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Renfrewshire Community Plan 2008 - 2017 Emigration societies
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In 1772 a group of tenant farmers from Renfrewshire and Dumbartonshire formed the "Scots American Company of Farmers" with the aim of "purchasing and improving lands within H.M. dominions in North America". The group, 193 strong, became known as the "Inchinnan Company" due to the large number of members from Inchinnan. It was agreed that some members would emigrate, and some would stay at home and speculate in the land bought.
Two men, James Whitelaw and David Allen, were sent to America to look for land. They travelled through Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina before buying 23,000 acres in Ryegate, New York (later Vermont). They bought it from Dr Witherspoon, former minister of the Low Parish in Paisley. By 1774, when more emigrants from the Company arrived, they found work had begun in clearing the land, planting crops and building houses. All of those who settled in Ryegate prospered, including James Whitelaw who rose to became the Surveyor-General of Vermont.
By the 1840s the colonies of America, Canada and Australia were desperate to recruit able bodied men and their families. Newspapers carried advertisements for ships sailing to the colonies.
This advertisement appeared in 1843 and states: "A free passage will be granted to
a limited number of Married Agricultural Labourers, Shepherds, Carpenters, Smiths, Wheelwrights, Bricklayers, and Masons,
(for whom the most urgent demand exists in the Colony), provided they be of competent skill and good character and accompanied by their wives; also to Unmarried Domestic and Field Servants..."
a limited number of Married Agricultural Labourers, Shepherds, Carpenters, Smiths, Wheelwrights, Bricklayers, and Masons,
(for whom the most urgent demand exists in the Colony), provided they be of competent skill and good character and accompanied by their wives; also to Unmarried Domestic and Field Servants..."
More emigration societies sprang up to help people raise the funds needed to make the journey, such as the Paisley Townhead Society whose members set sail for Canada in the 1820s and the Paisley New Zealand and Australian Emigration Society, who sent a group of weavers to Australia in 1852 aboard the "Beejapore".
In July 1853 the local newspaper The Paisley Herald and Renfrewshire Advertiser published a letter from James Fergusson, one of the emigrants who sailed on the Beejapore. His letter told of some of the hardships of the journey:
In July 1853 the local newspaper The Paisley Herald and Renfrewshire Advertiser published a letter from James Fergusson, one of the emigrants who sailed on the Beejapore. His letter told of some of the hardships of the journey:
"...We had a good passage of 84 days, and we had to lie five weeks in quarantine. We had above a hundred deaths of children from fever and measles. The Paisley people lost a good many..."
On arrival, James took up employment as a shepherd, and his wife as a "hutkeeper". Finding a job had presented no difficulty:
"I could have got five masters all at once...In fact Scotch people are much in request - every person wants them."
His letter tells of the interesting things he has seen: golddiggers on their way to the goldfields, flocks of wild ducks and beautiful parrots, and a "4ft guanna like a crocodile". In finishing, he urges:
"If you have a mind to come out, I think it would be the best thing you could do."
For more information on Renfrewshire's history, contact the Local Studies Library:
- email: locstuds.els@renfrewshire.gov.uk
- phone: 0141 889 2360
- fax: 0141 887 6468
- write to:
Reference and Local Studies Library
Central Library
68 High Street
Paisley
PA1 2BB
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