Emigration files AF51
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| AF51/211 Inspection by the Imperial Colonisation Board on Donald Morrison's homestead in 1894. Part I |
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| AF51/211 Inspection by the Imperial Colonisation Board on Donald Morrison's homestead in 1894. Part II |
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| AF51/36.The withdrawn application fromJohn McLeod. "Wife Unwilling". |
On the 18th and 19th of February I visited the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh to have a look at their emigration files (AF51).
The bundle includes a wealth of documents related to the emigration from Lewis and Harris in Scotland to the area around Killarney in south western Mantitoba, Canada (see: case studies).
Among them were applications for aided emigration from inhabitants on the islands. The lists include names, age and occupation of the applicants. While some applications were refused others were withdrawn the most common reason given being the refusal of the wife.
Other documents that will undoubtedly prove useful as our research progresses are inventories of improvements, which were made in 1894 of all the crofters' homesteads in Canada. These documents list the names of the heads of households, their section numbers, the number of acres improved and crops harvested as well as heads of animals, size of houses, machinery and the amount the settlers were in debt.
These documents are particularly interesting as they reveal aspects of the crofters' material culture which indicate how they may have learnt new skills from their neighbors and how these were interwoven with Hebridean traditions and techniques that were carried forth in their new environment.
These documents are particularly interesting as they reveal aspects of the crofters' material culture which indicate how they may have learnt new skills from their neighbors and how these were interwoven with Hebridean traditions and techniques that were carried forth in their new environment.
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