> The two major landlords in northern County Down in the early 17th > century were the two Scotsmen, James Hamilton and Hugh Montgomery. In > 1605 they purchased 2/3 of the land owned by Conn O'Neill and over the > next few years they purchased the remaining 1/3 when Conn's financial > situation failed to improve. > > Any one seriously interested in eary County Down history should read the > accounts of the purchase. They are quite exciting in some respects, as > they tell of escapes from Carrickfergus Castle, deception, hand fasting > marriages and the early Presbyterian influences and military endeavors. > The Hamilton Manuscripts and the Montgomery manuscripts have each been > published. I find for North Americans the most ready source is in > Hanna, THE SCOTCH IRISH. > > Hamilton preferred to use his brother to run his estates. Hugh Viscount > Montgomery took a different tact and hired two professional land agents > from Scotland to recruit substantial individuals in Scotland. The > agents were John Shaw of Grennock and William Edmonston from Stirling. > "Substantial individuals" were merchants and other individuals of means > who as tenants could pay the rent. These major tenants then would > subdivide their leaseholds into smaller parcels for the highly anonomous > common folk who formed the society from whence came our ancestors. > > > The fact of John Shaw of Grennock which is the port for Glasgow on the > Clyde and of William Edmonston of Stirling being agents is, to me, > highly significant. They pulled their tenants from the Dumbarton, > Stirling, and Renfrew areas and not from father south in Ayre. Those > Scots from Ayre came later, in the 1640's as part of the 10,000 man > Scottish army led by General Munro and in the 1680's as religious > refugees from Cromwell in "The Killing Times." Agents such as Shaw and > Edmonston could recruit many borderline Highland Scots who were > dependents of The Duke of Lennox, who was a Stewart and a relative of > the King. > > I've always found interesting the fact that Vicount Montgomery's > grandmother was a Colquhoun, and the MacPherson's, MacCauslands and > Buchanans where all neighbors there around Loch Lomond. The name > Colquhoun was rendered as Cowan by English speakers in the lowlands. And > the name "Hugh" is one of the major given names for 17th century Cowans, > because Hugh Viscount Montgomery was well regarded by his tenants > because he was their emancipator and protector in the rebellion of the > 1640's. > Annie Sloan wrote: > > I was very interested to read your letter about Scots/ Irish. At last someone > who really knows about it! I am interested to hear about the influx of > Scots into Ireland. > >'Those Scots from Ayre came later, in the 1640's as part of the 10,000 man > > Scottish army led by General Munro and in the 1680's as religious > > refugees from Cromwell in "The Killing Times." ' < > Could you enlarge on this please? Hi Annie, Read my just now post to the list on The Scottish Army. > A similar question was posed on the SLOAN/SLONE list > . I think we would llike to hear what you have to > say about it. > The Scots-Irish went back to Scotland lots of times, to get married because the Church of Ireland did not recognize Presbyterian weddings. Many of the man worked in cottage industry type jobs in Ireland, weaving, mainly, had very small farms to raise a few crops and animals, and went to Scotland for harvest where they would work for a few months and then return home. If you are on a Sloan list, haven't they referred to Robert Bell, The Book of Scots-Irish Family Names? If your family is Catholic, they are probably Irish Sloans, if Protestant, probably Scottish. It is a name found mainly in Ulster, of ancient Irish origins, and common in Galloway in Scotland, from 1504. I hope you find this as informative and interesting as I do.. Annie SLoan in Oxford