Research on the Scotch Irish

This unusual term refers to those Presbyterian Scots who settled in Ulster (modern-day Northern Ireland) during the seventeenth century. From these 200,000 original settlers, up to 2 million of their descendants eventually reached North America. The Scotch-Irish left Ulster as a result of neo-mercantilist British economic policy in the region, requirements that they pay 10% of their income to the Anglican Church, ongoing friction with their Catholic Irish neighbors, and greater economic opportunity in the New World. Although the Scotch-Irish settled throughout the colonies, they concentrated most heavily in Pennsylvania.

Contacts and sources:

The Scotch-Irish Foundation and the Scotch-Irish Society of the United States of America , P.O. Box 181, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010. Telephone: (610) 527-1818

Scotch-Irish Family Research Made Simple, by R.G. Campbell

Tracing your Scottish Ancestry, by Kathleen B. Cory

The Scotch-Irish of Colonial Pennsylvania, by Wayland F. Dunaway.

Irish and Scotch-Irish Ancestral Research, by Margaret D. Falley

The Scotch-Irish in America, by Henry Jones Ford

The Scotch-Irish or The Scot in North Britain, North Ireland, and North America, by Charles Augustus Hanna

Scotch Irish Pioneers in Ulster and America, by Charles Knowles

Scottish Family History, by David Moody

Scottish Local History, by David Moody

Scottish Family History: A Guide to Works of Reference on the History and Genealogy of Scottish Families, by Margaret Stuart