Quote Originally Posted by davidlpope View Post
Americans who are aware of their Ulster Scots ancestry refer to themselves as "Scotch-Irish", unless they are better informed than average.

As an aside, the mythology of this people group has reached almost heroic proportions here in the US. My theory is that this is a result of conflating "Scotch-Irish" culture with the "Frontier Culture" which developed in the 18th and 19th century during westward expansion. As a result, most Southerners tend to overemphasize their "Scotch-Irishness" and underemphasize their "Englishness", although the English were the largest ethnic group settling the South, even in the backcountry. Ironically, two of our biggest frontier heroes, Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, bore French Huguenot and Welsh/English surnames, respectively.

Follow this link to a book on this subject written by a great American, James Webb:
http://www.jameswebb.com/articles/pa...cotsirish.html
I keep meaning to read Webb's book, thanks for reminding us.

Unfortunately, my family had it's own "Scots-Irish" mythology; at some point, latching on to the term without knowing what it really meant. The same is true of the term "Dutch," as I am finding now. Short of drawing blood, and spending all of my money trying to find out what genetics I really have, I really just can't say anymore on a lot of the "ancestral roots," so have begun to look into cultural roots instead.