Andrew Jackson, Sam Houston and David Crockett were three men of destiny in 19th century American history who had much in common in family and ancestral ties, in character, mannerisms and political and social outlook as they shaped the fabric of a nation that was to gradually emerge as the greatest, most influential in the world.

They were a gallant and fearless trio of men, hewn from the same genealogical and cultural stick that was rooted back across the Atlantic Ocean in lowland Scotland and in north-east Ireland (the province of Ulster) a century and more before they were born as first American citizens in what was then the outer ring of the Western frontier.

The families of all three, folk with antecedents in lowland Scotland, had taken the arduous and dangerous passage across the Atlantic from Ulster in the mid-18th century in the daunting quest for freedom and a new life and opportunity in the American colonies.

How truly remarkable it was that from this momentous trail-blazing emigration journey, that within a very short period of time, the Jackson, Houston and Crockett names were being carved with enormous pride across this great expanse of land that stretches from sea to shining sea in the United States of America.