sick on the lawn and stole the silver. On 4 March 1829 Andrew Jackson, the Carrickfergus weaver's son, was inaugurated as seventh President of the United States, and the grip of the old colonial oligarchies on the chief office of the Republic was broken for ever. There was every reason why the ordinary Americans- farmers, cattle drovers, tradesmen and tavern lawyers - who in the first wave of American populist politics had elected Jackson, should rejoice. For them this was a victory of the South and West over the aristocratic East, of democracy over wealth and privilege. The rich and the privileged saw the event rather differently; this was the beginning of ' the reign of King Mob '. The inauguration celebration only confirmed that view.
The Scots-Irish patriots divided into conservative and radical, according to where their personal interests lay. Successful people like Thomas McKean, George Read and the Ballymena-born James McHenry, who was War Secretary in Washington's cabinet, were Federalists, but the majority of Scots-Irish, led by James Smith and John Armstrong, supported the Democratic-Republican Party.
Many of them. like the west Pennsylvanian radicals William Findley and John Smillie, were deeply suspicious of the Federalist Constitution of 1787, with its tendency to concentrate power at the centre. This sort of suspicion lies deep in the Scots-Irish nature. from recalcitrant clerics like Robert Blair in the seventeenth century, defying episcopal power vested in Armagh or Canterbury, to independent-minded twentieth-century Unionists resenting dictation from Downing Street.
Anti-British feeling played no small part in the Scots-Irish for the Democratic-Republicans. When the treaty with Britain negotiated by the conservative John Jay in 1794 was labelled ' pro-British ' there were violent demonstrations in Philadelphia: ' Kick this damned treaty to hell ', said the militant Ulster emigre' Blair McClenachan.
Though he was not a great political theorist, like his one-time friend and later opponent John C.Calhoun, Jackson brought about a bigger change in American politics than any other individual. He was the most positive personality ever to hold presidential office. Rugged and self-opinionated, no one made executive decisions but ' Old Hickory '. It was inevitable that he should become a folk hero, but the romantic framework that legend built round him obscures the sharp outline of the hard achiever. If Americans in the doldrums of late twentieth-century presidencies should wish to recall, like King Arthur to a modern Camelot, some past 'Chief', it is not Kennedy or Lincoln or even Washington but Andrew Jackson to whom they should look.
Unlike most great political figures, his private life was genuinely colourful. He was brought up in the Waxhaws when life there was at its most rumbustious. His father's funeral took place during a heavy snowstorm and the drunken mourners lost the body on the way to the churchyard.
Well all I can say Ulsterman is this read was far more colorful than anything I have read about him. Thanks!
Well all I can say Ulsterman is this read was far more colorful than anything I have read about him. Thanks!
Aye indeed, it showed another side to him. Did you see the video clip of him as a boy and the dispute he had with the redcoat soldier. Its said that's how he got the mark on his face.
A great read about a large group of Scots-Irish who, as we know, often left the coast and settled inland in the mountains - 99 cents and you will learn a LOT about American History - some of it not so positive. http://amzn.to/2EP46nW
I think those who stayed on the coasts fared a lot better. Also, many have left the Mts in the last 60 years and prospered to a degree which was/is impossible where they were. Many others headed up to the Midwest for jobs (Detroit, etc.) and they had a mixed bag - some good time, but some (now?) harder times.
I study history and am sometimes amazed by the ironies found. This group left Ireland (as did many) searching for a better life and room to move - and it's well known that the Brits have exploited Ireland for many centuries.
Well - moving thousands of miles didn't help much! $$ from New York, London, etc. bought up all the timber and mineral rights for most of the Appalachian chain and that was the end of these folks birthright (the land).
Book is written in the 1960's so quite up to date - and by a native of the Cumberland Plateau who is, of course, Scots-Irish.
Am not sure what you mean when you say 'exploited' Ireland. Certainly there were wrongs committed by 'the Brits' but it wasn't all one-way. London did hit hard when they stopped trade going from Ulster and there is no doubt that this played a part in the emigration of the Ulster folk to America.
Since the publication of JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy, just before the “election” of Donald Trump, the people of Appalachia have been discovered again. Perplexed by the specter of white poverty and apparent backwardness, liberals and progressives turned to Vance’s Elegy to understand Appalachians.
Instead, what they found was a blame-the-victim and culture of poverty narrative that wouldn’t pass the smell test of racism in any other case.
agree with you. I wasn't impressed with Vance's book and it fit no hillbilly I ever knew.
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