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)

Hi Alan, I am a native of Bovina and have posted a huge genealogy on the Rootsweb World Connect site, most easily reached throught the Delaware County website www.dcnyhistory.org. Near the bottom of the index page is an "index to GEDCOMS---". My file is "D. F. Hoy Roots & Branches" My great uncle David F. Hoy, also a Bovina native, began collecting data on Bovina families back in the 1920's . Also on the website are listings of Bovina Cemeteries from the same data collection. My brother and I have been working on keeping the files updated. In the past few years we have also photographed all of the gravestones in the New UP Cemetery and will soon post those to the website as well. I will be happy to share any information I have available. Richard T. Davidson, 989 Valencia Court, Chula vista, CA 91910-6831 rtdavidson1@cox.net ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alan J. Downie" <adownie@hughesarchitects.com> To: <nydelawa@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 9:38 AM Subject: [NYDELAWA] For the Scots, why Delaware County? > 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 >