English, Irish and Scots

 

My people are the O'Dochartaigh of Inishowen, Donegal, Ireland.  Anglicized, that's
Doherty.  My uncle paid for a genealogical report back in the sixties.  Reputable
Irish genealogist, etc, etc, etc.

The report goes back to about 760AD which is pretty damn far back.  It was about
that time that O'Dochartaighs defeated another clan and claimed Inishowen as their
turf.  They converted and became Catholic soon after.

Ancient history is interesting but not immediately relevant to my point, so I'll fast
forward here a bit.  The English had conquered Ireland and were 'restocking' the
place with Scots and English colonists and lords proprietors.  They simply killed off
your people and took your land, to give to favored friends of the Crown.  This went
on for about three hundred years when Sir Thomas Cahir O'Dochartaigh, in 1608,
raised rebellion and for a space, won victory after victory, until he was shot dead in
his own camp, by an English marksman. So the expropriations continued and even
accelerated in fact, continuing on another 300 years.

Now, my basic point is almost in view . . . The English celebrate their history without going
into too much detail.  They routinely kidnapped Irishmen and Scots for 'transportation' to
their burgeoning imperial colonies.  Mainly Catholics, who were undesirables in their own
country.  England imported Scots Presbyterians to populate the country.  This is the origin
of the 'Troubles' in Northern Ireland.

A young man might be 'taken up' from a country road, farm field, or fishing smack without
notice or explanation, and disappear into the vast British empire, as soldier, sailor, or slave.
A young woman might be taken up as the boy was, and also 'transported' for service as
a maid, kitchen or scullery, milk maid, or just to provide brood stock for the soldiery.

The English knew they would never outnumber the natives in those far flung outposts,
and certainly didn't approve interbreeding; so Michael and Mary were shipped in to
make up a 'tame' subject population.  Michael married to his Regiment, and Mary bred
to raise sturdy white 'Settlers' and replenish the stock of white 'servants' and soldiers.

It's human nature to make the best of your situation, and TPTB knew that, so they
could count on their 'servants' acclimating to their new and strange circumstances.
Or dying.  Bit of a bother, that, but there are lots of Irish.

The English upper crust never saw anything wrong with Feudalism and their descendants
still don't; we're now headed for a new 'Empire' based on the same social order.

A few 'Rich and Famous' served by the many poor and ignorant.

--Dick