There are more than one explantion for the term, Black Irish, but one I have read had to do with the Spanish who escaped from the Spanish Armada after its defeat in the English Channel. Many reached Ireland and hid out there and stayed to intermarry with the Irish. Since the Spanish controlled the Netherlands for some time perhaps the term, Black Dutch might refer to descendents of Spanish who were in the Netherlands at during this time and who intermarried with the Dutch. Their descendents would likely have had dark hair and dark eyes instead of the lighter tone of the Dutch. >From: MCELROY-D-request@rootsweb.com >Reply-To: MCELROY-L@rootsweb.com >To: MCELROY-D@rootsweb.com >Subject: MCELROY-D Digest V03 #52 >Date: Sat, 5 Apr 2003 01:03:42 -0700 > ><< message2.txt >> ><< message4.txt >> ><< message6.txt >> _________________________________________________________________ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail