1768-1773
1768 UNKNOWN SHIP, In 1768 the Scots Magazine Described their preparations for departure: "We hear also that a number of Col. Fraser's late battalion of Highlanders, both officers and private men, are preparing to embark for the Island of St. John's, which lies in the Gulf of St Lawrence, between Nova Scotia and Cape Breton.(later called Prince Edward Island) They all have lands granted them on that island by the government." The Fraser's Highlanders appear to have come out to the St. Peter's area of Prince Edward Island in 1769, but few details about this group have survived.
1769 UNKNOWN SHIP In 1769, it is believed that Capt. Robert Stewart of Kintyre, a friend and former comrade in arms of George Washington during the Seven Years War, sent out an advance party to prepare a settlement site at Malpeque in Lot 18, which was his grant. As with the Fraser's Highlanders' emigration of 1769, the first arrival of Argyll settlers in that same yeare is almost entirely undocumented.
1770 THE ANNABELLA, in 1770, brought out about 60 families (210 settlers) from Kintyre, Argyllshire in Scotland, who believed they were going to the Carolinas. Instead they landed on PEI, where they settled on half of lot 18 (Malpeque) which had been granted to Robert Stewart. This man was brother to Peter Stewart, who later became Chief Justice of PEI. On board the ANNABELLA, was another Robert Stewart, the brother in law of the proprietor, and Ramsays, McGougans, McKenzies, McArthurs, McDougalls, Murphys, Englands and McKays. Unfortunately, the vessel was wrecked on the treacherous sand bars off the Island's north shore and most of the cargo was lost, making for a very difficult first season in Prince Edward Island. The following autumn about 70 more settlers came to Malpeque.
1770 UNKNOWN SHIP, possibly the ANNABELLA again, in the summer of 1770, with agents Montgomery and Stewart, brought 120 families to Cove Head and Three Rivers PEI.
1770 The FALMOUTH, The first documented crossing from the Highlands to P.E.I. actually occurred several months prior to that of the Annabella, when the Falmouth made landfall off Malpeque on the 1st of June 1770, with some 120 from Perthshire. It had left Greenock Scotland at five o'clock in the afternoon of april 18 1770 bound for Prince Edward island. The Falmouth, after 61 days at sea, made land at Stanhope on june 7 1770, and came to anchor at 7:00 in the evening. Interestingly, it was the observations of one of the pioneers in this vessel, Rev. William Drummond, which confirmed the tradition that Scottish settlement in Prince Edward Island pre dated this first recorded migration. In his diary entry for the 2nd of June, he recorded that there were already "a great many Scotch, Irish and French families" in the area, suggesting that the traditions about 1769 settlement from Argyll were true. The Falmouth passengers had been recruited by James Montgomery, Lord Advocate of Scotland, for his property in the Covehead Stanhope area about 30 miles to the east of Malpeque. While his settlers appear to have prospered in their new homes, Montgomery, like Capt. Robert Stewart, eventually abandoned the idea of seeing a large return from his New World ventures and there was little further effort to bring emigrants to these new settlements from the old home districts in Scotland.
1771 The EDINBURGH, after the loss of the previous ship's cargo, in response to the loss, the following summer, the Edinburgh, was dispatched with new supplies and approximately 70 new settlers including Hugh Montgomery and Mary MacShenaig, from Southend, Kintyre, ancestors of Lucy Maud Montgomery, the Island's most famous author.
1771 The EDINBURGH, after the loss of the previous ship's cargo, in response to the loss, the following summer, the Edinburgh, was dispatched with new supplies and approximately 70 new settlers including Hugh Montgomery and Mary MacShenaig, from Southend, Kintyre, ancestors of Lucy Maud Montgomery, the Island's most famous author.
1771 UNKNOWN SHIP, brought a settlement from Argyllshire to the West side of Richmond Bay, PEI.
1771 UNKNOWN SHIP, an advance ship sent out by Glenaladale to PEI to prepare for the settlers on PEI.
1771 UNKNOWN SHIP, "A large colony of the wealthiest and substantial people of Skye are preparing to go to the fertile and cheap lands in America. It is to be dreaded that these migrations prove hurtful to the mother country. The number was 370 and the reason for this emigration was rise in rents" - Scots Magazine "From Sky have gone to Carolina last harvest 375 souls who are safely arrived, & as many more are to go next summer The whole tribe of us Macien oigs are going off at this time to a man excepting your two brothers & Old Lochans & his son Donald, (Old Lochans was referred to as "my old landlord by Prince Charles. His son, Donald, was evicted from their ancestral property after Glenaladale wrote this letter) Source: A HISTORY OF SKYE, by Alexander Nicholson page 204.
1772 THE ALEXANDER, hired by Captain John Macdonald the 8th chief of Glenaladale. It brought out 210 new settlers from Loch Boisdale, Uist, to PEI in June of 1772, to lot 36 in the Tracadie district, later called Scotchfort. The Scottish landlord of the settlers who came was Alexander or "Big Sandy" Macdonald, laird of Boisdale in South Uist. He was a strong Presbyterian, and most of his tenants who lived at Boisdale were Roman Catholic. He tried converting his people by force to Presbyterianism, and when Captain John Macdonald of Glenaladale heard of this, he determined to help these people. Most of the passengers were Macdonalds, but there were also MacEacherns, MacKenzies, McPhees, Campbells, Beatons, Gillises, MacRaes, MacIntoshes and Mackinnons. With these new settlers came a doctor and a priest. Roderick Macdonald a graduate of Edinburgh University was the first medical doctor, and the Rev. James Macdnald a cousin of Captain John, was the first British born priest on the island. The ALEXANDER after a vogage of 7 weeks, arrived at Charlottetown in June of 1772. Donald Macdonald, Captain John's brother, forced the captian to take the ship up the Hillsborough river as far as possible. From there the settlers portaged their belongings overland to the head of Tracadie Bay. He recruited about 110 people from Moidart, mostly relatives and fellow tacksmen, then set sail for South Uist to embark Boisdale's tenants. However, when he arrived there he found that Boisdale had been working hard to undermine people's confidence in the venture, convincing many that Glenaladale intended to make slaves of them and that they would starve in the North American wilderness. In the end, only nine families from his estate decided to take the risk and emigrate. Additional families were added in Barra to help make up for the reduced numbers of South Uist people, and in 1772, the Alexander set sail for Prince Edward Island with 210 settlers. The Glenaladale settlement at Tracadie represented a microcosm of 18th century Gaelic society clan chief, tacksmen, tenant farmers, herdsmen, fishermen, sailors, military men, tradesmen, a doctor, a teacher and a priest, Some who had never left their home district in the Highlands, others who had been educated as far afield as Paris and Rome and almost all travelling in family groups. Among them was one Sea Captain, Big Michael Macdonald.
1773, UNKNOWN SHIP, (Possibly the Alexander again,) In the following year, Captain John brought out more settlers. Some of these settlers decided not to stay, and moved on to other settlements on PEI, or Cape Breton and elsewhere. John MacDonald, who had been an infant at the time, was trained to succeed his father as chief of the MacIain Oig branch of the Clan Donald (in P.E.I. the Glenaladales were known as "Clann Mhic Iain Oig na Sgail" "the descendants of Young John of Sgail". "Young John" was the second son of the first John of Moidart, chief of Clanranald, however, the precise meaning or location of "Sgail" no longer seems to be known)
1773 UNKNOWN SHIP, "800 persons from Skye have engaged a vessel at Greenock to take them to North Carolina. The fare to be 3.10 pounds." - The Edinburgh Courant of 1773., Source: HISTORY OF SKYE, by Alexander Nicholson page 204.
1790 THE LUCY, Arisaig to PEI. Arisaig to PEI. left from Dimindarach and Duchames with the Jane. they contained 328 passengers, mainly Roman Catholics from the Clanranald estates bound for PEI. Passenger lists survive for this sailing. There were 53 heads of families on board the Jane and 34 heads of families on board the Lucy. Of these , only 17 on the Jane and 5 on the Lucy travelled unaccompanied meaning that 36 heads of families on the former vessel and 29 on the latter, or 75% of the total heads of families emigrated with some sort of family grouping. There were 129 children under 12 on these two vessels, and the average family size for those coming to the island with familes was 4.69 for the Jane, and 4.72 for the Lucy. Not all heads of families are assigned an occupation, but of those that are, 26 are listed as tenant, 4 as resident, and 6 given craft or merchant employment. the term resident is not at all clear, but the term tenant meant that the individual so designated held land and livestock, which in highland terms placed him in the middling ranks of society. Those emigrating had enough captial to pay for their passages. most appear to have settled on lots 36, 37, and 38 along the Hillsborough river. Lot 36 was Captain John Macdonald's estate, suggesting some connection between the Macdonald family and the emigrants, even if not a sponsoring relationship. Lot 37 was being developed by Jack Stewart and was adjacent to Macdonald land, while lot 38 was controlled by George Burns. Both Stewart and Burns were in Britain at this time, and may have made some contact or arrangements with the leaders of the new arrivals. These people were Catholic and settled along the Hillsborough river. Father Angus MacEachern who accompanied the emigrants on lot 38 at savage harbour. Captain Augustin Macdonald, brother of Captain John of Glenaladale was probably connected with this passage.