Why did the Scots settle in North Carolina?
When the Highland Scots migrated to America, North Carolina was a more popular place to settle than any of the other colonies. In 1739, Gabriel Johnston, royal governor of North Carolina and native Scotsman, encouraged 360 Highland Scots to settle in North Carolina and later provided them a ten-year tax exemption for doing so.
Where did the Scottish settle in the United States?
According to this census, Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina had the highest proportion of Scottish stock among their populations. The settlements of the Highlanders were the Cape Fear River and its tributaries in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
Are there any Scottish people in North Carolina?
And, smaller numbers of Scots were found in all the 13 states. The migration of Scottish Highlanders, in particular, to North Carolina began in about 1729 (Conner, 1919) and grew steadily until the outbreak of the American Revolution. The first few Highlanders appear to have settled in the Cape Fear area in 1732.
When did the Scots come to the Carolinas?
The Scots-Irish immigrated to the Carolinas in droves, from the very-late 1730s to the 1760s, quickly filling up the Midlands and Backcountry of South Carolina, and the Piedmont up to the Appalachian mountains in North Carolina.
Is there a big Scottish population in North Carolina?
North Carolina has one of the highest percentages of Scottish populations in all of the 50 states. The Scots have been here since the early settlements, and much of our heritage and history can be traced directly back to their arrival.
Where in NC did the Scots-Irish settle?
Although many of the Scots-Irish immigrants settled near the ports of Philadelphia, Charleston, and Savannah, some were drawn to the piedmont region of North Carolina. During the Revolutionary War, Scots-Irish militia men were instrumental in defeating the British at the Battle of Kings Mountain.
How many Scots settled in North Carolina?
The first organized immigration of Highlanders to North Carolina came in 1739, when 350 people from Argyllshire journeyed to Wilmington and up the Cape Fear River to settle in what became Cumberland County. Letters written back to Scotland encouraged further immigration.
Is there a Scottish community in North Carolina?
Most Highlanders settled into North Carolina and became farmers. The Sand Hill region includes Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke, Lee, Moore, and Scotland counties, most of which were part of the original Cumberland County as it was created in 1754, and all continue to have considerable Highland Scot descendents.
Where did most Scottish immigrants settle in America?
Scots settled mainly in North Carolina and New York, according to the Register. Around nine percent of those who went to New York were listed as indentured servants, with the rate falling to one per cent for those heading to North Carolina, where linking up families was the main reason for going.
What state has most Scottish?
The states with the largest populations of either Scottish or Scotch Irish ancestral origin:California - 677,055 (1.7% of state population)Texas - 628,610 (2.8%)North Carolina - 475,322 (4.5%)Florida - 469,782 (2.3%)Pennsylvania - 325,588 (2.5%)Ohio - 314,214 (2.7%)Georgia - 293,211 (2.8%)More items...
What part of the US is most like Scotland?
Hocking Hills State Park is like Scotland's famous landscape, complete with its lush greenery and waterfalls as far as the eye can see. It's a beautiful spot to visit for a hiking adventure. This adorable town was once a major port for colonial Britain, so it makes sense why the streets still have an English feel.
Is there really a Fraser's Ridge?
Diana Gabaldon has confirmed that Fraser's Ridge is not a real place. That being said, it is based on true places. There were many settlements like this during the 18th century as people from the UK moved to the colonies for a new life. We see others in the series, including Brownsville.
Where did the first settlers in North Carolina come from?
Nathaniel Batts. The first permanent English settlement in North Carolina occurred in 1655 when Nathaniel Batts, a Virginia farmer, migrated to an area just south of Virginia with the hopes of finding suitable farmland.
Who were the first settlers in North Carolina?
The first European settlement in what is today North Carolina—indeed, the first English settlement in the New World—was the "lost colony of Roanoke," founded by the English explorer and poet Walter Raleigh in 1587. On July 22nd of that year, John White and 121 settlers came to Roanoke Island in present-day Dare County.
What state has the most Scottish population?
The states with the largest populations of either Scottish or Scotch Irish ancestral origin:California - 677,055 (1.7% of state population)Texas - 628,610 (2.8%)North Carolina - 475,322 (4.5%)Florida - 469,782 (2.3%)Pennsylvania - 325,588 (2.5%)Ohio - 314,214 (2.7%)Georgia - 293,211 (2.8%)More items...
What is the difference between the Irish and the Scottish?
They both speak English, but they also both speak regional dialects of Gaelic. Ireland has vast green fields while Scotland has fields, mountains, and several islands. Clearly, there are several differences between Ireland and Scotland. However, they are more alike than they are different.
Where did Scots come from in North Carolina?
The first sizable group of Scots to arrive in North Carolina in a body was the so-called Argyll Colony of 1739, which came from the Highland county of Argyll and settled on the Cape Fear River between Cross Creek and the Lower Little River. Numbering some 350 men, women, and children, the group was led by Highland gentry who provided much of the financing for the venture and received the largest grants of land. Gabriel Johnston, a Lowland Scot and North Carolina governor from 1734 to 1752, was accused of showing favoritism to his compatriots, and the General Assembly exempted the newcomers from taxation for ten years after their arrival.
What county did the Scottish buy land in?
A Scottish corporation in the 1880s purchased land in Madison and Haywood Counties with a view to bringing in Scottish settlers. The venture was unsuccessful, as was the effort to bring Highland crofters (tenant farmers) to the Sandhills at about the same time.
What were the roles of the Lowlanders in North Carolina?
While there were far fewer Lowland Scots than Highland Scots in North Carolina, some Lowlanders filled important roles as merchants, high-ranking officials, or military officers. Others ranged from poor immigrants and indentured servants to well-educated teachers, physicians, and clergymen.
What did the Sandhills do for their living?
The abundance of pine trees in the Sandhills enabled these settlers to make their living in naval stores, extracting the sap and processing it into tar, pitch, and turpentine, which they sent down the Cape Fear River to Wilmington on flatboats made of logs.
What language did the Scottish Highlands speak?
Immigrants from the Scottish Highlands often retained distinctive elements of their culture. The Gaelic language was spoken by some to at least a limited extent until the mid-nineteenth century. Presbyterianism continues to flourish in the areas of Scottish settlement, and Scottish music influenced the development of local musical forms. Clan societies and the Highland Games at Grandfather Mountain and elsewhere in North Carolina continue to help keep alive a sense of the importance of the state's Scottish heritage.
What happened after the War of 1812?
After the War of 1812, at least a trickle of immigration resumed: in 1820, for example, a ship carrying migrants was cleared from Campbelltown to Wilmington. The U.S. Census of 1850 listed some 1,200 Scottish-born citizens in North Carolina, most of them residing in the counties of Cumberland, Moore, Robeson, and Richmond.
Why did Scottish emigrants come to America?
Although the Scottish emigrants, in coming to America, were assured freedom to exercise their Presbyterian religion at a time when the Stuart monarchy favored spreading the Anglican Church throughout the Brit ish Isles, the most important motivation for Scottish emigration was economic.
Why did farmers settle in North Carolina?
Farmers from Virginia migrated to settle in North Carolina because it had a warm climate and good soil. Most of North Carolina became plantations.
Where did the Scotch Irish settle?
Scotch-Irish and Irish. To the west and east of these Highland settlements were large settlements of Scotch-Irish. One area directly to the west of the Cape Fear settlements was even called “Scotch-Irish Mesopotamia.”. Most of the Scotch-Irish landed at Philadelphia and came south into North Carolina as early as 1740.
Why did the Highlanders leave Scotland?
An examination of ships’ records shows that most Highlanders reported leaving Scotland because of high rents on their land and “oppression” or “high rents & Better Encouragement” (Graham, 1956).
What was the culture of North Carolina?
The culture of North Carolina was decidedly British, mainly English. The other ethnic groups maintained strong cultures within their own contained communities, but had marginal influence, at first, on English-dominated rule and society. However, little by little, the influence of the Scotch-Irish and Highland Scots in particular became evident, as we shall see later in this paper.
Why did the French Protestants migrate to North Carolina?
These French Protestants had to migrate because they were persecuted by the French king Louis XIV. French Huguenots immigrated mainly to New York and South Carolina, but some found their way into North Carolina.
What ethnic group migrated to North Carolina?
In addition to the Highlanders, there were several other ethnic groups who had migrated to colonial North Carolina from Europe and Africa including English, Lowlanders, Scotch-Irish, Germans, Welsh, Swiss, and Africans.
What are the three regions of North Carolina?
Colonial North Carolina had three geographic regions: the Coastal Plain, the Appalachian Piedmont, and the Appalachian Mountains. These regions still exist, today.
Why did people move to North Carolina?
Forced and complete displacement was not the norm originally. Due to a rise in the kelp industry , many tenants were relocated to the coast to work there, while their former homes were used for sheep pastures. Resentment at being moved around still prompted many to emigrate. When the kelp industry went under, tenants were then forced out, an event known as the Highland Clearances. The Clearances do not play a large role in the emigration to North Carolina, however; these events came later, from 1800-1820, while the major migrations to NC came in the 1730s to the 1770s from the other problems discussed.
What were the main reasons for the Highlanders to move to North Carolina?
(Thanks, Claire!) Unfortunately, population growth in a country with limited land, a shaken societal system, and an economic depression led to high unemployment. “Problems of low wages, high rents, and unemployment are frequently mentioned as the main reasons for which Highlanders were emigrating to North Carolina…” For example, “John McBeath Aged 37, by trade a farmer and shoemaker, married, hath 5 children from 13 years to 9 months old. Resided last in Mault in the Parish of Kildonnan in the County of Sutherland, upon the Estate of Sutherland. Intends to go to Wilmington in North Carolina; left his own country because crops failed, he lost his cattle, the rent of his possession was raised, and bread had been long dear; he could get no employment…” (p. 66.)
Why did Diana choose to send Jamie and Claire to North Carolina?
Undoubtedly, Diana made this decision due to her research findings; any investigation into Highland Scot emigration will reveal North Carolina as a major destination.
Why did the Highlanders leave Scotland?
So, as we see, the major reasons that the Highlanders left Scotland were more social and economic than political. The social was “particularly hard because of the innate conservatism of this Highland populace: To persuade a peasantry to abandon an age-old method of cultivation is seldom easy…not least because of a wide-spread and justifiable suspicion that the proposed change would not be for the better.” (p. 61.) The economic obviously created a pressing need to seek opportunities to make a living elsewhere, in order to keep families from starving.
Why was the social movement so hard?
The social was “particularly hard because of the innate conservatism of this Highland populace: To persuade a peasantry to abandon an age-old method of cultivation is seldom easy…not least because of a wide-spread and justifiable suspicion that the proposed change would not be for the better.” (p. 61.)
What was the result of the tacksmen's move?
The result of this change was a social restructuring . Traditionally, middlemen, or “tacksmen,” gathered the rents for the clan chiefs and kept a certain amount of the profit (we see Dougal filling this role in Outlander.) As more money was needed, the chiefs raised the tacksmen’s rent, which burden was then passed on to tenants. Then, a movement to get rid of the tacksman position altogether occurred; this was to give land leases directly to tenants, with the entire rent payment going to the chief. While probably a sound financial move, many found it to be “a shocking abrogation of the time-honored kinship system; an undercutting of the values of extended family” (p. 53). While the raising of the tenants’ status was supposed to be a benefit, this was ruined by other factors coming to play at the same time.
Why did sheep farm in the Highlands?
Large-scale sheep farming was introduced to the Highlands in the latter third of the 18thcentury. As the idea took hold of land as a means of revenue , not just to support the clan, landowners found that sheep were more profitable than tenants. English demand for wool helped fuel this change. By the 1770s time period, 136 persons on board the ship Jupiterbound for Wilmington, NC, gave displacement by sheep as a major reason for their emigration.
Why did the Highland Scots come to North Carolina?
Yearning for land and better employment, forced to flee their own country because of “improvements,” the Highland Scots came to North Carolina with hopes of a better future. They were forced to learn a new language, faced prejudice against their religion, and initially felt isolated from the general society. They adapted and became an integral part of the communities in which they settled, adding parts of their own heritage to our American culture. The Scottish presence continues to be felt in the Cape Fear region and across the state through the influence of the Presbyterian Church; the number of North Carolinians who carry Scottish surnames and claim Scottish ancestry; the counties, towns, and even streets with Scottish names; and events such as Highland Games.
How did James Hogg get to North Carolina?
James Hogg organized a group of 264 immigrants to travel to North Carolina in 1773 on the ship Bachelor. Ship’s passage for individuals age eight and above was three pounds and ten shillings—approximately $553 in current U.S. funds, adjusted for inflation. Hogg contracted with the shipowner to provide healthy food. Weekly adult rations consisted of: 2 lb. meat, 2 lb. barley, 5 lb. bread biscuit, 4 lb. oatmeal, 1 lb. molasses, and 6 gal. water. Passengers gathered at the end of June for their journey, but the ship did not arrive at port until the end of August. Sailing at the beginning of the Atlantic storm season, the Bachelor was immediately hit by a gale and had to seek shelter. Upon sailing the second time, the ship encountered another storm. Then smallpox broke out on board. The ship was harbored in the Shetland Islands in northern Scotland when a third storm caused severe damage. Months later the passengers were taken not to Wilmington but to Edinburgh, Scotland, where those who still had money booked passage to North Carolina on a different ship.
Why did the Scottish Highlanders plant longleaf pines?
The native longleaf pines allowed crops to be planted without the backbreaking work of first removing all trees. Settlers removed a ring of bark from the pines, killing the trees; this caused needles to fall and sunlight to reach crops. The Scottish Highlanders had many adjustments to make in their new home.
What are the Highland Scots?
The Highland Scots are unique in the way they moved in large, organized groups directly from their homeland to the North Carolina colony. The Highlands are a beautiful but rugged land of mountainous, rocky terrain and harsh winters. In the 1700s it was a poor region where the staple foods were oatmeal and beef.
Why did the Highlanders migrate to the Americas?
Tradesmen expected better business. Farmers cited high rents and oppressive service to their landlords as reasons for moving to the Americas.
What did the Scottish clan chief do?
The clan chief—who was related by blood to clan members—provided land for members to farm. They, in turn, gave him obedience, military service, and land rents. Scotland experienced changes in the mid-1700s that resulted in thousands of Highlanders emigrating.
What were the Scottish homes made of?
Scottish homes were made of stone; most early North Carolina homes were made of wood. The thin soil and short growing season of the Highlands made oats and barley the main crops. In their new home, Scots grew corn and wheat and raised hogs rather than cattle.
Why did Scotch people migrate to North Carolina?
Other motives for migration have included war, economic hardship, religious strife, and the promise of a better life.
What was the Scotch Irish influence in North Carolina?
They brought with them their religion, folk traditions, and cultural traits which contributed to the distinctive cultural mix that developed in Southern Appalachia out of the mingling of three very different ethnic groups—native American, African, and European—in the region. The Scotch-Irish influence still continues to impact the people of western North Carolina.
What were the hardships of the Ulster Scots?
In addition to the physical destruction inflicted by warfare, the Ulster Scots suffered religious persecution and economic hardship . By the end of the seventeenth century, many of them were desperate enough to seek salvation in emigration once again. Between the 1680s and 1815 at least 100,000 Ulster Scots embarked on a new migration, ...
How did the Scots get out of Ireland?
They were pushed out of Ulster by discrimination by the Anglican Church of Ireland against their Presbyterian religion, by a depression in the linen trade that provided income to so many of them, and by a steep increase in land rents (rackren ting) driven by an explosion of population. Ulster, which had seemed so attractive a destination earlier in the seventeenth century, now appeared to more and more Ulster Scots to be a vale of tears.
What happened after the American ship captains unloaded their cargoes in Ulster?
After unloading their American cargoes in Ulster, ship captains filled their vessels with emigrants for the return trip. As more and more Ulster people traveled to America, encouraging tales of its widespread opportunities flowed back to Ulster.
What were the consequences of the Irish movement?
One consequence of this movement of people was conflict . The Irish who were dispossessed from their lands violently resisted the newcomers. Eventually this regional conflict was drawn into the mid-century Civil War that impacted all the people of the British Isles; in the late seventeenth century it became a theater of conflict in a global war. In addition to the physical destruction inflicted by warfare, the Ulster Scots suffered religious persecution and economic hardship. By the end of the seventeenth century, many of them were desperate enough to seek salvation in emigration once again.
What were the reasons for the British migration?
Other motives for migration have included war, economic hardship, religious strife, and the promise of a better life. The migratory history of the British people known as the Scotch-Irish (sometimes referred to as Scots-Irish or Ulster Scots) illuminates many of those issues. Movement across the Irish Sea between Scotland ...
What was the most prominent area of settlement for Highland Scots?
Up until to the nineteenth century, North Carolina was the most prominent area of settlement for Highland Scots. Numerous Scottish immigrants moved and settled the North Carolina colony and due to the large influx of this cultural group many traditions remain there today.
Why were the Highland Games outlawed in the 1870s?
Known as “Scotch Fairs,” these events were outlawed by the North Carolina General Assembly in the 1870s because of concerns over the gambling and drunken festivities that often occurred at the fairs. Yet, in the middle of the twentieth century, the Highland Games emerged once again in the North Carolina mountains.
Why did the Scots settle in Philadelphia?
Scots-Irish settlers chose to settle in or near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania due to the port of Philadelphia’s trade connection with ports in Ireland, primarily Ulster.
Which state has the highest percentage of Scots Irish?
Out of all 50 US states, North Carolina has one of the highest percentages of its population self-identifying as Scots-Irish. The Scots-Irish influence remains prevalent throughout North Carolina as evidenced by the number of Scottish surnames throughout the populace, along with the counties, towns, and even streets with Scottish names.
Where is the Southern Appalachian Historical Association?
Southern Appalachian Historical Association (“SAHA”), Boone, NC. Here visitors can learn more about the heritage of the Scots-Irish and other immigrants. The SAHA also produces the Horn in the West outdoor drama and maintains the Hickory Ridge Homestead living history museum. *Currently closed.