Genealogy at a Glance: Scots-Irish Genealogy Research

Description

Designed to cover the basic elements of genealogical research in just four pages, the Genealogy at a Glance series (GAAG) gives you as much useful information in the space allotted as you’ll ever need. Compiled by experts, each Genealogy at a Glance guide is a distillation of the key ingredients in a given area of genealogical research. Each one can be read at a glance and used with total confidence.

In keeping with the general format, this GAAG on Scots-Irish genealogy covers the basic facts about Scots-Irish research. Topics covered include:

• Scots-Irish background
• 17th-century Ulster planters
• 18th-century emigrants
• Passenger lists
• Places of origin
• Family names
• Source records
• Repositories

The term Scots-Irish refers to people who originated in Scotland and settled in the 17th century in Ireland in the nine northern counties of Ulster. Claiming economic hardship, 250,000 Scots-Irish immigrated to North America between 1717 and 1776, principally to the port of Philadelphia, then west into the Appalachian region where they became the intrepid woodsmen and pioneers of American legend. The important thing to take away here is that this guide is intended as an aid to researchers who are attempting to trace Irish ancestors who arrived in North America prior to 1800.

Rounding out the guide there are lists of books for further reading, lists of online research sources, and a list of the major repositories with Scots-Irish material. The well-known Northern-Irish author, Brian Mitchell, also wrote the GAAG on Irish genealogy research, and is perhaps best known for his book A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland.