Reference to Scots In Old Book, and My Family Brainwashing

[Cygnus]

While I would recommend following the "family lore", I'd still take whatever measures you can to verify. The "Scots Irish" tag had been tossed around my family for quite some time but the discovery of some folios from a great-great-great-uncle's journal showed that, while his grandfather was born in Ireland, the family certainly wasn't "Scots Irish". My sixth great grandfather went to Cork Co. along with the military in 1798 (though we're unsure in what capacity - he was certainly not an officer but was able to take his young wife with him). After staying some years in Cork, the family found their way to Edinburgh.

So look into it, but when all else fails the best you can do is trust what you've been told.

[Lallans]

While I would recommend following the "family lore", I'd still take whatever measures you can to verify. The "Scots Irish" tag had been tossed around my family for quite some time but the discovery of some folios from a great-great-great-uncle's journal showed that, while his grandfather was born in Ireland, the family certainly wasn't "Scots Irish". My sixth great grandfather went to Cork Co. along with the military in 1798 (though we're unsure in what capacity - he was certainly not an officer but was able to take his young wife with him). After staying some years in Cork, the family found their way to Edinburgh.

So look into it, but when all else fails the best you can do is trust what you've been told.

Cork was a major centre for (mostly) English immigration at one point. It was Within The Pale. The rest of Ireland was of course Beyond The Pale. Once in my youth I tried to impress a young Irish woman with the statement that I had an ancestor from Cork and she merely sniffed and said that she wasn't surprised (the ancestor was in fact English- but she didn't have to be told that).

[Cygnus]

Cork was a major centre for (mostly) English immigration at one point. It was Within The Pale. The rest of Ireland was of course Beyond The Pale. Once in my youth I tried to impress a young Irish woman with the statement that I had an ancestor from Cork and she merely sniffed and said that she wasn't surprised (the ancestor was in fact English- but she didn't have to be told that).

I'd read that before and wondered if these ancestors were English. My great^3 uncle's journal is pretty clear that they had come from Scotland with the British troops because of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 (the United Irishmen Rebellion).