A Very Fine Class of Immigrants: Prince Edward Island's Scottish Pioneers, 1770–1850

Previous studies of early Scottish emigration to the New World have tended to concentrate on the miseries of evictions and the destruction of old communities. In this groundbreaking study of the influx of Scots to Prince Edward Island, the widely held assumption that emigration was solely a flight from poverty is challenged. By uncovering previously unreported ship crossings, as well as a wide range of manuscripts and underused sources such as customs records and newspaper shipping reports, the book provides the most comprehensive account to date of the influx of Scots to the island. A Very Fine Class of Immigrants is essential reading for individuals wishing to trace family links or deepen their understanding of how and why the island came to acquire its distinctive Scottish communities. And by accessing, for the first time, shipping sources like Lloyd’s List and the Lloyd’s Shipping Register, the author brings a new dimension to our understanding of emigrant travel. Campey demonstrates that far from sailing on disease-ridden leaky tubs, as popularly imagined, the island’s pioneer Scots usually crossed the Atlantic on the best available ships of the time.