But pith and power
Till my last hour
I will make this declaration
That we’re bought
and sold for English gold
Such a parcel of rogues
in a nation . . .
– The poet, Robert Burlns from Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation
•
Writer’s note: That last line—substitute Bitcoin and a Boeing from Qatar for gold and well, you know
Scotland. Alba. Caledonia. Kinrick o’ Scotland. Land of the Scoti, as the Romans knew it, and a place many members of the Negus clan call home.
Scottish, what are you kidding me? My given names are Donald and Hugh (the same as my father’s), my uncle was Gordon and my grandfather, Hugh. How Scottish is that?
In as much as I have ever had a bucket list, a pilgrimage to Scotland is right up there, just after attending the TT Races on the Isle of Man.
I made it to Ireland 18 years ago with my friends, Dave Pety and the incorrigible Bill McHugh, but a trip to Scotland with its castles and heather-covered highlands is likely never going to happen for me.
My son Michael, on the other hand, is flying to Edinburgh next month and will spend a couple weeks in the “Aud Country.” We are both pretty stoked.
What’s this, you say? You’ve heard me tell of my Irish roots and now I’m claiming to be a Scot? I dinea ken what yer gangin’ on aboot. Allow me to explain.
The name Negus has English roots and was probably derived from “Newhouse.” It’s also the title of the Emperor of Ethiopia, The Negus, but we can address that some other time.
My family has been in this country for nearly 400 years. The first Negus arrived with the Winthrop Fleet, just ten years after the Mayflower deposited the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock. During the later part of the 17th Century, the Neguses were part of a great influx of Protestant Scots-Irish who came to this country and settled from upstate New York, south through Appalachia.
The Scots-Irish in America are descendants of Scottish and Northern English families who first moved to Ulster in Northern Ireland in the 17th Century before immigrating to North America in the 1700s.
Most of these settlers came from the Scottish lowlands. They spoke Scots or Northern English dialects and practiced Presbyterianism.
Davy Crockett, legendary folk hero soldier and congressman, descended from Ulster-Scots setters.
By the way, I did my usual vetting and it seems Crockett actually did ‘kill a b’ar when he was only three.’
Here’s where the tale gets more interesting AND more. Irish. Irish immigration in America peaked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
My maternal grandmother came from this line.
And so it went.
Next week Irish and Irish
Don Negus is a Morning Sun columnist.
