Ireland was one country, but now it is two. There is The Irish Free Republic which is Irish and Catholic. Then there is Northern Ireland which is British and Protestant. Ireland used to be just one country. What happened?
In 1271 Henry II invaded Ireland. That was almost 750 years ago. Wow those Irish folks know how to stay mad, and the English can’t take the hint that they aren’t welcome.
The Irish have fought to get rid of England ever since. English monarchs have tried everything to make the Irish shut up about being invaded.
The northern part of Ireland (Ulster) was especially irksome to Queen Elizabeth. (late 1500's) She found a general who killed their herds, burned their crops and buildings, starved them out and then killed any Irish who remained. In effect he depopulated large portions of Ulster, which were then seized by England as English land.
In addition a couple guys from Scotland helped out an Irish guy who was in prison and who owned a lot of land (thousands of acres). Long story short, they wound up owning all his lands. Then King James I claimed an even bigger chunk of Northern Ireland after defeating the Irish of Ulster. The nine counties of Ulster were now in the hands of either Scottish businessmen or King James. This area is still in British hands and is where the fighting in Ireland has gone on for genertions.
About now you are wondering what all this history has to do with the Wisely surname. We are almost there.
The two Scottish businessmen, Montgomery and Hamilton, set up plantations in Ulster. King James later did the same. The “plantations” were not like the plantations of the United States in the 1800’s where one person owned it all and slaves did the work. These “Ulster plantations” were divided into large blocks of land, which were given or sold to wealthy or well connected Scottish and English who would then lease smaller farms to individuals. The Irish were excluded from leasing these Irish lands. Good soil, long leases of 17years or more, low cost and nearness to Scotland enticed a flood of Scots to move to Ulster. Large numbers of English from overcrowded London also took advantage of the opportunity. King James knew the Scots were better suited to hard work than the “tender” English. Most of the English returned to London with in a year or two. By about 1720 The Scots would be the predominant group in Ulster. Geography was part of it. Scotland is 20 miles from Ulster and London is almost 350 as the crow flies.
It is from these Scots who lived in Ireland that we get the term Scotch-Irish or Ulster Scots. They were born on Irish soil (technically then British soil) of Scottish parents and raised as Scots. Many would return to Scotland for Education. Children of marriage age would be sent back to Scotland to find a mate. Culturally and in every other way this group of farmers in Ulster were Scots with an Irish mailing address.
So back to the question? Where did the Wiselys come from? Many early U.S. census records show Ireland as birthplace of Wiselys. Yes they were born in Ireland, but they were not Irish. If your wife makes you sleep in the garage for five years does that make you a car? No, you are just an abused husband. Same with the Scots who were in Ireland for a few generations. They were Scots and not Irish. There is much more to this story than I have included here. I fear I have already bored some of you to tears. But this background is essential in understanding why our ancestors came from Ireland but were not Irish.
If you want to know more details please go to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantation_of_Ulster
or Google “Ulster Plantations” There is a map there that
will help you see how close Scotland is to Ulster, less than 20 miles across the north channel. We will continue to answer the question of where the Wiseleys originated in future blogs. Thanks for reading.
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