Hollywood would have us believe that emigration from Ireland was a result of the Great Famine in 1849-50, and consisted solely of native Irish persons with lilting brogue and sultry looks. But emigration in numbers from Ireland began much earlier and was largely of people of Scottish origin. For the Scottish Planter families in the 1630s, the turning point for some came with an increase in the opposition to Stuart religious policies. They had tried hard to fit their Scottish ecclesiastical system into the Irish system which held the Church of Ireland as the lawful church, and had some success.

Yet they became increasingly unsettled with the growth of a strong evangelical movement in Scotland and they had seen the persecution of the Puritans and their emigration in 1620 . The death of King James I in 1625 saw the accession of his son, Charles I , who imposed new taxation, threatened to take back church lands and dealt severely with the Covenanters. Charles I was thus responsible for the ensuing Civil War and his own demise under the headsman's axe in 1649. This was followed by the rule of Cromwell and the Commonwealth and, in 1690, war with France.

In Ireland Thomas Wentworth , Earl of Strafford, became Lord Deputy and new Bishops were appointed which led to a severe anti-Presbyterian measures. In 1634 contact was made with the Massachusetts settlers and the subsequent response encouraged them to go to new lands and enjoy the religous freedom they craved. Unfortunately their initial attempt to sail to America was to end in failure when the purpose built ship Eaglewing was forced back by bad weather. Although there were no more immediate attempts to emigrate, the seed was sown for a later exodus.

There was almost constant turmoil in Ireland through the 17th and 18th centuries with assorted rebellions in 1640, 1650 (Cromwell) 1690 (Battle of the Boyne when William of Orange - Protestant, overcame James II - Catholic with French allies) and the 1798 and 1803 Rebellions. There was plenty to flee from, and of course, the ministers of the church went with or followed after their congregation when the latter emigrated. In the American colonies there was for a long time resentment against Catholics but the Presbyterians and other non-conformists enjoyed freedom of religion and thrived there.

This head start by the non-conformist churches was an important factor in later emigration because it set up the family connections to which the new emigrant naturally went. There was for a while in the early 18th century relative stability with some good harvests but even so there were still high rents, uncertainty about tenure of land, the bitter pill of having to pay tithes to support a church they did not attend, and the the encouragement of those who had already emigrated with success.

Emigration was very heavy in the early 1770s but came to a halt in the summer of 1775 with the firing of Lexington and Concord and was virtually at a standstill for the next eight years restarting in August 1783. The war had some beneficial effects in Ireland as it meant there was greater demand for food and linen goods for the army. A modest prosperity meant that the would-be emigrant was also able to save something towards a later emigration. But war apart, the prime driver in 18th century emigration was commerce, as emigrants had to travel on cargo ships (passenger ships came along in the 19th century) and this was aided by a series of enactment's in the US after 1783 when Ulster enjoyed a virtual free trade status; so good trade gave much greater opportunities to travel.

Another significant change was in the type of person emigrating; very broadly before about 1770 many emigrants were or became indentured servants and were employed as laborers as a means of doing the hard and dangerous jobs in the new frontier. There was also a period when the use of transportation was used to punish wrong-doers. Emigrants therefore tended to be younger people who went via England perhaps working there to get their passage money before emigrating, or signed up as "indentured servants". So there were regular and unrecorded movements from Ireland, through the ports of Londonderry, Portrush, Larne, Belfast, Portpatrick, Warrenpoint, Dundalk, and Drogheda to Glasgow, Liverpool, Fleetwood, Ardrossan, Greenock, London. From Dublin, Cork, Wexford, Waterford, the main ports were Bristol, Liverpool, Glasgow, Plymouth.

After 1783 more emigrants were fare paying more were skilled with whole families - with money in their pockets - going to carry on a trade in the US, although the very poor still came too. It was in the 18th century that there were positive moves to encourage settlement by land speculators and governments alike in lands as far apart as South Carolina where land was provided to immigrants, and recruitment for Prince Edward Island in Canada. Even as late as 1888 there were Emigration agents in most towns in Ulster.

The US and Canada end of the journey is sometimes complicated because many immigrants initially went to stay in New York and in the vicinity of other East Coast ports. They stayed a while or took another ship to places like South Carolina because they had heard of the land that was available; or they went up the Ohio Valley and migrated West. Many went to Canada during and after the Revolutionary War because they were "Royalists" , some later returned to the US; or found life so hard and bleak in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia they moved on to places new.

It must be said that the Scotch-Irish also did sterling work in Canada but the pattern of emigration was influenced by the politics of the day and the "on-off" war with France. Canada was the new home for emigrants from Ulster in the mid- to late-18th century in response to land speculators. Arthur Dobbs was responsible for emigrations to both Canada and the Carolinas. Alexander McNutt obtained some 800,000 acres of land in Nova Scotia to be settled by emigrants but his plans were vetoed by the Privy Council who were afraid of the depopulation of Ulster and placed a ban on emigration to Nova Scotia for five years. Another was Thomas Desbrisay who made claims for lands that verged on the fraudulent. The point is that there was settlement long before the mass influx of the Famine emigrants (100,000 in 1847) that may be thought of as the beginning of the Scotch-Irish in Canada.

A factor in the wider emigration to the Canadian mainland was the pre-existing French settlements which were essentially Catholic and viewed with suspicion. It was not until after 1760 and defeat of the French that once again the British government sought loyal populations to secure new lands. But then the American Revolutionary War put the brakes on emigration. After the war substantial numbers started to emigrate to the eastern colonies of Canada and augment the Empire Loyalists who had moved north from the USA. There were roughly 80,000 settlers of British origin in 1791 and about twice that number of French speaking population. All this changed however, when the Napoleonic Wars created a demand for timber by Britain and a return trade of manufactured goods and more emigrants such as those to the Buchanan, Talbot and Robinson settlements in Upper Canada during 1817-1825.

There were also considerable migration within and between the USA and Canada , as well as failures of enterprises such as their small farms in inhospitable places - that's why the land was free or at a nominal price. Many emigrants came from farming backgrounds and would have followed that tradition but Scots were involved in the tobacco, rum and sugar trades and could well have followed this with migration to Virginia , Georgia, and the Southern states. Undoubtedly they were in Alabama as there are many black American families with obvious Scottish names. The name has in some cases been that of the master adopted by slaves as well as mulatto descendants from mixed marriages and extra marital relations.

Perhaps the thing to remember is that these immigrants had known the most difficult times and had nothing to lose but their lives. They were prepared to go anywhere that offered even half a chance of a living and prosperity, so to find them in the Gold Rushes to Alaska or Ballarat in Australia, on the frontiers fighting Indians, in the mines digging coal, or building the subways of New York is not surprising. Moreover, they had a tenacity of purpose and they came from a culture that encouraged learning as part of their faith. A good education was seen as an asset and this they used to be the entrepreneurs of their day to join the ranks of doctors, vetinarians, lawyers, land surveyors, engineers, bankers, judges, politicians - all the essential occupations that a new country and new society needed - and along the way, several became President of the USA .

Back to Plantation of Ireland and the Ulster Scots, Main Page

Part One: The Beginning of the Scotch-Irish
Part Two: The Plantation of Ireland 1610-1630
Part Three: Emigration to the British Colonies
Part Four: The Presbyterians in Ireland

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