What Is The Deal With The "Scots-Irish"?

[Slithy_Tove]

@citizen69

As others have stated here many Scots-Irish refer to themselves as just Irish or just Scottish or simply American. In reality though there is thought to be upto 27 million americans with some Scots-Irish heritage.

Borne out by this predominant ancestry map from the 2000 census. Along the Southern Appalachians, where you’d expect to find Scots-Irish, the census-takers received the answer “American.”

(But why not Swiss? I seem recall somewhere hearing “Hell I’m a Baptist - I don’t wanna guard no pope!”)

[Bridget_Burke]

@An_Gadai

I can’t recall where I read it but IIRC the term Scotch-Irish was a neologism in the mid-19th century used to distance the previous predominantly Protestant settlers and their descendents from the primarily Catholic rabble that descended upon America due to the Potato Famine. Prior to the 1850s or thereabouts the former group had simply used the term Irish. I think Andrew Jackson had campaign posters proclaiming his Irishness. Again, I’m sorry I don’t recall where I read this. I have a notion it was in *Wherever Green Is Worn *by Tim Pat Coogan but I don’t have my copy on hand to verify that.

Beginning in Colonial times, many Irish immigrants did come from Ulster. Per R F Foster’s Modern Ireland 1600-1972:

Ulster continued to dominate the picture. Two-fifths of the total of American emigrants in the colonial period came from Ulster—up to 250,000 souls. They appear to have been much less exclusively Protestant than popularly supposed, and included many Anglicans as well as Presbyterians: the predominant “Ulster Scot” stereotype does not stand up to the statistics, since about 100,000, mostly Catholic, probably came from the south in the same period. The Ulster Scots, however, stood out: possibly because, even in the New World, they remained ostentatiously separate. Even more importantly, distinctive Ulster Scot communities could evolve because Ulster women emigrated, too…

But it is true that “Scotch-Irish” (later “Scots-Irish”) was invented to distinguish the more established Protestant Irish Americans from the wretched refuse. Even if the more established folks’ immigrant forebears hadn’t Worn the Orange. Many of their descendants simply forgot their roots.

The grandmother who helped me was born in Indiana, raised Presbyterian & abjured strong drink because she’d had to drop out of school after her father broke his leg while drunk & had to stop carrying a hod for a while. But she was proudly “Scotch”-Irish. She married an Irish-American whose people came over during the Great Famine, I think. (But I’m not sure–he died just after I was born.)

My father’s parents came from East Galway. I’m told he was beat up as a boy for not being American enough. He died in military service when I was 4 years old. I’ve got the flag that was on his coffin for the wake–Red, White & Blue.

[Spoke]

@Bridget_Burke

Many of their descendants simply forgot their roots.

That’s actually one of the defining characteristics of this group. They very quickly forgot/abandoned any connection to the British Isles and identified themselves as American. (No hyphen, thank you.)