Where did the Scottish settle when they came to the United States?

Question

Scottish Immigrants
In what cities did they settle in?
Why did they settle in those cities?

Answer 1

Early Scots and Scots-Irish tended (and this is a generality, NOT true in every case) to settle in the border regions of the colonies - upper New Hampshire & Maine, western Massachusetts & New York, the old Northwest (the modern Midwest), and Appalacia (the western regions of the Southern colonies). They tended to avoid the big cities (Boston, Hartford, NYC, Philly, Charlestown, etc.).

My understanding is that Scots generally wanted to be a bit far from the (English) sources of power.

Answer 2

The Scots and the Scots Irish settled in the Appalachian Mt area of the colonies. They entered trough Philadelphia and New York in the East and headed up the Susquehanna and Hudson's Rivers. The main cities they would have settled in were Albany , Buffalo and Sacketts Harbor in New York and Pittsburgh and Erie PA.

In the South they entered through Baltimore , York and Charleston and traveled up the Potomac, James, Ashley and Cooper Rivers. The Scot settled most of North Carolina and Piedmont, the Mountains and foothills, in the South. They settled in the Shenandoah Valley in Virgina , most of North Carolina and Georgia and Columbia South Carolina.

They settled where they did because that was where there was land left to settle. Also some Scots were exiled from the highlands as prisoners after the Pretenders Rebellion and Culloden. But most settled where I said originally.

A man named David Hackett Fischer wrote a book called Albion's Seed that explained the settlement of the North American Continent you should read it.

Answer 3

There were two distinct scottish immigration routes. One group came into eastern north carolina and settled alon the Cape Fear river moving westward past Fayetteville. Until late in the 19th century Galeic was the accepted language of most.

The second one came into Philadelphia in the 1740s. While some moved north into NY and Mass. Most came down the "Great Wagon Trail" along the foothills of the mountains, settling in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

There was a third but very small group that were sent to Jamestown, Va. in 1652 after being captured at the second Battle of Dunbar. Most of these moved south or west after their servitude was complete. (This is my hertiage).

Answer 4

My Scottish ancestors came to the US in the 1740's. They entered through the port of Baltimore and settled along the Susquehanna River, clustering around the PA/MD border.
From there some branches of the family pushed on west toward the Pittsburgh area and others moved down the "wagon road" through VA and NC.
But my branch stayed in PA in a tiny village which they named Sunnyburn and the surrounding farm land.

Answer 5

There were large immigrant populations in New York and Philadelphia.

Some settled in North Carolina and farmed all over the east.

There were still many that settled in Georgia when that colony was funded in 1733 in order to escape debtors prisons in the UK.

It might depend more specifically to what time period you are referring to or the reasons for the immigrations.

Answer 6

According to my family, they settled along the eastern seaboard. Places like Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Baltimore. Beyond that I can't assist you.

Answer 7

I know that there was a big gathering of Scots in the Carolinas.

You can research on the attached links.