Everyday life of a Scottish colonist in America

by Daure

Hey Everybody! I was hoping somebody might be able to give me some information about and/or point me towards some resources about the Scottish colonies in America (Like Nova Scotia or Darien) and what a colonist might have done in their daily life. Was it pretty much the same as English colonists, or were there some extra parts unique to the Scots? Thanks and have a good day!

GeneralLeeBlount

I know you said Scottish, but I'm assuming Highlanders specifically. They worked, they went to church on Sundays, but they retained some amounts of their culture. They kept their holidays such as Hogmanay, their traditional music and dance, Gaelic would be prevalent in all their daily affairs, and kept a clanlike system.

I wish I could find actual primary sources on the daily life of a Scotsman in the American colonies, but most of what I can find are secondhand sources. Most settled after the Seven Years war in New York, Georgia, North Carolina, and some in Virginia. If you're thinking tartan kilts and broadswords as a daily occurrence, there's no current evidence of it as a daily clothing item. The tartan proscription did not extend to the colonies, but the likelihood that they wore it is somewhat slim. I do have some evidence that they came over on boats while dressed in their "Highland habit" but none to say they wore it daily.

The clanlike system occurred within counties and the provincial government. North Carolina had a population of Highland Scots in Cumberland County, which is Fayetteville today, and the by the 1760s their delegates usually if not always included Highlanders as representation. They remained loyal to these delegates, who turned out to be Loyalists later on, throughout the war and would always vote for them. I must speculate that this means these Highland delegates spoke English and maybe Gaelic, giving them power in both of worlds. When the war broke out, the Highlanders looked toward their leaders which included Allan MacDonald, husband of Flora MacDonald, and the delegates Farquhar Campbell, Alexander MacAlastair, for direction. MacDonald started recruiting among the Highland population for a Loyalist battalion in summer 1775. But that is another discussion.

White People, Indians, and Highlanders: Tribal People and Colonial Encounters in Scotland and America by Colin Calloway

Highland Scots of North Carolina, 1732-1776 by Duane Meyer