BEGINNINGS
The story of the Scots settlement in Vernon and the adjacent towns of Waukesha, New Berlin, Waterford, Mukwonago and Genesee, and to a certain extent, beyond, begins with the efforts of Neil McDougall who was an elder in the Associate Reformed (United) Presbyterian Church of York, Livingston County, New York. In that Northern part of Livingston County, in the present townships of Caledonia and York and the adjacent townships of Wheatland (notably the village of Mumford) in Monroe County and Covington in Wyoming County was a substantial Scottish settlement. After some years the immigrations of new Scottish families and the maturing of the younger generation meant that there was not enough room for both the old and the new and young so for the latter two, migration became a necessity.
Over the years migration had developed in that settlement, as in others throughout the country aided by the availability of government land in the West. From this Scottish settlement people had emigrated to Martin, Michigan; Ohio; Canada (there was a connection between this settlement and Galt and Guelph in Ontario then known as Canada West); and other places. Some were moving to Elgin, Illinois and later some went to Tingley, Iowa. Generally they moved as groups or colonies though individuals did move out on there own on occasion. Usually, but not always, the movement was principally straight West wherever land was being sold.
Neil McDougall initiated some land purchases in the Town of Vernon with the intention of beginning a Scottish settlement and appropriately he attracted settlers from the Caledonia-York neighborhood. The settlers would come buying land from him or other land speculators and developers or from the government directly or from earlier 'Yankee' settlers who had come from New York or New England. Kim McKenzie, in his 1910 history of the settlement in Vernon says that his great uncle Neil McDougall had purchased 6-800 acres from the government. Land grant records indicate that he purchased 320 acres in section 12 of Vernon plus 80 acres in section 35 of Waukesha. The 1858 plat map shows a J. McDougall with 160 acres in section 12 and 160 acres belonging to a Mrs. McDougal in section 13. Alexander Mitchell bought 60 acres in section 2 of Vernon in December 1841 and before that 60 acres in section 2 of New Berlin in October 1840. It is not out of line to suggest that this was the Scottish financier Alexander Mitchell who may well have been in contact with the Caledonia-York Scottish community of Neil McDougal. There is good evidence that the Scots in North America were in close touch and knowledgeable about all the other Scottish settlements in North America. Vernon was only one of many colonizations of Eastern Scottish settlements. Nearby Yorkville was a colonization of the Scots in Argyle, Washington County, New York.
LIVINGSTON COUNTY
Let us take a look at the Scots who first settled Livingston County, New York before they came to Waukesha County. They were mostly highlander families. Of course some would come for adventure and for a full variety of reasons but two reasons in particular drove them to America. In 1746 the Scots were defeated by the king's armies at Culloden and the clans were deliberately broken apart as social structures. Clan chiefs were encouraged to switch to sheep farming. This meant that the people of the clans were left without livings and emigration was the only solution though the government was dismayed at the emigration. The experience was a traumatic one as virtually most of the social structure was destroyed and they moved from a tribal existence to one of ethnic interdependence in migration. The most practical place to which they might emigrate in those days was North America.
Emigration began before the American Revolution as we can tell by the dates but the families with which we are concerned came after the revolution even though the reasons were rooted in the results of Culloden years before. Many of the highland Scots who indeed did come before the revolution and settled in New York and North Carolina were driven out of the United States (or left on their own) because they had been loyalists during the revolution. Those in New York went to Canada. The first Scottish families in Livingston County came in 1797. Arriving in New York City they went upstate to Albany and then to the Scottish settlements in Montgomery and Fulton Counties; to Johnstown, Perth and Broad Alpin, named for the place from which many had come; Broad Alpin in Perthshire. Many Scots stayed in New York City but Yellow Fever drove many up North. There were other Scots settlements at this time in the Northeast; principally in Washington and Delaware Counties in New York and Caledonia County in Vermont as well as New York City.
Another reason drove Scots at a later date to North America who ultimately settled in Livingston County: Britain was fighting Napoleon and the Scottish regiments were short of men. Since the Scots were not volunteering they were impressed into service. Many decided that emigration was better than military service so they would go to the port of Greenoch where they would hide until they could secure passage and sneak aboard a ship, for agents of the king were in the city looking for men who were doing just that. It was men such as these, taken from U.S. ships by the British, that led to the war of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain.
The first settlers in Livingston County probably intended to stay at Johnstown except for their scanty possessions. When those first settlers from Perthshire were given the opportunity to settle at the proposed development at the proposed Town of Big Spring they responded as soon as they were sure it was a good offer. The offer to settle at Big Spring which would become Caledonia was from a Mr. Williamson who was developing the land West of the Genesee River. Here the families which would send their sons and daughters West to Wisconsin began to clear the forests and establish farms.
Within a short time another emigration would come; this time from Inverness principally rather than Perthshire (although the community would contain a number also from Argyleshire). It was this group that met the yellow fever in New York. They too settled in Johnstown initially and then moved West to Caledonia. That group came from the port of Greenoch in 1803. Land had now run out and they had to purchase land from the Holland Company to the South of Caledonia in the settlement which would be known as Inverness, but later became part of the newly organized Town of York, Livingston County. There then developed some tensions between the early and late comers which eventually focused in the church in Caledonia which was organized in 1805.
When the church at Caledonia received its long promised land for a building, a question was raised over whether or not the newer people to the South could be members since the land was provided for a church for the buyers of the ORIGINAL tract of land. Out of this tension, in 1810, those who were kept out organized another church-The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church which, of course, after 1858 became the United Presbyterian Church of Caledonia. It is now known as the 'Stone Church' while the original church is known as the 'White Church'. It is generally felt that the real reason that the community split over the church was that many did not approve of the ordination of the minister of the first church, Alexander Denoon.
About two years after Inverness (now York) received its first settlers the community realized that it needed a church more convenient that the A.R.P. Church in Caledonia. Therefore, in 1813 the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church of York was organized. Though both the Caledonia churches and also the Associate Presbyterian Church of York and Covington would send members West to Vernon, the York A.R.P. Church would send more members than any of the other churches in the neighborhood. As to other churches in the neighborhood other than the four mentioned here there is no record available showing that anyone came to Vernon from the Presbyterian Church in Fowlerville or from the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Churches of Buehlah and Mumford. Buehlah wasn't even organized until 1853 and Mumford even later after the denominational merger as a United Presbyterian Church. However, the father of Tom Faulkner Jr. who went to Vernon was an elder in the Mumford Church. The Associate Presbyterian Church of York and Covington which has its building West of York just across the county line was organized by disgruntled members of the A.R.P. Church at York. The reason was that the pastor made a curt remark about a fast being discussed at the church.
The only remaining church in the settlement was also important in the Vernon settlement and that was the Reformed Presbyterian Church of York. In response to preaching begun as early as 1815 in the Genesee Valley the church was organized in 1823. This church had Scottish members of course, including perhaps some who were in New York or New England before the revolution and some Scots from Ireland sometimes known as Scotch-Irish. This congregation would also colonize substantially in Vernon.
WESTWARD MIGRATION
Who would come to Vernon from New York? Virtually a variety of all those Scots in the Caledonia-York neighborhood. Most would be highlanders who had been there for some time. Others would be from Ayrshire or Ulster and a few other places. These would often include those who had come over to America only very recently. Most of the Highlanders would have come initially from Perthshire, Inverness and Argyleshire. The first land grants were made in the Vernon neighborhood in 1839 to David Rea who was an Ulster (County Tyrone) Scot in section 2 of Vernon. He had spent four years in Toronto, and to the McWhorters in sections 7,8 and 9 in New Berlin and sections 27, 34, and 35 in Waukesha. The McWhorters oriented to Waukesha and the Presbyterian Church there. They came overland (a six week journey) from their home near Salem, Washington County, New York, one of New York's major Scottish settlements along with the Johnstown area, the Delaware Valley, New York City and Livingston County area. Joseph McNeill had a land grant in sections 28 and 31 in Waukesha.
The real settlement from the East apparently began with the McDougall grants in Vernon and Waukesha townships in 1840. It is difficult to ascertain as to just when certain persons or families came. People were usually or often on the scene before they bought land. Many never bought land or worked for wages first so that the first Vernon census was in 1838 before the Scots came and all but one resident were from Andover Township, Vermont. The 1842 Milwaukee census is completely inadequate for it missed too many people who had to be in the neighborhood by then. There would be no accurate census until 1850. By then some would have already moved on and did. Another thing complicating our understanding as to who was here is that the records often misspelled the names and brothers would spell their names differently. Many families were represented by married women so that their names would be lost in the records here, although the gravestones often had the maiden names. Some families represented through the women are certainly just as much a part of our history. Some of the immigrants settled just beyond the neighborhood and thus are not in local records. The 1838 census shows the names of McWhorter, Stewart and McIntyre in New Berlin, 1842 Begg & Frazier in Vernon, DeJean in Muskego.
Most of the early settlers of the 1840's came, of course, from Caledonia-York neighborhood but many would come from elsewhere: Canada, directly from Scotland, other places in New York and we will never know from where some came. The first good resource for the names of early settlers is the government land grant records and county deed records. Some information on that is in the county history and county biography. Keep in mind that some men came alone until they could provide for their families here after a cabin was built while in some cases whole families came. Non-land owners though would not be recorded between census years in land records. Many brought or sent for aged parents to care for them in their last years.
The land grants list these persons which I have arranged by year. The actual sections and townships of the grants are found in county museum, Neil McDougall and Alexander Mitchell along with David Rea and Joseph McNeill have already been mentioned, 1840-Findlay Fraser, the son-in-law of McDougall came up from the York-Caledonia settlement in Elgin, Illinois with Alexander Vass, William Killips and Ulster Scot in New Berlin, 1841-Hugh Fraser who apparently had come with Alexander Mitchell, Duncan Cameron whose brother Angus went to LaCrosse and became U.S. Senator, 1842- William Guthrie in Muskego, Robert Weir in Waukesha, 1843-George McVicar in Waukesha, 1845-John and Matthew Wright Ulster Scots in Waukesha, 1847-John McLeod, 1848-Archibald Stewart, Peter Wood, Duncan McNaughton and Angus McPherson. The only other land grant for the Scots was made in 1850 in the school section to the Cummings family who came from the Orkney Islands via Canada.
Of these, we know that Vass, Cameron, Weir, Stewart, Wright and McNaughton were from the Livingston County area. We know little of some of these persons and their migratory background such as Duncan McNaughton. Fraser had been living in Canada and may have come through the lakes with Mitchell. McVicar had come from New Brunswick in Canada. Mitchell was never part of the settlement.
The best resource as to when folk came is found in the 1910 history of the settlement by Kim McKenzie who then spoke of much information having been lost because of the death of pioneers. He said that Neil McDougall came in 1840 and immediately returned to New York following his purchase. That year his son-in-law, Findlay Fraser came with Alexander Vass and their families from Elgin, Illinois. Then came the James Beggs family along with the Robert Weir family. The same year the William Guthries came and then the parents and other son of James Beggs, who was the first Scot to vote in Vernon. The older Beggs came overland instead of by ship because they were afraid since they had been shipwrecked and lost all their goods coming over from Scotland. In the 18th and early 19th centuries ships were not inspected for seaworthiness and the conditions of disease and terrible food and possible shipwreck were tragic realities. Not until well into the 19th century would the governments of Great Britain and the United States set standards for ships. Many ships went down at sea and often the very old and the very young died at sea because of disease or poor food. Wm. Leitch often spoke of needing to get hold of 'a wee bit of a bush' because of his experience at sea when coming over.
Soon four young men came together---Donald Stewart, Duncan Cameron, Hugh Fraser and William Enslie all of whom had bought farms by 1841. Donald Stewart returned and brought back his parents, Mr. And Mrs. Charles Stewart in 1844 with Jane, Neil and James. John and Thomas HOWIE came next (their brother David probably went to Waukesha at that time and it would appear that Jane Findlay was their sister.) Also Angus McNaughton came then who must have come overland for he brought the first team of horses. Widowed Margaret (Mrs. Duncan) McNaughton and her mother Mrs. Christian Dewar and son John McNaughton also came. The father had died in the East. In 1843 John McKenzie came, 1844-the McLeod brothers, 1845-John Fraser, 1846 the Cummings family and in 1847 Archibald and Alexander Stewart and Findlay McNaughton.
Church records are another clue as to some who were early settlers. In 1847, charter members of the Vernon Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church were Duncan McNaughton, Robert Weir, Thomas HOWIE, John HOWIE, Findley Fraser, William Emslie, Christian Dewar, Mari(?)n HOWIE, Mary HOWIE, Margaret (Dewar) McNaughton, James Beggs, George Gibson, Christina Espy, Mary Gibson, Janet Beggs and another Margaret McNaughton. All seem to have come from the A.R.P. Church in York. Also Hellan Fraser.
John Darling was on the first roll and the records indicate that in 1850 the A.R.P. Church received John Darling and wife, George Purvis and wife, John Laidlaw and wife, John and Thomas and James Darling, Mrs. Sarah Catherine Guthrie (maiden name was Neill)-She and her husband William were married in the York A.R.P. Church- Mrs. Jane Jackson White who probably came from the York A.R.P. Church. The Darling, Purvis and Laidlaw families came from Berwickshire in Southeast Scotland.
In 1851 church records show that the following were received as members: William and Mary Purvis from Berwickshire, Peter Bertram and Andrew Bertram and his wife, also natives of Berwickshire from the A.R.P. Church of Cincinnati, Ohio where the Berwickshire group first intended to head until cholera broke out there. While there the wife of Peter Bertram died of cholera. William Allison from the A.R.P. Church of Rochester, New York was received that year along with Mrs. Blake from the Covington-York Associate Presbyterian Church. In 1857 Margaret McMillan and Miss Millar were received from the Church of Scotland (probably Ayrshire). Other names added to the roll in those years from various places were Hay, Rose, Cockeran, Christison, Stewart, McQuarter, Chalmers, Mrs. Hay, widow of a Mr. Smith. Details are in the appendix [appendix is missing]. Rose and perhaps some others were from Caledonia-York. Christison and Chalmers were from Berwickshire.
The charter and early members of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Vernon give more information on early settlers. That church was organized as the Waukesha Church in 1848 having been first organized as a society in 1847. It was called Waukesha originally because it met in the Wright home in that township. Glasgow's 'History of The Reformed Presbyterian Church In America' records in a sketch of the church that William and Mrs. Ann McLeod came from Rochester, N. Y. in the spring of 1844 and John McNeill at the same time from York, the James Wright family from York in the spring of 1845 and the James S. Cumming family from Toronto in the summer of 1846. The William Turner family arrived early in 1848 from Coldenham, New York another major settlement of Scottish and Ulster Scots Presbyterians in and around Newburgh, Orange County, New York.
The R.P. Church roll indicates that the first members were James and Jane Wright, William and Margaret Turner, John McNeill and wife, William Wright, widow Ann McLeod, Mary McLeod, James Wright Fr, James McConnell and his wife Mary Ann, Adam McKinney and wife Margaret, Christiana McDonald, John McNeill Jr, Edward and James L. Wright, Jane M. Knight, Alexander McDonald, Catherine and Amanda Fisher, Mr. and Mrs. James Cumming. Many of these came from the York R.P. Church but some may have been scattered as the church served a wide area. For instance, the Wrights lived in Geneseo. Most of the R.P. families were from Ulster, especially County Antrim and some were highlanders. Mrs. Fisher was the widow of the first minister of the York R.P. Church.
Land transfers indicate dates for the following who came and bought land from others. 1848-Thomas Faulkner, 1839 Stephen DeJean and resold to Duncan McPherson in 1843 (New Berlin), Ann McLeod in 1846, Duncan McPherson sold land as early as 1842, 1844 Findley McNaughton, 1845 Archibald Stewart, 1842 Peter Wood, and James Hay (wife's 1st husband [Smith] probably purchased sight unseen & died before coming), 1843 Francis Munson, 1842 Angus McNaughton, 1861 Ancel McColl, 1849 Neil Stewart and Duncan McArthur, Loughridge (New Berlin) 1855, Vass 1855 and Farvin 1851 in Muskego.
Others show land purchases as follows: William leach 1865, William Mair 1866, McCluskie 1861, Matt Howitt 1864, William J. Kilpatrick 1867, William Evans (Welsh) who joined Vernon A.R.P. Church), Chrystal 1854, Andrew Bertram 1851, F. Hall to William Leach and Mary Hall 1852, Mary Hall to William Christison 1864, Peter Bertram 1858, James Smeaton 1851, Baird 1855, William Purvis 1854, Alexander Chalmers 1859, Hugh Rose 1856, Jacob Bebee (a 'Yankee' who belonged to the Vernon A.R.P. Church) 1857, Dates land was sold are also helpful not only in knowing that the persons are or have been in the area but in seeing when families moved away. In this list of sellers, Christison, Bebee, Rose, Dunn, Whitford and Allison we know moved away and we will refer to that later. William Christison 1865, Bebee 1873, Hugh Rose 1865, William Evans 1868, Thomas Dunn 1866, John Whitford 1864, John Frazer and Jane Frazer 1870, Phebe Wallace 1865, David Frazer 1857 and William Allison 1856. Garvin sold in 1858. Records of the churches in New York on P. 60 will show when families were still in New York: Wright, HOWIE, Espie, Guthrie, Beggs, Milroy, Fraser, etc.
A review of Milwaukee County marriage records of which Waukesha County was first a part show familiar names. Included is the marriage of William Searle and Isabelle McColl in 1845, both from Caldonia. The McColls were originally from Oban, Argyleshire. It is interesting that some of the settlers from Caledonia were not aware that their neighbors had also emigrated here. In 1842 or 43 Duncan Cameron saw someone sitting on a stump and said to himself, 'That man looks like Billy Searle'. And when he went up, it was indeed his old friend from back East. Of course the Scottish settlement in New York was not isolated from its neighbors and along with them would come the 'Yankee' of New England and New York, French Hugenots, Dutch, etc. In fact at a barn raising back in New York, when the neighbors all came to help one would hear at the same time: English, Gaelic, Dutch and French. The Dutch and French of course would be very comfortable among their Scottish fellow Calvinists in terms of religion. Of those close to the A.R.P. Church in Vernon, Vanderpool was Dutch of course and perhaps Bebee. DeJean was married to a Scot but family tradition has it that they were not Hugenots but a family which came to England from France with William the Conqueror. The Bebees and Vanderpools came from other towns in New York. Other non-Scots who were also Calvinists and part of the church are the two Welsh families Harris from Anglesea (not to be confused with the Scottish Harris of Muskego) and Evans from Cardiff and later the Bahts of Meckleberg, Germany who came from Waukesha and Peffer a German who married a Scot. He was also apparently of Reformed background as the Peffers came from Rhennish Bavaria.
While some families such as the McKenzies and Camerons had been in New York a long time, a number had come in the 1830's and others in the 1840's to New York. It was these late comers who needed land who were easily led to move West. Most of the families were highlanders but HOWIES and Beggs and Weirs, McMillan and later the Garvins and James Mair (Mair who came in 1854 was brought back from Scotland by Tom HOWIE the only settler to return to visit Scotland) were from Ayrshire. Janet Beggs was the granddaughter of Willie the Miller in Robert Burns' poem, 'I toddled down by Willie's Mill' which the author has yet to find. The HOWIES and Garvins were from the parishes of Galston and Louden near Kilmarnock, apparently the village of New Milns, This HOWIE family has an interesting background in that the grandfather wrote the book, Scots Worthies and had originally fled as a family to Scotland from Italy and France in the 12th century being either Albigenses or Waldensians. Perhaps there was a connection with these families and the Millars from Ayrshire and the Beggs. Probably some came from other towns in Ayrshire. The Millars were from Stewarton.
Tom Faulkner Jr's father came from Scotland where his father had fled following an unsuccessful revolt in Ulster. He came to America as a British soldier in the war of 1812 and was a prisoner of war who stayed.
We can be precise about the origins of some of the families. Alexander Cameron and his wife Mary McDonald came from Invernesshire. Donald Stewart who later brought his parents and brothers and sisters were from Perthshire. Grandma (Christian) Dewar was born in 1767 in Perthshire and married another Dewar in Vermont before moving to Livingston County. Duncan Cameron's family came from Croftsbain, Badenochshire. The McKenzies were from Appin, Argyleshire, Mrs. Findlay McNaughton (Mary Anderson) was from Perthshire. John Vass was born in Inverness City. The Smith-Hay family came from Perthshire, she from Kelsyth where her son was born. She was remarried upon being widowed to Mr. Hay. The Guthries were settlers from pre-Revolutionary days. Before living in York they were in the Scottish settlement of Washington County, New York and before that Connecticut. The family believes it originally came from Forforthshire, Scotland. The Cummings were from Kirkwall, Orkney Islands, the Beebees from Albany Co., New York, the Kilpatricks from County Antrim, Ireland via Cambridge, Ohio, James Stewart was born in Athol, Scotland and McVicar came from Inverary, Argyleshire via New Brunswick.
Actually most of these families had been in Livingston County, New York. Also from there was Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Rose, certainly Peter McMillan whose tombstone reads, 'son of Co. H. McMillan of Livingston County, N.Y'. Tombstones indicate also that James Stewart and James Hay were born in Perthshire. There is reason to believe that the Dewars went to Canada and then to New York as did some McNaughtons and Vasses.
Of early families we can be fairly sure of the following origins: From Berwickshire-Hunter, Darlings (parish of Duns but living in New Edrom now known as Edrom Newton), Young from Duns, Purvis, Laidlaw, Bertram, Christison, Chrystal, Hall, Chalmers, Hogg, Leach. Christison, Chrystal, Hall, Purvis, Bertram were all from Coldingham. In fact, there is a tombstone there for Isabella Grieve Hall who is buried in the Vernon U.P. cemetary. They also probably came from the villages of Preston, Duns, Ayton and Chirnside. These folk came from a mixed vocational background but usually had backgrounds as hynds (peasants). Tom Christison was a shoemaker, Andrew Bertram a policeman in Glasgow. Fraser (Hugh) came from Nairn via Canada. The Allisons were originally from East Kilbride and came via Rochester, New York, Emslies from Aberdeen also via Rochester, Espies from Glasgow, Johnston from Dumfrieshire apparently, McWhorters from Washington County, New York-near Salem, Camerons from Badenochshire-Kingussie Parish, Whitefords and John Watson from Ireland, and Thomas Dunn from (?)eston, Scotland.
As mentioned David Rea was from Glenbucket in County Tyrone in Ireland. Among families which became Reformed Presbyterians in Vernon were the Wrights from Culleybackey near Balleymena in Antrim Ireland. Balleymena was the home of the Lowrys. The village of Culleybackey would contribute a number of families to the R.P. Church in Vernon. It was in Culleybackey that the father of President Chester Alan Arthur was born. He was a Baptist minister in York, New York, where young Chester grew up undoubtedly known by most of our folk in the settlement here in Vernon-Waukesha-New Berlin-Muskego. The Milroys had gone to New York from Wigtown, Scotland, the William Turners were originally from Belfast, William Killips from County Down in Ireland who came via Onandaga, New York. McNair Boyd was from Slamanan, Sterlingshire while his wife Sarah McFarland was from Ayrshire. William Frazier in Mukwonago was from New York, before that Massachusetts and his grandfather was from Edinburgh. The Pinkertons were from Argyle, Washington County, New York though they settled up North at Waupaca, Wisconsin. The McNeills were from Ireland via New Brunswick, the Manns were from Culleybackey, Sarah Kilpatrick was from Conner, Ireland via Cambridge, Ohio, Adams from Ireland but his wife from Scotland, Loughridges from County Antrim and his wife from Renfrewshire, Barnes from Culleybackey, Blakelock came here from Brooklyn, Raphael from Culleybackey, Kevans from Newburgh, New York. The Bairds came here in 1847 from Iillala, County Mayo, Ireland via Quebec. The McLeods were from Perthshire and Rosshire, Meldrem from Inverness, Barclay from Londonderry via Pennsylvania and Sandusky, Ohio, Knowles from County Cork, McClusky from Drombolg, Ireland via Canada, McLoughlin from Plum Bridle near Newton Stewart in County Tyrone. Davidson came from the church of Union-Pine Creek-Love Joy, Ohio. Mrs. Davis came from Kingston, Ontario, Ann Gordon-Tecumseh, Mich.
Another good source of information on migration which shows the date of arrival in the U.S. is the county records of 'declaration of intent to become a U.S. citizen'. These are interesting in that no women filled them out, perhaps because they could not vote. They indicate that the HOWIES arrived in New York City in July 1841, George McVicar in June of 1843 in Boston with Angus McVicar, William Johnston in N.Y.C. in 1842, David Fraser in Carthage, 1836, John Vass in Whitehall in 1838, John HOWIE in June of 1841, John Rea in December of 41 in New York City, James Stewart in 1838-N.Y.C., John McNaughton from Canada in 1848, a W. R. Emslie at Buffalo in 1854, Charles Stewart at N.Y.C. in 1839, John Stewart 1857 in N.Y.C. along with John Stewart Sr. and Duncan Steward, Alexander McNeill from Canada at Milwaukee in 47, Alexander Cameron in Sept 41 at N.Y.C., and Alexander Stewart June of 41. Later, George Purvis July 1849, William Allison November 1848, William and George Chrystal May 1850, Darlings July 1849, John Laidlaw August 1859, John Carmichael July 1849, John Sinclair Oct. 49, John Christison July 53, William Hogg July 51, Thomas Chalmers July 42, Angus McMillan July 1857, Archibald McTaggert July 51, John and James Smeaton and father June 51, William Purvis June 51 and Alexander Young June of 51. Some of these may be from other parts of the county but most are from our area of concern.
Reasons for these later migrations are probably mixed. Certainly the highlands and Ireland were both hit with famine. For the lowlanders (Berwickshire and Ayrshire), it may very well be that the weavers were having a hard time of it economically. Some may have come because they could not resist the lure for adventure. The stories of the coming of some of these families are interesting. Instead of telling them now, you are referred to the 1910 McKenzie history in the appendix. It is sufficient to refer only to the arrival of the party of 23 in 1849 from Berwickshire of Bertrams, Laidlaws, Darlings and Purvis-all kin. Another major story is the coming of the Christison family also related in the McKenzie history. This was the most major settlement-colonization next to the New York colonization. It was of a little more conservative nature and would tend to dominate the community and church in its outlook. These folk tended to be Associate Presbyterians in background rather than the Presbyterians though there would be no differences with the A.R.P. church established in Vernon. Some of this group would have to move on West of necessity because there was not enough land available locally.
COUNTRYSIDE-NEW YORK & WISCONSIN
One of the interesting features of the migration from the Genesee country of New York is a comparison of the two counties (New York and Wisconsin). In both the land is rolling and small hills, virtually identical. In both the climate is similar. The surnames on tombstones in the cemetaries are identical, and the architecture is the same. The sunburst on the top of the front of the U.P. church in Vernon which is also found on the Prospect Hill Free Will Baptist Church in New Berlin 3 miles East and on the Buffalo U.P. Church in Buffalo Township, Marquette Co., Wisconsin, is found in a different form in that place of the U.P. Church in Caledonia and was also on the now demolished R.P. Church in York.
OUTMIGRATION
THE OPENING OF NEW LANDS IN THE West-Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, even Kansas and later the Dakotas and Manitoba would call the Vernon area Scots to move on West. Sometimes it was for better land. Sometimes it was for land which was no longer available locally-the younger generation would have to move West in order to farm. Some of the early settlers very quickly moved on West, probably for better land. The clerk of the A.R.P. Church, Findley Fraser moved on to Tingley, Iowa though he was buried at Elgin, Ill. A substantial settlement went to Knapp, Wisconsin: Alexander Millar (Miller), Angus McMillan, John Watson, Thomas Darling, Tom Christison JR., John and Christina Whiteford, Isabella Whiteford, Thomas and Isabella Dunn, Johnston, William and Isabella (Laidlaw) Cross and Alexander Stewart. Wives maiden names included Dobbin and Cockeran. Descendants of the HOWIES are found in the Dakotas and Nebraska-especially of Tom and John HOWIE. The Allisons moved on to Maxville in Buffalo County as did several others apparently. The Garvins moved onto Minnesota but one joined the army in Maxville. Mrs. Garvin had died here.
The gold rush called several Scots. Alexander McKenzie stayed in Reno, Nevada. They met tragedy and success. Findley McNaughton's wife, Ellen Greeley, died of childbirth in the Truckee valley. Peter McKenzie made enough to return and build a substantial farmhouse. He was part of the 'Big Bend Independent California Mineral and Lumbering Company'. It included 16 persons including James Stewart and Thomas and Daniel Irvins. John Purvis apparently also went West. Some material is in the appendix. Matthew McWhorter was murdered out West. Malcolm McNaughton went to Nevada.
LIFE IN THE COMMUNITY
Life in the early days of Vernon was understandably rough. There were forests to be cleared unless you were fortunate enough to have obtained a little prairie land. There was hardship until you could clear your land and use it. Many of the people first lived with friends or neighbors, often in barns, which is almost unimaginable when you consider Wisconsin winters. Some undoubtedly first worked as farm laborers or women as house servants until they could go on their own financially. The early homes were log but were soon replaced with frame houses, many of which still stand after 100 years: Darling, Wright, McNaughton (Angus), McNaughton (John), Laidlaw, Cummings, McKenzie to name only a few.
Wild animals abounded and it was necessary to stay with livestock to protect it from wolves. It is reported that a Beggs was chased by a Wildcat. Rattlesnakes were common. The Indians (Potowatomie) did not all leave with the sale of the land to the U.S. government and many continued to live here though they were not warlike. Others, from time to time, would return, perhaps to visit burial grounds. They were considered a nuisance. Of course their ability to care for themselves in the ways in which they had habit disappeared when their land was taken from them. They were so considered because of their begging. There are stories which have been told of the Indians boiling down maple syrup in West Vernon West of the Stewart farm. In one case a settler came home to find a very large Indian asleep in his bed. He apparently entered by coming down the chimney. In the case of the Searl family Indians sometimes spent the night on the floor of the log cabin. Some adults told the two Searl children, who were red-headed, that the Indians liked red-headed children so they hid from the Indians whenever they showed up, but the Indians laughed at them.
Loneliness was probably a problem with some. There is a story that one elderly woman climbed a tree seeking to see a neighbor's house out of her loneliness. The first crops raised included wheat. For livestock there was not sufficient feed at the beginning so marsh land became very valuable. A number of Scots owned small parcels at the Vernon Marsh just to secure marsh hay for their stock. Work animals included horses of course but oxen were very common. Few brought any tools or anything else with them so they had to be made or purchased locally. Sheep were common. Photos indicate that these Scots were, both back in Scotland, and in Waukesha County, a very well dressed group. They were not hicks. They were well educated and there is good reason to believe that they were knowledgeable in English, French, Gaelic and Latin (Gaelic for the highlanders only). Illiteracy was unknown among the immigrants. Gaelic was spoken by the highlanders and back East services were often conducted in Gaelic. The highlanders had their Gaelic Bibles which, incidently was a late product, available probably only about 1800. The last Gaelic speaking person, Jane Stewart died in 1926. Gaelic died out and was not used in worship because of the migration of lowlanders into the community who did not use the language. No doubt those who were born in North America had less interest in the language and it fell into disuse except for the elderly. Here, their education was poorer.
The Scots were very close and intermarried. This was partly because they were very clannish and probably partly because they knew each other best (poor communication kept them from meeting anyone outside the community.) This is one reason, no doubt, many of the folk did not marry. If a woman did not, she usually stayed on the farm and worked with the family. On occasion, one would go into the outside world such as Margaret McNaughton who became a nurse. There is good evidence that there was only limited intermarriage between the highlanders and lowlanders. It may be that the lowlanders had a little better view of themselves.
The early Scots in Vernon, because of their hard life in Scotland and therefore true to their form, loved their whisky. However drunkenness was a rarity. The author could find only one such reference. In that instance the man got drunk once a week and was always met on the way home by his sons, who in embarassment, went out to get him. Mary HOWIE, in whose home the A.R.P. Church was organized, served whisky to those building the R.P. Church next door to her. However, not long after the Scots came the influence of Yankee neighbors changed the outlook and the next generation became very anti-alcohol. In fact, normally Republican Vernon went prohibition in one presidential election probably 1884 or thereabouts. Peter McKenzie reports organizing a chapter of the Sons of Temperance and that the organizers were made fun of but the other folk were beginning to come around. This was noted in 1850. The only other name among the first members that may have been Scottish was Robert Robertson. Because of this change among the Scots and the attitude of the 'Yankees' Vernon voted to become dry and has remained dry to this day in spite of the fact that illegal licenses for beer and liquor have been granted by the town board since national prohibition ended.
Like almost all other Scots in the country (or so it seems to the author), with the possible exception of the deep South, the Scots of Vernon became staunch Republicans after the organization of that party. They had probably been Whigs before that party dissolved. The strong anti-slavery feeling among immigrant Scots may have played a part in that. They certainly could have had such feelings reinforced by the large numbers of Scots of the small Presbyterian denominations that left the South for the Midwest in protest against slavery. Those people would dominate much of the numerical membership of these denominations in the Midwest. Especially those from South Carolina (principally Chester County) and Tennessee (especially Lincoln County). Anti-slavery attitudes encouraged civil war enlistments.
When the civil war, known locally as the war of rebellion, broke out, there was an excellent response from the Scots, most of whom served as volunteers. The appendix lists those who served in the military. Some were drafted. One, Angus McMullen, ran away from the draft and one apparently bought a substitute who fled and had to buy another. So it cost him twice as much. Of those who went, George Christison died of yellow fever in 1863 on the ship Memphis going to St. Louis where he is buried at Jefferson Barracks. David Tillyer Guthrie was killed at Chicamaugua in Tennessee in 1863 and is buried somewhere down there, John HOWIE of Vernon died of disease in St. Louis in 1863, John R. HOWIE of Waukesha (probably cousins) died of disease the same year in Memphis where he is buried. Malcolm McTaggert returned to Waukesha County with disease and he died of it in 1863, and John Vosburg was killed in 1863 and is buried in an unmarked grave near Memphis. He was in the cavalry while most of the Vernon Scots (and neighborhood) were in the Waukesha County Unit, the 28th infantry regiment of the Wisconsin volunteers. The letters written during the war by soldiers David Guthrie and George Christison are extant and some are in the appendix. Their attitudes were decidedly different.
Of major importance is the standards of health. The community was fortunate to escape the cholera which raged nearby in the Town of Norway. But the major threat here was ague (malaria), diptheria which wiped out the 4 Hay children and their nurse in a week as well as many others and tuberculosis which claimed many. There is an interesting set of tombstones in the U.P. cemetary dated 1899 where brothers and sisters in their 20s died within 6 months that year. The author has found no clue as to the cause of death-tuberculosis is a guess. Croup killed children.
There are other interesting stories from the settlement. One of the Vosburgs disapeared on the way to Milwaukee and was never heard from again. There were undoubtedly a few young boys who were pretty rough. Originally, like the R.P. and Prospect Hill Baptist Church, the U.P. Church had a narthex in which you entered before going into the sanctuary. During a church prayer meeting these boys would hold a mock prayer meeting in the narthex. Finally, to end that, the narthex divider was removed. Real trouble was more common in the school house. They liked to sneak into the school house at night and drink whisky and play cards. On several occassions they were frightened by natural occurances but thought that the supernatural was involved and once were met by a man with a knife in the dark. On one occasion the Camerons of Muskego were walking along past what must have been what is now known as the Guthrie School on National Ave. when they heard an uproar inside. Looking in the door they saw that the big bad boys had attacked the school master and had him on the floor so that he had drawn his knife in self-defense. The Camerons rescued him and the school master soon went off to the civil war where he was killed. His name was Crawford. There were also ghost stories and witch stories. One story takes place in the Beggs home when one of the boys awoke in the evening and saw something standing beside his bed. He put out a hand and felt it and it felt like wool but then it vanished right through the glass window. Belief in witches was probably more prevalent in Germany than anywhere else. In New Berlin it was a German, J.K. Meidenbauer, of the Reformed Church, who wrote back to Germany sating that Jeannette Boyd who was a Scottish lassie of about age 13 was a medium as she and others believed. In 1852 spiritualism had spread here from the East. Her chair answered questions by tapping. Meidenbauer himself did not believe though he often watched. A number of unusual things would happen in the Boyd home.
As the years went on the community ultimately began to shrink in size, principally because so many had emigrated and the older folk began to die off. The real change probably came in the 1920s as the last of the pioneers were passing off the scene and newcomers were buying up the old family farms. Of course today descendants remain but in the immediate area they are a limited number. However, the metropolitan Milwaukee area, especially the adjacent communities claim many of the descendants, many of who return to bury their dead.
THE CHURCHES
The heart of the community life has been in the churches so we must now turn major attention to them. There was a mixture of Presbyterian backgrounds in this Scottish community (and we may include other ethnic Presbyterians of which there were a few): Old School Presbyterians, Associate Presbyterians, Associate Reformed Presbyterians, Reformed Presbyterians, Church of Scotland, United Presbyterians from Scotland, German Reformed, Dutch Reformed and Welsh Calvinistic Methodists. However, the churches organized here would be of the two denominations which dominated the early settlement, the two churches of which they were members back in York, New York: Associate Reformed Presbyterian soon to become United Presbyterian and Reformed Presbyterian. Most of the mixture would go into the former while the latter was virtually limited to those of Reformed Presbyterian background. Appropriately then the church history of the community will deal with the history of these two congregations in Vernon which were in reality colonizations of the churches at York.
There were a few Scots who found their way into neighboring churches. The major reason being distance. What is for us today a short distance, was in the past a great distance in Wisconsin winters without any automobiles. Therefore the Prospect Hill Free Will Baptist Church in New Berlin would attract folk there while later the Vernon Methodist Church in West Vernon would attract the few families in West Vernon. Normally these folk, if there was no Presbyterian Church available, would go to the Congregational Church because of similar theology but being no Congregational nor Presbyterian Church in the area they next would go to the Methodist Church and then the Baptist Church so that they chose the other churches for convenience in that order.
They were very choosy about theology and it is reasonable to assume that they felt comfortable in the Methodist Churches and perhaps the Free Will Baptist churches because theology was downgraded in such a manner as to be inoffensive to the Scottish Calvinists hence they would feel freer to ultimately join the Prospect Hill Baptist Church, the Vernon Methodist Church or in the case of the Town of Waterford, the Caldwell Methodist Church. In the Genesee and SW Waukesha area the McFarlanes and McVicars went to Genesee Congregational which may have had Presbyterian roots.
This concludes the transcript of the manuscript about the Scot Settlement in Wisconsin.