Rivers Running Far

Taking his own family as an example, Hugh Allison looks at the factors influencing the Scots' immigration and identifies the questions with which anyone can begin to investigate their own forebears.

Hugh Allison follows the stories of hundreds of emigrants, including some of his own extensive family, many of whom emigrated to Australia and America, from the early eighteenth century up to the present day. Their stories are typical of the Scottish diaspora and while they probably raise more questions than answers the thought prevails that Scots never considered emigration as a permanence. Their heritage and family ties renain undiminished down through the generations and "Scottishness" touches the lives of tens of millions of people around the world.

This book will help many Scots whose families are scattered round the globe and are now brought closer through modern communications and the ease of "ancestral tourism". It will encourage many to trace their ancestors satisfying the question "where did I come from?"