[wildbill]

For a very good historian's book on Scots-Irish history and immigration to the US, see Albion's Seed by David Hackett Fisher.

Scots borderers were exiled to Ireland--but they were so rowdy the Irish didn't want them--and many were expelled to America. Our ancestors were fighting, roistering, folk--and those that slid down the Applachian chain and then went west retained much of that heritage.

[R. Scott]

…those that slid down the Applachian chain and then went west retained much of that heritage.

As did the ones who remained in the backwoods of Pennsylvania. Some of the best moments I remember from the reunions occurred in the parking lot.
My mother swore to her dying day that everyone was peaceful and law abiding. The women never adjourned to the parking lot with most of the men.