Population Table - Kerrs of the West Coast

Note: Columns are for Inverness-shire then Harris within that county, Ross-shire and Lewis within that county; for Inverness-shire & Ross-shire combined and the number & proportion deriving from Harris & Lewis. These are followed by the numbers for Argyll-shire and Sutherland-shire and the total for all four counties:

Census	Inverness-shire	Harris	Ross-shire	Lewis	I&R	H&L	%	Argyll-shire	Sutherland-shire	Total
1841	94	65	28	0	122	65	53.3	198	242	562
1851	93	47	23	3	116	50	43.1	255	171	542
1861	116	47	43	7	159	50	31.4	251	225	635
1871	104	36	20	6	124	42	33.9	169	225	518
1881	97	24	19	6	116	30	25.9	249	217	582
1891	74	23	35	10	109	33	30.3	220	193	522
1901	60	17	37	11	97	28	28.9	196	159	452

(I have prepared charts from this data but am struggling to get 'Blogger' to accept them!)

I have restricted my examination to these four counties because, as can be seen on this map ,  they form the mass of the (Gaelic-speaking) West Coast of Scotland. Caithness did support a small population and their occupational range is quite similar to that on Harris but the pattern of names is different. A similar result was found for Argyll-shire.

The firsr feature that strikes me is that we start with over half the population of Inverness-shire and Ross-shire being due to those on Harris. This strongly suggests to me that the name was not native to those counties and hence we need to look further afield.

The figures exhibit greater synchronicity between Sutherland and the Inverness/Ross population than do those for Argyll which form a cyclical pattern. There is also greater similarity amongst names, such as Angus and Roderick, in the three counties with others such as James and Peter appearing in Argyll. (Interestingly, there was a Peter in Harris in 1841 but he later moved with his family to Argyll). If male names form a chain back into history, then  there is stronger evidence suggesting that it snakes back to Sutherland than anywhere else.

All this has to be taken with a ship-load of salt but I am leaning towards the idea that a family or two moved from Sutherland to Harris (including Taransay) by the early 18thC and settled there but that a range of circumstances (Clearances, Emigration, non-marrying males & a lack of male heirs) led to the name's demise on Harris.

Those who left the island, whether to Canada, America, Australia, England, Argyll or, indeed, Lewis, were slightly  more successful in continuing to add links to the chain...

Update: This PDF makes the point rather well - it 'feels' like the Harris families, but in Stoer (and a few other places in Assynt, Sutherland) and with a larger overall presence in the population: http://rogart.fileave.com/HMD%20MARRIAGES.pdf