Thanks, Allan. Your time line is similar to mine. Your reference to Hawick, which is very close to the towns where my direct relations lived when they left Scotland, is also more than coincidence to me. It seems that there is an identifiable common thread (yet to be concretely identified) as the connection from Roxburgshire to Bovina. For my relations to give "Bovina" as their destination on the 1851 ship's passenger list implies intention. Sure, word of mouth from countryman to countryman about possibilities in Delaware county could be the answer, but to up and leave is a huge move. Interestingly, my first relation (1842 arrival) came to Delaware county for a brief time, but he settled in Cortland county in an area that exactly looks like the hills in Roxburghsire Scotland. I do not find him in Castle Garden port lists and family lore suggests he came in from Canada. His father died in 1837, I am told, but I do not know on which side of the world. (See my reply to Jeanne Flye.) ~Valerie PS As an aside, Castle Garden Port in NY (before Ellis Island) is a place to look at passenger lists. For my relations, under "last residence", they actually listed the place where they were born. This was great for me because it confirmed other birth accounts. --- "Alan J. Downie" <adownie@hughesarchitects.com> wrote: > Thanks for the good inquiry. My Downies sailed from > Glasgow relatively late in 1854 and they came with > hopes of obtaining land, which by then was being > parceled out in what is now the Midwest. What > enabled them to come were relatives of John Downie's > first wife Elizabeth Thomson - the Scott families > already living in South Kortright and Bovina, NY. > Elizabeth died in 1862 and in 1868, John married her > cousin, Mary Ann Scott. They had one son, James > Scott Downie, my ggrandfather. In 1874 John heard > about the land rush in Iowa and moved there. The > story goes he never obtained land because once he > arrived he discovered they required American > citizenship and he utterly refused to renounce his > Scottish citizenship, or as he put it: "go back on > ole Queen Vic". He then moved to Norfolk Virginia > where he died, although I now live in Virginia and > haven't been able to confirm. John and both wives > are buried in Bovina. It is apparent the decision > to leave Scotland was not under! > taken lightly - John lost two young daughters on > the journey. > > Mary Ann Scott's line starts with her grandfather, > Robert Scott who was born in Hawick, Scotland abt. > 1769, sailed to America around 1800, and died 1838 > in Bovina. Her father had a farm in Stanford > (valued at $3,500) and belonged to the South > Kortright Presbyterian Church, so one could > speculate owning land and freedom of worship were > factors. His wife, Christina Thomson's (relative of > Elizabeth Thomson) father, Andrew was another > Scotsman who made the journey around 1800 and > settled in Bovina. So I would say that having a > safe place to stay while they got settled was an > obvious motivator for Scots who continued to arrive > in Delaware County. > > As for the similar climate, I was born and raised in > Otsego County and also spent 2 weeks once in > Scotland. The topography and vegetation is similar, > but believe it or not, upstate New York is much > sunnier than Scotland. > > Alan Downie (downies4@netzero.com) > > > > To contact list administrator send email to > nydelawa-admin@rootsweb.com > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email > to NYDELAWA-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and > the body of the message > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Shape Yahoo! in your own image. Join our Network Research Panel today! http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7