Obligatory book recommendation:
Albion's Seed by David Hackett Fischer.
Some things to know about the "Scots-Irish":
- Fischer prefers the term "Borderers" because when most use the term "Scots-Irish," they're referring to people with family lineages from the English/Scottish border who came to America in the 18th century.
- Many could trace their origins to Scotland, many came from Ireland (especially Northern Ireland), but many could trace their origins to England or elsewhere instead, and not all passed through Ireland.
- Those with origins in Scotland overwhelmingly came from the English-speaking Scottish lowlands. Some highland Gaelic speakers migrated around the same time, but they tended to cluster in places like the Cape Fear valley, and weren't traditionally lumped with the Scots-Irish.
- They were largely Presbyterian, and were largely small landholders. They were not typically indentured servants, the indentured servant "migration" happened mostly earlier, and tended to have a more southern geographic origin in England.
- They tended to just be called "Irish" in early America, the term "Scots-Irish" became more popular to distinguish from Catholic Irish later on.
- They were the largest migration of British people to colonial America, but didn't dominate the demographics necessarily because they were also the last (after the Puritans, Cavaliers/indentured servants, and Quakers).
