Presbyterian Church in Ireland web site Ulster Settlers in America The Very Reverend Howard Cromie, BA, B. D., M. A., D. D.,

DEDICATED To ALAN and DAVID

 
 
 

 FOREWORD

  By The Very Rev. Austin A. Fulton,
M.A., Ph.D
. D.D.

1976

Irish Presbyterians are indebted to the Rev. Howard Cromie, M.A., B.D., for this topical and important study. It is topical because this is the year in which the United States of America celebrates its bi-centenary. It is important because it reminds us of the impressive part played by Ulster Presbyterians in the birth of the nation and the subsequent development of the U.S.A.

Are you Irish or Scotch-Irish! I was asked this question half a century ago in Princeton. I was thus for the first time made aware of this American way of expressing a distinction with which I was familiar under other categories. The correct answer, I was at once aware, was to say "Scotch-Irish". To have answered "Irish" -as in a different context, I might have done - would have given the wrong impression that I was a Roman Catholic most likely from the South. To say "Scotch-Irish" was to say that I was an Ulster Presbyterian. It was then that I began to take an interest in the contribution made by Ulster Presbyterians and Presbyterians of Ulster origin to the success of the American Revolution, the founding of the United States, and the subsequent development of that great nation.

In this study Mr. Cromie tells the story in brief, but most interesting fashion. We are reminded of the Presbyterian movement to the New World in search of religious freedom, how it was found and maintained.

We learn how the Scotch-Irish and their descendants pioneered the frontier, planed the kirk, erected the school, supported the revolution, and provided the leadership.

Scotch-Irish leadership is found at every level of society right up to the White House. At least ten Presidents were of Ulster origin and others had some Ulster connection.

 Here is an inspiring and encouraging story. It is Competently researched and attractively told. It is to be hoped that it will be widely read by Scotch-Irish and Irish, oven by Scotch and English. But most certainly this is a story which should be known by every member of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

I have the honour in commending it to you most heartily
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PREFACE

I have been encouraged to write this short account of Ulster Settlers in America because of the major contribution they made to tile life of that great nation in its early formative years.

  The Story of the Ulster Settlers is not nearly so widely known as it should be among our own people If through reading this brief outline there is stirred a greater awareness of the strong ties between our�selves and our American cousins, then perhaps we shall have a greater appreciation of the American Bi�centenary celebrations and we shall have more enthusiasm for saying, "Happy Birthday. Uncle Sam!"

In preparing the material for thus account I have consulted many sources and where possible I have sought to acknowledge these, but inevitably there have been many instances where such acknowledgment has not been possible. My regard for the late Rev. Dr. W F. Marshall is obvious through my frequent references to his little classic "Ulster Sails West'.

Lord Roseberry once said: "I love Highlanders and I love Lowlanders, but when I come to the branch of our race which has been grafted on to the Ulster stem, I take off my hat with veneration and with awe". While I respect Lord Roseberry�s comment, my aim is not the stirring of a narrow racial veneration, but to so draw attention to events and episodes which arc worthy of being remembered that we may draw inspiration from them as we face the challenges of the present and the future. The study of history is wholesome when it acts as a spur to nobler action if the reading of the following pages has this effect l shall be satis�fied that tile writing of them was not in vain.

HOWARD CROMIE.

 

AMERICAN APPRECIATION

What is nobility? Our forebears knew
The kingly strength behind the axe's hew,
Which fashioned from a new land�s native wood,
The timbers upon which our country stood.
They knew the price their treasured freedom cost,
And prized it nears than royalty well lost.
Each man was prince within his own small sphere,
And made his children every one a peer!

 

                                                       E. J. RITTIER. 

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