Chapter 4C: The Glennies and the Reids Leave their Ancestral Homes

After John’s departure from Lochrie in 1870, the other Glennies, except Margaret[1] who married James MacGregor of Glenbucket and remained there, were to follow during the next 17 years. All went to North Andover, and all either stayed there or in nearby communities for the rest of their lives. James left Lochrie sometime in his early 20s, perhaps the mid to late 1870s. Alexander’s migration was in 1886. Their parents along with William, Elizabeth and Charles, arrived in North Andover in June 1887. Charles describes their journey on the S. S. Alaska from Liverpool to New York in A Short History of the Glennie Family. Isabella arrived a few months later, on Thanksgiving Day. Mary Ann arrived in North Andover with her husband, Robert Fyfe, and children in April 1900. She, however, had left Lochrie in the early 1880s to set up housekeeping with her then new husband, Robert. The entire Glennie family from Lochrie, again with the exception of Margaret, was reunited in the New World.

The Reid’s migration story shares some themes with that of the Glennies, but there are differences. Apparently, the Reids left Tollafraick en mass in the early 1890s[2], but not all for the New World. With the possible exception of Annie, their destination was Aberdeen, Scotland.[3] According to research by Cressida, the 1901 census shows all the (grown) children at 106 High Street in Old Aberdeen. Father Alexander has died by then (1900) and mother Elizabeth, while apparently still alive, was at an address unknown. In the 1901 Census, Lizzie and Jeannie’s occupations appear as “dressmakers,” and Gordon as a “tobacconist.” Alexander, who remained in Scotland for the remainder of his life, had become, according to the 1901 Census, a “carter,” i.e., one who worked with a horse and cart, presumably to move goods.

Annie, however, was on a different track. While it is possible she traveled with her family to Aberdeen, she did not stay long if she did. She sailed on the vessel “State of Nebraska” from Glasgow to Ellis Island, New York, arriving on September 26, 1893[4]. She was single at the time. Annie does appear in the 1901 Census as living with her family in Aberdeen, with an occupation as “housekeeper,” although that designation may simply have described her chores around the Aberdeen house while in residence. Annie’s surname is listed is listed in the 1901 Census as Reid, not Glennie, so had remained single, although she is approaching 39 years of age.

Annie’s residing with her siblings in Aberdeen in 1901, after she had emigrated to America, was an extended visit, not a permanent arrangement. William, now in the picture apparently as a fiancée, wrote her 2 letters in my possession, one dated July 17 and the other September 5, 1901.[5] In the earlier letter, it is clear William is expecting Annie to return to North Andover in September, although we see in his September 5 letter that her return date remains uncertain then. He informs her that his sister, Mary Ann, married and then residing in either North Andover or (less likely) Lawrence, would welcome her as a guest in her house when she returns, obliquely stating that, if Annie were to arrive in September, “There would be some two months.” However, two months until what is left for us to imagine. Given the context, timing, and the birth of their eldest son, Everett, in December 1902, my guess is William is referring to the time they were planning to marry.

For Lizzie, Gordon and Jeannie, Aberdeen turned out to be a stop on the way to their final destination in North America. They sailed from Glasgow to New York on the “Laurentian,” arriving in June 1902. As the women traveled under the surname “Reid,” they were still unmarried. The stated purpose of their trip was to visit Mrs. Annie Glennie, by then married to the elusive William – and not a moment too soon. The destination of the 3 Reids was North Andover.[6] Perhaps Annie’s visit to Aberdeen a year earlier had been to pave the way for her younger siblings to make the journey overseas. Upon the arrival of Gordon, Lizzie and Jeannie, all those still surviving of the Glennie and Reid families from Lochrie and Tollafraick, respectively, who were to set out for the New World had been reunited in and around North Andover, Massachusetts.

So, why did the Glennies and Reids leave their ancestral homes for lives, either in urban Aberdeen or the USA? We’ve hints already – the shifting economic tide with its depopulation of the Highlands, the pressures to expand farm size that meant less space to provide homes for the younger generation, and the rigidity of the social and economic structure in Scotland at that time. The mid-18^th century, as we have seen brought its particular hardships and trials, and John, the pioneer, set out likely with these difficulties fresh in his memory.

In the case of the Glennies and Reids, exploitation through lack of land reform may well have played a major role. In Strathdon, they could only aspire to continue their lives as tenant farmers. And with so many sons, particularly in the Glennie family, at this time of farm consolidation by the estate landlords, there was room at best for only one to continue to call their homesteads home during their lifetimes. As Martin Pugh says:

The idea that the crises of 1832 and 1846 (in Britain) marked the triumph of the bourgeoisie over the aristocracy is largely a myth. In fact the landed aristocracy retained its wealth, status and power largely intact, at least until the 1880s…. Yet despite attacks on aristocratic privilege …as, as yet, no general will to abolish the hereditary basis of the House of Lords or to tax landed wealth.”[7]

These families surely know there was a brighter future beyond the straths and glens and river of their homes. The time of their emigrations was one of economic expansion far more outside the borders of Great Britain than within. I have read that the late 19^th century was one of national malaise in Great Britain. Again, in the words of Martin Pugh:

The 1870s and 1880s rang to the complaints of farmers and businessmen suffering from reduced profit margin, or even bankruptcy, as a result of the prolonged fall in prices….[T]here is evidence that Britain’s economy had by now passed its peak. The rate of growth was slower than in the Victorian era, and, more alarmingly, it was inferior to that of Germany and the USA. Thus, Britain’s share of world output of manufactured goods fell from 22.9% in 1880 to 8.5% in 1900; in the same period the American share rose from 14.7% to 23.6%....[8]

If the Glennies had prophesies of fortune and social freedom of like in the US, they were borne out in the wink of an eye. As Charles was to proclaim, within 2 weeks of leaving Liverpool, the last of the Glennie family to migrate, tenant farmers in Scotland delivering peat to their landlord as part of their lease, owned their own farm in North Andover. While the farm was apparently run down when purchased by James and Isabella, the younger generation turned it into an attractive homestead and productive resource within a few years. The American dream of owing your own home (and farm), and taking pride in it, was theirs.

Finally, why did the Glennies and Reids select North Andover as their destination? I believe the answer lies with a first cousin of the Glennies, Alexander Munro. As you may remember, Alexander and his sister were raised at Lochrie by James and Isabella along with their other children. Alexander, several years older than John, had migrated earlier. Alexander was settled in Massachusetts and working on the “Captain Bradley” farm in Methuen, Mass (not far from North Andover) by the time John arrived. John briefly worked with Alexander on that farm. As evidence of an enduring relationship with the Glennies, Alexander Munro, not John, years later met the last of the Glennie immigrants upon their arrival in New York and escorted them to North Andover. Alexander was the catalyst, drawing them his cousins to the place of their new lives.

We do not know why Alexander Munro chose the vicinity of North Andover as his destination, but it's a good guess that economic opportunity ranked high on the list. By the late 19th century, Lawrence and Lowell, Massachusetts, both near North Andover, were beginning to boom, with mills appearing on banks of the Merrimack River, which ran through both cities. Each city was to claim, in time, that it was the largest manufacturer of textiles and related goods (e.g., shoes) in the world. This growth, of course, brought with it many job opportunities in these manufacturing industries and multiplier affects drove development and prosperity in the region's other industries, services and agriculture.

As the relationship between William and Annie blossomed, Annie’s future became tied to North Andover. With her residing there, Gordon, Lizzie and Jeannie picked North Andover as their New World point of arrival and all would permanently reside there or elsewhere in Massachusetts or New Hampshire. Many of these Glennies and Reids are buried in Ridgewood Cemetery, in North Andover. But we’re getting ahead of our story. We turn next to how the Glennies and Reids built their lives in the New World.

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[1] Margaret married James MacGregor of Glenbucket, where they remained for the rest of their lives. She had left Lochrie sometime before the last of the Glennies departed for North America. She only left Scotland once, for a trip to France where she visited the grave of her son, Alexander, killed in WWI. She and James are buried in the Glenbucket churchyard.

[2] The most likely time is 1893, the year Annie left Scotland for the New York and when, according to Cressida’s analysis of leasehold agreements, the lease on Tollafraick ended. We know from Census records that the Reid family remained in Tollafraick in 1891 but were in Aberdeen by 1901.

[3] While we in the New World often tend to think of the Scottish migrations ending up in those places where we now are, e.g., North America, Australia, New Zealand, in fact much of the exodus was from rural to urban areas within Scotland. During the late 18^th and 19^th centuries, the population of Scotland’s 3 major urban areas, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen, grew dramatically while it diminished in the countryside.

[4] Ellis Island data base.

[5] It is quite possible these 2 letters are his only correspondence with Annie during this time. He apologizes in both letters for not writing her more frequently. I have no letters, or references to letters, from Annie to William.

[6] The source of this information is the Preliminary Form for Petition for NaturalizationNew Bedford, Massachusetts. It is undated. for Jeannie Reid Baskin. It was prepared for the Superior Court at

[7] Pugh, Martin. Britain Since 1789: a Concise History. (New York: St. Martin’s Press). 1999, p.81.

[8] Ibid. p. 115.