Seeking opinions: lowlander or highlander?

[Karl R]

The family genealogists have been unable to track my great x2 grandfather before he immigrated to Canada. Since his name is William Brown, searching the Scottish census turns up too many results, with no way to rule enough of them out. It's unlikely that we'll be able to get a yDNA test (particularly from my cousin, the conspiracy theorist).

Given the Brown surname, he could be either a lowlander or highlander. From what I can tell, there is a concentration of Browns/Brouns in the lowlands, such as Clan Broun in East Lothian. There is also a concentration of Browns in the highlands, such as the Brown sept of Clan Lamont and the Brown sept of Clan MacMillan in the Cowal peninsula.

Based on what details we have, I'm wondering if it's possible to determine that it's somewhat more likely that he is one, rather than the other.

Name: William Brown
Year of Birth: 1815-1820
Country of Birth: Scotland
Emigrated to: Canada
Year of Emigration: 1851-1856
Occupation (in Canada): Laborer

At the time he emigrated from Scotland, he was a bachelor. It's unknown whether he would have been traveling alone.

Contemporaneously, Scotland was going through both the Second Highland Clearance and the West Highland Potato Famine. But we have no information whether that was the reason for his departure from Scotland. I'm not aware whether there was a comparable movement from the lowlands during those years. I believe the Scottish Lowland Clearance had ended before the 1850s.

Obviously, he could be from anywhere in Scotland. But based on the information above, would you think William Brown was more likely to be a lowlander or a highlander?

[cessna152towser]

Difficult one to call.
Some of the "colour" names such as Brown, Black, White, Grey are quite common and found all over Scotland, unlike Blue which seems to be mainly found in Argyll.
Be happy that you have Scots ancestry, whether Highland or Lowland.

[Singlemalt]

I agree it would be very difficult to tell without more information. My surname is another very common one all over Scotland. In my case I know my Grandparents came from outside Inverness because they were still alive when I was a boy. If you did some searching on Canadian immigration websites you might find something that would state his place of birth. It is on my Grandparent's immigration records. Sites like Ancestry.ca have this type of data but I think you would need to buy and account. There is probably other places where this data is available.

[Liam]

Perhaps you are part of the “Broons”...a famous cartoon family!

[FossilHunter]

Maybe you’re a German “braun” whose family moved to Scotland, and changed it to brown before moving to Canada!

The thing is, you really have to know the geographic location for the name to provide much info.

[Bruce Scott]

Details of his birthplace may be on his Canadian marriage certificate.

My great grandfather emigrated to Australia in 1853 and married in Victoria in 1855. His marriage certificate gives the couple's Scottish birthplaces and their parent's names. My great, great grandmother was also a Brown and hailed from Montrose in, then, Forfarshire.

[KiltedSergeant]

Brown is a sept of Clan Douglas, which is mostly the southwest of Scotland, somewhere about Dumfries, south of Glasgow, and the central lowlands (see Douglas, UK). That knowledge might be of some use.

[Bruce Scott]

Brown is a sept of Clan Douglas, which is mostly the southwest of Scotland, somewhere about Dumfries, south of Glasgow, and the central lowlands (see Douglas, UK). That knowledge might be of some use.

It is also claimed to be a sept of Clans MacMillan, MacDonald and Lamont, which is of no help at all unless you can trace your forebears to a particular location. Furthermore, the concept of clan septs is rather fanciful - see link:

http://www.clans-families.org/clan-septs.html

[Karl R]

Maybe you’re a German “braun” whose family moved to Scotland, and changed it to brown before moving to Canada!

That's interesting. I was aware of the German mass immigrations into New York colony and into Ireland. I was aware of the Scottish mass immigrations into Ireland, Canada and Australia. I've never heard of any mass immigrations of Germans into Canada.

What can you tell me about that mass immigration?

Brown is a sept of Clan Douglas, which is mostly the southwest of Scotland, somewhere about Dumfries, south of Glasgow, and the central lowlands (see Douglas, UK). That knowledge might be of some use.

It is also claimed to be a sept of Clans MacMillan, MacDonald and Lamont, which is of no help at all unless you can trace your forebears to a particular location.

Thank you both. I was unaware that the Clan MacDonald and Clan Douglas also had Brown septs. I've also discovered (in the last day) that there's a Boyd sept of Browns.
The information doesn't lead me to an answer to my questions, but additional relevant information is always welcome.

If you did some searching on Canadian immigration websites you might find something that would state his place of birth. It is on my Grandparent's immigration records.

There wasn't any formal immigration back in the 1850s. Starting in 1803, ships sailing to North America were required to keep passenger lists ... but most of those have been lost. Here are a couple examples of what's available:
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discove...?IdNumber=899&
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discove...?IdNumber=900&

As you can see from the first example, the record doesn't show the age of this William Brown. There's no way to match him up, or rule him out, as being my great x2 grandfather. In addition, even if I could confirm that this was the correct William Brown, there's no point of origin for the ship.

In the second example, William Browne again lacks an age. This passenger record includes a point of origin and a destination ... both of which are in Ontario, Canada. I'm not entirely sure how one takes a ship from Hamilton to Preston, since Preston is straight inland from Hamilton. But that's the information available.

I asked about broader immigration trends, because the specific information I'd prefer wasn't available.

Details of his birthplace may be on his Canadian marriage certificate.

That far back, few of the records have survived. Specifically, the disparate collections have a grand total of Canadian 36,000 birth, death and marriage records occurring between 1749 and 1917. In other words, most are missing ... including his.

This is the sort of thing the family genealogists have already gone looking for ... specifically because there's such a wealth of information on the marriage records.

Be happy that you have Scots ancestry, whether Highland or Lowland.

I suspect that you own a kilt that has a tartan which relates to your ancestry ... either a clan, or a district where your family has lived. I would also like to be able to wear a kilt that reflects my family's background.

[Singlemalt]

Maybe you’re a German “braun” whose family moved to Scotland, and changed it to brown before moving to Canada!

The thing is, you really have to know the geographic location for the name to provide much info.

Or a Braun who moved directly from Germany to Canada but changed the spelling to better blend in a largely English speaking society. Here is SW Ontario the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo were originally New Hamburg and New Berlin because of the large German settlement in that area. They were changed to the jingoistic British names they carry now during WW1 when all things German were quite unpopular. A lot of people of German descent also anglicized their names at this time as well.

Brown is such a common name it will be difficult to ever know without more information.