Ulster at the Smithsonian

FNMilk · Post by **FNMilk** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 6:54 pm

Good to see Ulster Rugby promoting their wares and getting some press time over in Washington DC. I didn't recognize the two blokes, but still, good to see.

Cockatrice · Post by **Cockatrice** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:10 pm

Yes and it is also good to see that the UR site is giving the story that they are represented in the US mission so much coverage on their pages.

FNMilk · Post by **FNMilk** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:15 pm

Cockatrice wrote:Yes and it is also good to see that the UR site is giving the story that they are represented in the US mission so much coverage on their pages.

Indeed CT. I'll have to read about it in installments. I couldn't read that all at once.

Post by **fermain** » Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:31 pm

Is it this?

Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival is held during the last week in June and the first week in July, coinciding with Americaâ€™s Fourth of July Independence Day celebrations. It takes place on the National Mall in Washington D.C. - the symbolic heart of the United States between the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol. The quality of the festival, its central location and free admission combine to attract more than a million visitors each summer, making it the largest annual cultural event in Washington, D.C.
In the summer of 2007, the Smithsonian Institution will present the cultural wealth and diversity of Northern Ireland. This Festival program, Northern Ireland at the Smithsonian, will reach beyond outdated stereotypes and celebrate the creativity, diversity, and learning that typify contemporary Northern Ireland.
Few regions of the world have contributed more to the formation of modern America than Northern Ireland. Since the 17th century, a succession of immigrants have had a profound impact on the development of America, influencing culture, music, politics, education, science, religion, agriculture, and industry. As many as 17 of the 43 American Presidents are generally accepted as having ancestry from this region. Read more at http://www.ulstervirginia.com Proud of its past and increasingly confident of its future, Northern Ireland has only recently begun to attract the international attention it deserves.

Cockatrice · Post by **Cockatrice** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 11:14 pm

One might have thought that the involvement of UR in such a festival and given the fact that it received local news coverage that it might have been worthy of some comment on the darkside.

I take it that those spoken to on the news wearing UR kit and promoting the game where there offically

ps who is America's most famous and/or influential Ulster/Scot

Red Hand Supporter · Post by **Red Hand Supporter** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 12:41 am

Woodrow Wilson's grandfather was from Strabane

The Seal of The President of the United States of America was designed by a man from Ulster

moondance · Post by **moondance** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 9:01 am

17 of the 41 American Presidents were Ulster-Scots or had Ulster-Scots ancestry.
They are: Andrew Jackson, James Knox Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnston, Ulysses S.Grant, Chester Alan Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George Bush and Bill Clinton!

William Jefferson Clinton is a relative of Lucas Cassidy, of Ulster Presbyterian stock, who left Co. Fermanagh for America around 1750.
George W Bush has become the 17th American President with Ulster-Scots connections. He can trace his ancestral roots back to the 18th century Scots-Irish diaspora form Ulster. Mr Bush's ancestor on his mother's side, William Gault, was a first citizen of Tennessee in 1796 and is believed to have been born somewhere in Co. Antrim.

Eight of the 56 signatories of the American Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 were of Ulster-Scots Presbyterian stock. They were John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress who had family ties in Co.Down; William Whipple, whose parents arrived in Maine from the North of Ireland in 1730; Robert Paine, his grandfather came from Dungannon; Thomas McKean (his father came from Ballymoney); Thomas Nelson, his grandfather came from Strabane; Matthew Thornton from Londonderry, he settled in New Hampshire in 1718; and George Taylor, son of an Ulster Presbyterian minister and Edward Rutledge, also a son of an Ulster Presbyterian family.

Special mention must be made of John Dunlap, who moved to America from a printing firm in Strabane and had the honour of printing the first copies of the Declaration. And Colonel John Nixon, whose parents were Ulster-born, delivered the first public reading of the document in Philadelphia on July 8, 1776.

The first Great Seal of America was designed by and Ulster-Scot. Charles Thomson, from Maghera, Co. Londonderry, was Secretary of the American Continental Congres between 1744 and 1789. He was also dispatched by the Continental Congress to inform George Washington that he was to be the first American president.

Writer Mark Twain and Hollywood film actor James Stewart are just some of the American luminaries who are descended from Ulster-Scots stock.

Also included are Vice-President John C. Calhoun; poet/playwright Edgar Allen Poe; 19th century farm machine inventor Cyrus McCormick; Pittsburgh banker Andrew Mellon; frontier mountain main Kit Carson; songwriter Stephen Collins Foster, and distinguished American Civil War generals: Ulsysses S Grant, "Stonewall" Jackson: J.E.B.Stuart. Thomas Brinton McClellan, Ambrose Everett Burnside, Irvin McDowell, Daniel Smith Donelson, James Shields, Charles James Halpine and Leonidas Polk.

Nine of the 189 men who died at the famous battle of the Alamo in Texas, March 1836 were born in Ireland, mostly in Ulster. Like the legendary Davy Crockett, many others in this gallant number who fought for the freedom and liberty of Texas, were first, second and third generations of 18th century Ulster-Scots pioneering settlers.

A Co. Donegal man founded the Presbyterian Church in America The Rev. Francis Makemie emigrated from Co. Donegal in 1683 and later became Moderator of the first Amerian Presbytery established in 1706.

An Ulster-Scot descendent was on the first ever Amercian expedition beyond the Mississippi. William Clark was the Virginian born explorer of an Ulster-Scots family who joined Meriwether Lewis in 1804-06 on the expedition ordered by President Thomas Jefferson. The expedition uncovered soil, climate and plant and animal life that has largely been unknown before.

An estimated 22 million people living in the USA can claim Ulster-Scots roots. These are the descendents of Ulster-Scots families who moved to America in the 18th century and make up the estimated 44 million Americans who today claim Irish extraction.

Cockatrice · Post by **Cockatrice** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 10:26 am

Aware of the many that helped forged what is the US today interested in what some might see as 1. the most famous and 2. the most influential ?

Suppose any of the many Presidents could be considered most famous along with the likes of Davy Crockett etc and isn't Elvis Presley even desended from good Ulster Scot stock. What about Charles Thomson for the most influential.

jamesie · Post by **jamesie** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 6:26 pm

great post moondance... how lush are we?!

proud jamesie

ultimate ulster chick · Sun Jul 01, 2007 6:57 pm

The boyfriend is over at it right now. Apparently it's a pretty impressive festival - and they had well over a million visitors before the weekend had even begun. The Americans love us!

My grandfather was born in President Arthur's ancestral home in Cullybackey. Pretty impressive list of Ulster-Americans!

browner · Post by **browner** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 11:12 pm

Gutted i missed this......................

http://residentassociates.org/ticketing ... mber=83078

the Moff · Post by **the Moff** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 4:01 pm

aye I was reading about this on the Beeb over my lunch today, and was wondering if any of you chancers knew which of the white knights were there.

danger of losing anyone cross-code?

mikerob · Post by **mikerob** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 4:47 pm

the Moff wrote:aye I was reading about this on the Beeb over my lunch today, and was wondering if any of you chancers knew which of the white knights were there.

danger of losing anyone cross-code?

There is info about the festival here

There is lots of info about a range of activities, but the rugby specific stuff is:

Ulster Rugby
Michael Black,
Kilfennan, County Londonderry
Barry Willis,
Larne, County Antrim

The Irish Rugby Football Union
Ulster Branch (Ulster Rugby) was
founded in 1879. It oversees the
sport throughout Ulsterâ€”the six
counties that make up Northern
Ireland, as well as three counties
that are part of the Republic of
Ireland. In recent years, Ulster
Rugby and its coaches have
worked hard to broaden the sport's
popularity and its cross-community
appeal.

Sports Demonstrations
To assist coaches and officials from the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and Ulster Rugby in Northern Ireland attending the 2007 Smithsonian Folklife Festival show off the excitement and traditions of their sports, two local sports clubs have graciously offered to play exhibition games on both weekends of the Festival:

Rugby Exhibitions:
On Sunday, July 1, and Sunday, July 8, from 2:00-5:00 come see the Severn River Rugby Football Club from Annapolis demonstrate rugby on the National Mall.

Michael Black is listed on ulsterrugby.com as a Regional Development Officer so I'm assuming that Barry Willis is also a Development Officer for the UB.

Dewi Barnes · Post by **Dewi Barnes** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 10:31 pm

Barry Willis is Youth Development Officer at Larne.

Cockatrice · Post by **Cockatrice** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 8:35 pm

Good to see UR finally get the hint and actually do some PR on the fact that they sent people over to the US. Pity it took a debate on this side to probably do it.