The Scottish Emigration Blog

Using DNA to understand Migration

2013-06-17T15:43:00.000-04:00

Although I have not blogged much in 2013, I have been lurking on Twitter and on the Internet. During said lurking, I found many articles that sounded interesting and since I didn't really have time to read them, I saved them in my "GetPocket" folder. In fact, I shoved so many links in my GetPocket account, I kept worrying that I would fill it up. So far I haven't.

Many links were saved because they were relevant to the blog. The theme for the first installment of links is migration and DNA. Many readers will be aware of my interest in DNA, not because it can tell you about disease or hair color, but because of what it can tell us about human migration patterns.

1. Go here to read about the prevalence of red hair in British populations, based upon a study by ScotlandsDNA (full disclosure: I am an affiliate).

2. A second DNA study by ScotlandsDNA suggests that one in ten Scottish men are descended from the Picts as reported by the Scotsman here.

3. This article reflects upon a recent study of Tibetan DNA and its suggestions that modern humans moved into Tibet in two separate migrations. Parts of it are a bit technical and I didn't understand them. Do what I did, skip those bits; you should still get the general gist of the thing.

4. Current research suggests that the Minoans were European, from Archaeology.

5. Several articles appeared about the genetic replacement that occurred in Central Europe about 4,5000 BCE. For two of them go here and here.

6. In 2012, the Migration Museum hosted a seminar on DNA and Migration. The focus on the talk, understandably, is the British Isles. I liked it; well worth a listen. Go here to read about the seminar and here to listen to the seminar (divided into six bits). If you have the SoundCloud App, you can follow the Migration Museum and listen to the seminar on your iPod; the seminar is not available in iTunes.

7. USA Today posted this article on the current fascination with DNA testing and its connection to family history.

8. And finally, an article from the LA Times which explores the fact that we are all related to each other.

Will the Blogger No Come Back Again?

2013-06-09T09:40:00.000-04:00

I took this picture at the Ohio Scottish Games many years ago, and the situation of this poor British soldier doll always amused me. I'm not sure if whoever put the soldier on the spike was trying to be comical or trying to make a statement about Scottish (or indeed American) attitudes towards red-coated soldiers.

I post it here, now, because the soldier represents a bit how I have felt this year - a wee writer/historian staked to a collection of due dates and obligations. This list ended up being way longer and more pressing than I had intended since I had not planned on working 13-hour days at the Board of Elections last fall.

This year, so far, I have kept up with client work, written three new lectures with accompanying PowerPoint presentations, given these three lectures and several others, and like so many people have been looking for a "proper" job. On top of all that I did about 80% of the portfolio work required for certification by the Board for Certification for Genealogists which I submitted in May.

The most pressing deadlines have now passed and I have more time and more importantly more energy. There are no set plans going forward but to quote Indiana Jones, "I'll think of something."

Thank you all for not deleting the blog from your subscription and following lists. I look forward to many interesting posts and discussions about the Scots and their Diaspora in the coming months.

n.b. If I never mention certification again, that is code for "I did not pass."

A Night Out: the Tannahill Weavers

2013-04-18T23:09:00.001-04:00

The Tannahill Weavers back for an encore

Last night I emerged from my very busy schedule and attended the Tannahill Weavers concert organized by Baldwin-Wallace University, but held at the local Episcopal Church. I learned of this concert way back in January and have been looking forward to it ever since.

It was entirely worth the wait, the band was fantastic. I even bought one of their albums (Live and In Session) and am now a little sorry I didn't spring for the t-shirt. Go hear them if you get a chance!

Roy Gullane signing my CD

Scottish Emigration & Independence

2013-01-21T18:05:00.000-05:00

A replica of the emigrant vessel The Hector

Last August there were a spate of articles regarding Tom Devine's new book, To the Ends of the Earth: Scotland's Global Diaspora, 1750-2010. I posted several on this blog, but it seems I missed one. On 23 August 2011 The Scotsman published an article entitled "Home and away Scotland still makes a difference" by Joan McAlpine (SNP MSP for South of Scotland).

In my experience, when politicians mention migration it is to complain about immigration policy; not often one does on find articles by politicians complaining about emigration, at least not in America. While I was intrigued by the novelty of such an article and liked the introductory reference to Edwin Muir, I must admit to being slightly disquieted by this one. For starters it greatly oversimplifies emigration and the reasons for it and fails to understand the context for the statistics presented in Devine's work. Fair enough, she's not a historian and like all of us, she has selected what suits her purpose. Reading a litany of what I didn't like would be tedious in the extreme, so I will mention just two.

McAlpine states that lots of people emigrated from Scotland, Norway and Ireland in the past and two of these countries are now independent, implying, it seems, that Scotland should also be independent. While this may be the case, I'm not sure that past emigration statistics really make a persuasive case for a break-up of the UK. She is correct that Scots left because they thought they could make a better life elsewhere, but neglects the point that other people came to Scotland for precisely the same reason. Economic advancement is completely relative to one's starting point.

After meandering around the emigration, the benefits of Union and back again, McAlpine turns her attention to the Diaspora. I have written on a bit on this blog about Scotland and it's Diaspora (see this post, and this one, and this one). Previously my thoughts on the subject were relatively positive. However, after reading McAlpine's references to "exploiting" the overseas Diaspora (and it seems she means the Ancestral one here since she is writing about historic emigrations) and this same Diaspora providing a harvest for Scotland, I'm not so sure. I am not something to be exploited (if I were, I'd still be a adjunct college instructor), nor am I something to harvest; and neither is my mother, my sister, nor any other of my fellow citizens with Scottish ancestry. We, none of us, exist for the sole benefit of Scotland.

Maybe it's all in the phraseology - being asked to help a Scottish enterprise in a mutually beneficial arrangement is one thing, being an object of exploitation is another.

I suppose it's all water under the bridge as this article is over a year old. I'm probably being hyper-sensitive anyway, particularly since this article was not written for an American audience. I'll leave it to others to deconstruct the article in terms of Scottish politics.

Upcoming Events in Ohio

2013-01-14T11:25:00.001-05:00

Mark your calendars....

On 14 March 2013, the owner of Gaelic Imports will talk about his youth in 1950s Scotland at the Fairview Park Branch of the Cuyahoga County Library. More information here. Unfortunately, I can't attend because I'll be speaking at another branch of the library.

On 17 April 2013, the Tannahill Weavers will be performing at Baldwin Wallace University (formerly Baldwin-Wallace College). More information here (PDF, see pg. 13).

I know these announcements are awfully early, but it's not often there are relevant events in my neck of the woods.

Behind The Scenes: Corrupted Files and the Importance of Backup Files

2013-01-06T18:31:00.001-05:00

A Page from the Access Database

While I wan't enjoying holiday events with friends and family, I was working on my great database match-up project. With a couple of days of long hard work planned, I anticipated finishing it in time for New Year's Eve festivities.

Then at about ten o'clock in the evening New Year's Eve Eve disaster stuck. My family tree program totally freaked out, sent me a strange message, and then shut down. In most cases, a instance like this is not a cause for panic. Usually a deep breath, a wiping of the hands on the pants legs, and a click to reopen the program solves the problem. However, such was not the case on December 30th.

The family tree program opened, but gave me two messages. First that the program had not closed down correctly and that I might have to compact the file. (Compact file - what is that?!). Second that the file was already open or was an invalid file tip. (umm - I just opened it, so how can it be already open and INVALID?!!! - it wasn't invalid two seconds ago). The file did open and all the data appeared to be present, but every time I tried to add something new the program shut down. Additionally all attempts to compact the file crashed the program as well. Something. Was. Wrong.

The next day I repaired the program with the original disc and then did some searching for the second error on the Internet. First I found this helpful post from Virginia Family Tree Genealogy. The post's author suggested exporting the file that wouldn't open. Seemed like a good idea. However, the program wanted to compact the file prior to export. When the compacting still wasn't finished 22 hours later, I decided it wasn't working. Why did I let it go so long? My file was huge, over 10 years old, contained information on nearly 4000 people, and had never been compacted before. I had no idea how long it might take. The software manufacturer on one of their pages said it might take "some time."

I found a page from the manufacturer here and followed their directions on working with corrupted files. I finally gave up and decided to use the back up from December 29th. I also discovered that while I couldn't export the entire file, I could export individual families. I did so for the families I had been working with on the 30th and merged them with the new file. I compacted the new file (following the helpful hints posted here) and it took about 20 seconds for a 25 MB file to become a 15 MB file. Apparently, somebody's definition of "some time" is different than mine. By the end of New Year's Day, I was back up and running.

I was surprisingly calm throughout this entire event. The most important part of my data is in Access and that wasn't bothered at all. I could use that information to recreate any changes I had made to the family tree file on the 30th. My data in the family tree program seemed to be there, I just had to get it out. Also, I had a backup that was less than 24 hours old. If I hadn't had a recent backup I probably would have cried for days. At the same time I was trying to solve this crisis, I visited the Microsoft Fixit Solution Center and used it to tweak Window and I repaired Microsoft Office. My computer is running much better now, so I suppose one could say the whole episode was a blessing.

While I was slowed by the corrupted files (and a post-New Year family visit), I did finish the project on Saturday, January 5th. Now on to the next projects ... I hope they don't end being as "easy" as this one.

Behind the Scenes: The Best Laid Databases...

2012-12-23T22:48:00.000-05:00

Screenshot of the 1820 Census

In August, I started what I thought would be an easy project, one that would get my collected data on Scotch Settlement all ready for fresh analysis, one that I could complete in the evenings after the Board of Elections. This easy project was to match up the individuals I had in the Access database with those that I had in the genealogy program.

From the beginning of my research on Scotch Settlement, I have kept track of the data I've collected in an Access database and a genealogy software program. The former is designed to analyze data, the latter to keep track ancestors. To facilitate analysis in the Access database, I created a central table with the names of all the individuals I had identified with standardized spellings of surnames, unique identifying numbers, and vital statistics. I always knew that I had people in the central table that weren't in the genealogy program and that wasn't a big deal. But I have recently realized there were people in the genealogy program who weren't in the Access database. This was a problem. Actually, many of these individuals were accounted for - as a tick mark in a pre-1850 census, but not in that census or any other document I had transcribed into Access.

Itis now the end December and I'm only a little over half done. Of course 12- and 13-hour days at the Board of Elections didn't help. But what I realized, after I started is that most of the families I had known about were the ones that had been well-documented in county histories or by other family historians. There are many other families in Scotch Settlement that didn't leave much of a paper trail. So the matching project has actually turned into a giant genealogy puzzle. Can I figure out to which McGillivray family the three single Daniel McGillivrays recorded in the 1840 census belonged? No, I can not. Are the Johnstons who married in 1839 part of Scotch Settlement? No, they are from Ireland and live in Franklin Township. And why oh why do I keep finding more John McDonalds every time I turn around. All I can say is "Thank God" for online databases like FamilySearch, Ancestry, and Find-a-Grave!

The ultimate aim of this matching/family history project is to shed further light on migration networks and on out-migration from the parishes near Inverness. Families and neighbors are key to all migration networks, especially during this time period. And focusing more on these individuals, utilizing various online sources, and taking a second look at documents I've had for ten years has shed light on family relationships and the Scottish origins of several of the families. While this project is deepening my knowledge of the residents of Scotch Settlement, the new findings haven't changed what I know about their origins: almost all of the immigrants came from the parishes near Inverness and Nairn and the parishes that sent the most immigrants are still Moy and Dalarossie and Daviot and Dunlichity.

Scotland on Twitter

2012-12-16T11:07:00.000-05:00

@ScotVoices

Starting Monday, 17 December, Scotland will have its own rotating curator Twitter account, @ScotVoices, like @Sweden and @Netherlanders (there are other countries that tweet, I happen to follow these two). Here is a great opportunity for the Diaspora to see what is happening in Scotland in 140 characters or less.

The team behind @ScotVoices is the National Collective, artives and creatives for Independence. The group and website supports Scottish Independence, but since @ScotVoices is a cultural project, curators are not required to. Read more about the project here.

Remember, you don't have to be on Twitter to follow @ScotVoices, just click on the link to see their tweets.

The Saint and the Weary Blogger

2012-12-01T18:02:00.000-05:00

St. Andrew's Day Dinner 2012

Elections are, for employees of the Board of Elections at least, hard work requiring long hours. Since I last posted seven weeks ago I have worked an average of 9 1/2 hours a day and have had four days off. However, I wasn't going to let a little thing like complete and total exhaustion interfere with my second St. Andrew's Day Celebration.

Unlike last year, nothing was made from scratch. Thursday evening on the way home from work I stopped by Gaelic Imports and purchased half a dozen meat pies, baked beans, a can a Lilt, and assorted chocolate bars. I thought peas would be a yummy addition to this repast. The import store did have a few kinds of canned peas including mushy ones. I have eaten peas that could be described as mushy many a time in the UK and thought they were the result of bad British cooking. Then, one day, I saw them, in the Sainsbury's in Partick: canned mushy peas. It was right there on the label - mushy peas. I was absolutely shocked. They were *supposed* to be that way. Needless to say, I did not buy them in Sainbury's nor did I buy them in Gaelic Imports. Instead, I used an ancient bag of frozen peas I found in the back of the freezer.

My plan for the chocolate bars was that everyone one would get one and then we'd have a few left over for later. My dad's plan was that we should cut them up and all try a little bit of each one. Don't tell him I said this, but my dad's plan was much more fun than mine. My mother even found a Picnic bar in the cupboard that we added to the cavalcade of chocolate.

I don't know if my family's St. Andrew's Day was anything like yours, but we had a good time. For me, especially, it helped ease some of the pressure and stress of the past several weeks. But I think my favorite part was when my mother remarked how proud my Grandfather would be, knowing that we were celebrating our Scottish heritage. I hope you too find time to celebrate your heritage during this coming holiday season.

****
There are at least four recounts in the county where I live and work. Consequently, I have no idea what my schedule will be like between now and the New Year. Hopefully, it will be much less hectic and allow me to start posting more regularly again.

The SEB pauses for the US Election

2012-10-21T15:06:00.001-04:00

My current (temporary) day job is at my local Board of Elections in a large metropolitan county in a swing state. As you can imagine we have been busy and getting busier every minute. I hardly have time to eat, let alone to work on my book or blog. Consequently, while I'm working hard at the BoE, the SEB will be on vacation. The SEB and I will both be back some time after 6 November 2012; work at the BoE does not slow down until after the election is certified at the end of the month.

For more information on the US Election visit the USA.gov Voting and Election page here.

International Stories from the University of Glasgow

2012-10-14T10:24:00.000-04:00

I've been catching up on my reading this weekend and in my stack of magazines I found the most recent issue of Avenue, the publication for alumni and friends of the University of Glasgow. In this issue was a piece about the International Story Project which aims to uncover the history of the university's international students and staff. Sounds like the university is attempting to trace its own diaspora.

The results of the research will be posted on The University of Glasgow's International Story Blog. Read more about the project on the blog's About page. The blog archive can be searched by country or by month. Current stories span the globe and the centuries from James Wilson who helped draft the US Constitution in 1787 to Rinzaburo Shida, a Japanese electrical engineer, who attended the University in 1880.

The International Story Team would be happy to hear from you if you have details on "pioneering international alumni and staff," via their contact page.

Voice of the Scottish People: Seminar Series at the University of Glasgow

2012-10-07T05:00:00.000-04:00

University of Glasgow

Vox Populi: The Voice of the Scottish People in History is year-long seminar series presented by the University of Glasgow. Each seminar, which is free and open to the public, will be accompanied by an essay on the same topic in the Scotsman. Read more about the series here and find a list of seminars and speakers here.

The first seminar was September 25, 2012 on the "Declaration of Arbroath and its Legacy" by my supervisor Professor Edward J. Cowan and Professor Roger Mason. You can read their essay in the Scotsman here.

Two talks which I particularly wish I could attend are "National Opinion and the Union Question in the Union of the Crowns" by my good friend Dr. Karin Bowie and "Republican Reality: Scotland and the United States of America (1790-1820)" by Dr. Emma Macleod. However, I shall have to content myself with the published essays.

This seminar series along with Billie Kay's radio series on Scottish Nationalism ought to help keep members of all Scotland's Diasporas (see previous posts here, here, and here) engaged with the real Scotland.

History of Scottish Nationalism: A New Series from BBC Scotland

2012-09-30T11:08:00.000-04:00

Scott's View

The Cause: A History of Scottish Nationalism is a new five-part radio series from BBC Scotland presented by Billy Kay.

From the press release:

In The Cause, Billy Kay explores themes of identity, culture, history and politics to trace the development of Scottish nationalism and its political expression in the rise of the SNP. Billy speaks to nationalists who have devoted their lives to a movement which a few decades ago was regarded as peripheral and irrelevant, but which is now at the centre of national life. These include veterans like former Party Chairman James Halliday and editor of the Scots Independent Jim Lynch, seminal figures like Gordon Wilson and Winnie Ewing, and the family of the hugely important figure of “King” John MacCormick – all tell their version of their story from within the movement. Others recall the sneers, the personal hostility and animosity their Scottish patriotism provoked at one time and the sacrifices many people made for the cause of Scottish independence in the past. Modern Scottish nationalism is expressed by Humza Yousaf MSP, whose father was the first Asian member of the SNP, and by First Minister Alex Salmond who looks forward with optimism to the future.

Read the post about the series on the BBC Scotland Radio blog here.

The series is only available on the BBC iPlayer here, not as a podcast. Episode 1 ends today (30 September 2012). Episode 2 airs tomorrow (1 October 2012).

with thanks to Karin Bowie

Crafting a Nation's Heritage: The Scottish Diaspora Tapestry

2012-09-23T08:14:00.000-04:00

The team behind the successful Battle of Prestonpans Tapestry, completed in 2010, is back at work. In May 2012, they launched a website announcing the Scottish Diaspora Tapestry to be completed in time for Homecoming 2014.

Inspired in part by Billy Kay's The Scottish World a Journey into the Scottish Diaspora, the Tapestry organizers aim to include embroidered squares representing the stories of 27 diaspora communities worldwide. A current list of countries is here. One or two communities from each country have been selected to design and embroider their own square. If your community is not listed and you have a story, a designer, and an embroiderer, you can contact the Project Leaders via a contact form.

At their website you can subscribe to a newsletter, see a completed square, and learn more about the project. At present, the communities within each country are not listed and only one book appears in the bibliography. I expect that each of this sections of the website will be expanded in due course.

War, Identities, and Scotland's Diaspora: Day Conference (15 Sept 2012)

2012-09-09T10:32:00.000-04:00

On 15 September 2012, the National Museum of Scotland and the Scottish Centre for Diaspora Studies will host a one-day conference, Homelands: War, Identities, and Scotland's Diaspora from 1880 to present. It will take place from 10:00 to 16:00 at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. Read more about the conference here and order tickets here.

Scheduled speakers include Dr. Tom Devine, Dr. Tanja Buetlemann (The Scottish Diaspora Blog), David Forsyth, Dr. Esther Breitenbach, Yvonne McEwan, and Dr. Stuart Allan. View the complete program here [PDF].

If you live close enough to Edinburgh to attend the conference it would be a great opportunity to either learn more about the historic context of the life of a military ancestor or find out what's new in the academic world of Scottish Diaspora studies. I would imagine that since the conference is co-sponsored by the NMS and open to the general public, that the speakers will tailor their papers accordingly, e.g. one would hope that "academic speak" will be kept to a minimum.

The Scots Genetic Journey Continues

2012-09-02T11:00:00.002-04:00

In 2011, Alistair Moffat and Dr. Jim Wilson published their book, The Scots. A Genetic Journey (now available in paperback and Kindle versions). At the same time, BBC Scotland produced a radio series to coincide with the release of the book and I posted about it here, here, here, here, and here. Unfortunately, the radio series was made available via the BBC iPlayer and not as a podcast, so it is no longer possible to listen to it.

I have not had time to read the book yet (in fact I don't even own a copy of it), but Moffat and Wilson have been busily investigating Scotland's DNA ever since through their new company ScotlandsDNA. Apparently, unlike the US, it is not easy to have your DNA tested in the UK. The cost for having your either mtDNA or Y chromosome tested by ScotlandsDNA is £170, males can have their mtDNA tested for an additional £30.

A flurry of articles about the company and their project have appeared this year.

From April: BBC pieces on the ScotlandsDNA project are here and here; a BBC Scotland video clip in which Moffat discusses the project with Fred MacAulay is here (apparently only available in the UK), The Southern Reporter has a piece on the project here.

From June: an article in the Telegraph about a Caithness man with super-ancient mtDNA here.

From August: a summary of Moffat's talk at the Book Festival appears in the Edinburgh Reporter here, a blogger at Genotype likes the project but not Moffat's use of the term identity here (she has a valid point), a 2 minute video clip from STV about the project's results is here (available in the US, I watched it), and finally stories about the findings, including the importance of porridge (oatmeal) are from the Guardian here and the Scotsman here.

Learn more about the principals of ScotlandsDNA at their About page, which includes links to their personal websites. You can also follow ScotlandsDNA on Twitter.

nb. In the interests of full disclosure: I find what DNA can say about migration patterns fascinating. I have absolutely no connection to the company. In fact, I'm pretty sure they don't even know I exist.
Update (9/23/2012): They now know I exist as ScotlandsDNA has followed me back on Twitter and contacted me via email.

New Article: Finding Ancestors in the Scottish Highlands

2012-08-26T10:09:00.001-04:00

One of the biggest challenges while doing my dissertation research was recreating Scotch Settlement, the community of Scottish Highlanders that was the subject of my work. There was no contemporary list of residents, so I had to do an awful lot of family history research in America and in Scotland. I've written an article about this experience in the September/October 2012 issue of Family Chronicle. There is also an article on UK place names and another on Scottish online resources.

Get your issue today at Books-A-Million, Barnes & Nobles, Chapters, through the app on iTunes, or a pdf version from the publisher.

Statistical Accounts of Scotland

2012-08-19T10:30:00.000-04:00

Inspiration for today's post again comes via Facebook. This morning Scotland's Genealogy linked to the above video on the Statistical Accounts of Scotland.

In the five-minute video Dr. Helen Chisholm of EDINA provides background to the two Statistical Accounts and walks viewers through the website. The First Statistical Account is from the 1790s and the Second Account is from the 1830s. While they won't provide names and dates, they do provide excellent "snapshots" of all Scotland's parishes.

Visit the main page for the Statistical Accounts is here, view a slideshare tour of the Accounts here, or read more about them at Scottish GENES here. If you like historical tweets you can follow the Statistical Accounts on Twitter here; each post links to a specific page in the various accounts.

Flowers, Scotland, Song

2012-08-12T10:48:00.000-04:00

I've been working on client research and book research this week to the exclusion of almost all else. Consequently, I'm was feeling a little uninspired for blogging today. But inspiration hit in the form a Facebook post by History Scotland. They post about events in Scottish history just about daily and it seems that on this date, 12 August, in 1990, Roy Williamson of the Corries and author of Flower of Scotland died at the age of 54.

Flower of Scotland is the official anthem of two Scottish sporting teams and was selected to represent Scotland during the opening ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympics. Along with Scotland the Brave it has become one of Scotland's unofficial national anthems.

Since Flower of Scotland did not appear, as far as I know, on any of the Andy Stewart albums my family had, I didn't became aware of it until I lived in Glasgow. I got the impression, from those around me, that it was about William Wallace. It's actually about Robert the Bruce's defeat of Edward II at the Battle of Bannockburn. In a post-Braveheart world, it's easy to see how Wallace, Bruce, and Bannockburn could get all mixed up.

Lyrics in English, Scots, and Gaelic plus a bit of history are here at Wikipedia; analysis of Flower of Scotland as a nationalist hymn at the Modern History Sourcebook is here along with lyrics of that and other national Scottish tunes, a podcast from In Our Time on the Battle of Bannockburn is here (scroll down, the original air date was 2 February 2011), and finally, the official Flower of Scotland tartan is here,

Olympics Fun: NBC Reporter Takes Field Trip to Glasgow

2012-08-05T07:35:00.001-04:00

NBC reporter and former tennis player, Mary Carillo, was on assignment in Glasgow recently learning about kilts and bagpipes. The piece originally aired during NBC's prime time coverage August 4, 2012. While searching for the video online (NBC didn't make it easy to find on their Olympics page), I found a few complaints about the piece, mostly that it interrupted the actual games and medal ceremonies, and some cheers for the Red Hot Chili Pipers who are featured in the video. I didn't like that she insisted on calling kilts skirts and mispronounced Glasgow. You think I'd be used to it since so many Americans do these things, but I'm not. Other than that, I thought it was fun report and enjoyed hearing the pipes and seeing a bit of my other hometown.

Go here to see the video (at least for viewers in the US, I have no idea if it will play in other regions).

7 Aug Update: Thanks to reader Pat who commented that the video is only available in the US. (see below).

Bits and Bobs from the Twitter-verse

2012-07-29T16:29:00.000-04:00

I have this habit of sending links from Twitter to my email account under the belief that I will read them later in the day. Weeks later, when there are about a bazillion links in my Twitter email folder, I no longer remember what I sent myself. Today, I thought I would be diligent and look through the folder before it got super-huge again. Here are a few I'm glad I saved:

First in honor of the Olympics: A Know-It-All's Guide To Olympic Music http://t.co/P1GOf2Pk -- NPR News (@nprnews). You can read or listen to the story, they also have a link to the Olympic Anthem, aka Bugler's Dream. Then from @lynncorrigan a link to a nifty London tube map pinterest.com/pin/2215208753…

To learn about the city hosting the Olympics you can listen to: Docs: London Calling: The London Chronicles - 14 Jul 2012. Can a city retain a memory and if so what does it... http://t.co/AflBjKC2 -- BBC Podcasts (@bbc_podcasts) or watch This videographic explains the trends in population, immigration and housing that have made London what it is today http://t.co/UcaEmMbO -- The Economist (@TheEconomist)

Two of my favorite things, architecture and podcasts, come together in Unbuilt Britain looks at the UK landmark buildings that never were: http://t.co/MpCXZusF Read more: @BBCNews http://t.co/h6QKen7L -- BBC Radio 4 (@BBCRadio4). The first episode features of the unfinished Liverpool Cathedral.

In preparation for 2014 there is: NTS News: Battle of Bannockburn brand and website launched in Hollywood style: The branding and website (www.bat... http://t.co/F5xjrToj -- Scottish History (@ScottishHistory) and learn about funded events for Homecoming Scotland here (actually this was from the Linkedin Group, Homecoming Scotland 2014.)

If you have a yen for history there you can Learn about the Jacobite (and Stuart) family tree by watching a 4-minute film from Scotland’s National Portrait Gallery http://t.co/HauC7Zcp -- ScotlandsPeople (@ScotlandsPeople) or read A new book aims to identify the distinctive contribution made by Scotland to the British Empire: bit.ly/MFoWqE from History Today (@HistoryToday). One of the editors of this books is Tom Devine. Seriously, I don't know how that man finds time to sleep and eat!

Rather search for emigrants? Then try New searchable online resource from NLS, Scottish Post Office directories from 1773 to 1911 http://t.co/G7MqKWVH -- Scottish History (@ScottishHistory)

Look at pretty pictures here: The Courier: Britain From Above — historic photo archive goes online http://t.co/u4NgucGh -- Scottish History (@ScottishHistory)

And finally, just for fun, 8 reasons why Twitter can boost your happiness: http://t.co/fF4pZTxf -- Gretchen Rubin (@gretchenrubin).

Thanks to all the Tweeters for sharing such great stories and helping me craft this week's post!

Happy Reading and be sure to go for gold in all that you do this week.

EmigranThursday: Angus McBean of Baltimore

2012-07-26T08:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to a one-off return of EmigranThursday which features Angus McBean of Baltimore, Maryland. I have recently learned that FamilySearch has made digital copies for some of their microfilm holdings available online. To see what is available for the country you are interested in go to FamilySearch; towards the bottom of the page will be a list of regions. Clicking on any of the links (US, UK, Asia, etc.) will take you to a list of what is available. Look for collections with a little camera icon as they will have links to the actual images. Marriage and death records tend to be indexed; probate records are not. You may have to sign in to see some of the images, but signing up is free (or at least it was when I did it).

While perusing the early will books of Baltimore, MD, the port of entry for many European immigrants, I tripped across the will of Angus McBean recorded in December 1815 on page 86 of Will Book volume 10. Wills have (and continue to be) a crucial component of recreating Scotch Settlement. The formative years of this community were in the early 19th century when there was little documentation. Wills are sometimes the only records of which adult children go with which parents. However, I wish that some of the wills could have been more like Angus McBean's, short, but informative last testament:

The very ill nature of my health induces me to make some arrangements while I have time, being far from my relations and those, especially who have a right to every thing belonging to me after I am dead therefore I do authorize Mr. John Smith to administer on my estate to sell everything to settle accounts and then whatever the amount may be its my will that it be sent home to my two sisters. Margaret and Jane being in Ceipick near Fort William Jane is married to one Ewen Cameron an Margaret is a widow and whereas it became my intention as soon as I heard of the death of her husband to send some assistance to her therefore I order that out of the money sent home she shall have one hundred and twenty dollars first and then the remainder shall be equally divided between them and in case that one of my sisters should die before that time her share shall go to her children.

Angus McBean

Baltimore August 12th 1815

Witnesses: Peter Robertson, Alexander Smith, Alexander McDonald

One of the biggest problems in researching immigrants (either for genealogy or academic projects) is figuring out precisely where they came from. Angus really helps researchers out because he says where he came from and who his family was. Furthermore, his will suggests that he was the only member of his family to come to Baltimore, but was able to connect with the Scottish community in the city. He also felt a responsibility to his family near Fort William and remitted his estate home. I wonder what other details about the Scottish Diaspora are lurking in in US probate records?

Behind-the-Scenes: Reading leads to thinking about Writing

2012-07-22T18:18:00.001-04:00

I don't know whether I'm a perfectionist, thorough, paranoid or just plain crazy - but I have created this incredibly long list of books and articles to read in preparation for the re-write of my dissertation. Many interesting titles have appeared since I completed my PhD and I feel compelled to catch up lest I look stupid. One item on my "to read" list is Tom Devine's new book, but there are also titles on Scottish history, general migration studies, poverty, and the Highlands.

Unfortunately, reading academic writing isn't the same as reading a summer potboiler. Academic works, I'm sorry to say, often aren't structured very well, can be written in a dense and arcane manner, and are frequently more about proving a point than telling a story. Since I am a trained academic, I can speak and read academic-ese but it is hard going even for me, especially if I read outside my discipline. It can be very easy to find something else to do.

I thought it would be useful for my work to learn more about social networks and network analysis. I found a couple of books on Amazon and then requested them through inter-library loan. I was quite excited when they finally arrived, but this excitement was not long-lived. Suffice it to say, these books were not for me: no discussion of using network analysis for historical networks, dull writing, and too much math. I think I'll stick to more popular works on networks like Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks which I've read and Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age which has been sitting, unread, on my bookshelf for almost three years, as well as the work of Everett Rogers and Lawrence Kincaid who write on communication networks. The work of Rogers and Kincaid is definitely academic, but I understood what they were talking about.

This recent immersion into readings in my own field and outside my discipline has sharpened my attitude towards historical/academic writing. Writing and reading is really about communication. I am writing this blog post to communicate my thoughts to you. Likewise with academic writing, we write to communicate our research findings and to make contributions to the field. As a lapsed academic, I don't disagree with this approach. On the other hand, what good is it if you can only communicate effectively to a hundred people and the thousands of other potential readers are scared away by the title of your work.

I think approach-ability is even more important for historians as what we write about, the past, not only belongs to everybody but is often part of the fabric which creates group and individual identity. I don't advocate dumbing down historical research, whitewashing contentious conclusions, or avoiding the argument based nature of modern historical research; but I think that historians could go a long way to making, at least some of their work, more accessible. Most of the books I have read outside my field have been by historians who write successfully for a non-academic, but educated audience: Elaine Pagels, John Dominic Crossan, Gordon S. Wood, Brian Fagan (actually, he's an archaeologist), and Alfred Crosby.

I once saw a review of one of David McCullough's books. I've actually never read any of his work, but I know he has twice won the Pultizer Prize. Anyway, this reviewer accused McCullough of being a "non-academic popularizer." It was meant as an insult, but I actually thought this was the most delicious expression I had ever heard. I thought it was something to aspire to. This probably explains why I never got an academic position. Which of course gives me plenty of time to read and to read some more.

A Few Brave Thoughts

2012-07-15T20:09:00.000-04:00

I saw Brave and must agree with Neil Oliver that it is a lovely film. All my worries were for naught. I suppose one could quibble over the brawny Scots with painted faces wearing poorly fitted kilts, but it's not really worth it.

At its heart Brave is a modern tale about the relationship between a mother and daughter. Scotland, a mythical/medieval one at that, is merely the setting. In actuality, Brave could have been set in a mythical/medieval Scandinavia, Russia, India, or China and it would not have detracted from the story. It is not possible to get the history wrong in a fairy tale (well, if you ignore that fact that none of the characters acts like someone in the Middle Ages would).

Critics say that Brave isn't up to Pixar's usual standards. I don't care, I liked it and if given the opportunity, I would see it again. The scenery is lovely as is the animation. Merida's hair deserves its own Oscar, it is that amazing. Seriously. Would it be bad of me to hope that Brave is the next Braveheart and encourages a new generation of people to learn about Scottish history and literature and even to visit Scotland?

Behind-the-Scenes: A Tale of Two Sentences

2012-07-08T08:00:00.000-04:00

Moy and Dalarossie Parish

On one of my first research trips to Columbiana County, I visited the Salem Public Library. Sitting on their shelves was a photocopy of "A History of the McBane-McKenzie Clan" published in 1955. I gave it a cursory examination and what stuck in my mind was the opening section: two paragraphs on the great and the good of Moy and Dalarossie parish, then, the seventeenth century misadventures of the McDougall family. The worked seemed to be just anecdotes about fighting Clans (how American!) and unsubstantiated stories about high-ranking individuals who lived a century before those I was interested in. I put the book back on the shelf.

The following summer, Mr. Woodrow handed me a collection of papers from his collection that he thought I would find useful. Among them was "A History of the McBane-McKenzie Clan." Oh my. This time I read it much more carefully. The first half was the story of Donald McDougall's family and their association with the Church of Scotland in Moy and Dalarossie parish. His daughter Elizabeth, her husband Lachlan McBean, and their children emigrated to Scotch Settlement in 1817. The original history had been written in a small notebook by William McDougall on his visit to Ohio in 1888. Subsequent research confirmed much of what was contained in this history, particularly regarding the Church of Scotland.

Charles Fraser-Mackintosh, was an Inverness lawyer, MP, and advocate for Gaelic during the second half of the 19th century. He also amassed an enormous collection of documents relating to the landed families from the southeastern Highlands (now at the National Records of Scotland, GD/128). Much of this data he published in a series of volumes in the late 19th century. In An Account of the Confederation of Clan Chattan. It's Kith and Kin published in 1898, he relates the history of the McQueens of Corrybrough, a small estate in Moy and Dalarossie Parish. He provides a list of tenants on the estate in 1811 when the estate was cleared and the tenants evicted (GD128/37/12). His point was that in 1811 probably 100 people lived on the estate and in 1898 nobody did.

I was much more interested in what followed: "The dispossessed people emigrated chiefly to the United States, and in the year 1890 their settlement in Ohio was visited by one of the respected Macdougall family, who reported "that they had formed a prosperous colony in the State of Ohio, and he found that many of them spoke Gaelic well." I suppose it's really only one sentence, but it certainly seemed like two when I first found it.

My next step was to see if these refugees from the only large-scale clearance to occur in Moy and Dalarossie parish actually turned up in Ohio. I haven't completed my investigation, but it seems at least two of the tenants might have turned up in Scotch Settlement, Alexander McQueen and Donald McPherson; two tenants, Donald McQueen and James McQueen, remained on the Corrybrough estate; two tenants, John Davidson and Alexander McIntosh, seem to have relocated to other farms in the parish. If this is a major clearance, it seems to be a bit of a bust. And actually, this is quite common: tenants either negotiated with their landlords or simply didn't go.

Why then would Fraser-Mackintosh and residents in Moy and Dalarossie parish say that there was one sizable eviction and everyone went to America, particularly Ohio? My research has shown the Moy and Dalarossie had been steadily loosing population since at least 1790, if not earlier, and that much, but not all, of this out-migration was directed to Scotch Settlement in Ohio. Therefore it is not surprising that those remained would believe that those evicted had gone to the "heart of it all." The 1870s saw a rise in the demand for land reform in the Highlands and a call for security of tenure. This movement culminated in the Napier Commission of 1883. Fraser-Mackintosh, a noted supporter of crofters rights and the Gaelic language, was a member of this commission. So, it suited his purpose to state that the 100 people had been pushed out of the Highlands who became productive Gaelic-speaking citizens in America, could just as easily done so in Scotland if it weren't for shortsighted landlords.

For my part, while I'm disappointed the connection between those "warned" in 1811 and Scotch Settlement isn't more robust, I am delighted by the confirmation of William McDougall's visit to Ohio ca. 1890, the continued use of Gaelic in the Settlement, and the strong ties between Moy and Dalarossie parish and Ohio.