Sandra, Thanks for the information. It's very interesting. Although we were light headed as children, when we got older our hair turned to dark brown. All of us, my Dad, his sisters, etc. We have light complexions with dark hair. There was a special on the history channel about the Scots-Irish that I taped and they were called dark Irish on there. Julia >From: "Sandra Ferguson" <ferg@intelos.net> >Reply-To: "Sandra Ferguson" <ferg@intelos.net> >To: "Julia Swanson" <flickymom@hotmail.com>, <OHBELMON-L@rootsweb.com> >Subject: Scots- Irish >Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2000 10:22:57 -0500 > >This is just another of the theories behind the term, black Irish. In >reality, the Scots that emigrated to Ireland, were just that....Scots.... >and as such, in all probability were fair people, as the Scots usually were >, because of their genetic makeup. To understand how the Scots got to >Ireland one must understand a bit of British history. > The English always had "trouble" with the indigenous Irish peoples, >and >King James I, decided that the best way to quell rebellion was to place >protestant settlers in certain areas of Catholic Ireland. So, in about >1600 >he sent thousands of Scottish Presbyterian folks into the Antrim area of >Ireland, primarily in the area of Co. Down , Londonderry along with Antrim. > These areas prospered and the Irish were driven almost completely from >the areas, lands were cleared and settled. Then, under the rule of James >II >and the Stuarts, times changed, and it became the Presbyterians who were >being persecuted in Scotland, and many joined their fellow Presbyterians >in Ireland. There was, however, no intermarriage with the Catholic Irish, >and these Scots, who became known as Scots-Irish , were primarily Saxon >in >bloodline, while the Irish were Celts. Their language, education, history, >habits, religion, manner of life, and general appearance were very >distinctive, and different from the Irish. It is said that a visitor could >pick out the Scots communities with "his eyes". > In the mid 1700s, these Scots-Irish Presbyterians began emigrating to >the colonies in answer to the increasing taxes and regulations placed upon >them by the British government, and by 1729, 6000 >had come to PA, and before the middle of the 18th century it is estimated >that 12000 arrived annually for several years. Certain areas of Ireland >were >almost completely depopulated by their exodus. > Thus, you can see that these Scots-Irish would have had no reason to >have been called "black".....but it's interesting to see what many theories >there are for the term. > Sandra > -----Original Message----- >From: Julia Swanson <flickymom@hotmail.com> >To: OHBELMON-L@rootsweb.com <OHBELMON-L@rootsweb.com> >Date: Wednesday, November 01, 2000 9:54 AM >Subject: Re: [OHBELMON-L] Re: Our Irish Ancestors > > > >My uncle always said we were black Irish which to him meant Scots-Irish. > >Julia > > > > > >>From: James Wiley <jrwiley@raex.com> > >>To: OHBELMON-L@rootsweb.com > >>Subject: [OHBELMON-L] Re: Our Irish Ancestors > >>Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 11:20:33 -0500 > >> > >> Subject: [OHBELMON-L] Black irish > >> > >>"… found this on the internet.....seems to indicate that the term > >>Black Irsih means quite different things to different people, and > >>has no actual definition; The Black Irish seem to be mainly a > >>U.S. thing. The Irish natives I've heard from say the term is new > >>to them." > >> > >> > >>First, my apologies to anyone whose time I waste with this > >>discussion, but I rise to the occasion because the general > >>related topic has also arisen on another genealogy list, and as > >>with that list I hope I might add something useful to the > >>discussion and to genealogy in general, possibly fanciful tales > >>and ship wrecked Spaniards not excluded, of course. > >> > >> >From prewritten history of the British Isles, before even > >>Geoffery of Monmouth, something of a historian in loose terms, > >>from whom Shakespeare stole his theme for one of his better > >>plays, the mythos and actual history of the peoples of the Isles > >>is colored (if you will) with many references to black or dark > >>skinned Britons. > >> > >>Very briefly, it seems there have been dark complexioned people > >>in the Isles for quite some time. The story of Tristan and > >>Isolda, or ol' Geoffrey's version of the tale possibly was taken > >>from oral traditions of a dark skinned princess (Isolt the Fair, > >>or Isolt of the Fair Hands). That is, the Isles' history is > >>replete with references to darker complexioned peoples, long > >>before the demise of the Spanish Armada. In tales of King Arthur > >>legends, Iseult was wife of King Mark, with more variances on the > >>tales. Prehistoric people migrating in reed boats from north > >>Africa is more likely a probability than a fictional tale of > >>operas. > >> > >>So - from times before written history of the Isles, the notion > >>of "different" people have fascinated our ancestors of the area. > >>Purity of races or groups of people is the real fiction. From > >>blue faced Picts, who merged with the Scots, to red-haired > >>descendants of Celts and Scandinavian invaders, we're quite a > >>"colorful" group, we Britons and Britain's descendants. > >> > >>I have no idea if this adds anything to the discussions or not. > >>But when you get stumped for finding your ancestors' ancestors, > >>reading old, even ancient history is pretty fun sometimes. > >> > >>jim > >> > > > >_________________________________________________________________________ > >Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. > > > >Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at > >http://profiles.msn.com. > > > > > _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com.