With the exception of the first chapter, the results of this research are divided thematically, not chronologically. Due the nature of the settlement of Ohio , the bulk of which post-dates 1810 and the late date of the county histories (1878-1923), the volume centers on the nineteenth century. Chapter One, "The First British Buckeyes," examines the experience of the British, most of whom where English, from 1700 until 1815. For much of the long eighteenth century the Ohio Territory was a contested frontier where the French, Native Americans, and British lived and fought with each other, creating a new frontier culture. Van Vugt relates stories of various personages who helped define this new culture like Nicholas Cresswell and Ann Bailey. The British presence remained strong after the end of the Revolution with further settlement and the appointment of the Arthur St. Clair, a native of Caithness , as territorial governor.
The next two chapters, "The Nineteenth-Century: Migration Patterns and Assimilation," and "Communities and Settlements" summarize the settlement patterns of the various British groups in Ohio, including several useful graphics depicting these patterns. Chapter Two includes nuts and bolts information such as how much it cost to cross the Atlantic and then journey inland to Ohio , as well as population statistics for both Britain and the United States . By 1850, there were 28,557 British-born residents in Ohio . While this seems a sizable number it is less than the number of Irish immigrants, and it pales in comparison to the numbers from the various German states and principalities. Despite the conclusion of the previous chapter, that British immigrants assimilated quickly and later arrivals were not really immigrants so much as “cousins”. Chapter Three details the experience of the Welsh, Manx, and Guernsey Islanders, who successfully created separate and long lasting cultural communities. A fourth, the English settlement at Nelsonville, did not prosper as an ethnic enclave. He does not include a Scottish settlement, likely because the available secondary sources on their settlement in Ohio are slim. Although religion played a dominant role in each of these successful communities, this chapter along with other data from the book, suggest that language was the most important factor in slowing assimilation. This conclusion seems to have been overlooked by Van Vugt. Immigrants from England and the Scottish Lowlands were the only groups within the British Isles who could almost be guaranteed to speak English. All other groups, Highland Scots, Manx, Welsh, and Guernsey Islanders, had distinct language traditions which were often maintained in spite of English cultural and linguistic dominance. He also overlooks the longstanding cultural differences and national animosities that existed between the groups which did not disappear when one boarded ship. Moreover, in areas where different British migrants probably lived in proximity to each other, especially in cities like Cleveland , Toledo and Cincinnati , he does not seem interested in finding out whether they maintained a distance or banded together. He does identify two communities that may have been either English or British enclaves, East Liverpool (p.136) and Shawnee (pp. 154, 170), but does not investigate them further.
