American immigrant 1800~1950

1. John Muir American immigrant 1800~1950

3. Biography&education • john Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland, on April 21, 1838. He was the third of Daniel and Anne Gilrye Muir's eight children. Muir recalled in The Story of My Boyhood and Youth (1913) that his father was religious and extremely strict, keeping his children in line with frequent whippings. In 1849 the Muirs moved to the United States and bought farmland near Portage, Wisconsin. Muir's father worked him hard on the farm and would not allow him to waste daylight hours on reading. Muir asked for and received permission to rise early in order to study. He invented an "early-rising machine" that dumped him out of bed at one o'clock each morning so that he could read. In 1860 he displayed this and other inventions at the Wisconsin State Fair. • In 1861 Muir entered the University of Wisconsin to study science. He also tried studying medicine but soon gave it up for various jobs that challenged his skill at inventing things. His interest in nature, particularly plants, was growing; he made frequent trips throughout Wisconsin and nearby states to observe plant life. In 1867 he gave up his own inventions "to study the inventions of God." He set out on the walk described in A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf (1916). Actually, he went as far as Cuba. In 1868 he traveled to San Francisco, California, and worked on a sheep ranch. Exploring Yosemite Valley occupied much of his next six years. On all of his explorations he kept a journal of scientific and personal observations and also pencil drawings. • In 1880, after returning from exploring in Alaska, Muir married Louie Wanda.

4. How did he contribute to America? Yosemite National Park, among many other preservations of nature.  • How did he help America to become a better country? He was an early conservationist in America and he loved going on adventures. he changed America by telling them that "we need to change America from wastes and cutting down trees".

5. How did he died? John Muir, the Scottish American naturalist and author, died aged 76, probably of natural causes. His writings contributed to much of today's thinking about conservation.  Why did they come?Some were transported, they had no choice other than prison or execution, the reasons ranging from political prisoners of rebellions, to paupers, to petty thieves and criminals. Others came because of poverty. They had no hope of ever breaking out of their set place in the Class-system which existed in Britain, but in America, a man could make something of himself, regardless of his background. Mst of these came as bonded-servants and would be given passage to America, paid by the person who brought them over and would have to work off their passage upon their arrival as per their contract, a period which often lasted for seven years. At the end of that time, they were on their own and it was up to themselves to make something of their life in the New World. How did the Scots make a living in the US? Any way they could, as farmers, soldiers, blacksmiths, cattle-ranchers, lumber men, factory workers, whatever way they could succeed.

6. Ships from Scotland to America, 1628-1828.  David Dobson While most early voyages between Scotland and North America were trading voyages, the majority of American-bound cargo ships carried a small complement of passengers, and a number of these passengers are named in newspaper accounts and in records of the Exchequer now housed in the National Archives of Scotland. This volume of research is based largely on these two sources, especially the Exchequer records, which identify vessels, masters, and cargoes on which duty was charged. Such records are virtually complete from the year 1742, and though designed to raise income for the government through customs duties, they do sometimes refer to passengers. Not all ships trading between Scotland and North America, however, carried passenger manifests, and for the majority of such ships we are given only the ship's name, the master's name, and the dates and ports of departure and arrival. This latter point is rather important as many Scottish emigrants sailed from remote bays or inlets in the Highlands and Islands where the catchment area for the emigrants was highly localised. This information can be instrumental in locating places in Scotland--perhaps a port of departure or a place of origin. So the information provided in these records may be the very clue needed to lead you back to a time and place in which to anchor your research.                                                                                                                                                                   Cost US$20   Family picture

8. The Life of John Muir“When I was a boy in Scotland, I was fond of every thing that was wild, and all my life I’ve been growing fonder and fonder of wild places and wild creatures.” John Muir was a true naturalist from his early childhood days when his grandfather introduced him to the beauty of the natural world. Muir was a man of extraordinary talent, and remarkable intelligence. He traveled the world in search of knowledge of the flora, fauna, and the amazing processes that shape the face of the planet. He was an inventor, a botanist, a geologist, a poet and finally the leader of a new movement that would change the way people view nature. His interests ranged from literature and philosophy to chemistry. He had many paths from which to choose, but it would be years before he would realize his true calling.