Online Lectures

Talks and lectures from historians who are part of the Heritage Forum.

Scots Planter Connections: Jonathan Gray, Killeshial and Clonanesse History delivered online 12 October 2020.

“The Ancient Clans of Ulster Cross Border Heritage Project rightly focuses on the well known families of the Cenél nEógain and Cenél Conaill such as ONeill, ODonnell, ODoherty, OLaughlin etc. However what is less known is that many of the Scots Planters that settled in Donegal and Tyrone in the early 1600s shared an important genetic past with these families. With a shared Gaelic culture and language their emigration to Ulster was certainly not the cultural shock it was for their English fellow planters. Through the 17th and 18th centuries many of these Scots planter families formed strong connections through marriage and these we will see were maintained in migrations from Donegal to Tyrone and then on to America.”

The talk includes an interview with Jen Shaffer
“As a result of Jen Schaffer contacting Killeeshil & Clonaneese Historical Society to explore her McFarlane roots in South Tyrone we discovered connections with other Tyrone families in South Tyrone in the 18th century and a shared connection for many to Donegal during the Plantation.”