Ulster Hendersons

The Hendersons of the Ulster Plantation (Ireland)

The death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603 brought James VI, a Scot, to the throne of England. The fear of subjugation prompted many Irish noblemen to leave England for other parts of Europe, causing 1607 to be known as the year of “The Flight of the Earls.” Ulster, in the north of Ireland, had long been important in several English colonisation schemes and this departure of the Irish nobles presented England with yet another opportunity.

James (also known as James I of England) confiscated tens of thousands of acres of their land and initiated an English plantation in Ulster. At the same time, in 1607, Jamestown, Virginia, was also settled. His objective was to transplant his fellow Lowlanders to provide a Presbyterian barrier between the Catholic Irish Celts and their Hebridean cousins.

The Plantation Scheme

The so-called Ulster Plantation was settled by the “undertakers”: men of affairs in Scotland and England who agreed to swear an oath of supremacy to the King, live in Ulster for at least five years, and encourage Scots and English to settle there. There were six counties in the plantation: Donegal and Tyrone, settled primarily by Scots; Armagh and Derry, settled by the English; and Fermanagh and Cavan, with mixed Scots and English settlers.

Officials in Scotland were highly supportive of this scheme, as many Scots, especially in the Lowlands and Borders, lived in desperate poverty. Thievery was so common it became its own occupation (Reivers). The Plantation Scheme was seen as a means of reducing the population, reducing crime, and bolstering loyalty to the British Crown in Ireland.

Many of the transplanted Scots did quite well commercially, competing with the English merchants. Distressed, the English merchants eventually engineered legislation that restricted the transplanted Scots to deal through them. Consequently, many Ulster Scots relocated yet again to the American colonies.

The Great Migration to America

The Great Migration from Ulster began in 1717. Religious freedom was one reason people began fleeing, but to a far greater degree economic hardship led to the exodus. The Woolens Act of 1698 prohibited exportation of Irish wool, causing economic depression. “Rack-renting” — raising rents when leases expired — was made legal. A severe drought from 1714–1719 crippled farmers and the wool and flax industries.

Ultimately, approximately 250,000 Ulster-Scots sailed for America between 1717 and 1775. Initially, large numbers immigrated into Pennsylvania but by the mid 18th century many headed for the Virginia and North Carolina colonies. To this day, these states display a remarkably rich Scots-Irish heritage.

In 1845, the infamous Potato Famine occurred in Ireland. Some of the Irish emigrated to Scotland, while many Scots left for the United States and other parts of the British Commonwealth.

To trace Ulster Henderson ancestry, resources include: Scotland’s People (emigration records), Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), and the Ulster Historical Foundation.