Over 40% of the original "300" Steven F. Austin
colonists were of Scottish ancestry.
There were 30 Scots among those who fought in the Battle of
the Alamo. Piper John MacGregor stood on the adobe walls in the midst of the
battle to pipe the men on in true Scottish tradition.
Aberdeen Angus cattle were first exported from Scotland into
Texas in 1883.
Our ranching term "spread" comes from Gaelic "spreid"
which is a flock of sheep and "spredith" which means cattle or
livestock of any kind.
The Texas town of Ingram was named after the original Texas
bragger. He wrote home to Scotland telling outrageous stories extolling Texas.
Ten men from Scotland financed the building of the state
capitol in Austin. In exchange, the state government gave them 150,000 acres
which became the famous XIT Ranch. The XIT stands for "Ten in Texas".
Most of the leaders who battled for Texas’ independence were
of Scottish ancestry, i.e., Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, James Bowie, David
Crockett, Peter J. Bailey, Henry P. Brewster, J.A. Brooks, David Burnet, Mathew
Caldwell, Capt. Ewen Cameron, S.P. Carson, Robert Cochran.
Over half of the counties of Texas are named for persons of
Scottish ancestry.
The colloquialism "y’all" evolved from the Gaelic
construction "sibh vile" (se’ vall) or you all. In Scotland the
phraseology "are you all going?" or "are we all invited?" is
used as opposed to the English form of "all of us" or "all of
you."
The oldest signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence was
Collin McKinney, of Scottish descent. Both the county of Collin and the town of
McKinney are named after him.
Famous early Texas names of Scottish origin: Bigfoot Wallace,
John B. Denton, Cecil Lyon, Burke Burnett, John Simpson Chisum (Chisholm),
Albert S. Johnston, Stephen Crosby, Capt. R.A. Gillespie, Anthony Lucas, William
C. Crane.
