Let’s Talk About… Ulster Settlers Database

 Likely you cannot read the faint print of this snip, so I  copied it for you. The important-est statement is this, to my mind: “historical data relating to the English and Scottish men and women who settled in Ulster in the period 1609-1641…”   Those are/were what we’ve come to understand as the Scots-Irish! Those hard-to-find-hard-to-trace rascals who came to the colonies and happily settled on the frontier away from anything of “officialdom.” 

My hubby’s Phillips line is Scots-Irish and I’ve had minimal success with it. Bet you’re in that rowboat with me, eh? I’m going to have a great time clicking around on this website/database……… and, if you Google “Ulster Settlers” several parallel websites pop up, offering more insight, knowledge and information to you! Hooray!

The Ulster Settlers Database, an exciting biographical and historical resource, is now available to researchers. Making innovative use of historical data relating to the English and Scottish men and women who settled in Ulster in the period c.1609-1641, the database is a searchable account of a community in flux.

The initial phase of the project was funded by the Royal Irish Academy through the Hunter Digital Fellowship. Beginning in early 2022, the project was co-hosted by the Institute of Irish Studies at Queens University Belfast and Maynooth University’s Arts and Humanities Institute. 

Taking on the challenges involved in working with incomplete biographical data, this project models existing data into life events and then digitally links all these related events to reconstruct a searchable prosopography or biographical map of the entire settler cohort. 

The Ulster Settlers database is available to search here: https://ulster-settlers.clericus.ie/

By the by, never say “Scotch-Irish.” David Rencher, CEO of the FamilySearch Library reminds us “that Scotch is a drink.”

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