The Scotch-Irish in America; their history, traits institutions and influences

The Scotch-Irish In America - is a book about Scotch-Irish history, traits, institutions and influences in America, which was published in 1906 and written by John Walker Dinsmore, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of San Jose. The author once wrote a short series of articles for the Presbyterian Banner on "A Typical Scotch-Irish Community Fifty-Odd Years Ago." These papers aroused unexpected interest, especially among the people of the Scotch-Irish community. This little book is the result of numerous requests to the author from remote parts of the country, as well as several ancient congregations that have taken official action with the same request in the form of expanding this article and publishing it in a separate volume. The articles in Banner were simply the basis of what is written here in a much expanded form. It does not claim to have an adequate history of the Scotch-Irish people on this earth. Its goal is much less ambitious. It is simply an attempt to sketch by hand some of the characteristics, ways of life, institutions and influences of this race, especially in the early days in this country. Western Pennsylvania is chosen for illustration because that part was the first to be settled and is still dominated by the most powerful Scotch-Irish community in America. No effort has been made to organize this little book or to give it a logical form. It is simply a series of sketches, true to nature and facts; pictures of people, their deeds and the conditions in which they lived in the old days.