Scottish emigration to Ireland

Sher,

There are some general accounts of how and when Scots came to Ulster in the 1600s. If you would like a detailed description, I can recommend Philip Robinson’s “The Plantation of Ulster”. It covers 1600 – 1670.

According to that volume (pages 115 & 175) the main ports in use then by the settlers were Carlingford, Strangford, Donaghadee, Bangor, Carrickfergus, Coleraine and Londonderry, though there were various “creeks” that were used too. Belfast was not a significant port in the early 1600s (Carrickfergus was still the principal town and port in Ulster then) and Belfast was just a muddy river crossing with a small population and no decent harbour.

There were many complaints about Scottish pedlars coming to Ireland in the 1600s and using unguarded creeks to sell smuggled goods and to export stolen corn.

There was a big wave of Scots migration in the period 1610-1625 which was the main Plantation. Then in the 1640s a 10,000 strong Scottish army was disbanded at Carrickfergus (after the 1641 uprising). Many of them chose to stay in Ireland.  Many Scots fled Ireland in the 1640s, and went back to Scotland, due to the uprising but then returned when things had calmed down. There was also a huge wave of migration in the 1690s due to famine in Scotland. Some estimates are that 200,000 Scots settled in Ireland in the 1600s. That would be about 20% of the entire Scottish population at the time. 

I looked in the Muster Rolls for Co Armagh (c 1630). Edited by R.J. Hunter. There were no Blairs listed then at all, so I’d say that your ancestors arrived post 1630. 

During the main Plantation period, some tenants accompanied their landlords in Scotland and so you can see where they came from, from that. (However there was internal migration, and later waves of migrants, all of which muddy the water somewhat).

https://www.angelfire.com/ut/humceltic/Undertakers.html

 

Sher,

There’s no comprehensive list of names of people who arrived in the Plantation (or in the later waves of migration).  The names of the Undertakers are known as are some of their bigger sub-tenants but the average labourer/small farmer/ tradesman was not recorded. And as I say, there were additional waves all through the 1600s.  No-one was really keeping any records in those days. 

You are lucky that some of your family were Quakers. They have pretty good records compared with most other denominations and you can often get back further with a Quaker family than any other.

MacLysaght’s “The Surnames of Ireland” says of Blair: “A Scottish territorial name very numerous in north Ulster.” But you probably knew that anyway.

Sher,

A high percentage of the settlers in Ireland in the early 1600s were Scots from the lowlands and southern uplands (ie the Borders). Not many came from the highlands.  (At that period, even though the king was himself Scottish born (King James I of England and VI of Scotland), Highlanders - many of whom were Catholic - weren’t seen as being all that certain to be loyal to a Protestant king, and so weren’t encouraged to settle in Ireland, for fear they might side with the Irish in any local uprising or if there were an invasion by Spain or France).

Re Blair Castle, in Blair Atholl, that Blair comes from the gaelic word "blàr" meaning a ”wide, open space used to grow crops or to hold farm animals.” So the castle is not named after a person or a family named Blair but a geographic feature. (Which fits what you discovered when you were in Scotland). There were never any Blairs living at Blair castle! So you are relieved of the responsibility of being descended from aristocracy. I don't think any Blairs get their name from Blair castle. It may come from other blàrs, or indeed from other completely different roots too. I am not an expert on surnames and would hesitate to say just what all the possible origins are.

Looking at the 1901 census of Scotland there were 6252 people named Blair, spread across pretty well every county in Scotland. 1901 Irish census has 2916 Blairs. So definitely more than 2 families at play here, I should think. Good luck with your research anyway.