Scots-Irish Ancestors

In my last post I provided a link to an article I wrote several years ago on the Scots-Irish. I'm quoting from that article.

They've been called a people without a name. Their roots go back to Scotland, but don't think tartans and bagpipes. They were Lowlanders, mostly coming from the border regions of Galloway, Dumfries, Renfrewshire, Ayrshire, Argyllshire and Lanarkshire in the west and Edinburgh, the Lothians and Berwichshire in the east. They spoke English and were Protestant, specifically Presbyterian.

They were different from their Highland cousins. They didn't wear kilts, didn't belong to clans, or speak Gaelic. But they weren't English either. They didn't support the Anglican Church. They held onto the memory of bloody massacres that their ancestors suffered at the hands of English conquerors centuries earlier.

Their history in Scotland was not pleasant. These people were caught, both geographically and politically, between the English to the south and the Highlanders to the north.

In the seventeenth century, when Scottish and English land-grant owners sought tenants to populate the northern region of Ireland and drive out the Catholics, the Lowland Scots fit the bill. They were not Catholic and they spoke English. To the English monarchy, the Lowland Scots were preferable to the Irish Catholics. The downtrodden Lowlanders had suffered endless cattle raids, had themselves resorted to such raids because of their poverty, and had lived on infertile, over-farmed land for centuries. The prospect of large, bountiful tenant farms in Ireland, a short jaunt across the Irish Sea, was more than appealing.

But as the decades passed, the transplanted Scots became known as dissenters. They did not vow allegiance to the Church of England, detesting tithing to a church they didn't support, and were governed by the Penal Laws. Those laws prevented dissenters from voting, bearing arms or serving in the military. Dissenters could not be married, baptized or buried with the assistance of any minister who was not ordained by the church of the state.

When I learned this, it helped answer why my specific ancestor, Thomas Little, who was born in Dumfries, Scotland, came to Ireland (my direct ancestor, his daughter Nancy Little, was born in Co. Down, Downpatrick, Ireland.) And then doing more historical study I learned why they probably left Ireland and came to America. Thomas Little's name shows up in lists of Dissenters. About the time they left leases were coming due on land that had been renting for decades, and the leases were doubled. Families like the Littles had little choice but to immigrate, and land in America was cheap and plentiful. We are often told that these people immigrated for religious reasons, and while that might be true, it was a small part of the picture. They came with the hope of providing a better life for their families.

Do you have a story like this about your family? I'd love to hear it!

My Ancestral Home

One of my ancestors, Nancy Little McCoskey, was born in Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland, so of course I became interested in learning more about Downpatrick.

From P.W. Joyce's Irish Place Names:

Downpatrick takes its name from the large entrenched dun near the cathedral. [My note: Dun, or Down, means fortress.] In the first century this fortress was the residence of a warrior of the Red Branch Knights, called Celtchair, or Keltar of the battles, from whom it is called in Irish authorities, Dunkeltar. By ecclesiastical writers it is commonly called Dun-da-leth-glas, the fortress of the two broken locks (glas) or fetters. This long name was afterwards shortened to Dun or Down, which was extended to the county. The name of St. Patrick was added, to commemorate his connexion with the place.

Downpatrick is one of the oldest towns in Ireland. It was noted on Ptolemy's map in the 2nd century, although it wasn't what we think of as a town until the 18th century, and that's when my ancestor was born there.

The following came from this web site: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rosdavies/PHOTOSwords/DownAll.htm

In 1703 Edward Southwell, Chief Secretary of Ireland, married Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl of Ardglass, thus acquiring the Manor of Down. He decided to develop its economic potential; he controlled the waters of the Quoile river and reclaimed the marshes, built a harbour and customs house and reconstructed the streets of the town. His son, who succeeded him in 1730, continued his work and through their efforts, Downpatrick changed from a derelict town of less than 1,000 inhabitants into a prosperous commercial centre for the barony. The first Court House was built in 1737 at a cost of £3000.

The Littles were tenant farmers, so I expect Downpatrick was given as Nancy Little's birthplace because it was the closest recognizable location. I imagine she was born on a farm.This church is in Ballee. It's Presbyterian and was built in 1721, 50 years before the Littles immigrated. It's possible they attended here or at a similar church.


Downpatrick is a beautiful place, which I plan to visit soon. I'm sure I'll contemplate Nancy Little while I'm there. She was quite a woman. She came to America with her parents and four siblings, leaving her older sister Mary behind who was indentured until she could pay for the passage. Later Nancy married John McCoskey and traveled through the Cumberland Gap with her parents, her husband, and her children to the wild lands of Kentucky. Her parents and her husband died in Kentucky and Nancy moved again, bringing her hoard of children to the wilderness of Indiana where her younger brother lived and where she and John had purchased land. She was apparently a shrewd business woman, but other than what I can assume about her character from her actions, I know nothing about her. In her old age she relocated once again, this time to the wild west (Texas) with one of her daughters.

Downpatrick is not "where it all began." That's a phrase my husband and noted a lot while watching the television series, Who Do You Think You Are? The people who were searching for their roots on that show always seemed to find a place in a foreign land and say, "This is where it all began!" Nancy's father was born in Scotland and if I could keep tracing generations back, I'd end up with Adam and Eve, wouldn't I? But still, finding a place where one of your ancestors was born always makes you feel like you've come home--it's a type of connection to the past that grounds you in the present. Know what I mean?