The Scarboro Heights Record V11 #10

Scarborough's
Scottish Heritage Afternoon

May 31 2003, 1:30 PM
The Bluffs Gallery
Scarborough Arts Council
1859 Kingston Road, Scarborough

• 10,000 Years of Toronto History: Bruce McCowan of the James McCowan Memorial Social History Society will speak about the archival and artifact collections of the McCowan family, Scottish immigrants to Scarborough in 1833. From the oldest known evidence of human occupation in Toronto -- 10,000 year-old aboriginal spear points -- to oral histories gathered very recently for the latest McCowan Society publication, Bruce will survey a broad range of leases, wills, personal letters, bankruptcy papers, coins, furniture and architectural and agricultural relics, all weaving the story of an ordinary Scottish Canadian farm family into the wider context of their community. The impact of the Lowland Clearances on the McCowan family will be covered in some detail.
• The Lowland Clearances: We will also listen to this BBC-Radio Scotland program. This series has a strong focus on the impact of the agricultural revolution on Scots who emigrated to Scarborough in the early 19th century.

Need More Info? -- Call 416-447-4895
Email address at top of this page

Background to the Series

Beginning about 250 years ago, there was a profound re-ordering of society in Lowland Scotland -- now sometimes called the "Lowland Clearances" by a few scholars.

Unfortunately, very few others know a thing about it!  Many have at least heard of the "Industrial Revolution" -- or can at least imagine that "something" neat must have happened to bring us all the machines that we have today. Some know that the "Highland Clearances" happened at one time or another. The famous romantic character, Bonnie Prince Charlie and that watershed event, the Battle of Culloden and the banning of the tartan are connected to it somehow, we recall. That horrendous period when despotic Highland aristocrats herded crofters to the seashore in the last half of the nineteenth century is particulary notorious.

But practically no one has any notion at all of the "Lowland Clearances". How could we know about it? There was no folk hero, no legendary leader, no decisive battle, not even a good rebellion. Outside academic circles, the Lowland Clearances have truly become a forgotten part of Scottish history.

So, BBC Radio Scotland decided to do something about it. A three part series, "The Lowland Clearances", will be broadcast in late May / early June 2003. Two of the segments could fairly easily be created partially out of the work of excellent scholars who have looked at the 18th century on certain macro levels, often based on regional patterns and statistics. But BBC came to realize that something was missing -- this tragedy was all about people, all about displaced families. The Producers also wanted to tell the family side of the Lowland Clearances.

Meanwhile, in Toronto, Canada, someone else -- in his own small way -- was also doing something about it. To Sustene the Personis: The Agricultural Revolution was published in 1994 and When the Ground Fails: An Economic Watershed was published in 1996. Excerpts from these two booklets were placed on this web site along with several other bits of historical research into that very interesting period. These pages caught the attention of BBC Radio Scotland. A few emails later, it was agreed -- the "missing" segment would be based on the experiences of the McCowan family of Cumnock, Lesmahagow and Scarborough. James McCowan will be the central figure in the story.

"The Lowland Clearances: One Family's Story", McCowan Society publications and this section of our web site will answer such questions as:

• Who were the McCowans of Ayrshire?
• Where did they live and what did they do there in the mid-18th century?
• What socio-economic forces were at work around them -- local, regional, international?
• What were their responses to these forces?
• What was the net effect of that web of action-reaction?
• Where did they go and what did they do when they got there?
• What values did they pass on to the next generation?

We will also look at the emigration to Scarborough, Canada, of the James McCowan family and some of their old neighbours in Scotland:

• How were the first few years in Canada?
• What were their aspirations?
• What were their accomplishments?

We hope that this section of our web site will nicely complement the BBC series "The Lowland Clearances". Over the next few months we'll add more pages in connection with this profound socio-economic upheaval. Please follow the child-links at the top of this page as well as the links in the table below.

Here is an index of pages regarding our evolving values with respect to the land and my perspective on the right of real estate ownership.

The Scarboro Heights Record V11 #1

Visitors since Feb. 2, 2003