The UlsterIrish or Scots Irish are always called Irish in the history books
but they are a completely different race from the potato famine
Catholic Irish who came to America 100 years later.
Your Ulster/Scots/Irish History
Through out the passing centuries Northern Ireland or Ulster has had
a unique relationship with the United States of America. Unique
because America in its infancy was a land of refuge for the countless
Protestant families fleeing persecution in Ulster. During the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries thousands of Ulster Presbyterians landed
at Boston and other coastal ports to start a new life in the land of
the free.
Between 1717 and the American Revolution, approximately a quarter
of a million Ulster - Irish left Ireland for America. Plagued by high
rents, four years of drought, English import/export policies, and the
religious factor thrown in many Ulster Protestant Irish look for a better
life in America like Billy Tweedie did in 1994. It is interesting to note
that the Catholic Irish did not participate in this Exodus. The emigration
was 99% Protestant, Ulster-Scots leaving for the America's, by 1776,
one out of every ten or fifteen Americans was of Ulster-Irish. Although
there were Catholic Irish who fled to other Catholic countries,
principally France and Spain. Many of these new immigrants proceeded
inland clearing the valley's of rocks, forest and scrub, eventually
they carved out homesteads, built towns, railways and readily adopted
this new land as there's, this was the birth of modern day America, this
was the arrival of the Protestant Ulster Irish.
The British being the dominant force at that time were placing
increasing demands upon the new land and the Ulster men, vowing
that they would never be victim's of oppression again the Ulster men
opposed and engaged in battles with the British, slowly a revolution
was building and on 4 July 1776, the Congress approved the Declaration
of Independence and it was formally adopted by unanimous vote. It
was written down by Ulsterman Charles Thompson. It was printed by an
Ulsterman, and the first signature to it was Ulsterman John Hancock.
Ulster men rallied to George Washington, and ended up forming over
half of his army, proud in the defence of there land the Ulster Irish
fought fearlessly and George Washington made many of them senior
Generals and Officers. On one occasion when the war was going the
way of the British, Washington said, "if defeated everywhere else, I
will make my last stand for Liberty among the Ulster Irish of my
native Virginia " such was there contribution to the defence and
building of America. The Ulster Irish became wholehearted Americans
unlike the potato famine Irish who came to America 100 years later.
Being known as the Ulster Irish has somewhat obscured there origin and
identity but they where distinctively Ulster Protestant men.
I want to share my thoughts and feelings from where I am
today, in the middle, looking forward to tomorrow and touching
on the past as it relates to where I am today. I look back with
a gentle heart full of LOVE remembering the good times. Firstly
I love life fiercely and desperately. I have always had a gift of
seeing the good bits....a throw of the dice.... Blind determination
is the best element of my life. I demand the best of myself. I
cannot say that I had a premonition that something was about
to happen to me but I knew I was getting ready to change in a
big way. You know the feeling I am sure, when you are unhappy
and, although you do not know what is about to happen, you
know that things cannot go on the way they are. That is how it
felt for me living in my home country of Northern Ireland. I do
not have all the answers but at least now I know I will take
my share of chances. Before I moved to the States, I had
reached the point where I was not learning anything new,
and had been stagnating.
Somewhere during my return to Ireland, (Sept-Dec of 1994)
I had decided that enough was really enough. I wanted to do
something with this life I was given. I also felt that I had to start
doing it for myself. I was really disempowered, as everyone was telling
me what to do with my life. I could not take it any longer. It was as if
one day my eyes opened and I thought to myself,
I CAN DO IT! I CAN MAKE
A BETTER LIFE FOR MYSELF!
I just want to go on from here and make the most of it all.
I want to be in charge of my own life and destiny. Then if things
work out I can feel accomplished and if they do not, I can at
least know I tried. And then I can try again and again. Many
people view ambition as a negative quality in an individual. I do
not think ambition is bad, it is my very life force, who I really am.
I cannot stop, time is moving too fast and I have too many things
I want to do . I think once you stop wanting to create, wanting to
work and push forward, you become old and then you die...........
if you know where you are going, you can make it magical! I never
really like to look back. I like to move forward. Life has not been
easy living here in America recently, but it has been good to me
on occasion, and I am very thankful. I hope that this gives you
an idea or just a touch on who I really am. I look forward to more
wonderment in my young life. Now I do not think that I am running
away from anything, I know that I am running toward something
exciting........ We do not get that much time on this planet, and
unless a few of us make an effort to change ourselves for the
better it just will not happen. We all have had experiences that
are not always good, sometimes frustrating and crushing, but
positive good grows out of negative situations. I admit being
negative towards quite a lot in my young life, but, after a while
you learn to become a positive thinker and enjoy being alive..........
I have now the power to let my views on life heal me in a way
nothing else seems to do...... I want to undo the damage that has
been done. A percentage of the friends I have made over the years
in entertainment all have a common, self centered goal, all having
to do with fame and stardom. It is times like this that I am sorry
to be one of the few idealists. You must experience failure
before success.... I have done and in more ways than one!
Regrets are an appalling waste of time and energy....you cannot
build on them, they are only good for wallowing in. They will hold you
back and prevent the most wonderful things from happening to you
in your life. Time has displayed to me that the bottom line is that I
am responsible for my own happiness. The choices and decisions
I make daily, directly influence the quality of my days. I have stopped
looking for scapegoats in my life, and at last, I have learned to face
the truth within' myself, and right my own wrongs. I want to go far
beyond where I am right now as I have discovered that life is either
a daring adventure or nothing at all. Life is too short not to take
chances and live.....
Now I see every difficulty as a challenge, a stepping stone, and I
will never be defeated by anything or anyone! It sounds ironic I guess,
but until you free those monsters within' yourself, your life and soul
are up for grabs...so to speak! There are really only two ways to
approach life, as victim, or as gallant fighter. You decide if you want to
act or react. You must deal your own cards, or play with a stacked
deck. And if you do not decide which way to play with life, it always
plays with you in the end. With love, all things are possible. I have
found that the secret to live your life the way you want to is the
simple answer! Just live your life....and smile.... You are loved!
-Billy Tweedie
