The early 19th century in Scotland marked the time of the notorious Highland Clearances, when landowners evicted their tenants to establish large sheep farms that were more profitable than collecting rent. The Clearances ushered in an era of dislocation, urban migration, and, on occasion, famine and civil disobedience. Thomas Douglas, Earl of Selkirk, alleviated the problem by organizing emigration from the area to the Canadian Maritimes and to the Red River in Manitoba. The Hudson Bay Company recruited workers–mainly from Orkney but also Shetland and Caithness–most of whom were employed around the Hudson Bay. On the other hand, as early as 1792 ringleaders of a group resisting the growth of sheep herding were tried and sentenced to transportation to the colonies.

The counties concerned in the Northern Highlands are Ross, Cromarty, Sutherland, and Caithness; and in the Northern Isles, the counties of Orkney and Shetland. The roughly 2,000 persons named here were found in primary sources such as court records, contemporary newspapers and journals, monumental inscriptions, and documents located in archives in the U.K. The entries bring together emigrants, their destinations, especially in North America and Australasia, and their kin who remained in Scotland.