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Excerpt From
F.W. Thorlton
Before America
They stood on the dock of this foreign shore two boys barely out of their teens. In their pockets perhaps a few shillings, on their backs the rags of the poor Irish peasant, but in their hearts beat a love for liberty, and a desire that would drive them and their fellow Ulstermen forever forward into the American frontier.
The things they had endured in Ireland, had hardened them to the life which lay ahead. Perhaps they, more than any other race, had been molded and formed in a crucible of hardships, and burdens, to this particular time and place. Fixed with the physical, and mental tools, required to survive, and prosper in the harsh frontier wilderness now before them.
They were Scotsmen by birth, but they were Irishmen by domain, and in the blending became something new, more versatile, less traditional, less clannish, and less provincial. Beginning a metamorphoses that would continue in America, and eventually change them from the Old World Scotsman of their parents, or the Ulster-Scotsman they had been, to a new breed, "The Scotch-Irishman of America." Now like a bird just learning to fly, they could at last release their long repressed desire for freedom. True freedom: to live where they choose, to earn the bounty of their labors, to have a voice in the making of their future, and the possibility of something better for their children.
Practical as always they were now ready for anything. Their fiber was now such, as to endure the hardships that await them in this, their new chosen country. Three thousand miles behind, across a hostile sea, lay their native Ireland. And, as Robert and Charles Caldwell stood there, I wonder what thoughts went through their minds, facing a wilderness, totally unknown to them, as were the dangers they were about to face. They would likely, never know the important part they were to play in the opening of the wilderness or the building of this nation.
It was the summer of 1750. Robert and Charles had left County Derry, Ireland only a few months earlier. They had left behind a troubled homeland, few freedoms, much repression, and few human rights. Ireland's history is filled with recurring wars, and rebellions that devastated the land and the people. There had been several confiscations of the soil accompanied by a plantation of the land by English and Scottish settlers. Confiscation on a large scale however, began with the reign of King James I and came to be known as the "Great Plantation."
Prior to this Plantation, Ulster was controlled by powerful tribal chiefs and divided into five main states. They in turn had sub-chiefs, and hired mercenaries called Gallowglasses. These men were from the kingdom of Argyle and the Hebrides. They were of mixed Norse and Gaelic blood, a kin to the Scot. With their Scandinavian axe and body armor, they were an awesome force of skill, and determination, and were the backbone of the Irish armies.
Viking raids began around 795, striking fear in the hearts of all the Irish. During the ensuing years the Vikings established towns at what are now Cork, Dublin, Limerick, and Waterford.
Disorganized Irish Tribes stood little chance against the tenacity of the Viking battle tactics, until a young Irish Prince named Brian Boru, trained a small band as guerilla fighters, to combat the Viking tactics. He was so successful that soon other Irish Chiefs, including one of his older brothers, joined him.
Brian was crowned King of Ireland and united all the Irish tribes under his rule. The new ruler brought an era of culture to Ireland but was killed at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014.
In 1160 the High King Turlough O'Conner overthrew King Dermont MacMurrough of Leinster. To regain his throne Dermont sought help from King Henry II of England. The Norman king allowed Dermont to recruit Norman soldiers and with this help regained his former position. Through this treaty the Normans gained a foothold in Ireland, which after the death of Dermont in 1171 allowed Norman Barons to slowly take control of Irish soil. By 1300 the Normans held control of nearly all of Ireland and 700 years of turmoil between the two cultures began.
In 1314 Robert Bruce, the King of Scotland, tried to create a United Gaelic kingdom with his brother, Edward as King of Ireland. After landing in Ulster with 6,000 men, Bruce united with five Irish chieftains: O'Neill of Tirowen, O'Kane Lord of Keenaght, O'Hanlon of the present county of Armagh, O'Haga of Tullaghogue in County Tyrone, and MacCartin of Kinelearty, in County Down. Due to tactical errors Bruce was defeated at Dundalk by an army headed by Primate Archbishop of Armagh. The dream of a Gaelic Kingdom ended, but not the desire to rid themselves of the English usurper. Economic troubles and disease then plagued Ireland, as the chieftain's anger simmered over their failure.
For the next hundred years intermarriage with the Irish created a population more Irish than Norman and loyalty to England slowly waned so that by the early 1400's it was nearly non-existent.
In an attempt to regain England's influence, in 1534 Henry VIII took power away from the Earls of Kildare and forced Ireland's Parliament to declare him king of Ireland. He then established English Law, and tried to force Protestantism on the Irish.
Skirmishes and forays followed, but it was not until the 16th century that full scale rebellion occurred. With the accession of Queen Elizabeth I, things soon came to a bloody head. The Pope recognized King Philip II of Spain, the widower of Mary I (Bloody Mary) a devout Roman Catholic, as lawful King of England. In 1570 the Pope issued a proclamation absolving the Irish of allegiance to Elizabeth. Elizabeth then abolished O'Neill's sovereignty. The Earl of Essex murdered 200 of O'Neill's followers at Belfast, and had Sir Brian MacPhelim O'Neill and his wife hanged and quartered. Then, along with Sir Francis Drake, Essex trapped the MacDonnell women and children on the island of Rathlin, north of Antrim where they had fled for safety. There, they were all murdered, to the last child.
The English objective, expressed often for more than 400 years and was;
"....to civilize Ireland, if possible, if that were impossible, then, extermination and, the elimination of the Catholic Church in Ireland."
Sir Francis Cosby commanded the English troops in Offaly and Leix, and in cruel deception he invited the O'Conors and the O'Mores, the Irish leaders of Offaly and Leix, to a party. Cosby then turned the party into a massacre, murdering all who came.
The territories of Offaly and Leix, which had been controlled by the murdered chiefs, was seized in 1556, and the people displaced by Scottish and English settlers. Formal settlement of Offaly and Leix was begun during the reign of Edward VI and continued by Mary. In 1557 the Irish Parliament enacted a law that renamed Offaly to Kings County, and Leix, to Queens County. The whole territory was then confiscated, and English law established. Two forts were located within this territory, and were also renamed with the intention of a town evolving around their nucleus. Fort Protector became Maryborough, and Fort Governor, Philipstown.
In 1567 these places became market towns, and in 1569 they achieved borough status. They remained nothing more than fortified garrisons for years, though they did send representatives to Parliament. Major urbanization would not be accomplished until the Ulster Plantation. It was during this time that the Thorltons came to Kings County.
A policy of the surrender of lands began. Under this policy the chieftains were made to surrender their land to the crown, later to be re-granted under English law. This surrender and re-grant policy would mean that the lands would pass by inheritance to the eldest son. This was totally contrary to the Gaelic system that believed in the joint ownership by the clan with the most able member, as the leader, or chief. Elizabeth considered the Irish, and their religion, their whole way of life, enemies of England, and a danger to English theology.
In 1588, on the urging of Hugh O'Neill and the Irish, the Spaniards attempted to invade England. However their armada of twenty-six galleons was turned back and sank in a storm off the Irish Coast, losing more than 5,000 men. O'Neill allied by other Irish chieftains, and the Spaniards who, entered the alliance with less than wholehearted support, continued the rebellion. The army now bolstered by a Papal blessing, the promise of a pardon and the remission of their sins, marched on Westmeath. But O'Neill lost allies in route and was now facing an army of more than 20,000 men. O'Neill retreated to Moyry Pass, and from there to Ulster. O'Neill made a last stand in Ulster but was defeated. Then on September 14, 1607, in order to avoid the fate of O'Cahan, who died in the Tower of London, High O'Neill the Earl of Tyrone, and Rory O'Donnell the earl of Tyrconnell, went into self inflicted exile with their families and more than ninety followers. Hope remained that their Irish hero Hugh O'Neill would someday return and free Ireland. But when news came, in 1616, that he was dead, all hope faded.
The conditions existing in the escheated counties of Armagh, Cavan, Donegal, Fermanagh, Derry, and Tyrone were such as to render their plantation by the Scots, and English settlers comparatively easy. The counties of Down and Antrim were more or less exempt from the "Great Plantation," because these lands, nearest the Scottish coast, were already occupied largely by Lowland Scots, and English. The long wars had largely, depopulated that region, and the native inhabitants who remained were not only without leaders, but were impoverished, ignorant, and cowed by misfortunes. The proprietary rights of these clans, and chieftains, were largely ignored, and many of the old proprietors were expelled from their lands. Both the English and the Scots looked down upon the native Irish as an inferior race and regularly referred to them as "mere Irish." Since most of the Irish chieftains, at one time or another had rebelled against the crown it was not difficult to deprive them of their land citing treason as the excuse. Thus nearly all of the six escheated counties, amounting to about four million acres, were thrown open for settlement.
This land of Ireland was not, in the true sense of the word, a nation at the time of the plantation. The country was in the hands of its chieftains and their retainers, and they were in constant conflict preying on each other. There was little cultivation, and dense forests covered the northern lands. These forests sheltered many animals: wild boar, deer, and wolves. Under the direction of King James' agent, Sir Arthur Chichester, the estates were divided into 1000, 1500, and 2000 acre sections, and these were granted to Scottish, and English Protestants.
These "undertakers" were required not only to live on the land but to build places of defense, and enclosures for stock. The Irish were forbidden to be tenants of the land, and by doing this it was expected that the territory would soon become entirely "English." As already stated the fundamental purpose was to displace the Irish Catholics and make Ulster a Protestant community occupied by immigrants from Scotland and England.
Large tracts of land were reserved for churches, schools, and for site Boroughs. The reminder was divided among the Scottish, and English settlers, and a few of the old Irish proprietors who were judged loyal to the Crown. The allotment of the land to the Scots and the English was kept close together to prevent as far as possible, mixing with the Irish. In fact, a law was passed forbidding intermarriage with the Irish. The native Irish were allotted, the less desirable, and more remote districts. In 1609 the escheated lands were surveyed by commissioners, and all the details of the plantation were worked out with care. In 1610, when the Caldwells came, new Scot and English settlers began pouring into Ireland, and the plantation was underway. It would continue throughout the 17th century, with the greatest number arriving between the years 1690 and 1697, and by the end of the period Ulster was predominantly Scottish.
A London corporation was granted land in Derry, on which to build and fortify the towns of Londonderry and Coleraine. Timber from the forests provided the materials to build the houses and "bawns" which quickly replaced the wattled huts and holes in the ground that had provided shelter for the Irish. Lands were cleared, drained, and fenced, followed by the first crops. The houses grew in number until the town of Londonderry was formed on the banks of the river Foyle and, Coleraine on the Bann. A few fishermen's cabins marked the spot where the town of Belfast would soon grow and flourish. Near Belfast was built the Queens College, and in the Presbyterian stronghold of Londonderry was built Magee College.
When John Thorlton, and Robert and Charles Caldwell's ancestors crossed the narrow channel that separated Scotland from Ireland, and set foot on Irish soil they were in a real sense coming home. In the fifteenth century the highlander of Scotland was overwhelmingly Celtic in ancestry, while the Lowland Scot was mixed with strains from different races. From the dawn of time came the Stone Age aborigines, and around 500 B.C. Gaels and Celtics overran the whole island. They were followed by the Britons who pushed the Gaels and the Celtics north into Scotland and Wales. The thousand years following the Roman occupation brought six more races to the mixture, the Romans themselves, the Teutonic Angles, the Saxons who dominated the lowlands for centuries, the Norsemen from which the name Thorlton had its beginnings, the Normans, and the Flemish. Finally the Scots and Celtic tribe crossed the channel, sometime in the sixth century, and invaded the land that would bear their name.
The word Scot means a wanderer, or rover in the Celtic tongue. These Scots spoke the Gaelic, and fought alongside the Picts, against the Roman invader in the land that would become Scotland. The Scots and the Picts came from ancient Scotia. Scotia or Ireland was so dominated by the Scots that for years it was called Scotia, the land of the Scots.
At the beginning of the sixth century, a small colony of Scots came from Ireland (Scotia), and settled on the west coast of Scotland in the area now known as Argyllshire. There they increased in power and number till they formed the kingdom of Dalriada. To the north were their allies, the Northern Picts, and to the south were the Southern Picts. In 563 Saint Columbia, an Irish Monk, founded a monastery, and with the help of the Scots began to convert the Picts. In 844 the Kingdom of the Scots, and the Kingdom of the Picts united under the Scottish King Kenneth MacAlphin and called the new Kingdom, Alba. Violent struggles then followed;
In 997 Constantine III was killed by Kenneth III.
In 1005 Malcom II killed Kenneth III.
Malcom was followed by Duncan I.
In 1040 Duncan I was murdered by Macbeth.
In 1057 Duncan's son Malcolm III killed Macbeth.
Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, Malcolm III, was so impressed by the Norman customs, he allowed English settlers to enter his land. He gave them land, and introduced feudalism to Scotland. With their foot in the door, when Malcolm died in 1093, the Normans harbored aspirations of uniting the entire Island under their control. But the Scots were equally determined to remain independent. In the confrontations that followed it was common for the Scots to side with England's adversary, France. Under the reign of Alexander III (1249-1286), a border was established between England and Scotland. Agriculture advances were made, and roads and bridges were built.
After the death of Alexander, his three-year-old daughter Margaret briefly held the throne, until her death, four years later. There then followed battles between Barons, for possession of the throne. With the help of Edward I of England, a Baron John de Baliol was recognized by England as King of Scotland. For Edward's help Baliol was expected to accept Edward as his superior and as the real ruler of Scotland. Baliol refused and formed an alliance with France instead.
Edward invaded Scotland in 1296 and won the battle of Dunbar. He seized the Scottish symbol of royal authority, the "Stone of Scone" and declared himself king. The Scots would have no part of this and renewed the battle. William Wallace won several battles against the English, until he was captured and executed in 1305.
After Wallace's death, Robert Bruce led a revolt, and in 1314, defeated Edward II in the famous battle of Bannockburn. The Scots declared themselves independent in 1320, but it would not be until eight years later that Edward finally recognized Robert Bruce as, Robert I King of Scotland. The feudalism that replaced the Clans in the lowlands around 1100 began the very slow progress toward civilization, so that by 1600, few clans remained in the lowlands of Scotland.
In this harsh land, known as Scotland, the ground was poor and life hard. Isolated from the advances of Europe, the Scots life was primitive. The Scotland of 1600 had never known a government in the true since of the word. With no sheriff or police it was said, much in the same context used to the wild west of America 200 years later, "there is no law north of Tweed." What law there was, was dealt out by the feudal overlords. Forming armies made up of the farmers under their charge, feuds were constantly being fought. Fighting came natural to a people who were isolated and living a monotonous farming life. With no diversions, an occasional fight brought a welcomed respite from a drab lifestyle.
The squalor of the farming life is now hard to imagine. The hovels or houses were poorly constructed of stones and turf, and without mortar. Cracks and holes were stuffed with straw or moss to keep out the drafts. The roof was made of thatch or turf. They had no chimneys but merely a hole in the roof to allow the smoke to escape from the fire that was usually burning in the middle of the dirt floor. The draft was poor and the fire more often than not filled the hut with choking smoke. The dirt and filth were compounded by the presence of cattle tethered at the end of the room, kept there to protect them from the ever present cattle thief. Constantly being raided by the English, and their homes destroyed, the Scot showed little concern saying;
"If the English burn our house, what consequence is it to us? We can rebuild them cheap enough, for we require only three days to do so."
Illness was a constant companion. Skin disease was very prevalent in the dirty dank houses. Lacking any knowledge of infectious diseases or quarantine procedures, they spread quite readily. Smallpox and other deadly diseases ravaged the people, and rheumatism was a constant complaint. Malaria (ague) spread with the help of the undrained bogs and swamps. Then, in 1348, came the Black Death that wiped out one third of the population, and recurred at intervals until its last visit in 1648.
Amid all this squalor, surprisingly, the Scot never blamed his lot on the noblemen or the "lairds," but regarded the lawlessness and squalor simply his way life. If anything, the reverse was true. The loyalty of the farmer toward his "lairds" made them devoted retainers. The migration from Scotland was not in protest against his lord, but simply the search for something better.
Isolated from the progress of the Industrial Revolution of Europe, the Scot was not yet a material being. Only the Irish, of his neighbors were more isolated than himself. The Scots social mind set was simple; a monarchy as his government, social classes were inherited at birth, separation of the sexes, the existence of heaven and hell, strong moral standards, family ties, no divorce, subordination of children, and the community as the purveyor of moral judgments. Their belief in community was strong and they felt that kinship could not be freely renounced. The Scot was intensely loyal to his own, his "kit and kin" but rather suspicious outsiders. They believed that people do not join communities but were instead born into them. Sir Walter Scot explained;
"Perhaps one ought to be actually a Scotsman to conceive how ardently under all distinctions of rank and situation, they feel their mutual connection with each other . . . There are, I believe, more associations common to the inhabitants of the rude and wild than of a well cultivated and fertile country . . . the high and the low are more interested in each others welfare, the feelings of kindred and relationship are more widely extended, and, in a word the bonds patriotic affection."
So the Scot knew famine, plague, poor soil, and poorer crops, insecurity of life, property raids, and other aggressions from the English. They learned early on to fight back, to give blow for blow, "tit for tat," and through it all, to endure. They were far from being a submissive people. From the rebuilding of their destroyed homes by English raids, and the attempts to squash their religion, they would always bend, but they would never break. The national emblem of thistle, and a motto of "nemo me impune lacessit" no one attacks me with impunity!
The lowlander was to add one more important facet to his character. The false picture that might be drawn is, that these primitive people who were, as were most of the lower classes of the day, illiterate were also thick witted or stupid. On the contrary flickering deep within the soul of these people was the unfulfilled desire for something better. That flickering flame was to burst into an inferno with the coming of the Presbyterian church. From the pulpit of their church came the first exposure of these people to the stimulation of the ideas of others. Not only did the church supply them with religious teachings but became, for the lowlander of that day, a sort of "mass media." Here issues of the day could be freely argued by the lowest.
Soon came the schools that were to provide ministers, and were open to all, in fact most of the graduates were from the lower classes. Scotland was the first country to offer public education through the schools of the Presbyterian Scot. It offered an opportunity for enormous prestige, and was open to all who were worthy. John Knox and George Buchanan both came from the families of the farmer. More than a few "lads o' pairts" were seen walking down the road to the University town with his bag of oatmeal, a bag which must last him the whole term, hung over his shoulder. This desire for learning was forged fast into the soul of the Scot and he carried it with him to Ireland, and then to America, where they would once more lead the way in public education.
Now in Ireland, the Ulster-Scot found himself in the midst of people totally hostile to him. On the one hand were the English overlords with proprietary demands and restrictions, and on the other, were the native Irish whom he despised, a feeling returned in kind by the Irish. This heated atmosphere led to a feud between the two races, and the massacre of 1641.
Rory O'Moore of the family of O'Moore in County Offaly led an uprising in an attempt to recover the confiscated lands. On Thursday evening, October 2, 1641, Rory O'Moore led the families of O'Neill, Magennis, O'Hanlon, O'Hagen, MacMahon, McGuire, O'Quinn, O'Farrell, and O'Reilly. They recaptured Ulster and for the most part drove out the English and the Scots.
The "Massacre of 1641" resulted in many deaths, the exact number is difficult to ascertain. The English claim, that "the savage Irish "murdered more than 600,000, was quite inflated, owing to the fact that there were not that many English and Scotch in Ireland at that time. The Irish claim of around 2,000 was probably more accurate. In any event it came to be known by the English "The Great Popish Massacre." Owen Roe O'Neill "nephew of Hugh O'Neill Earl of Tyrone, now with a consolidated Irish army, captured and held most of Ireland till he met his death by poison in 1648. Cromwell recaptured Ulster in 1649. The Irish in Ulster, Leinster and Munster were removed to Connacht, and replaced, once again with Scottish and English settlers. To complete the suppression of the Irish, the English passed, "The Act for Better Securing of the Government Against Papists." Under this action the Catholic could henceforth not own a gun, pistol or sword, or any weapon of an offensive or defensive nature under penalty of fine, imprisonment, pillory, or public whipping. Any magistrate could, enter any house, at any time, for the purpose of search and seizure. Then followed laws forbidding Catholic Irish from; The exercise of the Catholic Religion . . .
Entering a profession . . .
Receiving an education . . .
Holding public office . . .
Engaging in trade or commerce . . .
Living within five miles of a corporate town . . .
Owning a horse of a value exceeding five pounds . . .
Purchasing land . . .
Leasing land . . .
Excepting a mortgage on land . . .
Voting . . .
Buying land from a Protestant . . .
Receiving a gift from a Protestant . . .
Inheriting land, or anything, from a Protestant . . .
Renting any land exceeding a value of thirty shillings . . .
From harvesting a value from the land, exceeding 1/3 of the rent year . . .
Being guardian to a child . . .
Giving guardianship of his children, upon his death, to any Catholic . . .
Attending Catholic worship, and must instead attend one of the Protestant worships . . .
Educating his children . . .
Sending his children to a Catholic teacher . . .
Sending his children abroad for an education . . .
By the middle of the 17th century Ulster was almost totally populated with Ulster Scots (Scotch-Irish), and the land was prospering. They learned from the English the art of draining the bogs and marshes. Then from Sir Walter Raleigh, by way of the American Indians, came the new crop of ......the potato. With the newly acquired knowledge of draining the wet lands, whole new fertile lands that would otherwise have been useless, were now available for farming. The coming of the potato, which the Scot was the first to plant in Ireland, brought a new staple diet. Two more strides were made to the economic security of the Ulster-Scot: one was the woolen market and the other was the linen. Sheep flourished in the meadows, and the wool was soon to provide a very profitable commodity for trade with the American colonies. From the Huguenots, the French counterpart of the Presbyterian faith settling in Ulster, came a flourishing new industry, the linen manufacture. In one of those enigmas of life, the very success of the Scots in Ulster led to the events that would ultimately cause their departure. The emigration of the Scotch-Irish to the new World was one of the most significant movements of history, not only because of its volume, but because of the far reaching effects it would have on life in America. The most potent as well as the most constant cause of the emigration was economic. Restriction on trade from Ireland began in 1699, when the wool manufacture was limited by an act forbidding the exportation of Irish wool manufacturers to any part of the world except, Wales and England. This act, inspired by jealous English manufacturers, continued for over forty years and was the principal cause of migration to America in the early part of the 18th Century. These and other successive measures to prohibit and discourage Ulster's textiles gradually smothered the Scotch-Irishman's basic livelihood. The English felt no consideration was due the Scotch-Irish, whom they had planted in Ireland. After all the Scotch, they felt;
". . . were only a pack of psalm, singing dissenters, from the same breed that had opposed the Stuarts and the Cromwells."
An enormous quantity of land had been leased to Scotch-Irish tenants on thirty-one year leases. However in 1717 these leases began to expire, and when a renewal was sought the rents were doubled or tripled, reaching a point where farming ceased to be profitable. "Rack-renting" became a common practice among the landlords. The Scots having, by their energy and skill, redeemed Northern Ireland from the physical and moral degradation caused by the long wars, and transformed a wilderness into a smiling countryside, were now rewarded, by the English, with these oppressive rents and repressive laws. As if that were not enough, the tenant farmers did not even receive compensation for the improvements they had made. On the contrary the improvements to the land were one of the reasons given for the increase in the rents. The situation appeared hopeless, and a migration began at once. The Ulster Scot's independent nature would not allow him to be held up in this manner. So they gathered their household goods and departed with "no-good" feelings toward their oppressors, the hated English. They would later willingly confront their antagonists on the battlefields of the American Revolution, where they would even up the score with musket and sword.
The Ulster-Scot found it, perhaps easier to emigrate than would have been the case if the ties binding them to a fatherland were stronger. And despite the fact that many families had lived in Ireland more that a hundred years, the assault upon their citizenship by the English removed any feelings of loyalty to crown or country. They left Ireland in such numbers that some areas were nearly depopulated. Adding to all this was a very bad harvest which occurred in 1727 and led to the largest waves of emigration from Ulster in 18th century. Also present was the religious persecution suffered by the Ulster Scots at the hands of the Church of England, manifesting itself as the Established Church of Ireland. This church, though represented by a very small number in population had been established by law as the church of the land.
The Ulster Scot was then, as always predominantly Presbyterian, and as was their nature, they were not quiet about it. Their oppression weighed on them. The Ulster Scots had transferred their system of churches and government to Ireland, and were strongly organized. Their growth and prosperity aroused the animosity of the Church of England and created within the English the fear that they would create a religious hold on the people. So the Ulster Scots, as had the Irish before them, became victims of unjust laws and petty persecutions directed against them by the ruling powers of the Church, and the government of England.
The building of Presbyterian churches was forbidden. Marriages performed by Presbyterian ministers were declared illegal. Their rights to perform burials were questioned, sometimes at the grave site itself. Further their rights as citizens were often deprived as in, the Test Act of 1704. This excluded from military or civil offices anyone who was not a member of the Church of England. Not only were they deprived of their rights as citizens but, they were required to support their oppressors by being forced to tithe the Church of England, in effect making them members of the Religion they opposed.
When they heard that certain colonies in America wanted settlers, and would grant to them, what appeared to be huge parcels of free land. And, in addition they offered freedom to practice their religion, and live as they chose. It seemed to be the utopia they were seeking. James Anthony Froude summed it up in his book "The English in Ireland in the 18th Century";
"Men of spirit and energy refused to remain in a country where they were held unfit to receive the rights of citizens . . . "
Flights of Protestant settlers had been driven out earlier in the century by the idiocy of the bishops . . . Religious bigotry, commercial jealousy, and landlordism had combined to do their worst against the Ulster settlement. Vexed with suits in ecclesiastical courts, forbidden to educate their children in their own faith, treated as dangerous in a state which, but for them would have had no existence, and associated with Papists in an act of Parliament which deprived them of their civil rights, the most enthusiastic of them abandoned all hope. They saw at last that the liberties for which their fathers had worked and fought, were not to be theirs in Ireland. During the first half of the 18th century, the counties Down, Antrim, Armagh, and Derry were emptied of their Ulster-Scot families, who were, as one historian wrote;
"... more value to Ireland than the gold was to California."
So Robert and Charles Caldwell, and later, John Thorlton, with all hope gone of their condition improving in Ireland, turned their eyes west across the sea to the colonies in America.
......Perhaps there, they would find a Bright New World!
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