How accurate are the online tartan/clan locators?

[Drac]

Kentucky has a large Scots-Irish population. The Scots-Irish were largely Lowland Scots who immigrated to Northern Ireland (Ulster) before pushing on to North America, where they settled in the backcountry and pushed through the Cumberland Gap to KY and TN. You will also find a mixture of English, Welsh, Highlanders, German and French Protestant blood intermingled with them. They are "Irish" only in the fact that they formerly resided in Ireland, but not necessarily in culture or religion.

The best way to determine the answer to your question is to trace your genealogy back to Scotland to see when your people came from.

T.

That is something I hadn't heard of.

My mother's family is from the mountains of Kentucky, Park(s). My (slim) Scottish heritage is from her great grandmother, a Steele. We always assumed that the Scotch name was from a long time ago or such. Would be interesting that my mother's family might be Scots-Irish instead of just Irish like we always thought. Unfortunely her family is bad about records so we have no real way to trace beyond the Greats.

Jim

[macwilkin]

That is something I hadn't heard of.

My mother's family is from the mountains of Kentucky, Park(s). My (slim) Scottish heritage is from her great grandmother, a Steele. We always assumed that the Scotch name was from a long time ago or such. Would be interesting that my mother's family might be Scots-Irish instead of just Irish like we always thought. Unfortunely her family is bad about records so we have no real way to trace beyond the Greats.

Jim

It's quite common misconception that I ran into quite a lot as a local history librarian; folks thinking they were "Irish" and being very militant about it, only to find out that their ancestors were Ulster-Scots.

T.

[Cygnus]

Nice work on the research, Ripcode - once the family-history bug bites, it's hard to resist further research. Good luck in tracking down Ora's "Irish" father!

It's quite common misconception that I ran into quite a lot as a local history librarian; folks thinking they were "Irish" and being very militant about it, only to find out that their ancestors were Ulster-Scots.

T.

My mother always insisted that my fourth-great grandfather was Irish, because he was born in Ireland. She'd argue until she was blue in the face that that branch of the family was Irish. I later found a "personal history" of a third-great uncle about his relatives and discovered that the grandfather in question was born in Ireland because his father was there with the British military in response to the "Uprising of 1798". (I thought it was odd that my ancestor's wife would accompany him, but have been assured that this was fairly common practice for officers at the time.)

Given the nature of that conflict, I don't doubt that my ancestor turned over in his grave every time my mother insisted he was Irish!