SINCE the year 1603, when James, "the sapient and
sext," ascended the throne of England and became the first ruler of
Britain, America has been a happy hunting ground for Scotsmen. The Scot
has penetrated into every section of the continent and made himself
equally at home in the glades of Florida, on the prairies of the West,
or among the wilds over which the Hudson Bay Company once held almost
sovereign sway. He is generally supposed to be a good, quiet, peaceable
citizen, a sturdy upholder of civil and religious liberty, a firm
believer in education, honesty, perseverance, and several other virtues
necessary to build up a new country. He is also regarded as a man whose
mere word is as good as his bond, an energetic yet cautious trader, with
a stern, unbending spirit which enables him to overcome many
difficulties, a man possessed of a cool, calculating brain which permits
him to peer further into the future than many others, and inspires him
to press ahead of his time and engage in schemes which seem ridiculous
at the moment, but yield a rich return in the end. The railroad magnate
of Milwaukee, Hon. Alexander Mitchell, who died in 1887, laid many a
mile of road long before it could command traffic enough to defray even
running expenses. But he forecast the future, and his Aberdonian
shrewdness brought him a golden return. So, too, old Robert Lenox, when
he bought his "Five-mile Farm" in 1817, and paid for it a price which
appeared ridiculously extravagant, foresaw that New York had a grand
future before it, and that his purchase was sure to be the centre of the
city. How true this forecast was, every New Yorker of the present day
knows. The farm consisted of about thirty acres, and lay between Fourth
and Fifth avenues and 68th and 74th streets. The price paid was $6,920.
On it now stands a large number of the most magnificent mansions in the
city. On it are also the Lenox Library, the Presbyterian Hospital, the
Presbyterian Home for Aged Women, and the Phillips' Memorial Church, all
evidences of the generous disposition and public spiritedness of the
owners of the old farm. The property to-day is estimated as being worth
not less than $14,000,000. It is gratifying to know that so valuable a
property fell into the hands of such prudent, careful managers, as the
Lenox family proved. They certainly gave abundant evidence by their
generous bequests to literature, education and charity, that the
Scottish instincts of their ancestors in the old Stewarty did not die
out when transplanted to this side of the Atlantic.
One of the
earliest attempts at settlement, in which Scots- men took part, was that
which was organized in 1622 under the auspices of the Earl of Stirling.
That "philosophic poet" was one of the most subservient followers of the
British Solomon, James I., and so far as paper grants, or as the Duke of
Argyll would call them " Land Charters," were concerned, was probably
the most extensive land owner the world has yet seen. Between them, King
James I. and his son, Charles I., gave him grants of territorywhich
included Acadia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton,
Province of Quebec, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and the greater part
of Pennsylvania and New York. The titles were vague enough in defining
the western boundaries of his estate, that he might, had he so chosen,
have written his name on the map, as far away to the west as the
Pacific. The end of this great Scotsman affords a good instance of a man
being land-poor, for, in spite of his vast estate, he died at London a
bankrupt, in 1640. In 1622, however, he was at the height of his
success, and persuaded a ship load of emigrants to cross the Atlantic
with a view of settling in Nova Scotia. According to Dr. Charles Rogers,
in his '' Lives of the Earls of Stirling," the emigrants were mainly
from Kirkcudbright. The inducements held out were very meagre and only
one artisan, a blacksmith, and one person of education—a Presbyterian
minister—joined the expedition. The other emigrants were agricultural laborers of the poorest grade. A storm sent the vessel to Newfoundland,
where a large number of the travelers engaged in the fisheries. Next
year several of them managed to get as far as Nova Scotia, and after a
few weeks of inspection returned to Britain and circulated very
favorable accounts of the new country. Lord Stirling himself published a
volume in 1625 under the title of "An Encouragement for Colonies," in
which he lauds his domain of Nova Scotia to the skies. His son, Lord
Alexander, often visited Canada in the promotion of his father's and his
own interests. In 1633 he received a royal patent for thirty-one years
"for the sole trade in all and singular the regions, countries,
dominions and all places adjacent to the river and gulf of Canada, and
the sole traffic from thence and the places adjoining for beaver skins
and wool and all other skins of wild beasts." It is interesting to note
in passing that in one of the patents or charters issued to this
enterprising young Scot, Long Island was ordered to be called
henceforward "the Isle of Stirling."
In the more southern part of the
continent we find many traces of the Scotch among the early planters and
settlers. In Boston, Mass., as early as 1657, twenty years after the
city was founded, the Scotch were numerous enough and wealthy enough to
organize a benevolent society, for the purpose of aiding any of their
fellow-countrymen who might be in distress. That organization, the
Scots' Charitable Society, still exists, and continues to carry on a
grand work of charity. The Scottish population of early Boston was once
augmented in a curious way. In 1652 the ship "John and Sarah" arrived in
the harbor, having on hoard 272 Scotsmen who had been taken prisoners,
at the battle of Dunbar, by Oliver Cromwell. They with some 800 others
had been shipped to the American colonies as the shortest and easiest
way of disposing of them. Those who landed in Boston soon recovered
their freedom and many became prosperous citizens, prosperous enough to
entertain a kindly thought in their hearts for those of their number who
had been less fortunate. In speaking of this society, the Scots'
Charitable, at an anniversary meeting in 1882, Hon. F. O. Prince,
ex-Mayor of Boston, said : "It is a remarkable fact that this society
should have been founded at a period so early in the history of Boston.
Established only twenty- seven years after the landing of Winthrop and
the first settlers —it is the oldest of our institutions—except Harvard
College, the first church, and the first school—all of which, like this
venerable organization, still live, as if possessed of immortal youth,
and still continue their useful work with unabated zeal and success;
proof conclusive that their foundations were well laid and strongly
fixed in the affections of the people. Although the records are silent
as to the fact, it is probable that the founders were prompted to their
work by the needy and impoverished condition of the Scotch prisoners
taken by Cromwell in the sanguinary battles of Dunbar and Worcester in
1650, and sent here to prevent further trouble to the Government by the
victor from their loyalty and devotion to the cause of their unfortunate
king. A Scotch charitable society was established in London under a
charter granted by Charles soon after the Restoration, and it is
probable that the immediate cause for organizing it was the relief of
those Scottish Covenanters, or their descendants, who had suffered in
the cause of the king, had been taken prisoners in battle, and were
wandering about the metropolis in great poverty and unable to get home,
if indeed the wars had left them any homes in Scotland. The number of
Scotch emigrants who came over with the first colonists, or with those
who arrived previous to 1650, was not sufficient to call for a society
like this, and but for the arrival of the prisoners it is not probable
that it would have been founded so early in our history."
The early
history of Virginia (as of all the States) is full of references to
Scotsmen and their doings. Alexander Spotswood, who was appointed
Governor in 1710, was a typical representative of the Scot abroad. His
grandfather was Sir Alexander Spotswood, "Secretary of Scotland," and
his father was a surgeon in the British service. The future governor was
born at Tangier, Morocco, in 1676, and was left an orphan by the death
of his father in 1688. He entered the army, served under Marlborough,
and was wounded at the battle of Blenheim in 1704. He brought to
Virginia the great writ of habeas corpus, a concession from the home
authorities which the people of Virginia had long asked for. His
government of the colony was wise, firm and progressive. He tried to
evangelize the Indians, added considerably to the territory under his
rule, and introduced the postal system. Spotswood was probably the most
noteworthy of all the early governors of Virginia, and his
administration was in every respect a creditable and honest one. He died
in 1740, just as he was about to sail for the West Indies with a
commission as a major-general in the British army. Another Scotch
governor of Virginia was Robert Dinwiddie, who entered upon his duties
in 1752 and reigned for six years. He took quite a fancy for George
Washington and appointed him adjutant-general of one of the military
divisions of the colony. Dinwiddie, however, was not a popular governor
and pretty hard things were said about him when he retired. The last
British governor of Virginia was the Earl of Dunmore, who was
transferred to that position from New York. He was not a favorite,
doubtless for the reason that he was not on the popular side in the
troubles of the Revolution. The most memorable act of his reign was the
destruction, by his order, of Norfolk, Va.
In 1682 a large tract of
land in New Jersey was purchased for colonizing purposes by a British
company, most of whom were Quakers. The leader was Robert Barclay, of
Ury, Kincardineshire, the celebrated author of the work commonly spoken
of as "An Apology for the Quakers," although its title, in accordance
with the fashion of the time, was much more elaborate. Barclay was named
as the governor of the colony, but he never visited it, and the real
ruler was his deputy, Gavin Laurie, another Scot. Through the exertions
of this gentleman the place known as Ambo Point was in 1684 formed into
a town and named Perth Amboy, in honor of James, Earl of Perth, one of
the stockholders in the company. The location for commercial purposes
was an admirable one, and it was fondly thought that it would become the
most important town on the northern seaboard. It was laid out on a
definite plan, suitable to a place with such possibilities, and
thirty-six acres of land were given to each of forty-eight proprietors,
one-third of whom were natives of Scotland.
The most noted of these
colonists was George Keith, a native of Aberdeen. In his youth he had
been a Presbyterian, but from sincere conviction he became a Quaker, and
for a time was tutor in the family of Robert Barclay at Ury. When the
colony was organized, Keith came over to this country, and, through
Barclay's influence, was appointed in 1684, Surveyor-General of New
Jersey. He founded the town of Freehold, and marked out the division
line between East and West Jersey. In 1689 he was invited to become
superintendent of the city school of Philadelphia, and accepted the
invitation. For a time he was the most prominent Quaker in the "City of
Brotherly Love " as he was a good preacher, a ready speaker and a
graceful writer. His disposition, however, was far from being gentle in
his manner he was self-assertive and dogmatic, and in debate he could be
cruel and sarcastic, often without cause. These qualifications, after a
time, made him enemies even among the people of his own persuasion, and
he openly quarrelled with all the local Quaker preachers, and denounced
the officials of the city loudly and bitterly for something which
displeased him. This led to his being charged with sedition, and, as a
seditious person, his name was proclaimed in the market-place by the
town-crier. In 1694 he went to London, and complained to the General
Meeting of the Quakers of his treatment in Philadelphia, but his
language lost him any favor. In disgust, he joined the Church of
England, and returned to this country in 1702 as a missionary from that
body. In this capacity he was not a success, and he went back to
England, where he died in 1708.
In 1686, Gavin Laurie resigned his
governorship, and Neil Campbell, a brother to the then Earl of Argyll,
succeeded him. Two years later, he was followed by Andrew Hamilton,
another Scot, and a man of great ability. He was the author of the
earliest scheme for introducing postal roads and post-offices into the
colonies, he afterward became Lieutenant-Governor of Pennsylvania, and
his son became the first native born governor of that commonwealth.
Pennsylvania had another Scotch governor, Thomas McKean, and the city of
Philadelphia has had at least three Scotch mayors, Peter McCall, Morton
McMichael and W. B. Smith. Gabriel Johnston, Governor of South Carolina
from 1734 to 1752, was a native of Scotland, and received his education
mainly at St. Andrew's University. Another Scotch governor of that State
was Lord William Campbell, a scion of the Argyll family, who died while
leading an expedition against the colonists in 1778. Both the Carolinas
were popular settling places for Scottish immigrants almost from the
beginning of their history, and only a few years ago a large number of
Scottish agriculturists, principally crofters, were induced to cross the
Atlantic and begin life again as farmers in North Carolina. The movement
was a comparative failure, however. The canny Scots had no money with
which to carry out the needed improvements on the land, the land itself
was worn out and unsuitable for crops with which the Highlanders were
acquainted, and the people among whom they settled were too poor to
hell) them much.
The State of New York was' a favorite section for
early colonizing bodies of Scots. In 1738 a large body of Highlanders,
under the leadership of Captain Lachlan Campbell, arrived in New York
and settled on the shores of Lake George, which, it was understood, they
were to guard against French inroads. They numbered 423 adults and many
children, and included over 8o families. Almost as soon as they were
settled on their lands trouble began. Campbell averred that he had sold
his estate in Scotland for the purpose of defraying the passage of the
colonists and that they were bound to render him service in return. But
the Highlanders claimed that they had left Scotland just to escape
working for lairds like Campbell. The feud between them became very
hitter and brought disaster on both Parties. Campbell was ruined, and
the colonists were starving when the legislature interfered and made
provision for tiding the settlers over the winter. Some of them left the
country and entered the military service of Britain. Those who remained,
however, appear to have prospered ultimately. Referring to this colony,
Mr. E. H. Roberts, in his "History of New York".' (vol. I, p. 280), By
this immigration the province secured a much needed addition to its
population, and these Highlanders must have sent messages home not
altogether unfavorable; for they proved the pioneers of a multitude
whose coming in successive years was to add strength and industry and
thrift and intelligence to the com- munities in which they set up their
homes."
Many of the towns throughout the State were founded by Scots.
That of Patterson, Putnam county, for instance, was settled mainly by
Scotch and New England Presbyterians about 1750. That the former was the
preponderating element may be inferred from the fact that the town was
named in honor of Matthew Patterson, a Scotch mason, who came to New
York before the old French war. As a captain of volunteers he served
under General Abercrombie in the northern campaigns against the French,
and at the Revolution he took the side of the colonial Whigs. He was
nine times elected a member of the New York legislature, and for nine
years was a county judge. Patterson purchased 160 acres of land which
had belonged to a forfeited estate and built on it a fine mansion, where
he dispensed a generous hospitality and enjoyed the society of the
McLeans, Grants, Frasers, Flemings and other Scottish families in the
neighborhood.
The town of Bath, Steuben county, was founded in 1793 by
Captain Charles Williamson, the "Baron of the Back Woods," as he was
popularly called. Williamson was the son of Alexander Williamson, of
Balgray, Dumfriesshire, and was born at Edinburgh in 1757. He entered
the army in 1775 as an ensign and rose in the service until he became a
captain in the 25th Regiment. In that capacity he sailed for this
country to take part in the war of the Revolution, but the vessel was
captured by a French privateer and he found himself a prisoner in
Boston. He was permitted to board in that city and lost his heart to the
daughter of the lady at whose house he resided. They were married in
1781, and soon after the Yankee bride accompanied her husband to
Scotland. In 1791 Sir William Pulteney, John Hornby, Patrick Colquhoun,
Lord Provost of Glasgow, and others, formed an association and purchased
a tract of 1,200,000 acres of land in New York with the view of
colonizing and improving it. Williamson was appointed manager of the
association and sailed again for this country in. the Fall of 1791. In
February next year, he visited the land of which he was manager, and
selected a site for a town on the Genesee river which he called
Williamsburgh. In June he commenced operations in earnest and by
November had completed thirty miles of good wagon roads through the
wilderness. His great achievement was the founding of the town of Bath,
which he laid out on a broad plateau on Conchocton river. He thought it
a magnificent site for a great city which was to monopolize the trade of
western New York. Others thought so too, and the place was soon crowded
with merchants, speculators and adventurers of every description.
Williamson's energy was remarkable. He opened roads and streets, started
newspapers, erected hotels, built a theatre and laid out a race-course.
Everything was in readiness for a great city, but Williamson learned
from experience that cities are not made to order, as so many
enthusiastic people have discovered in this country since. After a while
the association became disheartened at the poor prospect of immediate
return for their outlay, but Williamson never despaired and he
identified himself with the estate in every way. For three terms he
represented Steuben county in the legislature, and was a county judge,
as well as a colonel of militia. His hospitality was deemed wonderful
even in those days, when hospitality was the rule in all American
settlements. He entertained everyone who came along, from the Duke De La
Rochefoucault to the Scottish wanderer in search of work or a home. In
1801 his agency was revoked, as the association had become tired of
waiting for a dividend upon the capital invested. Williamson returned to
Scotland in 1806 or 1807 and secured an appointment as commissioner of
some sort to Jamaica, but died of yellow fever on the passage from New
Orleans to that island in September, 1808. The last few years of his
life appear to have been clouded by domestic troubles although the
details are not known.
In the early history of the State of New York,
we find many traces of the active influence of Scotsmen in the
management of its affairs. One of its governors was Robert Hunter, a
native of Scotland, who had previously been governor of Virginia. In
1712 he established the Court of Chancery, and in several respects his
administration was as successful as that of any of the other rulers sent
over from Britain prior to the Revolution. John Montgomerie, of the
noble Ayrshire family of Eglinton, was governor between 1728 and 1731.
In 1769, a Scotch nobleman, the Earl of Dunmore, was appointed governor,
but held the office only a short time, for in 1770 he was transferred to
the governorship of Virginia. Another Scotch governor of New York was
General James Robertson, who made himself conspicuous in the campaign
against Louisburg and Ticonderoga, and led a brigade at the battle of
Long Island. As he was appointed governor in 1779, after the colonies
had severed the connection with the mother country, his authority in the
State was merely nominal. He was a brave soldier and an amiable man. The
real ruler of the State of New York during the fifteen years immediately
preceding the Revolution was Cadwallader Colden, a native of Dunse,
Berwickshire, who served most of that time as lieutenant-governor. The
Livingstone family at that period exercised a great amount of influence
in shaping the destinies of the Empire State, and their descendants even
to the present day rank among the foremost residents of the metropolitan
city. They claim descent from the old Scotch baronial family of
Livingstone, but their immediate and noblest ancestor was sturdy John
Livingstone, a minister of Ancrum, a man who spent his later years in
exile on the continent of Europe, rather than permit his conscience to
yield to what he believed to be wrong. Robert Livingstone, son of this
true "Scotch worthy," was born at Ancrum in 1654, and emigrated when a
youth to this country. He settled at Albany, and bought from the Indians
a tract of some 160,000 acres of land on banks of the Hudson and this
became the lordship of Livingstone. His descendants were all more or
less famous. Robert was a judge in the Supreme Court of New York. A
grandson, Edward, was one of the foremost lawyers of his time, drew up
the "Civil Code of Louisiana," was Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs and Minister Plenipotentiary to France. When he died in 1836. he
was regarded as one of the foremost citizens of this country. A brother
of Edward's was also at one time Minister Plenipotentiary to France,
helped Fulton to construct his first steamboat and in many ways proved
himself to be a benefactor to his country. Philip Livingstone, another
member of the family, who died in 1778, was one of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence; and another was a member of the Continental
Congress in 1774. Truly, the good old minister of Ancium left a brave
stock to take part in the building up of this great republic.
It is
singular in glancing among the names of the Scottish merchants who
carried on business in New York in all the troublous years prior to and
during the Revolution, to find how many of their descendants continue at
the present day to "bear the honors and inherit the virtues of their
ancestors." The Johnstons, Middletons, Morris', Coldens, Hamiltons,
Alexanders, Sadlers, Kennedys, Shaws, Rutherfords, Ramsays and Barclays,
still rank among the foremost families in New York, and are regarded as
equal in point of birth with the representatives of the still older
Knickerbocker families. The direct descendant of John Watts, one of
these early Scottish merchants, is the present Marquis of Ailsa.
In
the history of the City of New York, especially in its commercial
affairs, the Scot has from the first taken a prominent part, and on this
theme alone an interesting volume might he written. In religious matters
he has always been active, and the Presbyterianism he introduced has
long outdistanced the Protestant Dutch Church of the Knickerbockers. In
the practical work of the building up of the city he has been foremost,
and much of the architectural beauty which New York possesses is due to
his skill and handiwork. The architect of old St. Paul's Church, at the
corner of Yesey street and Broadway, was a Scotsman named McBean, of
whom little is now known, but from the fact that he was chosen for such
an important work he must have held at the time a leading position in
his profession, and doubtless many of the best amongst the New York
edifices of that day were designed by him. The foundation stone was laid
in 1764. Long after its erection Dr. Berrian wrote of St. Paul's as
follows:-"In beauty of design, justness of proportion and tasteful
embellishment it was unequaled at the time throughout our country, and
in this style of architecture has not been surpassed to the present
day." The interior much resembles St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, London,
built by Gibbs, of whom McBean is believed to have been a pupil. St.
Paul's Church is now the only church edifice in New York still standing
on its original site. At its dedication were present the Mayor,
Whitehead Hicks, General Gage and the Governor, Sir Henry Moore, who
introduced his band of music, not without some hesitation on the part of
the vestry, who permitted it solely on condition that ''nothing unsuited
to the solemnity of the occasion should be performed." The old City
Hall, a beautiful structure, was built by Alexander McComb, a Scot,
after whom McComb's Dam, in what is now the upper part of the city, was
named. This architect appears to have been very prosperous, for he owned
an immense tract of land including part of the Adirondacks in Northern
New York. Another Scot, Peter Fleming, a civil engineer, laid out the
upper portion of the city as it is to-day. Fleming also laid out the
Hudson and Mohawk Railroad. between Albany and Schenectady, the first
railway in the State. Mr. Fleming afterwards became Surveyor-General of
Ontario, and there laid out the best and most complete system of common
roads which is to be found in America. Most of the older stone buildings
in New York were designed and built by Scotsmen, and as artisans the
Scotch builders long had almost a monopoly of work of that class, in
which, even to the present day, they are regarded as pre-eminent.
In
the struggle of the Revolution, Scotsmen, and the immediate descendants
of Scotsmen, took an active part. Several of them signed the Declaration
of Independence, and one of their number, Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon, a
native of Yester, near Edinburgh, is generally supposed to have had a
considerable share in the compilation of that document. Dr. Witherspoon
was a good representative of the fighting priests of the Middle Ages. In
the Congress at which the Declaration was signed he sat in the full
clerical costume of the time, Geneva gown and bands, and his ringing,
patriotic words did much to confirm and strengthen those who were
inclined to falter in taking the decisive step of separation. When the
war was over and freedom was assured, he quietly resumed his duties at
Princeton, and his wise government fairly started that seat of learning
in its popular career. The memory of this truly great man has since been
held in veneration by the people of this country, and his magnificent
statue in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, is one of the two Scottish
shrines in the "City of Brotherly Love." The other is a flat, time-worn
tombstone in the old burying ground around the Swedish Church, beneath
which rest the remains of Alexander Wilson, the Paisley poet and
American ornithologist. The statesman of the Revolution was Alexander
Hamilton, a genius of Scottish descent, whose untimely death at
Weehawken, in a duel with Aaron Burr, is one of the most painful
tragedies in the history of the United States.
Judge James Wilson was
a native of Scotland who did much to further the cause of Independence.
He took a prominent part in the discussions which took place before the
Revolution, and was a member of Congress in 1775. In 1789 he was made a
judge of the United States Supreme Court and a year later was appointed
professor of law in the University of Pennsylvania. Another Scotch
professor of that time, who did good service to the cause of liberty,
was Peter Wilson, teacher of classics in Columbia College from 1789 to
1820, He served for several years in the New Jersey legislature, and his
published works betoken his ripe scholarship. In the graveyard of
Hackensack, New Jersey, there is a monument erected to the memory of
this worthy old Scot. On it is the following inscription:
In memory of
Peter Wilson, LL. D., who was born in the parish of Ardigahill, in
Banffshire, Scotland, Nov. 23d, 1744, and emigrated to this country in
1763. For many years he was the efficient and successful principal of
the Academy in this place, and afterwards in Flatbush, L. I., and for
twenty-six years officiated as professor of languages in Columbia
college. A zealous and successful patriot and Christian, and exemplary
in all the public, social and domestic relations which he sustained, he
closed a life of indefatigable activity and constant usefulness on the
1st of August, 1825. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.'"
In
the war itself, Scotsmen, as may be supposed, took an active part.
William Alexander, who claimed the title of Earl of Stirling, and was
addressed as such by Washington and others, was regarded one of the most
brilliant of the Continental generals, and deserves mention also as one
of the founders of Columbia College. Lachlan McIntosh, a native of
Inverness, where he was born in 1727, took an active part in the war, in
which he was one of the foremost representatives of his adopted state of
Georgia. A duel which he fought with Button Gwinnett, one of the signers
of the Declaration of Independence, and in which the latter was mortally
wounded, interfered with his usefulness in the army, and in 1778
Washington appointed him commander-in-chief of the Western Department
with headquarters at Pittsburgh, Pa. His military career, which was a
brilliant one, closed with the surrender of Charleston to the British in
1780. General McIntosh died in poverty at Savannah, Ga., in 1806.
Alexander McDougall, a Scotch printer in New York, served through the
war and made a brilliant record. He was present at the battles of
Germantown and White Plains, rose to the rank of major-general and in
1781 was sent to Congress. Arthur Sinclair, or Saint Clair, a Thurso
man, had a life as interesting as that of any hero of romance. By his
gallant services at Princeton, Trenton and other places, he was raised
to the rank of major-general. At Ticonderoga he was forced to surrender
to Burgoyne, and lost his popularity and his command. Afterwards he
served as a volunteer with Washington with such gallantry that he
regained his former prestige. He was president of the Continental
Congress in 1787, and in 1788 was made first governor of the Northwest
Territory. Then misfortune again overtook him, and he resigned in 1792.
He died in 1818, poor and forgotten by the country he had adopted and
served so well. Another hero of the war was Hugh Mercer, a native of
Aberdeen. He had a wonderful career. His first active service was as a
surgeon in the army of Prince Charlie in the Jacobite rebellion of 1745.
When that turmoil ended on the Muir of Culloden, Mercer came to America
and settled as a physician near what is now known as Mercersburg, Pa.
But war was his real trade. He took part in many of the Pennsylvania
colonial campaigns, and received a medal for bravery from the City of
Philadelphia. At the beginning of the Revolution he was settled at
Fredericksburg, Va. He at once organized the famous Minute Men of
Virginia, and entered heart and soul into the struggle. Congress
appointed him a major-general in 1776, and next year, while leading a
night march on Trenton, N. J., he was mortally wounded at Princeton. His
funeral at Philadelphia was attended by over 30,000 people. Robert
Erskine, chief engineer on the staff of General Washington, was a son of
one of Scotland's most famous divines, the Rev. Ralph Erskine of
Dunfermline. Washington appreciated highly the services and character of
this officer, and when he died placed a stone over his grave at
Greenwood, N. J. This stone with its inscription may still he seen,
where it was laid by order of his grateful and kindly
commander-in-chief.
The first muskets ever made in this country were
manufactured at Bridgewater, Mass., by Hugh Orr in 1748. Orr was born at
Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire, in 1717, and came here in 1740. He
established himself in business as a maker of scythes and agricultural
implements at Bridgewater, and was as successful as the times would
allow. He invented several machines which were remarkably useful. During
the Revolution he made the iron and brass cannons and cannon balls for
the Federal Government.
Paul Jones, or rather John Paul, the naval
hero of the Revolution, was a native of Kirkcudbright. Unlike the other
Scots who took part in the struggle, however, he can hardly be regarded
as a patriot, but rather as a soldier—or sailor— of fortune. His sword
was equally at the disposal of the Republican Congress of the United
States, or the autocratic government of the Empress Catherine of Russia.
Jones was born at Arbigland, on the Scottish side of the Solway Firth,
in 1747. When twelve years of age he was apprenticed to a merchant in
Whitehaven, who was engaged in the American trade. His first voyage was
to Virginia, where his elder brother was established as a planter. At
the commencement of the Revolutionary war he entered the Colonial
service as a lieutenant in the navy in 1775, and is believed to have
hoisted the first American flag. He was appointed a captain in 1776, and
in the following year he sailed for Europe. Whilst there he harrassed
the coasting trade of Scotland, and made a bold attack upon Whitehaven.
He also made an attempt to carry off the Earl of Selkirk from his estate
in St. Mary's Isle, but in this he was frustrated by the absence of the
earl in London. His object in making this attempt was to force the
British Government to agree to a system of exchanging the prisoners,
which they had previously been reluctant to do. His crew, however,
plundered the house of all its silver plate. Lady Selkirk received, a
few days after, a letter from Jones, in which he entreated her pardon
for the late affront, assuring her that, so far from having been
suggested or sanctioned by him, he had exerted his influence in order to
prevent- its taking place; but his officers and crew had insisted on the
enterprise. He added that he would endeavor to buy the plunder they had
so disgracefully brought away, and transmit the whole, or so much as he
could obtain, to her. Several years elapsed without hearing anything
from Jones, and all hope of realizing his promises had vanished; but in
the spring of the year 1783, the whole of the plate was returned,
carriage paid, precisely in the same condition in which it had been
carried away, and to every appearance without having ever been unpacked.
On the 23d of September, 1779, the great naval battle took place off
Flamborough Head, when Paul Jones, commanding the American war vessel
"Bon Homme Richard," captured the British frigate "Serapis." It was the
greatest naval victory gained on the part of America in the War of
Independence. On his return to the United States in 1781, Jones was
received with high honors. Congress voted him a gold medal, and
Washington sent him a complimentary letter. His latter years were spent
in Paris, where he died in 1792.
If we turn to Canada in these early
times we find the Scot also prominently engaged in every movement for
building up the resources of the country. Indeed a story told of a later
period might well be applied to Canada in the last half of the
eighteenth century. It was said that a Yankee visiting Ontario,
concluded that he really was in Scotland, for the Queen's representative
was a Scot; the Prime minister was a Scot; the members of the cabinet he
met were Scots; he heard the Doric spoken in all the Government offices,
saw that all the large stores were owned by Macs, and that a large
number of the towns he passed on the Grand Trunk Railway bore Scottish
names. This recalls another story which tells us that a bluff English
settler, after a general election, when told that Mackenzie was out,
replied, "Yes, but Macdonald's in,. Confound them, they're all Macs."
The Scot seems to have commenced his operations in Canada at a very
early date. According to Mr. J. M. Le Moine, in his able lecture on "The
Scot in New France," one of Jacques Cartier's comrades, in the voyage of
discovery of 1535, was a Scot named Michael Hervey, and according to the
same authority there is every reason for believing that the renowned
Plains of Abraham at Quebec were named after another Scot, Abraham
Martin, who was called by the Jesuits in Champlain's time, "Abraham
Martin du l'Ecossais."
A regiment known as Fraser's Highlanders, under
the leadership of the Master of Lovat, distinguished itself at the
capture of Louisburg in 1758, at Montmorency in 1759, and at St. Foy in
1760. In the description of the battle of Carillon, July 8, 1758, given
in Garneau's History of Canada. we read : ''It was the right of the
trench works that was longest and most obstinately assailed. The British
Grenadiers and Highlanders there persevered in the attack for three
hours without flinching or breaking ranks. The Highlanders above all,
under Lord John Murray, covered themselves with glory.' Mr. Le Moine
tells us that these sturdy Highlanders while in Canada, "continued to
wear the kilt both winter and summer. They, in fact, refused to wear any
other dress, and these men were more healthy than other regiments which
wore breeches and warm clothing." The "garb of old Gaul," however, did
not find favor in the eyes of all of its beholders, for during the
winter of 1759-60, when a portion of Fraser's Highlanders was quartered
in the Ursulines' Convent at Quebec, the nuns begged permission from
Governor-General Sir James Murray to be allowed to furnish the
bare-legged Highlandmen with decent and comfortable clothing. The Celts,
however, would have none of them.
Governor Murray was a son of the
fourth Lord Elibank. His record in Canada as a soldier and statesman is
one of the grandest in the annals of the British provinces. Sir James H.
Craig was another statesman-soldier, who is entitled to rank among the
most prominent representatives of the Scot in America. He was born at
Gibraltar (where his father was a judge), and was lieutenant-governor of
Lower Canada during the eventful period between 1807 and 1814.
Lieutenant-General Peter Hunter, who was governor of Upper Canada and
commander-in-chief of the forces in both the Canadas from 1799 till his
death at Quebec also deserves to be held in kindly remembrance.
According to Mr. H. J. Morgan, Hunter's "administration of the
government of Upper Canada was marked with much benefit to that
province, and it would not be going too far to say that to his
enlightened policy that portion of Canada is greatly indebted for many
benefits which it otherwise would never have known." Captain R. H.
Barclay, who commanded the little British fleet in the fight on Erie in
September, 1813, when Admiral Perry's flagship, the Lawrence, had to
haul down its colors, proved by his gallantry and manoeuvring in that
engagement that Scotsmen can fight on sea as well as on land. Although
ultimately defeated in the un- equal contest, Captain Barclay won
deserved applause for his courage and skill. He was tried by court
martial for the loss of his ships but was honorably acquitted, and died
at Edinburgh in 1831.
In the province of Quebec, despite many
disadvantages, Scotsmen have made their way from the very beginning of
its history. In Montreal, and even at Quebec, we find traces of them in
every direction, and their influence on the prosperity of Montreal has
perhaps been more marked than in any other city on the continent.
Throughout the province colonies of Scots or individual pioneers were
early at work developing the resources of the country, making roads,
building shanties, cottages, barns or mills, clearing forests and making
grain grow, where bush or weed had rioted for ages. In an interesting
history of Huntingdon county, by Mr. Robert Sellar, published by himself
at Huntingdon in 1888, I find many references to the doings of Scotsmen
in that section. The following extract gives an idea of the difficulties
under which these settlers contended, and also shows that they did not
forget one of the great resources of Scottish civilization—the
schoolmaster. In the Summer of 1802, the 'Nephton' arrived at Quebec
with 700 Highlanders, mostly from Glenelg, Ross-shire. Of these, a
considerable portion were induced to proceed to Sir John Johnson's
property. Those who got lots on the slopes of Mount Johnson (now called
Chambly Mountain) did tolerably well, but the, surrounding land was so
wet that the Highlanders could make nothing of it, and, after enduring
much privation, determined on looking out another place for their abode.
Three of the shrewdest of their number, John Roy McLennan, John
Finlayson and Finlay McCuaig, were selected in 1812 to go out and spy
the land to the west. * * * That Fall, led by the three explorers named,
several moved over and founded what came to be known as the Scotch
settlement. Others followed, until by 1816 the first, second and third
concessions of Williamstown were fairly occupied. The American squatters
at St. Remi and along the Norton Creek were very kind, helped them to
put up shanties, and showed them how to make potash. Those who did not
go to Williamstown went to Glengarry, so that not a single one was left
on Mount Johnson. Altogether 60 families took up their abode at
Williamstown. * * * They had no facilities, and when they had wheat to
grind, they had to haul it all the way to the King's Mills on the La
Torttie. * * Boards for their houses they obtained by making saw-pits,
and cutting them with whip saws; for among their number, were several
who had been sawyers in Scotland. At Mount Johnson, they had been joined
by Norman McLeod, a schoolmaster, sent out by the Royal Institution,
which allowed him £100 a year, and whose services Sir John had obtained
for them. On the breaking up of the settlement at the Mount, he elected
to go with the division that had selected Williamstown, and choosing a
lot in the Scotch settlement, he continued to hold school in his own
house. On Sundays, he gathered the people together, and held divine
service in Gaelic, which was the language of the settlement."
The
Maritime Provinces seem to have been, from the first, the favorite
section of Canada for the settlement of the Scots, either individually
or in colonies; at the time of the Revolution in the United States,
whole bands of loyalists took up their abode in Nova Scotia; Lord
Stirling's colonial experiments were failures, as they deserved to be.
They were designed for the good of the king and his favorite, and not
primarily for the benefit of the country or the people. The loyalist
immigrants were more successful and the country gradually acquired
commercial and agricultural wealth. Restigouche is almost wholly a
Scottish county, and the names of many of its townships—Glenelg,
Glenlivet, Dundee and Campbelltown, show conclusively the very district
in Scotland from which the early settlers came. Clyde River and Argyle
Bay are about the only names which survive to tell of the Stirling
fiasco. In McGregor's interesting work on British America we read: "The
town and whole district of Pictou are decidedly Scottish. In the
streets, within the houses, in the shops, on board the vessels, and
along the roads, we hear little but Gaelic and broad Scotch. The
Highland dress, the bagpipe and Scotch music are general in this part of
the country, while the red gowns of the students, which we see waving
here and there like streamers, bring the colleges of Aberdeen and
Glasgow with their associations into recollection."
The story of one
settlement in Pictou may be told in the words of the late Mr. J. W.
Rattray as an indication of the material of which these colonies were
composed. It was conducted by Wellwood Waugh, of Lockerbie,
Dumfriesshire. "This band had been attracted to Prince Edward Island in
1774, but their hopes were blighted by a visitation of locusts and they
removed to Pictou county. At the peace of 1783, there was an important
addition to the population, the largest body being the 82d or Hamilton
Regiment, which had been on duty under General McLean, chiefly at
Halifax, but some had seen service both North and South during the war.
This regiment was disbanded at Halifax and had a large tract of land set
apart for them in Pictou, well known as the 82d grant. The list of
Scottish families, both Highland and Lowland, which are enumerated in
the history of that time is almost bewildering in its variety of
nomenclature, and if not in pedigree is at least notable in posterity.
The Saxon Burnside, of Glasgow, and the Grays of the Lowlands, jostle
together with all the Macs, Macdonalds, MacKays, MacKenzies and
Macgregors. One Highland Scot, James Chisholm, the son of a parish
minister in the far away north, had been at first on Washington's staff,
but when he found himself deserted by his kinsfolk, he left all and made
his way 'home to his ain folk' in distant Pictou. * * * * Early in
the [19th] century immigration received a new impetus. The Frasers
opened up a settlement at Millbrook in Pictou county; thence the Rosses,
Macdonalds and Gordons worked their way to the Middle River and, in
1801, large numbers of Highlanders, chiefly Catholics, arrived, most of
whom finally settled down in Antigonish and to the east. The Mount Thom
settlement appears to have been chiefly Protestant, with the average
Scottish nomenclature—Stewart, McLean, McLeod, Urquhart, Macdonald,
Chisholm, Fraser, Cameron, Thomson, Grant, Brown, etc. During the early
years of the century large numbers of Highland settlements were formed
in this district of Nova Scotia, and these continued fitfully until the
war of 1812, when a new era opened throughout the British provinces. The
settlers came from Sutherland, notably a large number from the parish of
Lairg, from Stornoway in Lewis, and the northwest Highlands and islands
of Scotland generally. Edward Mortimer, 'the King of Pictou,' as he was
proudly called, came from. Keith in Banffshire."
This description
might easily be applied to many other places in these provinces. In
fact, the achievements of the Scots in that part of the continent are
truthfully summed up by a countryman, Dr. John Harper, of Quebec, in his
exceedingly able paper on ''The Maritime Provinces, their Origin and
Inhabitants," where he says: "Where is the city or country in which no
Lowland Scotsmen are to be found? Whether they are the salt of the earth
or not they seem to have been spread over the world much as that healthy
condiment is spread by our cooks over everything comprised within their
culinary operations. Certainly if they are the salt of the earth, as
they themselves in their happy moments claim to be, they have not lost
their savor at least in the Maritime Provinces, where they are found
occupying important positions—commercial, political and professional;
and you can hardly read a chapter of provincial history without finding
some Scotsman mentioned for his enterprise in improving the lives and
conditions of those who happen to he his near neighbors, with due
attention, of course, to his own interests."
The places in the
Maritime Provinces where the Gaelic language prevails or is still
largely spoken, are, the counties Of Pictou and Antigonish; Earltown, in
the county of Colchester; a corner in the county of Guysborough; the
Island of Cape Breton; Prince Edward Island; and some settlements along
the Bay of Chaleur, in New Brunswick. In Glengarry county, Ontario,
Gaelic still continues to be the language of the people, and it is there
spoken as purely as it is in Dingwall or Lewes. The Highlanders of
Glengarry are, physically and mentally, a magnificent race and in no way
bring discredit upon the land of their forefathers. According to a
census taken in 1852 there were in Glengarry county 3,228 McDonalds, 551
McMillans, 541 McDougalls, 450 McRaes, 437 McLeods, 415 Grants, 399
Camerons, 312 McLennans, 304 Campbells, 133 Chisholms, 50 Cattenachs,
262 Mclntoshs, 176 Frasers, 114 McGregors, and representatives of nearly
every name peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland.
The Province of
Ontario received its first impetus in the matter of population from the
loyalists of New York, who left that State at the time of the
Revolution. It is impossible not to admire the consistency and devotion
of these people to the government under which they were born, and also
their dignified, honorable course in a Political crisis during which
men's souls were sorely tried. Most of them, in making the change,
sacrificed everything, wealth, social position, friends and homes for
honor, and turned their faces northward to begin life anew in another
country. Surely they are deserving of being described by the impartial
historian as patriots as fittingly as those who took a view of their
duty in the crisis and threw off the old allegiance. In connection with
this I desire to quote briefly from an article by Mr. James Hannay, the
graceful historian of Acadia: "Canada would never have existed but for
the decrees of banishment which were passed against the loyalists after
the close of the Revolutionary war, by which they were driven from their
homes, and their estates confiscated. This action was taken under the
pretence that men who had fought for the King were not worthy to live
under the new Republic, but the real motive for these cruel acts of
banishment was to allow a number of rascals who posed as patriots to
escape the payment of their lawful debts due the loyalists, and to give
them the opportunity to become rich by trafficking in the confiscated
estates of the banished men, of whom no less than seventy thousand,
including many of the brightest minds and of the stoutest hearts in the
colonies, settled in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Ontario. These men
were the real founders of Canada." Of these loyalists many were of
Scottish descent, if not of Scottish birth, and by their determined
loyalty and indomitable perseverance, not only were the provinces saved
to the British crown, but its wildernesses and forests soon became
changed into smiling gardens and fruitful farms. It has often been said,
with truth, that the leaders of the provinces at this crisis in their
history are less known to Canadians of the present day than they should
be. They laid the basis of the Dominion's prosperity on a broad and
enduring foundation, and built up a nation quite as much as Washington
and his compatriots did to the south of the St. Lawrence and the great
chain of lakes.
Among the Scots who took part in this glorious work we
find such men as Sir William Grant, a native of Speyside, who was
Attorney-General of Quebec in 1776 ; Sir Charles Douglas, whose relief
of Quebec in 1776 was a brilliant military exploit; Sir Alexander
Mackenzie, of Inverness, the discoverer of the Mackenzie River and the
first European who crossed the continent from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, north of the St. Lawrence; and the Rev. Dr. John Stuart, of
Kingston, a missionary as well as a patriot, and the founder of
Episcopalianism in Ontario. Duncan McTavish, a native of Stratherick,
may be accepted as a representative of the merchants of those times. For
twenty-five years he was engaged in the wilds of upper Canada promoting
the interests of the Northwest Company of which he was a partner. He was
fair and honorable in his dealings with all men, and won the good will
of the Indian nations he came in contact with. He conceived the idea of
establishing a connection with China through Canada, and while traveling
over the route he proposed this trade to take, McTavish and six
companions were drowned at Cape Disappointment, near the mouth of the
Columbia River.
One of the earliest settlements in Manitoba was that
organized by Lord Selkirk iii 1812. While on a visit to Canada two years
previously, that nobleman determined to establish a Scottish colony in
the territory of the Hudson's Bay Company. On return to Scotland, he
induced 130 tenants on Sutherland estate to court fortune in the scheme,
and they sailed from Scotland for Canada in June, 1812. The voyage
lasted until the end of August when anchor was dropped in the Churchill
River. The immigrants were conveyed from there to Fort Garry (Winnipeg)
in buffalo carts and were allotted land around the fort. They at once
began farming operations, but long before Spring came, the stores were
short and misfortunes fell upon the colonists. Several of the older
settlers died and were buried in the snow, starvation stared the
survivors in the face, and the incursions of the French Canadian
voyagers and their Indian allies, allowed them to realize very little
from their agricultural labors and even rendered their lives and
property insecure. When the summer was over, and it was found that a
fair trial afforded no hope of a better condition of things, many of the
survivors determined to move eastward and settle in some spot a little
nearer the outskirts of civilization. One record says "They crossed the
Red River a little below Fort Garry and traveled to the head of Rainy
Lake over patches of prairie, across lakes and rivers. After a month of
toil through a trackless wilderness two of the number sank exhausted,
and were buried where they fell. During the second month a new life was
ushered into the world. By patient toil they passed south of the Lake of
the Woods, and into the intricacies of what is now known as the Savanne
Swamp. The days were now growing short, and the cold weather had begun.
The most sturdy were anxious to push on, but sickness had claimed many,
and it was impossible to make rapid marches. The October days found them
still afoot, trudging patiently and with a pertinacity peculiarly Scotch
along the north shore of Lake Superior. The wintry winds and snow
overtook them north of Lake Huron, but the Indian guides who had proved
faithful showed them how to escape the snow to the windward, make
couches of pine boughs, and sleep in a circle with their feet towards
the fire. The war of 1812-1813 had just drawn to a close, when the
little band found their way into northern Canada, The British
Government, in order to carry munitions of war to the upper lakes, had
built a military road from Holland Landing to Penetanguishene. The weary
emigrants struck into the military road, the first evidence of
civilization they had seen for fifteen weeks. They halted at Holland
Landing (named after Lord Holland). The Canadian Government being
apprised of their plight made grants of land to them in the Holland
river valley, and supplied them with provisions, clothing and farming
implements for one year. They turned the valley, which was thickly
wooded, into the finest farming land in Canada, and their descendants
now enjoy the fruits of their industry. The principal families are the
Macbeths, the Sutherlands, the Gunns, the Sinclairs and the Frasers."
The descendants of these settlers now rank among the most prosperous
farmers in Ontario. Dr. William Macbeth, of Galesburg, Mich., the son of
one of these pioneers, made an effort some years ago to recover from the
Canadian Government the land which the Hudson's Bay Company granted to
his father. But the claim was disallowed. Had it been otherwise, he
would have owned a large part of the land on which the flourishing city
of Winnipeg now stands.
Thus we find in the early histories of the
United States and Canada that the Scot took a prominent part in all the
events which started both nations on the lines, which, continued to the
present day, have made them the beacons of liberty, security and
civilization on the American continent. The hold which those early Scots
won in the young countries has never been relaxed, and all through the
subsequent history of each we discover men of Scottish birth or blood
pressing forward in every good work. In Canada, if we take up any of the
valuable handbooks issued by Mr. H. J. Morgan, we will find that in the
Cabinet, the Senate, the House of Commons and the Provincial
legislatures the Scottish race is more numerously represented than the
size of the "wee gray land ayont the sea" would seem to warrant. [In a
recent work, of much historical value, Mr. David Scott writes: "After
the English Government found it necessary for the safety of the
Hanoverian succession to disarm the Highlanders, and break up so far as
they could, the ancient loyalty of the clans to their chieftains, and
the ancient protection which the chief, as in honor bound, extended to
every member of his clan, a large number of Scottish gentlemen turned
their attention toward Canada as a country which offered many
inducements in the way not only of exciting adventure but also of
prosperous commerce. These emigrants of gentle descent did not settle as
cultivators of the soil, but banded together and formed themselves into
a trading concern, which grew, in the course of years, into a vast
partnership, known as the 'North-West Company.' Over the interior of the
Canadas the merchants spread a great network of stations, each of them
presided over by a clerk, who (if he behaved well) rose in the course of
time to a junior partnership. The principal trade was in furs, and in
order to obtain the furs it was necessary to barter with the Indians. So
it came to pass that these pioneers of Canadian commerce bought from the
old country cheap articles in the shape of clothing, knives, muskets,
and other commodities suitable for exchange with the Indians, and sent
back valuable furs, which found their way to every considerable market
in Europe. The enormous return from this traffic was spent by the
descendants of the Highland chiefs in right liberal fashion They
supported a crowd of dependents hardly less in number than their
ancestors had maintained by the shores of Morven and Locheil, or among
the hills of Mar and Lochaber. Once a year the whole company of
shareholders met to transact business, and then the scene was like a
gathering of the clans amidst the forests of the Far West. The names of
the old chieftains were those familiar among them—Cameron and Chisholm
and McKenzie—the free and rough hospitality was the same, and we are
obliged to confess that the convivial habits were much the same also. To
this very day, though the reign of the first North-Western Company of
Canada is long over, you may find relics of these old Celtic families
among the citizens of Montreal and Toronto and even where the name and
wealth have passed away, there are a few descendants of these chieftains
of commerce, who count their lineage as proudly as if they came of the
blood royal itself. Instead of the grandees of the North-West Company,
Farther Canada has been taken possession of by a humbler class of our
countrymen, who are content to till the ground they own for a
livelihood. Whole villages of the Far West are Celtic in origin, and one
may hear the Gaelic tongue almost as readily among the Canadian pines as
in the glens of Inverness-shire, or among the boatmen of green Islay
itself. Scottish theology has been imported, as well as national pride;
Scottish love of education, as well as habits of self-denial and
thrift."]
Several of the Governors-Genera!,
including the Earl of Dalhousie, the Earl of Elgin, and the Marquis of
Lorne, were also Scots, and the Marquis of Lansdowne, a recent occupant
of the high office, is at least of Scottish descent, and the wearer of
an old Scottish title—that of Baron Nairne, an honor which dates from
1681, when Charles II. was King.
In the United States it is
difficult to estimate the amount of influence which the Scot has had
upon the government of the country. Many of the Presidents, including
Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Polk, Buchanan, Grant, Hayes and Arthur have
been proud of the Scotch blood in their veins. Among soldiers the race
can point to its Montgomerys, Morgans, Knoxes, Scotts, and hundreds of
others. In the "late unpleasantness," Scotsmen and their descendants
took an active part. One of the first regiments to respond to the call
of President Lincoln was the Seventy-ninth New York Highlanders, and
when the order was given for its final disbandment (in 1875), the
representative of the State acknowledged that it had "marched further
and fought more battles than any other regiment" from New York. The
Scots in Chicago were also gallantly represented among the troops which
took part in the great conflict. The Chicago Highland Guard was an
organized military company in Illinois from 1855. In January, 1861, it
offered its services to the United States government and is believed to
have been the first company that made such a proposition. Its offer was
accepted in April, after Fort Sumter had been fired upon, and the
company commenced its real military career at Springfield, III., April
23, 1861, under command of Captain J. T. Raffen. Writing of military
matters recalls the varied career of an Aberdonian, who died a few years
ago at Cleveland, O., a little over a century old. This was General
Donald McLeod, who was born in 1779. He was educated at Aberdeen
University with the view of entering the ministry, but went into the
British navy, and subsequently was transferred to the army, having
obtained a commission in the "Black Watch," with which he was engaged in
the Peninsular wars, being present at many important battles, such as
Badajos and Corunna. At the latter place the British general, Sir John
Moore, was killed, and McLeod, being major in his regiment, was selected
as one of the pall-bearers at his funeral. In 1812 McLeod was ordered to
America, but 1815 found him with his regiment at the battle of Waterloo.
He served with distinction, being severely wounded, and received several
medals for his brave conduct. Owing to his wounds he left the service
and went to Canada, where for a number of years he edited a journal, and
took a very prominent part in the political agitations which finally
culminated in the rebellion of 1837-38. On the suppression of the
rebellion he fled to the United States, and until his death resided in
Cleveland. His share in the rebellion—a history of which he wrote and
published—was pardoned by Queen Victoria.
In all the relations and
engagements of civilized life, as well as in directing and influencing
the affairs of government, the Scot in Canada and the United States has
exerted and is exerting a wide-spread and happy influence. The greatest
railroad enterprise of the age—the Canada-Pacific has been successfully
completed through his enterprise, pluck and commercial sagacity. The
Grand Trunk Railway is indebted for its prosperity to the grit of the
Scot. Such works as the Victoria tubular bridge at Montreal attest his
engineering and mechanical skill, and over all the railroads of the
Dominion we find him in every position from humble track-layer to
chairman of the board of directors.
In a capital series of articles,
by Mr. Alex. MacKenzie, of Inverness, on "Highlanders in Nova Scotia,"
which appeared some years ago in a Scotch newspaper, occurs the
following, showing how the Scots there were everywhere in the front.
Writing from Halifax, N. S., he said : "The majority of the people are
Scotch and Highland, and form the upper crust of society. Several
Highlanders especially have made for themselves prominent positions. The
Premier of Nova Scotia, the Hon. Simon Holmes, whose official residence
is in the capital, is a Gaelic-speaking Highlander, and a good Gaelic
speaker, too. He is the grandson of one who came out here without a
cent. The Honorable James MacDonald, Minister of Justice for the
Dominion, who resides here, is the grandson of a small farmer or
crofter, who originally came from Redcastle, in Ross-shire. The
Honorable Wm. Ross, Minister of Militia in the late Canadian Government,
and now Collector of Customs in Halifax; the Honorable James S.
MacDonald, Member of the Legislative Council; his brother, Charles, late
M. P., but now Post Office Inspector-General for Nova Scotia; Angus
Macleod, Collector of inland Revenue; and scores holding the best
positions in the country are descendants of men who had been evicted
from Lairg and Roo-art in Sutherlandshire, and other places in the
Highlands, or who left of their own will in a state of utter penury. And
these patriots give outward signs of their good feelings to the Old
Country. They have their North British—the oldest in the colony—and
their Highland societies."
In the United States, the late Alexander
Mitchell rose to be the head of a railroad system which did more for the
prosperity of Wisconsin than any other single agency. Col. Scott, in
Pennsylvania, did the same for that part of the country, and the Central
Railroad of New Jersey, one of the leading lines in the country, was for
a time under the control of Mr. John S. Kennedy, formerly President of
the New York St. Andrew's Society. Mr. Andrew Carnegie, as an iron
master, may also be regarded as a railway potentate, and his gifts to
his native city of Dunfermline, as well as to Edinburgh, London, New
York and Allegheny, prove him to be possessed of good sense as well as
charity, qualities which do not always go together. In the monetary
circles of both nations Scotsmen stand in the very foremost rank, and
they are generally regarded as among the most conservative and safe
financiers of the time. Two well known Scots, Governor W. E. Smith, of
Wisconsin, and Governor John L. Beveredge, of Illinois, rose from
poverty to become the heads of the commonwealths in which they lived.
Hon. C. M. Loring, of Minneapolis, the founder of its beautiful park
system and a real benefactor of the city, is of Scottish descent. Hon.
Alexander McKenzie, of Bismark, a native of Scotland, is one of its
wealthiest, most respected and most public-spirited citizens. Captain J.
B. White, of Fort Wayne, is regarded as the most influential citizen of
that beautiful town, and is a splendid example of a man who is equally
successful in politics and in business life. John L. Mitchell is ably
carrying on his father's railroad and financial schemes in Wisconsin.
John Johnston, a nephew of Alexander Mitchell, and a graduate of
Aberdeen University, is by his life work showing that an educated Scot
has all the qualifications for a successful business man. By his ability
as an orator, his thorough honesty, his sense of public duty, and
generous gifts for educational purposes, he has won the esteem of the
citizens of Milwaukee and many honorable public offices have been filled
by him from time to time. He once, indeed, refused the nomination for
mayor of that city, and would certainly have been elected had he
accepted. Mr. Johnston is often spoken about as a candidate for the
governorship of Wisconsin, and another Milwaukee Scot, Mr. James Morgan,
a native of Perthshire, received the Democratic nomination for that high
office in 1888. Mr. J. M. Smith, an Edinburgh man, holds a prominent
place in business circles in Boston and his labors on behalf of the
Scots and British charitable societies, show that he believes in
patriotism, charity and brotherly love going hand in hand. In Albany, N.
V., Mr. Peter Kinnear, a native of Brechin, might have been mayor long
ago if he wanted the office, and Albany had enough voters whose
political views were in accordance with his own. A successful business
man, a warm hearted friend, he has long held an enviable position among
the residents of his adopted city, and to him Albany really owes the
magnificent statue of Burns which adorns its public park. In Buffalo,
Mr. David Bell, another well known Scot, has been known for many years
as a ship-builder and engineer. In this way almost every town of
importance in the United States and Canada might be laid under
contribution to furnish an example of at least one Scot who is, or has
been, prominently identified with its history, its present prosperity,
its mercantile standing, or its educational advantages.
[Mr.
John Tod, of Lasswade, near Edinburgh. author of "Bits from Blinkbonny,"
who visited this country in 1887 thus summed up his impressions of
Scotsmen in America in a letter written just before his departure on his
return to his native land :-
"I have been struck with the large
number of Scotchmen that occupy positions of eminence and trust in
America. In New York I met Mr. Robert Carter an octogenarian, the
founder of the great publishing firm of Robert Carter & brothers, and
listened with pleasure to his account of the struggles and victories of
the early days. In leading banking and railway circles, on Wall street
and William street, were many Scots, and in commercial and literary
circles my fellow-countrymen are in the front rank. In the Church are
Dr. Ormiston, Dr Wm. Al. Taylor, and others, loved and loving, and all
throughout my tour I found the 'children of the mist' clear headed,
open-hearted and thriving. In Washington, Senator James Beck, of
Kentucky, an honored and useful member of the National Legislature,
speaks of his early home in Dumfriesshire, and Mr. Wm. Smith, curator of
the United States Botanical Gardens, a Haddingionshire man, has a most
complete library of all the editions of the works of Robert Burns, as
well as of books or pamphlets referring to Scotland's national bard —a
large book-case crammed full, and any quantity of clippings and
fragments of Burnsiana.
"On the prairies of Iowa I found Scotchmen
making the wilderness blossom as the rose, and visited the farm of
Blairgowrie, where Mr. Adamson, of that ilk in Scotland, has 2,400 acres
under cultivation, with a farm-steading and stock of all kinds that
would do credit to the Lothians. In Chicago I found on the Stock Yards
and the Produce Exchange energetic Scotsmen, trusted and true.
"In
manufactures I found in Appleton. Wis., Holyoke and East Hampton, Mass.,
Lancaster, Penn., and other places, proprietors of large, thriving
works, or managing members of important corporations, or superintendents
of immense factories, that hailed from Scotland, and were serving their
generation nobly by worthily holding up her old blue banner.
"In
Canada I found Sir John A. Macdonald, Prime Minister, full of vigor,
full of fight, and full of 'bon hommie,' and the Hon. Alex. Mackenzie,
now ex-Premier, who had for so long served the Dominion faithfully, but
is, alas, far from being strong. I would weary you, were I to try to
enumerate the men of mettle that came over to this 'immense subject' of
America, and have left, and are still leaving, their mark on its every
department of life and work. Next to a Scottish birth, a Scottish
pedigree is often a matter of boasting, even back into the regions of
the Covenanting or Chevalier times."]
In the matter of education the
influence of Scotland upon America has been particularly great and
beneficial. The old ambition of John Knox that a common school should be
in every parish, is really the leading principle on this continent where
every settled township has at least one grammar school. Many of the
early colleges in the country were founded by Scotsmen, as for example
that of William and Mary at Williamsburgh, Va., which was established in
1693 through the efforts of the Rev. Dr. James Blair, a native of
Edinburgh, who became its first President.
Columbia College, New York,
and Rutger's College, N. J., have been largely indebted to Scotsmen and
the sons of Scotsmen among their professors and principals for their
successful histories. At Princeton, Presidents Witherspoon, McDonald,
McLean and McCosh, and many professors of less degree, have brought
honor on "Auld Coila" by their influence, their work, and by their
devotion to the cause of education. Under such leaders liberality of
thought, scientific speculation and research, philosophical discussion,
and all branches of what is termed ''the higher education," have gone
hand in hand with the spirit of pure Christianity. The head of the
educational system in New York for many years was Mr. William Wood, a
native of Glasgow, and once a pupil at St. Andrew's University under Dr.
Thomas Chalmers. Mr. Wood served several terms as President of the Board
of Education, and retired from the Board in 1888, after twenty years'
service as Commissioner, with the thanks of the city. The school system
of Philadelphia, the second largest city in the Union, is directed by
Superintendent McAllister, a Scot, who for several years did good
service as head of the educational department at Milwaukee. William
Russell, who died at Lancaster, Mass., in 1873, was another Scot who did
much for the cause of education in this country. He was a practical
teacher, and taught in Philadelphia, Andover, Boston and elsewhere. In
1840 he established a school for teachers in Haven, Conn., and for many
years was director of the Normal School at Lancaster, Mass. For some
time Mr. Russell was editor of the American Journal of .Education, and
in this capacity accomplished much good. Knox College, Toronto, is as
much a Scottish institution as though it stood on the banks of the
Clyde. McGill University, Montreal, owes its origin, name and primal
endowment to James McGill, a native of Glasgow, and for many years a
merchant in Canada. The usefulness and importance of the University has
been increased from time to time by the attentions and benefactions of
Peter McGill, Peter Redpath, David Greenshields and other Scots. The
Presbyterian College of Montreal also owes its usefulness to many
natives of Scotland, such as Mrs. Redpath, Edward Mackay, Joseph Mackay
and David Morrice. The colleges at Fredericton, Halifax, and other
places in the Maritime Provinces also owe much to the gifts of Scotsmen.
[In a sermon preached before the St. Andrew's Society of Montreal, in
1887, the Rev. F. M. Dewey said "Coming nearer home, we find that our
seats of learning owe their existence and progress very largely to
Scotchmen. If the history of such institutions as Dalhousie College.
Halifax; Morrin College, Quebec; McGill University, Montreal; Queen's
University, Kingston; the University of Toronto and Manitoba College, be
inquired into, this statement will be borne out. Not only have their
endowments come largely from Scotchmen, but their professors are in many
cases of that nationality, and in every case it is a Scotchman who is
the principal of the institution."]
There is hardly a university on
the continent in which Scot.- land is not associated in some way, either
III past history or its present management or tuition, and many of the
text books used are imported direct from the dear old land.
Scottish
scientists have won many honors and high rank on this side of the
Atlantic. Dr. James Craik, Washington's family physician and
comrade-in-arms, was horn in Auld Scotia and became the foremost medical
man of his time in this country. Alexander Gardner, another Scot. who
died at Charleston, S. C., in 1792, was one of the leading botanists of
his day. He corresponded with Linnaeus, and wrote many scientific papers
of great value. William Maclure, who died in 1840, was one of the best
practical geologists in the United States, and his writings are still
valuable, although his special study has made wonderful progress since
his day. He bequeathed his library, drawings, maps, charts, and many of
his specimens to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, together
with $20,000 to erect a building to contain them. The site selected for
the city of Washington was suggested to the first President by George
Walker, the son of a farmer at Sheardale, Clackmannanshire. He was a
land surveyor and his practised eye saw the advantages which the site
possessed for the erection of a great city. Among scientists I may class
Henry Eckford, who once gave New York the reputation of building the
best wooden ships in the world. He was born at Irvine, Ayrshire, in
1775, and went to Canada when sixteen years of age. He learned the art
of shipbuilding from his uncle, John Black, at Quebec, and in 1797 came
to New York and soon established himself in business and won an enviable
reputation for his work. During the war of 1812 he constructed a fleet
of vessels for service on the great lakes. In 1820 he became naval
constructor at Brooklyn and built several war ships. His reputation as a
ship builder extended far beyond his adopted country, and in 1831 he
accepted an invitation to settle in Constantinople to establish a
governmental navy yard. He died, however, shortly after landing in
Turkey. His daughter became the wife of the American poet Drake. James
Ferguson, who died in 1867, was one of the engineers who laid out the
Erie canal. His astronomical researches were of great importance and in
the annals of that science he will be remembered as the discoverer of
several asteroids. He held the position during his later years of
assistant astronomer in the United States Naval Observatory. Sir W. E.
Logan, a native of Montreal, and the son of Scotch parents, rose to be
the head of the geological survey in Canada. His chief assistant in the
survey was Alexander Murray, a native of Dollerie, Perthshire. Dr.
George Lawson, a native of Maryton, a village on the banks of the Tay,
as a botanist and chemist, reflected credit on the University of
Kingston, Ont., in which he was one of the professors. Sir J. W. Dawson,
the president of the Montreal meeting of the British Association in
1884, is of Scottish descent.
If we turn to the church, we will also
find Scotland fully represented. In New York a number of the leading
pulpits are occupied by Scots, or men of Scottish descent. The principal
Congregational church, the Broadway Tabernacle, is presided over by the
Rev. Dr. W. M. Taylor, a native of Kilmarnock, and even so thoroughly a
Knickerbocker congregation as that of the Dutch Reformed Church, on
Twenty-ninth street and Fifth avenue, has for its emerilus pastor the
Rev. Dr. William Ormiston, a native of Lanarkshire and formerly a
minister in Ontario. Another Scottish minister who has come to New York
(or rather to its vicinity) by way of Canada, is the Rev. Dr. Waters, of
Newark, formerly of St. John, N. B. The Rev. Dr. Cochrane, now of
Brantford, Ont., who claims Paisley as his birthplace, was formerly a
minister in Jersey City. Philadelphia has Dr. Blackwood as the
representative of the Scottish clement among its clergy. Chicago has
Bishop McLaren, a gentleman of ripe scholarship and an honor to the
Episcopal Church, and most of the large cities on the Continent might
thus be named. In Canada, Scotch ministers are, as the auctioneers used
to say, "too numerous to mention," and it is a significant fact that a
majority of all the moderators of the Presbyterian Church there have
been natives of the "land of the Covenant and the Sabbath." Among
Scottish-American ministers who faithfully followed their holy calling
on this side of the Atlantic, an interesting volume might be written.
Selecting a few representative names at random, we may mention Dr.
Alexander McLeod, a native of Mull, who was pastor of the first Reformed
Presbyterian Church in New York for many years prior to his death in
1833. His writings against slavery, as well as upon religious topics,
did good service in their day; John McLean, a Banffshire man, was bishop
of Saskatchewan when he died, after an interesting career, in 1887. His
success in life was the result of patient endeavor and downright hard
work. These are great names in the ministry, but hundreds of lesser
degree might be mentioned, whose work was just as earnest and as
enduring although known to only their immediate friends and the people
among whom they labored. Many in North Carolina, for instance, will yet
have pleasant memories of the Rev. John C. Sinclair, who died at
Wheeling, W. Va., in 1878. He was born in the Island of Tiree,
Argyllshire, August 15, 1800, and studied at the universities of
Edinburgh and Glasgow, in the latter of which he graduated with great
credit, particularly in the classics and mathematics. In 1838 he
emigrated with his family to Pictou, Nova Scotia. There he soon
established for himself a position and reputation as a ripe scholar and
an eloquent preacher. In 1852 he removed to Newburyport, Mass., where he
remained only for a short time; and after several other changes he
finally settled in 1858 in North Carolina. He there enjoyed great
success. His fluency as a Gaelic scholar and preacher made him very
attractive to thousands of his Scottish Highland fellow countrymen and
their descendants in that State.
In the offices of the church, where
all its business arrangemerits are thought over and carried out, and its
finances managed, Scotsmen are also found particularly active. Business
and theology are, in fact, two points on which the Scottish intellect is
particularly strong. A splendid example of this combination of religious
activity and business principles may be found in the history of Walter
Lowrie, a native of Edinburgh. He was educated in Pennsylvania with a
view to entering the ministry. Instead of the pulpit, however, he found
himself at the age of twenty-seven occupying a seat in the Senate of
Pennsylvania. He served as a senator for seven years, and then was
elected to the Senate of the United States. In 1824 he was made
secretary of the Senate, and might have held that office for life, but
he had other purposes in view. In 1836 he became corresponding
secretary. of the Wesleyan Foreign Missionary Society, and in 1837 was
elected to the same office in the Presbyterian Church, and continued so
to labor for thirty-two years with marked success. He was also the
founder of the Congressional prayer-meeting, and of the Congressional
Total Abstinence Society, but it is questionable whether either of thee
organizations did much good among the parties they were intended to
benefit. Lowrie died in 1868, revered and honored by missionaries and
teachers all over the world, and by thousands of good people in this
country.
One name which must ever shine among the real benefactors of
this country is that of Mrs. Isabella Graham, a native of Lanarkshire,
where she was born in 1742. Her husband was a surgeon in the British
army, and in 1766, one year after her marriage, she accompanied him to
Canada, and resided for several years at Fort Niagara. From there she
removed to the Island of Antigua, where her husband died in 1774 leaving
her penniless, with three infant daughters, while a son was born soon
after she became a widow. By the assistance of friends the family was
enabled to return to Scotland. Mrs. Graham established a boarding house
in Edinburgh and prospered exceedingly. One-tenth of her income she
devoted to charity, remembering how she was once indebted to kindly aid
in her own hour of need, and to the closes and wynds of "Auld Reekie"
she made regular visits, going about continually doing good, cheering
the destitute by her alms, and administering religious consolation to
the weary, down-hearted and fallen. Her labors also led her to organize
many schemes by which the poor might help themselves, and her "Penny
Society" did a wonderful amount of good. In 1785 Mrs. Graham, at the
request of many friends, came to this country and settled in New York.
Immediately after her arrival she opened a school, and within a month
had gathered into it fifty pupils. She continued in that vocation for
thirteen years with great success. While attending to her scholastic
work, however, Mrs. Graham did not neglect those charitable and
religious duties which lay so near to her heart. She continued to give
of her income to the poor as the Lord prospered her. Day after day she
spent several hours in the humbler homes of the city and suburbs, doing
good, and the society for the Relief of Poor Widows with Children, was
organized at her house. Mrs. Graham was also one of the most active
founders of the Orphan Asylum and the Magdalene Society, and in Sabbath
school work she took a deep interest. After she gave up her school, she
continued her charitable and religious labors and was ever foremost in
helping along all practical movements which were designed to promote the
temporal or spiritual welfare of the poor. So much was her work
appreciated that we are told she was often blessed by the people as she
walked along the streets, and even her very presence was as a ray of
sunshine in every darkened and poverty-stricken home into which she
entered. This good woman died in 1814. One of her daughters married, in
1795, David Bethune, a native of Scotland, and a prosperous merchant of
New York. He actively assisted his mother-in-law in her noble work, and
during his whole life was noted for his benevolence and his evangelical
zeal. He printed and distributed thousands of tracts, imported Bibles
for circulation among the poor, either gratuitiously or at nominal cost,
supported several Sabbath schools and, like Mrs. Graham, laid aside a
tenth of his income every year for religious purposes; He died in 1824.
Long residence in this country, and an active participation in its
affairs never caused Mr. Bethune to lose his love for his native land.
To the last he was an enthusiast about Scotland, and unlike so many
other Scottish-Americans infused a part, at least, of his love for the
motherland into his children. One of his sons, the Rev. George W.
Bethune, D. D., a minister in Brooklyn, in which city his name is still
held in veneration, wrote one of the most Popular of modern Scotch
songs, with a purity of sentiment and expression, and an evident
appreciation of the musical power of the Doric which would have done
honor to one who had never been removed from the mother-land. That song
commencing: -
"Oh! sing to me the auld Scotch sangs
I' the braid Scottish tongue,
The sangs my father wished to hear,
The sangs my mither sung,"
touches the heart of the Scot abroad
wherever it is sung, and is one of those gems full of kindly feeling and
reminiscence, which have made Scottish minstrelsy so popular over the
world. Dr. Bethune wrote many other poems, and several volumes on
theological subjects of importance and value, but this little, tender,
simple home song will keep his memory green long after these have been
forgotten.
In point of numbers, the Scotch lawyers in this country and
Canada beat the ministers three to one. The land is full of them, and if
our Scottish-American "writers" are not as deep and tricky as the famed
lawyers of Philadelphia, they are more conservative, cautious, and
devoted to their clients. In the olden days Robert Wright and James
Michie each became Chief Justice of South Carolina and have left
enviable records behind them. In more modern times we find such Scots as
the late Sir William Young and Chief Justice Henry upholding the dignity
and integrity of the law in th Canadian Courts. In the States we find
that Justice Mitchell, of the Supreme Court in Minneapolis, is of
Scottish descent, as is the Hon. J. B. Gilfillan, one of the leaders of
the Minnesota bar. Judge McDonald, of Shakespere, Wis., was born in
Scotland, and Chief Justice David McAdam, of the New York City Court, is
of immediate Scottish descent. In this connection it may be mentioned
that George Chalmers, the celebrated Scotch antiquary and historian,
whose great work on "Caledonia" remains a monument to his patriotism and
ability, immigrated to this country in 1763 and practised law until the
outbreak of the Revolution, when he returned to Britain. A more recent
literary Scotch lawyer is Mr. D. J. Bannatyne, of New York, a native of
Glasgow, whose work on the "Republican Institutions of the United
States" is a model of its kind.
In literature the Scot not only holds
his own on this side of the Atlantic, but is doing his best to make the
literature of the continent really worthy of its greatness in other
respects. Canada can point to Dr. Daniel Wilson, Principal Grant, Mr. J.
Stewart, Mr. Wm. J. Raifray, Mr. Alex. McKenzie, Prof. Clark Murray, and
Mr. James Hannay among its Scottish prose writers, and Evan McColl,
Alexander McLachlan, Charles Mair, and A. T. Wingfield among its poets.
In the States, Wilson's American Ornithology retains its preeminence,
and such names as Barbour, Moffatt, Wilson and Hutton show that as
"makers of books" Scotsmen have a more than passing popularity. The
grandest name, however, in all Scottish-American literature, is that of
the venerable ex-President of the College of New Jersey at Princeton,
Dr. James McCosh, a native of Ayrshire. Under his practical guidance and
wise government, Princeton as a seat of learning made marvelous progress
in the perfection of its curriculum, the number of its students, and the
extent of its buildings and endowments. In philosophy Dr. McCosh is now
the most eminent teacher of the times and the result of his latest
studies is a system or school of thought, which America may regard as
its own, and which combines all that is good and true in the older
philosophic schools of Scotland and Europe. The Rev. Dr. Charles Nisbet,
at one time a minister in Montrose, and who died in 1804 after being
President of Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, was the best authority on
belles-lettres and systematic theology in this country during his time.
His collected writings are still prized by students. Robert Dale Owen's
speculative works still have a weird interest. The Rev. Dr. Turnbull,
long a Baptist minister at Hartford, Conn., was a graceful writer, whose
writings deserve a better fate than the neglect into which they have
fallen. His treatise on "The Genius of Scotland" should especially
commend itself to his countrymen here. The late Robert Macfarlane, of
Albany, N. Y., was one of the pleasantest writers on Scottish and
antiquarian subjects who ever lived in this country. His favorite
nom-de-plume "Ruthenglen," adopted from his native town, was always
welcomed in the New York Scottish-American, to which for many years he
was a regular and appreciated contributor. Dr. W. Al. Taylor, of New
York, has won a high reputation as a religious writer, as well as a
preacher, and in theology especially, Scottish-American writers have
added much to the literary wealth of the country.
Among
Scottish-American poets many a delightful hour might be spent, for the
poetic Scot does not leave his harp behind him when he crosses the
Atlantic, One of the best of the poems by Wilson, the ornithologist, is
an account of a journey he made from Philadelphia to the Falls of
Niagara. Andrew Scott, of Bowden, the author of the famous border
ballad, "Symon and Janet," was a soldier in this country during the
Revolutionary war, and wove many of his verses when a prisoner on Long
Island. Hew Ainslie, who was born at Bargeny Mains, Ayrshire, came to
this country in 1822, and died at Louisville, Ky., in 1878. His little
poem, "The Ingleside," has been more frequently quoted than the
production of any other Scottish-American poet. William Wilson, of
Crieff, who died at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., in 1607 wrote at least one
song—"When the sun goes down," which has established itself as a
favorite. John Burtt, author of a song "O'er the mist-shrouded cliffs,''
which has been ascribed to Burns, and who was born at Riccarton,
Ayrshire, in 1789, came to this country in 1817 and studied theology at
Princeton. He was successively minister of churches at Salem, N. J., and
Cincinnati, Ohio, and at the latter place edited a newspaper called The
Standard. He was an eloquent preacher as well as a poet of considerable
originality and gracefulness. After an active life he retired in 1859 to
Salem, N. J., where he died, respected and beloved, in 1866. Mrs. Grant,
of Carron, whose "Memoirs of an American Lady" is one of the most
interesting books regarding early life in New York ever written, was
born in Glasgow in 1755. She accompanied her father to this country in
1758, and was in America for ten years. Her residence here was mainly at
Albany, and she delighted the ladies of that then Dutch town by her
juvenile talent. She was a graceful descriptive writer; a brilliant
letter writer, and a woman of industry and sterling independence. She
first became an authoress, with the view of supporting her children,
after the death of her husband— a poor clergyman.
The limits of this
article will not allow me to pursue this theme, congenial as it is, much
further, but I cannot leave the poets without some mention of the late
David Gray, of Buffalo, the sweetest of all Scottish-American singers.
Gray was born at Edinburgh in 1836, and came to this country while early
in his teens. In 1859 he obtained a position on the staff of the Buffalo
courier, and gradually rose until in 1867 he became its chief editor. He
held that position until 1882 when he retired with his health broken
down. He died in 1888 as the result of injuries received in a railway
collision near Binghamton, N. Y., while on his way to Cuba for rest and
recreation. The following poem on "The last Indian Council on the
Genesee," and referring to Glen Iris, N. Y., has often been quoted"
"The fire sinks low, the drifting smoke
Dips softly in the autumn
haze,
And silent are the tongues that woke
In speech of other
days.
Gone, too, the dusky ghosts whose feet
But now yon
listening thicket stirred
Unscared within its covert meet
The
squirrel and the bird.
The story of the past is told.
But thou, O Valley sweet and lone!
Glen of the rainbow! thou shalt
hold
Its romance as thine own.
Thoughts of thine ancient forest
prime
Shall sometimes tinge thy summer dreams,
And shape to low
poetic rhyme
The music of thy streams.
"When Indian
Summer flings her cloak
Of brooding azure on the woods,
The
pathos of a vanished folk
Shall haunt thy solitudes.
The blue
smoke of their fires once more
Far o'er the hills shall scent to
rise,
And sunset's golden clouds restore
The red man's paradise.
"Strange sounds of a forgotten tongue
Shall cling to many a crag and
cave,
In wash of falling waters sung,
Or murmur of the wave.
And oft in midmost hush of night,
Still o'er the deep-mouthed
cataracts roar,
Shall ring the war-cry from the height,
That
woke the wilds of yore.
"Sweet Vale! more peaceful bend
thy skies,
The airs be fraught with rarer bairn
A peoples busy
tumult lies
Hushed in thy sylvan calm.
Deep be thy peace! while
fancy frames
Soft idyls of thy dwellers fled,—
They loved thee,
called thee gentle names,
In the long summers dead.
"Quenched is the fire; the drifting smoke
Has vanished in the autumn
haze;
Gone too, O Vale, the simple folk
Who loved thee in old
days.
But, for their sakes—their lives serene—
Their loss,
perchance as sweet as ours
Oh, be thy woods for aye more green,
And fairer bloom thy floweis."
In journalism we find the Scot in the
foremost ranks. The New York Herald was founded by James Gordon Bennett,
a native of Aberdeen. Whitelaw Reid, the editor of the New York Tribune,
is of immediate Scotch descent. One of the editors of Harper's Weekly,
John Foord, is a native of Dundee, William Swinton has had a stirring
and changeful career as a newspaper correspondent, editor and man of
letters. Thomas C. Latto, of the Brooklyn Times, a native of Edinburgh,
is perhaps better known as a song writer than a journalist, but his long
connection with the press warrants his being mentioned here. Colonel
McClure, the best known journalist in Philadelphia, claims Scottish
descent. George Brown, of the Toronto Globe, was a native of Edinburgh,
and the founder of the Montreal Witness, Mr. John Dougall, was a native
of Paisley. The Guelph Mercury was owned and edited for nearly a quarter
of a century by George Pine, a native of Aberdeen, and a lyrical poet of
much ability. Daniel Morrison, a native of Inverness, did good service
as a journalist on papers as the Toronto Leader and the New York
Tribune. The most original thinker among New York editors is John
Swinton, a native of Haddington, and Andrew McLean, of the Brooklyn
Citizen, hails from Dumbartonshire. The Scottish-American, of New York,
is owned and edited by A. M. Stewart, a native of Clackmannanshire. In
fact we might go into the editorial rooms of every newspaper of note in
the United Sates or Canada, and we would he sure to find the ubiquitous
Scot there in some capacity. If not in the editorial chair he is acting
as a reporter, ready to spring into it whenever the opportunity offers.
Even from the composing room his eyes are cast in the direction of the
sanctum," and sooner or later, if his mind is thoroughly set upon it, he
will find himself installed in that mysterious apartment. A case in
point, fully illustrative of this is that of the late George Dawson, of
Albany, N. Y. He was born at Falkirk in 1813, and went to Canada with
his parents when quite young. He learned type-setting in the office of
the Niagara Gleaner. In 1826 he was working as a compositor on the
Anti-Masonic Enquirer at Rochester, N. Y. The editor, the late Thurlow
Weed, saw that the Scotch lad was diligent, full of resources, and
anxious to get on. In 1830 Mr. Weed founded the Albany Evening Journal,
and a year later he established young Dawson, then only eighteen years
old, in his office as foreman. Besides acting in that capacity Mr.
Dawson was sent to the capitol to report the doings of the Legislature,
and by degrees wrote on subjects that came before him. This accustomed
him to be quick and ready with his pen, enabled him to become a
practical journalist, and fully overcome the deficiency of his early
education. In 1836 he accepted the editorship of the Rochester Democrat,
and for three years filled that position with every satisfaction. Then
he went to Detroit and became editor of the Advertiser. The party whose
cause he championed won a gubernatorial election through his aid, and
his services were rewarded by receiving the appointment of State
printer. In 1842 a fire destroyed his office and broke up his business
in Detroit. He went back to Rochester, and resumed the editorial chair
of the Democrat, and in 1846, at the earnest solicitation of Mr. Weed,
he returned to Albany, and became associated with his old friend in the
management of the Evening Journal, and a partner in the firm which owned
it. Mr. Dawson continued to be the trusted lieutenant of Mr. Weed until
the withdrawal of that gentleman in 1862 when he became sole editor.
This position he retained, except during two brief intervals, until a
few months before his death in 1883. In politics as well as in
journalism, Mr. Dawson made himself a power in the State, while as
President of the Albany St. Andrew's Society, and one of its active
members, he showed that he never lost his love for auld Scotland.
In
art, Scotsmen in America have not failed to reflect credit on their
native land. The first picture gallery in this country was that of John
Watson, a Scotch painter, who resided at Perth Amboy, and died shortly
before the Revolution. Among Scottish artists who have won renown in
this country, mention may be made of John Smibert, an Edinburgh man, who
settled in Boston in 1728. Several of his portraits still adorn Yale
College. James McDougal Hart and his brother, William Hart, are two
Scottish artists who were among the first to make American landscape
painting eminent. Gilbert C. Stuart, who painted the portraits of
Washington and many of the Revolutionary heroes, was of Scottish
descent, and learned the rudiments of his profession from a Scotch
artist named Alexander. Alex. Anderson, who died at an advanced age in
1870, was the first engraver on wood ill country, and attained great
skill. He illustrated the first edition of Webster's Speller and many of
the publications of the American Tract Society. His father was a true
Scot and American patriot and printed the "Constitutional Gazette" in
the Revolution.
Scottish merchants are to be found everywhere and in
every branch of business. As dry goods men especially, they are the most
prominent all over the country. The late James Roy, of West Troy, N. Y.,
may be mentioned as a good specimen of the Scottish-American merchant.
He was born at Alva in 1808 and came to this country in 1834. After
working for a while with a brother, who owned a brewery at Pittsfield,
Mass., he settled at Troy and began business as a weaver of woolens,
under the firm name of James Roy & Co. The business done by the firm was
from the first quite extensive, and financially was very successful..
Mr. Roy was the first to introduce into this country the machinery for
weaving woolen shawls, and in these the firm did a large trade.
Altogether four places were required for the business of the firm—one at
Schenectady, and three at West Troy. In public life Mr. Roy enjoyed in
the highest possible degree the esteem of his fellow-citizens. He was a
director of the West Troy Bank from its origin, and for three years
acted as its president. He was also a trustee of that City for over
twenty years. There was, indeed, no office in the gift of his neighbors
that he might not have held had he wished it. In private life Mr. Roy
evinced many admirable qualities. He was liberal almost to a fault; his
hand was ever open, and in him the poor always found a kind and generous
friend. Of his many charities no record was ever kept, but an intimate
friend estimated that he gave away in small sums at least $50,000. He
died in 1878. Such old firms as the late one of Hogg, Brown & Taylor, in
Boston, have in their time been the means of starting large dry goods
houses all over the country. In most of these houses we find salesmen
and clerks almost entirely from Scotland, as the Scot is believed to
know the dry goods business much more thoroughly than his American
comrade. This simply arises from the fact that in Scotland, "the
draper," as he is there called, serves a regular apprenticeship of five
years, and during that time is carefully initiated into all the
mysteries of the business. In America, as soon as a boy begins to look
like a man he thinks himself fitted for a man's work and demands a man's
wages. This holds good as far as other businesses are concerned, and
gives the Scotch-bred mechanic a grand advantage in after-life over a
co-laborer who has learned his business here. The old fashioned
apprenticeship system has its hardships and disadvantages, but on the
whole its benefits are incalculable. A Scotch marine or railway
engineer, carpenter, smith, weaver or other artisan, other things being
equal, is of more service than one who has "picked up" his trade here in
the usual hurried manner. The Scot understands his work thoroughly in
all its details, and this very understanding gives him a certain degree
of pride in his task, and a desire to make it approach as close
perfection as possible.
Whatever faults may be found with the nationality, and among the
principal faults are its clannishness and fondness of the bawbees, it is
generally conceded on all sides that its influence on this continent has
been for good. Even the faults mentioned, allowing them to be faults,
which I certainly do not, have had beneficial results. The clannishness
has developed a series of national charitable societies, under the name
of Saint Andrew, by means of which, notwithstanding the admiration of
the bawbee, thousands of dollars are yearly distributed among brither
Scots who have fallen by the way. Some of these societies are older than
the United States, and many, such as those of Montreal, New York,
Baltimore and Albany, possess considerable funds. The histories of a
number of these societies have been published, and furnish much
interesting information regarding the Scottish residents of their
particular sections. Such is the case particularly with the Scots'
Charitable Society of Boston and the St. Andrew's societies of
Charleston, Philadelphia and Albany.
The clannishness of the Scots has
also developed a number of other societies, organized mainly for social
purposes, although nearly all possess some charitable features. The
Caledonian clubs of the United States, the oldest of which is that of
Boston, and the Caledonian societies of Canada, with that of Montreal as
the premier, may be regarded as the foremost of these organizations.
Their object is to foster a taste for the ancient athletic games of
Scotland, to promote social intercourse, to perpetuate Scottish music,
and to encourage the wearing of the Highland dress. Many of these
societies and clubs have large memberships, and some of their annual
games have been attended by thousands of spectators. They have done more
to promote a love for outdoor sports of a harmless and pleasant nature
throughout this country than any other agency. The college games and
amateur contests, now so common all over the country, are mainly an
adaptation of the games given every year under the auspices of the Scots
in America. The winter game of curling is also a Scottish importation.
Besides these there are the Order of Scottish Clans, the Order of Sons
of Scotland, Burns clubs, Midlothian clubs, Highland societies, and the
like. It may safely be said that wherever a score of Scots are settled
they have an organization of some sort in their midst, around which they
can rally when occasion requires or the humor seizes them. Unlike other
national associations, these organizations have no political importance
and desire no political influence. They exist mainly to gratify a
national sentiment, and they leave their members free to act as citizens
of the land of their adoption as they may individually see fit. This has
given them a degree of honor in the eyes of most people and helped to
enhance the standing of the nationality in the community.
Whatever the
Scot does, whether he builds a railroad, digs a mine, fires a shot,
preaches a sermon or sings a song, he does it with all his heart and
with all his might, thoroughly, completely and grandly. He walks through
life hoping so to conduct himself that he will win the esteem of his
neighbors, the commendation of his friends, and perhaps make his family
a little better and more aristocratic than himself; for the Scot at
heart is undoubtedly an aristocrat, although Presbyterianism has
developed him into a sound republican. In America he prides himself upon
being, above all things, equally loyal to the land he has left and the
land he lives in, and the histories of Canada and the United States show
that to this sentiment he has undoubtedly been true. He Possesses a
grand record for courage, earnestness, honor, truth, religion and
success. Such a record entitles him to respect wherever he goes, and
inspires him with hope and confidence for the present and the future.
God grant that this glorious record may go down through the ages not
only undimmed, but strengthened and increased as years follow after
years.