Although there had been a large emigration from Scotland for a number of years, after 1763 it greatly increased, and between 1763 and 1775 about 25,000 Scots immigrated to America. North Carolina received the largest number of them, most of whom were Highlanders, and only a small number Lowlanders (MERRENS description begins Harry Roy Merrens. Colonial North Carolina in the Eighteenth Century: A Study in Historical Geography. Chapel Hill, N.C., 1964. description ends , 57). David Allen and James Whiteland were commissioners sent by the Glasgow-based American Company of Farmers to find a large tract of land, 16,000–20,000 acres in size, upon which to settle the 200 Lowland families waiting in Scotland. Although they promised to view GW’s Ohio lands, they were concerned that the frontier area would be too far from markets or landing places (WYLIE description begins T. W. J. Wylie. “Franklin County One Hundred Years Ago: A Settler’s Experience Told in a Letter Written by Alexander Thomson in 1773.” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 8 (1884): 313–27. description ends , 322–23).