Monday – Friday 10 – 5 | Call 01859 520 258

Monday – Friday 10 – 5 | Call 01859 520 258

Emigrant Stories

The first recorded emigrations from the islands took place in the mid-1700s.

The first recorded emigrations from the islands took place in the mid-1700s in the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden and amidst the unpredictable climate of the late Little Ice Age.

Since then, people have been leaving the islands in waves, from Barra and Uist to Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton, from Harris and North Uist to Cape Breton and Australia, and from Lewis to Ontario and Quebec, to mention a few of the largest emigrations.

Stories

Ewen Gillies

St Kilda My name is Ewen Gillies – and if you asked me where I am from, I would find it difficult to answer! I was born on Hiort – the Island of St. Kilda, but I am now in Vancouver – and I have been in most of the world in between times. My […]

Rachel Martin

Scadabay to Cape Breton My name is Raonaid a’ Bhreabadair, and you can tell from my name that my father was a weaver. Now that they are starting to keep records in the English language, they are calling us Martins, and as for my own name – sometimes they are making it Rachel or Ronalda […]

Donald Morrison

Pabbay to Cape North I am Donald Morrison, and I was born in Baile na Cille, on the Isle of Pabbay in the Sound of Harris – and you will easily find the ruins of my father’s house, for there is a well just at the corner of the house – Tobar Fhionnlaidh – and […]

Caitriona Aonghais Ruaraidh

Horgabost to Australia They say that if you once leave home it doesn’t matter how far you go – and that surely must apply to me, for I am right on the opposite side of the world from where I was born in Cuidinish. I am Catriona Aonghais Ruairidh, and my people came originally from […]

Margaret MacKinnon

Seilebost to Manitoba My name is Margaret MacKinnon – Mairead Phannaidh – and my father’s name, Panny, is short for Bannatyne, for my great grandfather’s father was called after Lord Bannatyne, whose family had the farm at Luskentyre at one time – and they say that he got a golden guinea as a christening present […]

John MacLeod

Teilisnish to North Carolina My name is John MacLeod – Iain mac Mhurchaidh ‘ic Dhomhnaill Bhàin (John son of Murdo son of Fair-haired Donald) – and I was born in the village of Teilisnish, in the deer forest of North Harris. My father and my uncles were foresters – gamekeepers you would call them today […]
All Emigrant Stories

Explore Further

Tell us your story

If you have a story of family members who left the Western Isles and settled in another part of the world, and would like the … Read more

Village Histories

These stories are excerpts taken from Bill Lawson’s Croft History books. There are now almost sixty Croft History books, all available in our shop. Many … Read more

The People of the Western Isles

The history of modern people in the Outer Hebrides begins with the melting of the icesheets and the arrival of Mesolithic Man. The oldest site … Read more
EN
GD EN