Argyll Colony

[rmckay]

This is really a question for Mr. Newsome from the Scottish Tartan Museum, but anyone who has some insight please feel free to comment.

My uncle and I have had a few disagreements over a particular point in dealing with kilts and when our ancestors immigrated from Scotland to the US. We can trace our lineage back to a member of the Argyll Colony in North Carolina in 1739. My understanding is that while there were no clan tartans at the time, most highlanders would have been wearing some form of the belted plaid and would have generally continued to wear them when coming to the US. My uncle, the good man that he is, politely tells me that our ancestors would not have had kilts at that time.

It has been a good natured disagreement for many years, but I figured that you might be able to shed a little light. I know that there is no for certain way to know if my particular ancestors came over with kilts, but I was thinking more of a general could it be possible that they did?

Thanks for any information you might have Mr. Newsome or anyone else who has an insight.

[figheadair]

My uncle and I have had a few disagreements over a particular point in dealing with kilts and when our ancestors immigrated from Scotland to the US. We can trace our lineage back to a member of the Argyll Colony in North Carolina in 1739. My understanding is that while there were no clan tartans at the time, most highlanders would have been wearing some form of the belted plaid and would have generally continued to wear them when coming to the US. My uncle, the good man that he is, politely tells me that our ancestors would not have had kilts at that time.

It has been a good natured disagreement for many years, but I figured that you might be able to shed a little light. I know that there is no for certain way to know if my particular ancestors came over with kilts, but I was thinking more of a general could it be possible that they did?

Let's first establish what you mean by kilts. The kilt as we know it today did not exist in the first half of the C18th, or indeed almost all of that century, but its precursor, the feileadh beag, did and so it's entirely possible that your ancestors could have worn either the feileadh mor (plaid) or feileadh beag in 1739. Equally some might have worn trews, a combination of both or neither and worn standard lowland dress of the period. A whole load of possibilities but unfortunately I doubt that you'll ever discover the fact.

[macwilkin]

While he may not be able to answer your specific question, I highly recommend you read Duane G. Meyer's The Highland Scots of North Carolina. Dr. Meyer was a professor of history at my alma mater, and his study of the Highlanders of the Cape Fear River Valley is still considered to be one of the definitive sources.

Regards,

Todd

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Peter is correct, your ancestors who settled in NC in 1739 could have been wearing the feilidh-beag or feilidh-mhor, however, I have not seen any direct evidence of kilt wearing in North America by Scottish immigrants at that time other than in the military.

Not to say it wasn't done. I just have found no evidence for it.

[NorCalPiper]

As a Georgia native, we know for a fact that the Highlanders that came over to settle with Oglethorpe in 1733 most definitely wore their Highland garb, and for many years after settling at that (Although how they did it during the hot summer months is beyond me!!! They even fought the Spanish in the marshes kilted!). So its a good bet that the Cape Fear River Valley Scots did also, but alas, no evidence.

[rmckay]

Thank you very much for the answers, all of you.

[Nick the DSM]

Just agreeing, it's very possible but you can't know for sure.

I wouldn't totally throw it out the window, Highlanders brought there cultures and customs with them to the new world. Tartan, pipes, poetry and gaelic was prominent in Highland settlements, so strong that black slaves even spoke gaelic.