Nothing sooner offended them than to be called Irish. Their antipathy
to this appellation had its origin in the hostility then existing in
Ireland between the Celtic race, the native Irish, and the English and
Scotch colonists." Belknap, in his _History of New Hampshire_ (Boston,
1791) quotes a letter from the Rev. James MacGregor (1677-1729) to
Governor Shute in which the writer says: "We are surprised to hear
ourselves termed Irish people, when we so frequently ventured our all
for the British Crown and liberties against the Irish papists, and
gave all tests, of our loyalty, which the government of Ireland
required, and are always ready to do the same when demanded."
Down to the present day the descendants of these Ulster Scots settlers
living in the United States who have maintained an interest in their
origin, always insist that they are of Scottish and not of Irish
origin. On this point it will be sufficient to quote the late Hon.
Leonard Allison Morrison, of New Hampshire. Writing twenty-five years
ago he said: "I am one of Scotch-Irish blood and my ancestor came with
Rev. McGregor of Londonderry, and neither _they_ nor any of their
descendants were willing to be called 'merely Irish.' I have twice
visited," he adds, "the parish of Aghadowney, Co. Londonderry, from
which they came, in Ireland, and all that locality is filled, not with
'Irish' but with Scotch-Irish, and this is pure Scotch blood to-day,
after more than _200_ years.
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