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The Scots
Scotland has seen many evictions and land clearances, beginning in 1609 with the large migration to Ulster, Ireland. The agrarian clearances of Scotland's highlands and islands began in the late 1700's. Evictions accelerated after the 1790 introduction of the Cheviot sheep had taken hold in Scotland. It was soon discovered that one shepherd could replace the work of sixty or more tenant farmers. Mutton and wool became the gold of the highlands and islands. In five years, one estate increased its value from 8 to 80 000 pounds on sheep. There was no longer need or room for the tenants, who could not pay the rent and whose farms were in the way of grazing land. Between 1800 and 1803, 10,000 highlanders were evicted. The clearances continued until the 1880's, and the highland Scots came to be about 5% of the total population of Scotland (Scottish Banner).
As well as clearances from every highland shire on the mainland, the islands were cleared of some of their population in the 1820s to 1840s period, including the Isles of Skye, Mull, Lewis, Arran, Rhum, Coll North Uist, Harris, Barra and Benbecula. A few landlords were merciless in their violent evictions, burning homes from under the tenants and forcing them onto ships in the middle of the night. While not all clearances were as cruel, they all left with little or nothing in terms of possessions or money, and not gladly did they leave their homeland.
The Eastern Township was to become the new homeland for some of these Scots. Megantic County received one contingent from the Isle of Arran. They were among the more fortunate, in that their landlord, the Duke of Hamilton, supported them by paying half their passage over, and by arranging free grants for the first contingent to arrive in Megantic County. Each man over the age of 21 years was to receive one hundred acres in free and common soccage. In all, 500 families were cleared off the Duke of Hamilton's estates on Arran and shipped to Canada.
On April 25th, 1829, a group of Arran Scots from Sannox and Lochranza left Lamlesh on board the ship Caledonia bound for McNab Township, Renfrew County in Upper Canada. Archibald McNab, the self-appointed but unofficial chieftain of McNab Township had come out earlier to escape his creditors in Perthshire, Scotland and set himself up in McNab Township. Legend has it that when McNab arrived in Montreal to meet the Arran contingent in late June, he arrived with bagpipes playing. They soon discovered that McNab intended to collect rents in perpetuity from his new "tenants" and hold all the timber on their land in reserve for his own use. The Arran group of 85 persons, under the leadership of Archibald McKillop, balked at the terms and searched around for a better deal. They camped in Montreal for two weeks while a scouting party went back to investigate Inverness Township in Megantic County, under the recommendations of Immigrant Agent A.C.Buchanan. The arrangement and the site were found to be favourable, so the rest of the group waiting in Montreal went back upriver to St. Nicholas across from Quebec City and walked 40 miles inland to Inverness Township, and that is where they settled.
It was near September 1st before they got onto their lots, too late for planting and with nothing to carry them over the winter. After two months' passage across the Atlantic, two weeks camped out of doors in Montreal, a trek back up the St. Lawrence to St. Nicolas, a forty mile walk through dense forest to Inverness, and nearly two months camped out of doors at the ford, they were finally on their very own 100 acre lots. But the real work of clearing the forest, building a cabin and planting crops was yet to begin.
Reference
Gwen Rawlings Barry, A HISTORY OF MEGANTIC COUNTY, Downhomers of Quebec's Eastern Townships, Evans Books, 1999, pp. 121-123.
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