Although Thomas is mostly of Welsh origin, the Thomas surname is also a popular name found in Scotland and Germany. The Thomas surname is a recognized Sept of both the Campbell and MacTavish clans. The term Scots-Irish refers to Scots who migrated to Ireland and then to America. So a Scots-Irish person is actually descends from people who were Scots who traveled through and resided in Ireland before reaching America. Sometimes the family may have resided in America for more than one generation before coming to America however. When trying to find the surname in Scotland try looking on the internet under clan Campbell for information. You may have more luck. I have links on my website that may be of interest to you. Happy hunting! TTFN, Lynda (THOMAS) CAMPBELL <mailto:hilanders@jps.net> Lynda's Genealogy Homepage http://www.jps.net/hilanders  ...And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers... Malachi 4:6   > -----Original Message----- > From: PATRICIA S. SMITH [mailto:PatriciaSmith1@compuserve.com] > Sent: Thursday, July 01, 1999 10:14 AM > To: THOMAS-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Scots-Irish Thomases? > > > That's interesting. I too was always told my Thomas family was Scots > Irish, but a book on the Scots Irish that I bought did not list > the name. > I was in Wales a couple of years ago and there were tons of Thomases. > When I mentioned my Scotch Irish Thomases, everyone said,"Can't be." > > My family was in New England. Fisher Hartson b. abt. 1803 supposedly in > Vt. Can't get beyond him. And they went on to Wisconsin and Iowa. So > it's not just a Southern tale. > > Thoughts on this Scots-Irish story? > > pat smith > . > > > ==== THOMAS Mailing List ==== > THOMAS Family Mail List Archives: > courtesy of Rootsweb, our gracious host! > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl > Just type in the mail list's name: THOMAS > >