How important is the Declaration of Arbroath..

[BoldHighlander]

Ulster Scots were originally transplanted to Northern Ireland, sometimes willingly, sometimes not, from the England-Scotland Border area where they had spent the previous centuries in one of the most violent places on earth.

Well, yes & no. Most of my own ancestors who were Ulster Scots I can trace to the Highlands (the few who weren't appear to be English).

Case in point: my McReynolds were of the name MacRanald in the Keppoch region. My ancestor Johne MacRanald/McReynold (an educated man who read & wrote in both Scots Gaelic & in English) fought as an officer for William's army on the continent, and then went on to Ulster, where he participated in the defense of Derry (one story is told that he gave another defender a beating for letting a rat escape during the seige!). He would later settle & die in Co. Tyrone (his stone house/fort & mill still stand there). His great-grandson would go on to fight in the American Revolution, being crippled for life at the battle of Camden.

Anyhow, my point in all this is to echo Todd's point (& that which you later acknowledged) is to let the 'uninitiated' know that not all Ulster Scots were from the Lowlands, which seems to be one of those "myths" that continues to live on to this day (like so much else that has been oft told about the Scots & the Irish ).

Apologies for any hijack of the threads topic.

[ThistleDown]

Anyhow, my point in all this is to echo Todd's point (& that which you later acknowledged) is to let the 'uninitiated' know that not all Ulster Scots were from the Lowlands, which seems to be one of those "myths" that continues to live on to this day (like so much else that has been oft told about the Scots & the Irish ). Apologies for any hijack of the threads topic.

There definitely were Highland Scots in the "settlement" of Ulster, but they were largely west Highland folk who had traditionally been passing back and forth between their part of Scotland and the northern part of Ireland and decided to take up James' offer of the lands of the locals. In the Williamite period of the 1690s, the second planatation wave, most of the new people were Presbyterian Lowland and Border Scots.

That makes me wonder whether your ancestor, Terry, might have been an educated officer serving in Ulster and deciding to stay on, rather than an incoming settler? Do you know why he was in Ireland? And whether he married an Ulster woman? And did she bring land into the marriage, or did he acquire that himself? The key, I think, is the fact that he was an educated man. Most settlers in that second wave were common folk without formal education, although many could read and write, of course.

Rex

[BoldHighlander]

Hi Rex,

Upon reflection I decided to move my reply to a new thread in the genealogical section rather than further hijack this one.

You can find it at: Johne McReynolds/MacRanald: Scots Mercenary.