Thistle and Shamrock

My research is about Scottish ancestors primarily but there are several Irish families in the mix. They came to Scotland for work in the mid 1800s, to Glasgow or to Leith. Because I have a complete set of ancestors to the 6th generation I can see how much Irish blood I have. It’s tricky to work out but I’ve had fun playing with the data.

I can assume that most of my ancestors were born in Scotland as I have a very full set of Scottish ancestors, thanks to the way Scotland handled record keeping. I haven’t found one ancestor who came from a different country other than Ireland. Before 1855 the national Church of Scotland was responsible for documenting births, marriages, and deaths. After 1855 the state took over and records became standardized.

In Ireland it’s very different. Northern Ireland has better records than Ireland but they are spotty and it’s impossible to go back very far. I admit I haven’t put a lot of effort in, but because my Irish ancestors were poor and moved from various areas, I don’t have deep family connections to any one place. Sadly, many Irish records were lost in a fire at a government building before they were digitized.

The table below shows where my closest ancestors were from. Each number represents a person and is their unique identifier in the Ahnentafel numbering system. Tracking by color allows me to see who the first Irish immigrant was.

In dark green are Irish ancestors who did not move to Scotland.

Table showing 6 generations of births in Scotland or Ireland.

The next chart shows who these Irish born ancestors were, where they were from, and if they moved with their family or alone.

Table showing immigration pattern from Ireland

Lampost on Henderson St, Leith showing the thistle and the shamrock