New Brunswick’s enormous timber trade attracted the first wave of Scots in the late 18th century. As economic conditions in Scotland worsened, the flow of emigrants increased, creating distinctive Scottish communities along the province’s major timber bays and river frontages. While Scots relied on the timber trade for economic sustenance, their religion offered another form of support. It sustained them in a spiritual and cultural sense. These two themes, the axe and the bible, underpin their story. Using wide-ranging documentary sources, including passengers lists and newspaper shipping reports, the book traces the progress of Scottish colonization and its ramification for the province’s early development. The book is the first fully documented account of Scottish emigration to New Brunswick ever to be written.