..mckeeman Mutt? New Member Intro, Intro...first posting Clan?

Please excuse any mistakes I may make in posting/or forum correctness: It's only taken approx. 3 months to get up the nerve Although probably a mutt, our family name is McKeeman and dad was always quick to point out that we were Scotch-Irish (what ever that means) He was quite proud of that fact, although he knew nothing of our family history. I have traced us only to the late 1700's....in the U.S. So how we got here is beyond me. Oh, forgive me, my name is Saundra.
I have read many posts and found you all very interesting! I'm in "sunny" California, where it's currently raining!! Thank you for your patience!!

Well hello Saundra! I am so glad you got up the nerve to come in! Isn't McKee derived from McKay, my mother's family name? If so we could be distant kinsmen! Pleasant thought, eh? Anyway, now that you've got up the nerve to stop in, I hope you'll stay! I'd love to get to knowyou better, and I'm sure the others would too!

Welcome to the family, good lady! And welcome home!

Welcome Saundra, glad you got the nerve to say Hi. This is a very friendly place. Haven't seen a tomato thrown at any one in a long time.

Crossing fingers that this will land in the correct place...a wee bit tech. challenged you see! Thank you so much for the welcome, it makes this second attempt a bit easier. Thank you. As far as the McKeeman name, you very well may be right since we McKeemans seemed to "appear" out of nowhere and settled in the midwest from VA....who knows? We MAY be distant kin. Again many thanks to you all for the welcome. Will attempt this again By the way, (just in case) as far as I know I'm not allergic to tomatoes....well, .....just in case there IS a first!

Warmest of welcomes, Saundra. It's nice to have you here.

Saundra,

I'm a little late chiming in, but welcome. Like Wizardofowls, I'm a Mckay. I looked for the Mckeeman name at several authoritative websites, but found nothing. Perhaps you are a "McKee" and therfore a McKay. Who knows. Whatever, you are certainly a welcome addition to this forum and I hope you'll stay and make this your "home".

TheCarolinaScotsman

Saundra,
Welcome! I'm a bit late, and a dollar short these days it seems in this reply. Have no worries in your technical prowess of the forums, we all started in the same spot. You'll find the members very encouraging and friendly. It's more like our own little family here, or clan for that matter. Do hope you'll drop into the other forum areas. Many of the members are very vocal here and will gladly share whatever information they have if you've got a question that needs answering or just need to speak up!

Again, welcome.

Gordon

Saundra- Welcome I am a wee bit late also so sorry- I look forward to learning more about you..

Slainte

Hi, Saundra! To answer a question, the term Scotch-Irish is an American one. It's used to refer to the Scots who came to the US through Ireland, many of which were there for several generations before moving on to the US. Ulster Irish is virtually synonomous as well.
During the 1700's, many Irish were uprooted from their homes in northern Ireland to make room for the Scots that were uprooted from Scotland to make room for English. This was done for several reasons- first, with the rising profits to be made raising sheep, the Highlands took on new commercial value. Secondly, by moving around people who had opposed English rule for centuries they hoped to decrease the willingness to revolt. The theory was that by mixing strangers together they'd be less likely to band together.
The long-term wisdom of this is questionable. Although it may have worked in Ireland and Scotland, the uprooted people who ended up in the American Colonies had a different outlook on this, as can be seen in the following quote:

As for your father being proud of being Scots-Irish while not knowing the family history, he has good reason! Here are a few facts for you:

61% of American Presidents are of Scots or Scots-Irish descent.
9 of the signatures on the Declaration of Independence were from Scots descent.
9 of the 13 colony governors made in the new USA were Scots.
James Pollock, of Scots descent, put the slogan "In God We Trust" on American coins
35 U.S. Supreme Court Justices were of Scots or Scots-Irish descent, 25 of them are in the Great Americans Hall of Fame
A Scot, James Watt, developed the first efficient steam engine and in so doing started the Industrial Revolution
A Scot, John Logie Baird, invented the Television
A Scot, Kirkpatrick Macmillan, invented the bicycle
A Scot, John Napier, invented logarithms and the decimal notation
A Scot, John Paul Jones, founded the American Navy
A Scot, Alexander Fleming, discovered Penicillin
A Scot, William Paterson, founded the Bank of England
A Scot, Alexander Graham Bell, invented the telephone
A Scot, John Boyd Dunlop, invented the car tire
A Scot, Captain Patrick Ferguson, invented the breech loading rifle
A Scot, Henry Faulds pioneered the use of fingerprints as means of undisputed identity of people
A Scot, Robert Stirling, invented the Stirling engine in 1850. Stirling engines are being studied at NASA for use in powering space vehicles with solar energy
Scots comprise less than one-half of 1 percent of the world?s population, 11 percent of all Nobel prizes have been awarded to Scotsmen
There have been a high percentage us US Secretaries of the Treasury who were of Scots-Irish descent, but I can't recall the figure right now- if I recall correctly, it was around 40%, but don't quote me on that.
Famous Scots in American military history who weren't already mentioned:
Daniel Boone, frontiersman who wore dead animals on his head
"Stonewall" Jackson
Gen Arthur MacArthur and his son, Douglas MacArthur
Alexander Macomb, Gen. and hero of the War of 1812
William "Billy" Mitchell, Air Power advocate
Gen. George Patton, WWII
J.E.B. Stuart, Confederate Cavalry General
"Kit" Carson
William Clark, of the Lewis and Clark expedition
Davey Crockett, who died at the Alamo amongst a force made up of approx 60% Scotch-Irish soldiers
John Paul Jones, REvolutionary War Naval hero
David Farragut, Civil War Naval hero
Finally, one more quote:

It's been seven months since the original post, buy hey- if Rindy can reply, the rest of us can also! Maybe Saundra went back to "lurking mode" considering that first post took three months!

P.S. we don't bite.

Welcome Saundra. You'll find that we are a great group of people. In addition to the great response by Subhuman about who the Scot-Irish are. I would like to add the term Scot-Irish is basically an American term. The UK uses the term Ulster Scot. The term Scot-Irish became popular during the 1840's when we had an influx of Irish Catholics. The Scot-Irish tended to be Protestant. I read that during our revolutionary war the British referred to it as an Ulster Scot uprising.

What a history lesson subhuman! Thank you for all the information. It is VERY interesting to say the least.
Hmmm, now...that word "revolt" ~ that seems like a very comfortable word around this family since we tend not to necessarily follow the norm. Perhaps rebellious just might be a better term for us. Not a bad thing, and certainly makes life a bit more interesting.
I appreciate all the welcomes, late or not. Now that I'm back here full time, maybe I'll widen my horizons and venture in more often. Thanks again!