Reference to Scots In Old Book, and My Family Brainwashing

[Bugbear]

I came across an old book and found at it's beginning a reference to Scots. Pioneers of the Old Southwest: a chronicle of the dark and bloody ground (Chronicles of America series; vol. 18), by Constance Lindsay Skinner. It's in the public domain, and over at Project Gutenberg, but appears to have a date of, 1919.

The Ulster Presbyterians, or "Scotch-Irish," to whom history has ascribed the dominant role among the pioneer folk of the Old Southwest, began their migrations
to America in the latter years of the seventeenth century. It is not known with certainty precisely when or where the first immigrants of their race arrived
in this country, but soon after 1680 they were to be found in several of the colonies. ...

These Ulstermen did not come to the New World as novices in the shaping of society; they had already made history. Their ostensible object in America was
to obtain land, but, like most external aims, it was secondary to a deeper purpose. What had sent the Ulstermen to America was a passion for a whole freedom.
They were lusty men, shrewd and courageous, zealous to the death for an ideal and withal so practical to the moment in business that it soon came to be
commonly reported of them that "they kept the Sabbath and everything else they could lay their hands on," though it is but fair to them to add that this
phrase is current wherever Scots dwell. ...

It goes on a bit more with the introduction. I was looking at this writing in the context of the views of it's era, and looking for writings about Scots in the more western "Southwest" out here where I live; "Pioneers" and "Southwest" being what drew me to the title. It was still an interesting find because one side of my family claims to be partly descended from the "Scotch-Irish," as family members say it. I've become a bit skeptical of some of my families claims, though. They say they are "Scotch-Irish" without any understanding of what that means.


That's my confession, and I'm sticking to it.

* Should also add, the latest "Irish kilt" thread contributed to letting go of the old family myth.