1. Early Scottish Emigration (1784 to 1826): 

October 9, 2003:
Glengarry and Lanark Counties - Highlanders and Lowlanders.
Note: The above is in .pdf (Adobe Acrobat) format. 

Map of Scotland and its counties.
Map Source: http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/sct/sct_cmap.html

October 4, 2003:

    
Early Scottish Emigration to the Ottawa area *


 
to Glengarry County
 
to Lanark County

Characteristics of Emigrants
2,500 subsistence farmers from the Scottish
Highlands to Glengarry County before 1815
4,000 weavers and artisans from the
Scottish Lowlands to Lanark County after
1815

Emigrant Organization
No financial assistance, organized by
families, led by Highland patriarchs.
Catholic and Presbyterian 
Financially assisted, organized by emigrant
societies.

Presbyterian and Anglican

Reasons for Emigration
Maintain cultural and lifestyle traditions (also Clearances)
Economic opportunity for politicized
emigrants
  
* Source: "Peopling Glengarry County" by Marianne McLean and 
Michael E. Vance "The Politics of Emigration: Scotland and Assisted
Emigration to Upper Canada, 1815-1826" (History 3500)

2. Duncan McNab (The Laird of McNab Township, Renfrew County)
Archibald McNab was the last chieftain of the McNab clan from the Loch Tay 
region in Scotland. In order to escape heavy debts, he fled to Upper Canada where 
he negotiated for land along the Ottawa River so that he might bring his clansmen 
from Scotland as settlers. He was empowered by the government to assign up to 100 
acres per family and was granted personally 1200 acres which could be increased 
upon completion of the development of the settlement. In 1825 eighty-four settlers 
were met on their arrival by McNab and his piper. From there, they travelled by 
boat or walked through the bush for three weeks until they reached their new 
settlement at Chats Lake. Under McNab, they endured many hardships. Provisions 
were scarce, and had to be carried long distances for the first three years. 
The already impoverished Scots were hounded for interest payments required on 
any money spent on their behalf and then forbidden the right to work outside 
McNab's "serfdom". Young children in the settlement came close to starvation; 
meanwhile, the Laird gave lavish parties financed by the money flowing in as 
income from his large timber interests. Petitions were drawn up by the settlers 
and sent to public bodies but McNab's strong support of the Family Compact, the 
ruling oligarchy of the time in Upper Canada, caused their pleas to fall upon deaf 
ears. At the time of the Rebellion of 1837, McNab was appointed "Laird Colonel of 
the 20th Battalion of Carleton Light Infantry". But his own clansmen, fearing that 
McNab would gain even more power over them in a time of military service, refused 
to serve under his command. Finally, the Crown Lands Agent at Perth was appointed 
to investigate, and, after surveying the settlers, concluded that all charges against 
McNab were valid. McNab, sensing trouble ahead, quickly offered to sell his lands to 
government for 9000 pounds but in the end he settled for 2,500. The government began 
issuing Crown grants to the settlers, removing the Laird's feudal powers. His fortunes 
continued to dwindle, and though he tried suing his clansmen for his losses, he was 
unsuccessful, and returned to Europe. He died in 1860 in a small village in France. 
The township retains his name. 

Source: Tour of Darling Township.





Read the story of Henry Airth, 1786-1870, one of the settlers 
whom the Laird of McNab met at Montreal and settled on the Laird's estate 
near Arnprior.
May 8, 2003:
The historic Auld Kirk and Cemetery near Almonte.

March 29, 2008:
Here is part of an 1879 map showing Kenyon Township, Glengarry County, east of the
City of Ottawa. As you can see by the names, these folks are all Scottish Higland 
immigrants. Loch Garry (not Garry Lake) is shown on the map.

Map Source: Digital Map Collection at McGill University                         Photo Source: The Scottish Tradition in Canada, edited by W. Stanford Reid

        
April 29, 2008:
We usually associate the logging and timber trade with the PreCambrian Shield areas
to the north and west of the city of Ottawa. However, beginning in the early 1800's,
Glengarry Scots and French Canadians operated a profitable logging industry as the 
following photo shows. The Scotch River is a tributary of the Nation River which flows
into the Ottawa River ar Plantagenet. The Scotch River was written about in 1901 by 
Ralph Connor in his book The Man from Glengarry.

Loggers on the Scotch River, 1890's
Photo Source: Reflections of the South Nation Watershed, page 31



June 23, 2010:

A few years ago, I was in the village of Dunvegan (in Kenyon Township) in Glengarry County 
and picked up a book called "Historical Sketch of Kenyon Presbyterian Church" written in 1940.

Here are the opening lines to this book:

Early Settlement

From the lone scheiling of the misty island
Mountains divide us, and the waste of seas-
Yet still the blood is strong, the heart is Highland,
And we in dreams behold the Hebrides.



Remember to attend the Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville, Ontario, on July 30 and 31, 2010.
Less than an hour's drive from Ottawa, there sre fun events for everyone.

This year is CELEBRATING THE YEAR OF THE FIDDLE, with fiddlers from Scotland, the Maritimes and Canada.


June 26, 2010:

Map of Glengarry County, Ontario, Canada, in 1813
Photo Source: The Lochaber Emigrants to Glengarry, page 45



The following map was produced by Joseph Bouchette, Surveyor General of Canada:
Map Source: The Lochaber Emigrants to Glengarry, 1802, page 58



 April 8, 2011:

Archibald McLean of Murlaggan, Scotland, led a group of Highlanders to settle in Glengarry Township in 1802.
It was difficult to have these folks all settle together in Glengarry Township because most of the land was already 
granted. A new township, Caledonia Township, was surveyed, to the North of Glengarry for the
new families. However, they preferred to find whatever land they could in Glengarry to be with their friends and neighbours
from Scotland. Archibald McMillan had originally planned to stay in Montreal and establish a business. However, by 1804, he was
able to convince the government of Lower Canada to grant a large area of land in Lochaber Township, Quebec, and he was able
to convince some of the Scottish settlers of 1802 to settle there.


November 16, 2010:

Newspaper Article, Ottawa Journal, June 14, 1952
This article was sent in by George Brown -- read more on our John Brown page.



November 30, 2010:
Scottish Parish Maps
Hey Al
Here is a site great for the Parish Maps in Scotland -- http://www.scotlandsfamily.com/parish-maps.htm

The maps are good and you can follow the family through the census, where they were born, to final spot in the 1901 census.

... Taylor


December 1, 2010:

Further to Taylor's posting above, he has now written an interesting case study for researchers who wish
to trace their Canadian families back to Scotland in the 1800's.




   

December 21, 2010:
In 1818, a few months before the disbanded soldiers from the 100th Regiment, arrived to take up their land grants
in Goulbourn Township, a group of Scottish Highlanders settled in "The Derry", in nearby Beckwith Township.

Source: Ottawa Waterway: Gateway to a Continent, by Robert Legget, page 198



Keywords: Breadalbane, Scottish Highlands, James McArthur, John Robertson, Beckwith Township


January 22, 2011:

Hi Al,
 
Came across a couple of  interesting websites while searching for background info on ancestors who migrated from Scotland 
in the 1830s and 1840s.
 
The Statiscal Accounts of Scotland 1791 - 1845:  
The site contains images of the accounts prepared for each parish in Scotland by the local parish church minister. 
The reports include information on a variety of topics -- physical geography, antiquities, civil history,  industrial 
reports including agriculture, population statistics and descriptions, poverty, emmigration, church and education, etc. 
 
The Accounts were published in two versions the original or Old Account was prepared in 1791 and the New one in the 1830s
 
This sample page from the 1830s edition for  the parish of Dull in Perthshire will give you an idea of the contents
 
http://stat-acc-scot.edina.ac.uk/link/1834-45/Perth/Dull/10/770/
 
The database is searchable by county or parish name at this link: http://stat-acc-scot.edina.ac.uk/sas/sas.asp?action=public
 
The second site makes a nice companion to the one above:
 
The National Library of Scotland Maps Collection: http://maps.nls.uk/
 
Includes a wide variety of maps for all parts of Scotland. Of particular interest will be the early Ordnance Survey maps 
and the John Thompson's  Atlas of Scotland 1832 as both of these generally show the names of the farms and houses which 
can often be married up to the addresses in the 1851 / 1861 / 1871 censuses and sometimes birth and marriage info in the OPR. 
 
Hope this is of some interest and use. 
 
... Allan Craig


February 14, 2011:
Lacrosse Team of Maxville, Ontario, Canada in 1909 
Source: Maxville: Its Centennial Story, 1991



Surnames for search engine: McDougall, Merrick, Donat, Ward, Morrow, Irvine, McLean, Pearson, McDiarmid, 
Marjerison, Young, Sproul / Sproule, Loney


March 2, 2011:

The Bytown or Bust Library now has a copy of The People of Glengarry, Highlanders in Transition, 1745-1820 
by Marianne McLean, 285 pages.
... Al


May 17, 2011:

Angus MacRae, Trapping Beaver in Glengarry County, Ontario, Canada
Photo Source: Maxville - Its Centennial Story, page 372



 January 14, 2012:

A London lawyer runs a stop sign and gets pulled over by a Glasgow copper.
He thinks that he is smarter than the cop because he is a lawyer from London and is certain that he has a better education 
than any jock cop. He decides to prove this to himself and have some fun at the Glasgow cops expense:

Glasgow cop says, "License and registration, please."
London Lawyer says, "What for?"
Glasgow cop says, "Ye didnae come to a complete stop at the stop sign."
London Lawyer says, "I slowed down, and no one was coming."
Glasgow cop says, "Ye still didnae come to a complete stop. License and registration, please" 
London Lawyer says, "What's the difference?"
Glasgow cop says, "The difference is, ye huvte come to complete stop, that's the law. License and registration, please!"
London Lawyer says, "If you can show me the legal difference between slow down and stop, I'll give you my license and 
registration and you give me the ticket. If not, you let me go and don't give me the ticket."
Glasgow cop says, "Sounds fair. Exit your vehicle, sir."
The London Lawyer exits his vehicle. 
The Glasgow cop takes out his baton and starts beating the living daylights out of the lawyer and says, 

"Nae..Dae ye want me to stop, or just slow doon?" 

Thanks to my sister-in-law, Irene, for this true story!

 
E-mail Taylor Kennedy, Al Craig and Al Lewis



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