Introduction

The information provided in this database only begins to scratch the surface of the complicated nature of Scotland and its people.  For example, the use of the term “District” is used loosely to identify the locations where records of the names included herein were recorded.   We say that the term is used loosely only because the governing administrative areas identified as “District” and “Region” were done away with in Scotland around 1997.   At that time these areas were redesignated as Councils, of which there are now 32. When the Scottish Districts Family Association (SDFA) was formed, we had established ourselves based on the existence of the district structure of administration.  We have since, and will continue to be identified under this title. 

Over the years of growth of the Scottish heritage events across the USA a great deal of effort has been expended on refining and defining everything associated with Scottish Clans.  However, with a couple of exceptions, little effort went into the identification of surnames associated with Scotland who are not linked to a clan.  

A necessary distinction to remember and share is the fact that the misperception that Scotland’s people are centered strictly around the clan structure has been misstated through many Hollywood productions.  In fact, Scottish Clans represent less than one third of all the people of Scotland.  These non-clan families were city dwellers. They did not declare fealty to a clan chief, but provide goods, services, and labor in the regions in which they resided. 

The information represented on this site covers that portion of Scotland’s people derived from various publicly available sources such as Scottish government, regional administration, church (birth, marriage, death), and transportation (deportation) records.  Regarding the latter source, there were no restrictions on the transportation of the subjects of England (English, Irish, Scots, Welsh) to America, Caribbean, Plantations, and Australia. Information extracted from these transportation records focused strictly on those transported prisoners specifically identified as Scottish.  Prisoner transportation records to the Americas spanned the period 1600-1776 while those sent to Australia spanned the period 1776-1830. 

As would be expected, the ravages of time has taken its toll on the availability of records prior to the middle 1700’s. Census records available for review covered a limited period (1800-1921), and most church and parish records are not yet available on-line.  Combine these issues with an apparent lack of interest in thoroughly documenting details about each prisoner transported prior to 1770 with information where they were born or lived at the time.  After 1770 there appeared to be a noticeable effort to provide greater detail on each person transported.  

For prisoners transported to Australia, the gaps in information are more significant. The documents available provided a few additional names but, for the most part, copies of the microfiche records weren’t legible enough to decipher information such as the country of the prisoner’s origin making it difficult in determining if the names should be included here. 

During the research there appeared to be a strong indication that some Scottish family lines may have died out in Scotland as a direct result of transportation.  A suspicion we believe is confirmed by the existence of the Family Tree Y-DNA Project whose aim is to identify descendants of the Scots captured in the battles of Dunbar and Worcester (1650-1651) and transported to the Americas Plantations. (https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/scottish-po-ws/about/background)

Although political and religious reasons were grounds for transportation, for the most part transportation to the Americas and Australia took place to reduce overcrowding in prisons and on prison hulks.  Crimes for those being transported ranged from assault, battery, sex crimes, adultery, bigotry, libel, rioting, threatening behavior, vagabonding, arson, deception (bankruptcy, forgery, fraud, perjury), and sundry crimes we would consider petty by today’s standards.  

The periods of conflict with the attributed significantly to the numbers of those being transported.  Conflicts such as the wars of the Three Kingdoms (1638-1651), the Covenanter Risings (1660-1680), Argyll’s Rebellion (1685), and the Jacobite Rebellions (1715, 1719, and 1745) are periods in time bearing witness to greater numbers of prisoners being transported.  

It is also important to keep in mind that Scottish surnames were influenced by resident Picts, Norman invasion, Irish emigration in the 5^th century, and Anglian immigrants along the borders. There were also raids and colonization of the Scottish Isles by the Norsemen some of which contributed to the surnames we see today. 

In general, family lists ignored spelling variations which were a direct result of these migrations and subsequent urbanization occurring at a time when most of the people were illiterate, therefore, one should not be inflexible over on the exact spelling of a family name when researching.