When the “Scots-Irish” first came to America, long before the Act of Union of 1801, Ireland was an independent Kingdom with a Parliament in Dublin, & the Scots-Irish simply regarded themselves as Irish. At the time Ireland consisted of Four Provinces & the Scots-Irish simply regarded themselves as Irish. I live in Pennsylvania USA, but I am originally from Belfast in the Northern province of Ireland. That province is called Ulster; it is one of Ireland’s Four Provinces and includes nine of Ireland’s thirty-two counties. In the modern day three of the counties are in the jurisdiction of the Republic of Ireland, while the other six counties operate under British jurisdiction. Ulster is the region where the Scots-Irish came from. The same Scots-Irish that played such an important role in the foundation of the United States of America.
I’m excited to share an extraordinary journey I embarked upon recently. On this adventure, I followed in the footsteps of the Scots-Irish when they landed in America. It took me down the Shenandoah Valley and led me to an old Irish cottage in Virginia. This encounter sparked a personal exploration into the captivating history and craft of the Irish linen industry, an integral part of the Scots-Irish Presbyterian heritage in the United States.
This cottage’s quaint, timeless nature bore witness to the literal definition of “cottage industry,” where home and work converged into a singular entity.
The cottage’s exterior was as enchanting as it was unassuming. It stood silently, resilient against the passage of time, its age obscured by centuries. As I approached the dwelling, I could almost feel the echo of countless stories encapsulated within its rustic, earthen walls – stories of the Scots-Irish people, their struggles, triumphs, and the traditions they meticulously preserved.
Upon entering, I immediately felt the duality of the space; it was clear this was both a dwelling and a workspace. A modest bed rested in one corner, speaking volumes about the cottage’s past inhabitants; their lives are interwoven with their work. On a table to the left, flax, freshly harvested and full of potential, lay waiting to be spun into linen, a testament to the dynamic nature of the people who once called this place home.
One of the most striking features inside the cottage was the presence of baskets brimming with raw materials – freshly sheared wool and unprocessed flax. As I ran my fingers through these natural fibers, I could easily imagine the skilled hands that once worked tirelessly, transforming these raw materials into practical, valuable threads.
The soul of the cottage, undoubtedly, was the spinning wheel. This simple yet vital instrument stood ready to accept the combed wool or flax, its quiet presence a poignant reminder of the countless hours of dedication and skill required to spin these fibers into beautiful threads. This artistry passed down through generations, is a tangible link between the past and present.
I was struck by the vivid hues of dyed wool and linen yarn hanging in the cottage. It was a vibrant testament to the traditional craft, showing how the inhabitants skillfully extracted a spectrum of colors from these humble, natural fibers, transforming them into a myriad of textiles that brought life and beauty into their everyday existence.
The culmination of this painstaking process was evident in three simple yet elegantly crafted linen shirts. Their mere presence illustrated the countless hours of work that went into each garment, from the careful cultivation of flax to the delicate spinning of threads and the crafting of clothing.
The cottage is not just a tribute to the skill of the Scots-Irish Presbyterians in linen-making. It also reminds us of their emigration to the American colonies between 1718 and 1770. Adapting to their new homeland, they applied their skills to the more abundant crop – cotton.
Today, linen – a natural and breathable fabric – continues to be a popular choice for summer clothing. Its versatility has allowed it to evolve from traditional grandfather shirts to modern accessories like golfing flat caps, stylish linen ties, and pocket squares.
For those who wish to own a piece of this rich heritage, you can find these high-quality products at the links below:
Hopefully, my journey through time and history has given you a deeper appreciation of the Ulster region’s rich linen heritage. It’s a testament to a people’s enduring spirit, a legacy that resonates today
Can you help us solve a mystery? I would love to read your thoughts on this in the comments section. When I return to Ireland from the U.S. I am in the habit of meeting with one of my Irish cousins near his workplace in the jostling heart of downtown Belfast. I enjoy our long lunches & laughter. This year he shared with me a never before published series of approximately original 20 letters. The letters were sent from America back to Ireland where they still exist today. They catalog the story of an Irish family’s immigration to America over a period of 30 years. We digitized the originals for posterity. We are also in the process of transcribing the contents for those who struggle reading the old handwriting; here is the link for the full transcription of this Irish Emigrant letter home. Below I have shared the first of these letters and plan to publish the rest over the coming months.
We are looking for clues & internet detectives. Any assistance is greatly appreciated. Given the handwriting, the language & tone, this is obviously a well educated immigrant. What else can you derive from the content? What happened to these Irish people after they landed in America? Do they have descendants? Feel free to take turns & transpose the content into the comments below to help us bring this 180 year old mystery full circle.
Please note, the 2nd & 3rd pages contain writing in a different color, flowing in a different direction. I have been told this was so the sender could get more information onto the page without incurring additional postage cost. I would love to ready your thoughts in the comment section. The letter begins “Louisville Ky, Oct 16th 1839, Dear Father….”
I wanted to research what the Province of Ulster was like just before the Plantation. This would give me an insight into the population density, economic activity and politics of the region the Scots-Irish were about to enter. I came across this wonderful article published around 8 years ago in History Ireland Magazine.
One of Ireland’s most important parliaments was held in Dublin in 1541. This declared Henry VIII to be ‘king of Ireland’ and made all Irishmen, whatever their origin, Gaelic or Norman, his subjects with equal rights under common law. It enacted the ‘surrender and regrant’ legislation and, while English was the official language, much of the proceedings was translated into Irish for the benefit of the many attendees who knew no English. Among them was the lord of Clandeboye, whose name we do not know. It is not unreasonable, however, to assume that this was Brian Faghartach, eldest son of Niall Óg (d. 1537), and he may also have participated in ‘surrender and regrant’ agreements in the early 1540s. Whether he did or not, in 1548 he was assassinated by Shane O’Neill, then a twenty-year-old about to make a name for himself in Ulster.
Shane O’Neill
Over the next nineteen years Shane established himself as a supremo in Ulster and controlled Clandeboye as one of his urriaght (subsidiary) territories. This was not simple, as he had to cope with the Scots, incursions into his territory by forces from Dublin and the English garrison at Carrickfergus, which appears to have been completely re-Anglicised by the mid-1560s when controlled by William Piers. Piers established relationships with Owen McHugh in south Clandeboye and Brian McPhelim in north Clandeboye, both getting large sums for cooperation. It is likely that both became inter alia ‘intelligence agents’ on Piers’s behalf and perhaps had a role in the ultimate destruction of Shane O’Neill, both at Farsetmore (see HI 19.3, May/June 2011, pp 16–21), where Shane’s defeat cost him some 2,000 men, and ultimately at the hands of the McDonnells, who hacked him to death in 1567. Shane had become a major liability to the governments in both London and Dublin and Sir Henry Sidney, the lord deputy, took all necessary measures to get rid of him. During the fifteen-month period up to September 1567 Piers was paid £3,589 and Owen McHugh and Brian McPhelim £626, huge sums disbursed by the Dublin treasury. Brian McPhelim O’Neill was knighted, presumably for his role in helping to get rid of Shane, but a further consequence of the campaign was the destruction of the agricultural economy around Carrickfergus. According to Rowland White of Lecale, Co. Down, an Old English correspondent with the government, writing in 1569, before the English garrisoning of Carrickfergus (in the 1560s) there were 500 or 600 ploughlands under grain within ten miles of the town, but afterwards only five or six. This destruction was wrought by the soldiers of Carrickfergus. The results of the war against Shane were confirmed by the Dublin parliament of 1570, where he was attainted, his lands confiscated to the Crown and east Ulster divided into the shires of Antrim and Down. While Sir Brian McPhelim was still regarded as chief of Clandeboye, neither he nor any other Clandeboye got a title to their lands. This parliament also marked the de facto end of the medieval earldom of Ulster.
Failed colonisation schemes
While east Ulster was now pacified, the English in London attempted to benefit from it. Queen Elizabeth therefore approved colonisation plans for both north Down and the Ards on the one hand and all south Antrim on the other. Sir Thomas Smith, her former secretary of state, was awarded north Down and the Ards, while the earl of Essex was awarded the whole of County Antrim except for the Route and the Glynns (Glens), i.e the southern half of County Antrim. From the queen’s point of view, the most salient feature of both of these plans was that they were to be completely financed by the promoters and were ultimately to yield her an income for no investment on her part. These grants were made over the head of the lord deputy, Sidney. Both colonisation attempts failed through incompetence of different sorts. Sir Thomas Smith, underestimating what was involved, advertised in London for colonists to participate in his venture. When Sir Brian McPhelim O’Neill of Clandeboye heard of this, that—despite his fulsome cooperation in the war against Shane—his land was now to be taken from him and given to Smith, he immediately set about destroying any infrastructure that might be used by Smith to garrison troops. He therefore destroyed all the monastic buildings in north Down and the Ards, including those at Newtown (Ards), Bangor, Movilla, Comber and Grey Abbey. It is not clear whether this involved displacement of tenantry. These churls (labourers) were thought by the English to be cooperative, hard-working and productive if only they could rid themselves of their over-exploitative Gaelic landlords. The main promoter of the colony on the ground was Sir Thomas Smith’s son. The venture came to an end in 1573 when he was killed by one of his Irish servants, his body boiled and fed to dogs.
Lord Deputy Sir Henry Sidney
In the case of Essex, the earl appears to have been inveigled into the venture by those at court who wanted rid of him. He invested a large fortune, mortgaging thirteen of his English manors and getting a loan of £10,000 at 10% interest from the queen. His was a very bloody venture. During his time in Ireland many Scots were killed, the notorious massacre at Rathlin Island was perpetrated by Norris and Drake, and he destroyed much of north Clandeboye. According to himself, in a letter to the queen in July 1575, he ‘left all the county desolate and without people’. Neil McBrian’s ‘people [he had succeeded Sir Brian McPhelim] were few, his cattle less [and] his husbandmen were starved, dead or run out of the country’. Perhaps Essex’s worst atrocity occurred at the Christmas feast at Belfast in 1574 given by Sir Brian McPhelim, when Essex—according to himself, suspecting treachery—had all 200 participants, of whatever age or sex, killed. The Four Masters claim that this massacre was gratuitous murder without cause. Sir Brian himself, his wife and his brother Rory Óg were arrested, brought to Dublin and executed. Essex achieved nothing by his exploits in Antrim. In 1576 he fell ill of dysentery in Dublin, where he died. Sidney visited Ulster later that year. He claimed that Carrickfergus was much decayed and impoverished, the inhabitants fled, not about six householders of any countenance remaining, and Clandeboye was ‘utterly disinhabited’. Such were the results of the first attempts to colonise the new counties of Antrim and Down. The main English participants incurred great loss of money and some loss of life.
War amongst the Gaelic Irish
A period of relative peace followed in Clandeboye between the Irish and the English. This was not the case among the Irish themselves. In promoting Neill McBrian Ertagh, Essex ignored the claims of other contenders for the lordship. These included Sir Brian McPhelim’s son and brother as well as Con McNeill, Niall McBrian Ertagh’s uncle. A tentative division of the lordship was made in 1584 under the auspices of Lord Deputy Perrott. Con was to have south Clandeboye, while the north was to be divided between Shane, son of Sir Brian McPhelim, and Hugh Oge, son of his brother, also Hugh. This arrangement led to the killing of Hugh Oge in 1586. North Clandeboye was bitterly disputed between the sons of the brothers Sir Brian and Hugh McPhelim, causing ‘great dissension between them, and great slaughter often by both parties committed’. Eventually Shane was allotted the castle at Belfast and three parts of lower Clandeboye and followers, while Neill was allotted one quarter of the territory and followers and the castle at Edenduffcarrick on the shores of Lough Neagh. Henceforth Clandeboye would be held by the descendants of these two men. All these settlements were authorised by the English.These arrangements might have held if the English had been able to protect and defend them against the ambitions of Hugh O’Neill, earl of Tyrone. Because they couldn’t, O’Neill was able to establish his supremacy and during the Nine Years War sent his nephew, Brian MacArt, to organise and control Clandeboye military contingents to fight on his side. These were relatively small, perhaps because the Clandeboye population had not fully recovered from the devastation unleashed by Essex and Smith’s attemped plantations. No great battles were fought in Antrim and Down during this war. The war there consisted of small local engagements, none of which was decisive. To the English Clandeboye was more of a nuisance than a threat. This was to change once Sir Arthur Chichester was appointed governor of Carrickfergus. He determined to finish Clandeboye. He quickly overran north Clandeboye and got some of its Irish lords on the English side.
Carrickfergus Castle
Famine and massacre as tactics of war
Chichester believed in famine as the main method of defeating the Gaelic Irish. Mountjoy agreed, and after the victory at Kinsale in 1601 both set about burning and killing in Ulster, destroying crops and animals as well as men, women and children without scruple. While Chichester is infamous for his trips across Lough Neagh, burning and killing, he confined most of his activities to Antrim and Down. This succeeded in destroying Clandeboye as a safe haven and a supply base for Tyrone. Apart from winning the war, Chichester had another and more personal motivation. Managing his estate and inheritances in Devon had left him virtually bankrupt and he saw the prospect of land confiscated in Ireland after the war as a means of restoring his fortunes. He coveted the lands of Clandeboye. To acquire these he took the Carrickfergus governorship with a hand-picked staff of English officers from backgrounds and circumstances similar to his own, second sons with limited if any prospects in England but who could make fortunes from land confiscated in Ulster.Chichester and his cohorts set about their task with a determined, ruthless mercilessness. Letters written by Chichester himself, confirmed by the accounts of Fynes Morrison, Mountjoy’s secretary, show what unremitting devastation was inflicted without compunction for age or sex. The standard histories of the period tell of cannibalism, corpses green-mouthed from eating grass, and dead bodies piled by the roadsides. There was so much killing of churls that even Mountjoy found the excesses distasteful. Chichester left lower Clandeboye, i.e. the southern half of modern County Antrim, utterly devastated and depopulated. North Down was not destroyed to the same extent. When its lord, Con O’Neill, saw that Tyrone’s cause was lost, he immediately surrendered to the queen and was confirmed in his lands as an encouragement to others to do likewise. He returned to Castlereagh to find most of his lands, though not all, devastated like those of Antrim but was able to save what remained of his tenantry from further burning and slaughter by Chichester’s flying columns.
Sir Arthur Chichester—He believed in famine as the main method of defeating the Gaelic Irish.
Dividing the spoils
Once the war was over it was time to divide the spoils. Inquisitions were held in 1605 in Antrim and Down to assess exactly what was available for distribution among the victors. The Antrim inquisition found, according to Belfast antiquarian F.J. Bigger: ‘… in lower Clanaboy [sic] there were twenty-one sub-territories containing vast tracts of the finest lands in Ulster, and inhabited by a very numerous population, but Chichester left it desolate’. These lands were distributed among Chichester and his followers, although the remaining few loyal Gaelic nobles got generous estates. The story of Con O’Neill and how he lost two thirds of his estates to Hamilton and Montgomery in upper Clandeboye (north Down) is well known. These latter expelled their remaining Gaelic tenants to the Dufferin barony.Scottish immigrants began arriving at Donaghadee from May 1606 to take up new tenancies first in Down and later in Antrim. They found no resistance. There was nobody left to offer it. By now James VI of Scotland had become James I of England. Thus started the peopling of these parts with inhabitants who then and subsequently were to be described as ‘British’. HI Tom Murphy is a retired internal auditor. Article based on his MA thesis, ‘Clandeboye: its rise and decline c. 1350–1606’.
I nearly called this blog post “Who were the Scots-Irish?” But “were” is past tense, and the Scots-Irish of America are not a historical footnote, they live and breathe here in the United States today. The problem is, many are simply not aware of their Scots-Irish roots.
Scottish Lowland Roots:
The Scots-Irish began their journey to America from the Lowlands of Scotland. The Scottish Lowlands is an area from the Clyde in the East across to the Firth of Forth in the West, and everything south, all the way to the English border. The Scots-Irish are primarily, but not exclusively, Presbyterian. They first arrived in Ulster (in the Northern part of Ireland) in 1604. They lived in Ireland for approximately 100 years before the beginning of the Great Migration to the American Colonies in 1718. That is not to say all the Scots-Irish migrated “en masse” to North America. To the contrary there are approximately 800,000 Protestants still resident in Ulster, many of whom are Scots-Irish Presbyterians, while others are of English, Welsh or even French Huguenot heritage. At this point I would like to note that the Scots-Irish living in Ulster today use the term “Ulster-Scots” rather than Scots-Irish. As the term Scots-Irish is used exclusively in America, and as we are in the United States, I will use the term Scots-Irish in this blog.
There were three waves of Scottish migration to Ireland in the early part of the 17th Century. The first Scottish settlement came in 1604 to 1605. Influential Irish landowner Randal MacDonnell, in a deal with King James 6th of Scotland (who also became King James the 1st of England), was granted extensive additional land in North Antrim. This land grant of “The Route” was agreed providing Randal MacDonnell settled the new lands with Scottish Protestants. An agreement was made which may have increased MacDonnell’s holdings in the area up to 300,000 acres. This deal was unusual at the time as Randall MacDonnell was a Catholic, there was even a chapel in his residence at Dunluce Castle. However, MacDonnell acquired the land and therefore more wealth, while James (now King of both Scotland and England) increased the Protestant population of Ulster, Protestants being considered more loyal to the crown than the native Irish. So both these powerful men were happy with the arrangement and the ensuing plantation.
The 2nd wave came came in 1606 with Hugh Montgomery and James Hamilton. This was a private undertaking by these two prominent Scottish Landowners, whereby they acquired two thirds of the land of native Irish Chieftan Conn O’Neill. This acquisition seems a little opportunistic, if not downright deceitful. But more on this little piece of intrigue in another post. Having acquired the land of Conn O’Neill, Montgomery and Hamilton sent over tenants from their estates in the Scottish Lowlands, places such as Dumfries & Galloway & Ayrshire. They settled primarily the North Down area of Ireland, areas such as Comber, Bangor, Donaghadee, Newtownards and further along the Ards Peninsula. It is thought between 1604 to 1607 around 10,000 Scots migrated to Ulster as part of the MacDonnell, Montgomery & Hamilton enterprises. It is thought the success of these first two plantations influenced King James in his subsequent decision to grant the Charter for the 1607 Jamestown Settlement in Virginia.
Thirdly came the official plantation. King James was enthused by the success of the two previous enterprises, but in 1607 a major event also took place, the Flight of the Earls. This happened in Sept 1607 when the Irish nobility fled from Rathmullan on Lough Foyle to Continental Europe in an attempt to evade persecution, and rally Catholic support for their cause. By 1608 King James of England took the opportunity to seize the large landholdings of these native Irish Cheiftans and settle them with Protestant subjects. The official Plantation of Ulster had begun. Initially King James wanted the Plantation to be available to both English & Scottish Protestant subjects, but for a variety of reasons the Scottish Presbyterians were the great majority of settlers.
The Scots-Irish remained in Ireland for generations, approximately 100 years. They made a living from farming and trading in the growing towns such as Derry / Londonderry and Belfast. They lived through the Irish rising of 1641, the Siege of Derry in 1689 and the Battles of the Boyne, Aughrim and Limerick from 1690 to 1691. They brought with them to Ireland many Scottish customs, speech patterns, architecture etc. But they also adopted many Irish traits during their long soujourn in the Emerald Isle. By 1718 they began to migrate to the New World.
The Battle of Aughrim 1691, by John Mulvaney.
This migration began in earnest in 1718. The Scots-Irish who came to America were almost entirely Presbyterian. At the time in Ireland they were considered “Dissenters”. This meant they were not congregants of the Established Church of England (in Ireland known as the Church of Ireland), with the English monarch as head. Also, because of their “dissenter” status, some of the harsh Penal Laws designed primarily for the native Irish Catholics also applied to the Presbyterians. For example, the Penal Laws meant the Scots-Irish could not be elected to public office & therefore could not effect the laws by which they were governed. They also had to pay “tithes” (taxes) to the Established Church even though they did not worship there. These “tithes” would have been used to pay for the upkeep of the Established Church and not their own Presbyterian churches & preachers. Both the Presbyterians and the Catholics greatly resented this law. In addition, economic circumstances caused rents to rise rapidly during this period while incomes fell. Here I examine in more depth these reasons “Why the Scots-Irish Came to America”. But for now, suffice to say, between 1718 and 1770 there took place a Great Migration of Scots-Irish to the American Colonies. On the eve of the American Revolution in 1775, more than 250,000 Scots-Irish called the New World home. It is said that “one in six” of the Colonists were Scots-Irish.
Teenage Andrew Jackson defies British Officer and is cut by a sword. He carried the scar and his dislike for the English for rest of his life. As a man Jackson would meet the British again at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. The British would pay a heavy price, Jackson’s revenge was was devastating.
Their significant role in the ensuing American Revolution cannot be overstated. Indeed, King George of England referred to it as the American Revolution as the “Presbyterian Rebellion”. The Scots-Irish experience at the hands of the English in Ireland was fresh in their minds, stories handed down from father to sons and daughters. By way of example, President Andrew Jackson’s parents had a farm just outside Carrickfergus in Ulster. They were both born in Ireland as was Jackson’s older brother. The family sailed for America around 1765. Their home life in the U.S. would have been a Scots-Irish existence. The music, food, farming techniques, construction techniques, dance, speech patterns, bible teachings etc would all have been heavily informed by their lives in Ireland. Andrew Jackson and his two older brothers all fought in the American Revolution. This life experience was replicated in Scots-Irish regions throughout the nation. Taxation without representation was not going to wash in the New World; the Scots-Irish were angry and would fight for their rights.
I’m excited to share an extraordinary journey I embarked upon recently. On this adventure, I followed in the footsteps of the Scots-Irish when they landed in America. It took me down the Shenandoah Valley and led me to an old Irish cottage in Virginia. This encounter sparked a personal exploration into the captivating history and craft of the Irish linen industry, an integral part of the Scots-Irish Presbyterian heritage in the United States.
One of the most striking features inside the cottage was the presence of baskets brimming with raw materials – freshly sheared wool and unprocessed flax. As I ran my fingers through these natural fibers, I could easily imagine the skilled hands that once worked tirelessly, transforming these raw materials into practical, valuable threads.
Failed colonisation schemes
