A Dictionary of Scottish Emigrants to the U.S.A.

Description

The distinguished Scottish genealogist Donald Whyte was the first person to assemble a directory of the thousands of Scots who emigrated to the United States prior to 1855, when compulsory registration of births, marriages and deaths began in Scotland. And what an achievement it is, for herein are listed some 6,500 Scottish emigrants, gleaned from a variety of sources in Scotland and the U.S. Alphabetically arranged by the head of each household, the entries typically furnish the emigrant’s name, his (or her) age, place of origin, name of ship, date and place of arrival in the U.S., and the source of the information. In many instances Whyte supplies supplementary biographical information on the emigrant, such as occupation, education, reason for emigration, and person indentured to, as well as the names of family members and other companions traveling with the emigrant. A Dictionary of Scottish Emigrants was compiled from hundreds of printed sources, which are identified in the bibliography, as well as from a rich correspondence file on the subject of Scottish emigration accumulated by the author. The work concludes with two indexes: the first comprised of emigrants possessing a different surname from that of the household head, the second consisting of the places from which the emigrants hailed.