Courage of the Scottish Immigrants

During the first hundred years of Scottish immigration to the Americas, Philadelphia was the largest city in the British colonies, and the second largest city in the British empire. As such, its booming port was a natural destination for emigrant Scots. Many of those arriving in Philadelphia were poor or sick and in need of money, work, and friends. In 1747, a group of Scots immigrants who were already established in Philadelphia founded the St. Andrew's Society of Philadelphia to assist their indigent countrymen. The first meetings of the Society were held at Tun Tavern, which was located near this site. The early members of the Society included prominent Scottish immigrants -- physicians, educators, engineers, and military leaders, businessmen, clergymen, farmers, and lawyers -- all of whom contributed their money and skill to assist less fortunate Scots.
This Monument depicts a Scottish family, newly arrived in Philadelphia, walking up from the river ready to face the challenges of their new country with determination and courage. The group includes a young man dressed in frontier garb who has come ahead of his family to find a place for them to settle. Perhaps he has already met and received help from the members of the St. Andrew's Society; perhaps he has joined the Society himself. Having found a suitable location in Pennsylvania or further West, he has sent word back to his family that the land is good, and that they should follow.
His father, the patriarch of the family, retains his Celtic highland kilt, and proudly carries his cromag, or shepherd's staff and is accompanied by his faithful deerhound. The young woman is the wife of the patriarch's son, holding a baby that will grow to adulthood as an American. The young girl, perhaps an older daughter of the son, or his younger sister, carries a book which may be the family Bible. As a result of the Scottish passion for education, even the poorest of the Scots were literate, an advantage not shared by many new arrivals at that time.
The Goal of this Monument is to recognize the courage, skill, resourcefulness and tenacity of Scottish Immigrants as a group. Having endured hardship, war, and persecution in their own land, they crossed the stormy Atlantic to settle here as frontiersmen, farmers and traders; as mothers, teachers, and nurses; as artisans, architects, physicians, attorneys, clergy, bankers, soldiers, and statesmen. No matter what their clan or profession, highland or lowland, all of these Scottish immigrants shared a common Celtic heritage, a common history of struggle, defeat, and victory, and a common desire to add their individual contributions to building a new and great nation.
This plaque is dedicated, with appreciation, to
S.T. Hudson Engineers, Inc.
in recognition of their generous support of this
Monument to Scottish Immigrants