Later Scots-Irish Links, 1725-1825: Part Three

Description

This volume marks the third in a series by David Dobson that purports to identify persons of Scottish birth living in Ulster and of Irish living in Scotland in the hundred years following 1725. Unlike Mr. Dobson’s earlier series of “Scots-Irish links” for the period 1575 to 1725, the destination of most of the would-be emigrants in Part Three of Later Scots-Irish Links, 1725-1825 was across the Atlantic and not to Ulster. At this time there was also some movement of peoples between Ireland and Scotland, mostly students heading for universities in Glasgow or Edinburgh. A substantial number of Irish students matriculated at Scottish universities because English and Irish universities had a policy of restricting access to those in communion with the Church of England. This meant that Presbyterians and other religious dissenters in Ireland sent their sons to Scots universities. Edinburgh’s reputation as a leading center of medical education also attracted Irish students. Since Scotland produced too many graduates for its domestic needs, many of them ultimately sought out careers in the American colonies, often as physicians, tutors, and ministers. In fact, students, and especially medical students, dominate the ranks of Part Three–far more than they did in Parts One and Two. Ships’ captains, soldiers (including political prisoners), merchants, ministers, and farmers are also in evidence.

Working from primary sources in Scotland, such as university records, registers of apprentices, the Aberdeen City Archives, as well as published sources such as the periodical Scots Magazine, Mr. Dobson has amassed information on more than 1,300 persons not found in the previous installments in the series. Mr. Dobson identifies each Scots-Irish link by name, country and sometimes city of birth or residence, situation (profession, student status, source of inheritance, etc.), a date, the record source, and occasionally such things as physical features, year of birth, etc.