‘It would be my earnest desire that you all would come’: Networks, the Migration Process and Highland Emigration

Abstract

This article seeks to enlarge the picture of Highland emigration, not only by examining a little-studied region, but also by incorporating the sociological concepts of migration networks and the ‘value-added migration process’. To illustrate the migration process and the importance of networks, this paper analyses the origins of one Highland community in the United States, Scotch Settlement, established in eastern Ohio in 1802. Many of the émigrés in Scotch Settlement came from Strathnairn and Strathdearn, both located south of Inverness. This article explores the migration process that led individuals from this area to eastern Ohio, focusing on the particular economic conditions of Strathnairn and Strathdearn and the role of networks. The southern and eastern Highlands have been seen as being more stable and more technically advanced. This may very well be true for much of this region, especially that which was geographically Lowland. However, parishes like Moy and Dalarossie may not have been so blessed. The significant out-migration from these parishes probably was not caused by accessible employment opportunities, but because of the lack of opportunity in their home parishes. However, the long history of migration from this area coupled with the many opportunities nearby, especially in Inverness, may have meant that the residents of this region were better able to cope. There seem to have been fewer social pressures keeping them in their parishes while well-established migration networks meant that they had many more opportunities to depart. The Scotch Settlement emigrants, faced with disheartening circumstances not of their own making, decided that to best provide for themselves and their families it would be necessary to emigrate to the United States where they could obtain ‘a better way of living’ than they could in Scotland.