Did they learn English when they got here?
“Did they learn English when they got here?”
They tried. Still don’t. :)
As England took over all of Scotland, Wales and Ireland, most probably spoke some English.
Between the potato famine and the greedy landowner Lords both English and Native turfing out the tenent Farmers for Sheep grazing there was mass migration to the US for Scot and Irish. Much like the Chinese that were imported to build the railroads. All were poorly paid as the builders wanted cheap labor. No different from today’s businesses.