Emigration from Scotland to the United States and Canada during the nineteenth century was significant both in absolute and relative terms. The mass movement that occurred was a continuation of a process that had its roots in the seventeenth century. What made Scottish emigrants different from most European emigrants of the Victorian period was the fact that they generally had industrial and commercial skills that were in demand at home and were not of the rural worker surplus forced off the land. There were notable exceptions to this generalization, particularly those who emigrated as a result of the Highland Clearances, some of whom are listed in this book. Most Scottish emigrants of the period, however, were skilled, educated workers from urban backgrounds whose expertise was in great demand in the rapidly industrializing cities of North America. The level of annual emigration varied, reflecting the fluctuations of the trade cycle during the century.

This volume is largely based on contemporary newspapers, such as the “Aberdeen Journal”, monumental inscription lists, university records, and government records located in archives. Notably, these include the National Records of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland, both in Edinburgh, that contained the Registers of Sasines, which records property transactions, and the Services of Heirs, which records the change of ownership of property on the death of an individual. This volume also includes some emigrant ship lists and a small Addendum of emigrant references dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, too few to form a separate book but too valuable to ignore.