Quote Originally Posted by Blackrose87 View Post
Would there be a large 'Scotch-Irish' population in North America?

Given the population of Ulster-Scots in Ireland, I can't imagine much more than 100-200,000 would have immigrated to America?
Daid Pope has done an excellent job in explaing much of this.

There is a very large Scotch-Irish population in the US. There were something like 250,000 who immigrated in colonial times, and they seem to have been quite prolific in producing offspring. :-) My great-grandmother was--I think--a third generation Scotch-Irish, and was quite proud to claim the title. Either her father or grandfather was the original Ulster immigrant to North Carolina--where a whole bunch of 'em landed--and you can trace their influence and spread westward pretty easily.

For one thing, the Scottish influence is still observed in the speech patterns of the mountain folk in the use of "a- (uh)-" such as "I'm a-goin' down there." They even tell Jack tales which are identical with those from Scotland. There is also an almost rabid protestant nature among many of these folks and their offspring. Although they thought of themselves as Irish, they did know their heretage and recited it, recorded it, and expanded it over the years.

Blackrose87, I'm pretty sure that the term Scoth-Irish is exclusively American which would explain your not having encountered it before. I have a friend in Arkansas who still proclaims himself a "Scoth-Irish Presbyterian" quite frequently. And one of the greatest history professors I ever had blamed much of the bellicosity of Southerners on their Scotch-Irish roots, roots which he shared.