In an earlier message Libbie Griffin wrote:

> Kathleen, you raise an issue that has long interested me, and one I think
> has been little researched: that is about early immigrants from Ireland.  In
> labeling people "Anglican Irish" (a term I don't believe I've ever heard
> before) do you mean Scots-Irish?  If not, could you please detail whom you
> mean to describe with that term?
>
> I have noted a great many early Virginians with Irish-sounding names, and it
> has long been my belief that many people emigrated from Ireland to early
> Virginia, perhaps by way of somewhere in England or Scotland.  Because the
> great preponderance of Irish were/are Catholic, I suspect these people were
> born and baptized in the Catholic church.  Because  there was no Catholic
> church in early Virginia, and because of their relatively powerless position
> at the bottom of the social hierarchy, they would have been unable to
> continue to worship within the Catholic church.

This is not an area I specialize in, but I have made some
observations, particularly of the Northern Neck in the 17th
century. There were no Catholic churches in Virginia that early. There
were certainly some Catholics and Catholic sympathizers, as there were
in Maryland, which had a substantial "recusant" population. But the
established church was Anglican. Settlers were taxed to support the
church, and the vestry usually handled what we now call social welfare
matters.

For social and political reasons, some Irish who were born Catholic
attended the Anglican church in Virginia. They may have been real
converts, or simply followed the path of least resistance. I referred
to them as "Anglican Irish" for convenience. Others probably joined
the underground network of English Catholics ministered to by
itinerant priests. As far as I know, little has been written about
them.

I don't mean Scots-Irish, who were descended from the Protestant Scots
who were settled in northern Ireland during the "plantations" of the
early 17th century. The big Scots-Irish migrations to America came in
the late 17th and the 18th centuries.

People with Irish-sounding names MAY be Protestant, and if the surname
starts with Mac or Mc, they MAY be Scottish (but don't forget that
Catholicism was strong in Scotland, so origin doesn't determine
religion). It's easy to identify some settlers, though, who are
explicitly called "ye Irishman" or "of Ireland" in public
records. Some of them are known to have attended the Anglican church
and even held office as vestrymen.

I'll leave the 18th century for others to discuss. Migration patterns
changed substantially after 1700 or so.

Kathleen Much

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