Highland Clearances and three hundred percent hikes in farm rent prompted many Scottish farmers to sail to America in the mid-1800s. Some displaced Scots settled in Springdale and Verona Townships on both sides of the Military Ridge. This rural community, known as Scotch Lane, established a Presbyterian Church, a post office, and the Henderson and McPherson/McGregor schools. Nearly 100 families had settled here by 1870, and some of them rest in this early Scottish Cemetery. Members of the community became prominent in state and county government, including County Board Chairmen James McPherson and Frank Stewart, State Legislators Thomas and John Stewart and Joseph Henderson, and State Senator and Secretary of State John S. Donald, known as the Father of Wisconsin's Good Roads Law. In later years, neighboring Swiss, German, and Norwegian families acquired many of these farms, and few Scottish descendants remain on the home sod.