Directory of Scots in the Carolinas, 1680-1830: Volume 2

David Dobson

Mar 2009 · Directory of Scots in the Carolinas, 1680-1830 Book 2 · Genealogical Publishing Com

About this ebook

The great 18th-century Scottish immigration to the Carolinas was a response, in large part, to the failure of the Jacobite rebellion in 1715, a phenomenon which set in motion a chain emigration of Scottish Lowlanders, followed by one of Highlanders. Publication of David Dobson's Directory of Scots in the Carolinas, 1680-1830, Volume 1 in 1986 was the first attempt to build a comprehensive list of Scottish settlers in that region. Since 1986, Mr. Dobson has gathered an overwhelming amount of new information on early Scottish immigrants to North and South Carolina based on his research in Scotland, England, and the U.S., but especially at the National Archives in Scotland. This sequel to the 1986 volume encases those findings. In all, the compiler has found evidence on nearly 1,000 Scots not mentioned in the original work and, for the most part, not found in his other publications on Scottish emigration. As one might expect from such a disparate body of sources, the descriptions of these Scots vary considerably, though there is a solid foundation of genealogical detail: age, place and date of birth, and often names of parents, names of spouses and children, occupation, place of residence, and date of emigration from Scotland. This is an important addition to the literature of Scottish immigration to colonial America, and, given the difficulty of identifying the participants in this extraordinary emigration, one worth waiting for.

Ratings and reviews

I would have to give a single star rating since the list of names contained therein is very limited. For example, it does not contain Hugh Matheson who is listed in several Emigrant/Immigrant resources on Ancestry. He arrived at Wilmington in April 1774. This obvious omission tells me that the author just picked up the most easily found sources of names, put them together and is stealing money from the unsuspecting trusting public. The book title should be changed to "A listing of ~1400 Scots in the Carolinas, 1680-1830 - a small percentage of the Scotch Immigrants of that Time". I want my money back.