I am not an accomplished history student of the origins of Sloan. but I am a history student of the Celtic culture. Irish, Scottish and Welsh language came from all the same roots of Celtic origins in fact many moon over high mountain they could understand one another even though they had established different cultures. It is possible Sloan has its origins in the lowland of Scotland which would border with the outlanders or the English (Brits, Saxons etc). Don't forget that we have Sloan square in London. There is no question that there were and still are a number of Sloans in Ireland and yes they were shipped over to control some of the Irish but instead bred and even more rebellious lot against the English (as you know back then the Scots and the Irish would give the Brits a lot of trouble) They were sent over for many reasons and yes religion was a good enough of excuse it got rid of some Scots too. ergo gave rise to the Scot-Irish descent term a large number of Americans are descendant not from just Irish but the Scot-Irish as they left coming to America in the 1700's and 1800's-----so what what your father said may very well be true and really does not contradict any of the past. If you would like to read more about their life style here and how hard life was for them. There is a book call the Abion Seed by Fischer I think--don't go by my spelling though thanks Betty Owen