What's the furthest back someone of Scotch-Irish ancestry can likely trace his f

Question:

What's the furthest back someone of Scotch-Irish ancestry can likely trace his family?

Can people who claim, say, 6th century origins back them up, or are they supposing their families' beginnings because the etymology of their names go back that far?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: By definition, the Scots-Irish were Scots who starting in the reign of James I of England and VI of Scotland immigrated to Ireland and after living there for just a few generations, in turn, immigrated to the American Colonies, most of them around 1750 just prior to the American War for Independence. The port of entry for most of these Protestant Irish was Philadelphia, but many of them within the space of a generation moved to North Carolina and from there into Kentucky and Tennessee. Most Scots who left Lowland Scotland for Ireland were prosperous enough to move across the Irish Sea, and their ancestors, in turn, either had enough money to either pay for their passage to America and some capital to purchase a farm, or else they booked passage as indentured servants.

Using my family's history as an example, I have been able to trace back one line where an ancestor, John Caldwell, was born June 6, 1603, in Donegal, Ireland. James II (or VI of Scotland) ascended to the English throne on March 24, 1603. A generation earlier (indeed a few months earlier), John's parents were Lowland Scots. I've traced the Caldwells back to an Alexander Caldwell (born in 1558 [no place listed]; died in 1579, Solway Firth, Ayrshire, Scotland).

Of course, there are Ulster-Scots, Lowland Scots, and Highland Scots. For most Americans, Lowland Scots who immigrated directly to the American Colonies have the longest pedigree; for example, John Crawford, a younger son of the Earl of Crawford, was my first Scottish ancestor to arrive in the New World. The Crawfords, in turn, could trace their lineage back to the Stewarts and beyond. Some of my Highland Scot ancestors, the Hendersons, have the shortest pedigree since they arrived in the United States in 1796 most probably because of the Highland Clearances.