THE CROFTERS
Contact: Myrtle Bridges
The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), Saturday, March 01, 1884 On Thursday 12 of the Scotch "Crofters" passed through Raleigh, from Philadelphia, on their way to Laurinburg. They were the first installment of the first party who make North Carolina their home. Mr. Frank W. Clark, G.F. & P. A., went to Norfolk, Thursday to meet the second party, sixty in number. In conversation with a reporter, at Norfolk, Thursday night, he said there would be several hundred of the crofters to come here. The steamer on which the crofters left Scotland was compelled to put back into port owing to a storm. Her passengers were put aboard two vessels and brought to America. These vessels were greatly delayed by gales, and the first did not arrive at Philadelphia until Tuesday, and the last on Thursday. In the next few months many of the crofters will arrive in this country, all of whom will settle in North Carolina. It is possible that Miss Elizabeth McLeod, the young Scotch lady who so greatly interested herself in the matter of inducing the crofters to come to North Carolina, may accompany one party here. She visited the State about two years ago, spending much time in Richmond County. Thursday's Philadelphia "Press" says: Among the passengers who landed here Wednesday were twelve Scotchmen, who came from one of the Orkneys, an island to the north of Scotland. This island a rich lord has purchased for a country seat, and has given the inhabitants a sum of money and paid their passage to this country. In this manner he obtains complete control of the whole island, which he will devote to hunting, and to his horses and dogs. It was ex pected that the entire company would come together, but the rest will be brought over by the Ohio. The twelve who came started at once for North Carolina, where they will proceed to found a new colony. A prominent Scotchman, interviewed at New York lately, gave some information about the crofters. He said: "There is a very good practical reason why these poor people are coming. The crofters in Scotland have not got land enough to support them and their kinsmen in North Carolina have more thay they want. A croft consists of only a quarter of an acre, and the crofters think that if every second crofter goew away two crofts can be consolidated into one larger croft, and the men of Richmond county are willing to give thirty or forty acres to each of the fifty families that are coming, in order to build up the population and imporve the value of their properties. I know the highlands of Scotland and the crofters; they are a fine, sturdy race, with large families of hearty children, and will, I think, do well in their new homes, although they had not a cent and will have to acquire new habits of life, for they are chiefly fishermen at home. Those that are coming are mostly Lord McDonald's tenants, for Lady Cathcart is sending her superfluous crofters to Manitoba," Last evening the second detachment of the Crofters arrived. They were in charge of Capt. F.W. Clark and Mr. J.S. Coley. Commissioner John T. Patrick joined them here and went on to Laurinburg. A reporter boarded the train and talked with the Crofters. The men are big and burly, with good faces, while the women and "bairns" are ruddy and rosy. The names of the party are as follows: Donald McPHERSON, wife, and children Ewan, Johanna, Frederika, Donald D. and Duncan; Mendo MURRAY; Robert McDONALD; Donald McINTOSH; Angus McMILLAN, children Catharine, Sandy, Katie, Mary, Isabella, Angus; Miss Catherine MATHESON; John FINLAYSON, Mrs. Isabella FINLAYSON, Peter and Annie, children; Frederick McKENZIE, Marion his wife, Alex, Malcolm, Gustave, George, Donald, children; John McKENZIE, Jane his wife, An, Malcolm, Johnson, Murdock, children; Miss Alexander NICHOLSON, Alex. FINLAYSON, Ann, his wife; Alexander McDONALD, Mary his wife, Lauchlin, Donald and Simon, children; Neil McMILLAN, Augusta, his wife, Marion, child; Donald MATHESON, Flora, Augusta, Alex, his children; Alex. FINLAYSON, Kate, his wife, Donald, Alex, Christopher, Marion Finlay, Peggy, children; Malcolm FINLAYSON, Mary, his wife Finla, Donald, children; John NICHOLSON; James NICHOLSON; John NICHOLSON; Donald McPHERSON. At 4 o'clock this morning the party will arrive at their destination and will meet wih a hearty welcome. Last evening lunch was served upon the train. The crofters said they were glad to get to America, and especially pleased to be in North Carolina.
THE trouble with the crofters of the isle of Skye and their Landlord is of a different character from the rent troubles in Ireland The Cleveland Herald (Cleveland, Ohio), Saturday, November 25, 1882 The trouble with the crofters of the Island of Skye and their landlord is of a different character from the rent troubles in Ireland. The people of the island are miserably poor, and have been still more impoverished by the failure of the trade in kelp, or sea-weed, and by the potato famine. They all keep a few sheep which have been for a long time allowed to graze on the disforested mountain side as "commons." The landownder, Lord Macdonald, has withdrawn the tenants' privilege of free pasture on the mountainside, but insists on still collecting the full rent on their small holdings. They refuse to pay rent unless the right of free pasturage is restored, and it is not easy to see how they could do it even then. From the crofters side of the story-and all the published accounts have taken that side-it would seem that Lord Macdonald has more land than heart, especially as it is intimated that his real object is to get rid of the sheep and their owners together, leaving his part of the island for deer stalking uses only.
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