settled there in such numbers as to leave their impress on the
community so deeply as they did in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
and the south. There were Presbyterian churches in Lewes, Newcastle
(Delaware), and Philadelphia previous to 1698, and from that time
forward the province of Pennsylvania was the chief centre of Scottish
settlement both from Scotland direct and by way of Ulster. By 1720
these settlers had reached the mouth of the Susquehanna, and three
years later the present site of Harrisburg. Between 1730 and 1745 they
settled the Cumberland Valley and still pushing westward, in 1768-69
the present Fayette, Westmoreland, Allegheny, and Washington counties.
In 1773 they penetrated to and settled in Kentucky, and were followed
by a stream of Todds, Flemings, Morrisons, Barbours, Breckinridges,
McDowells, and others. By 1790 seventy-five thousand people were in
the region and Kentucky was admitted to the Federal Union in 1792. By
1779 they had crossed the Ohio River into the present state of Ohio.
Between the years 1730 and 1775 the Scottish immigration into
Pennsylvania often reached ten thousand a year.
SOME PROMINENT SCOTS AND SCOTS FAMILIES
Lord Bacon expressed his regret that the lives of eminent men were not
more frequently written, and added that, "though kings, princes, and
great personages be few, yet there are many excellent men who deserve
better fate than vague reports and barren elegies." Of no country is
this more true than the United States. An examination of the
innumerable early biographical dictionaries with which the shelves of
our public libraries are cumbered, will show that the bulk of the life
sketches of the individuals therein commemorated are vague and
unsatisfactory. In nearly every case little or no information is given
of the parentage or origin of the subject, and indeed one work goes so
far as to say that such information is unnecessary, the mere fact of
American birth being sufficient. However pleasing such statements may
be from an ultra patriotic viewpoint it is very unsatisfactory from
the biological or historical side of the question, which is
undoubtedly the most important to be considered. The neglect of these
items of origin, etc., makes the task of positively identifying
certain individuals as of Scottish origin or descent a very difficult
one. One may feel morally certain that a particular individual from
his name or features (if there be a portrait) is of Scottish origin,
but without a definite statement to that effect the matter must in
most cases be left an open question. One other cause of uncertainty,
and it is a very annoying one, is the careless method of many
biographers in putting down a man's origin as "Irish," "from Ireland,"
"from the north of Ireland," etc., where they clearly mean to state
that the individual concerned is descended from one of the many
thousands of Scots who settled in Ulster in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. Notwithstanding this uncertainty the proportion
of men of undoubted Scottish origin who have reached high distinction,
and whose influence has had such far reaching scope in the United
States, is phenomenal. "Let anyone," says Dinsmore, "scrutinize the
list of names of distinguished men in our annals; names of men eminent
in public life from President down; men distinguished in the Church,
in the Army, in the Navy, at the Bar, on the Bench, in Medicine and
Surgery, in Education, trade, commerce, invention, discovery--in any
and all of the arts which add to the freedom, enlightenment, and
wealth of the world, and the convenience and comfort of mankind; names
which have won luster in every honorable calling--let him scrutinize
the list" and he will be astonished to find how large a proportion of
these names represent men of Scottish birth or Scottish descent. In
these pages it is obviously impossible to mention every Scot who has
achieved distinction--to do so would require a large biographical
dictionary. We can here only select a few names in each class from
early colonial times to the present day.
The most famous family of Colonial times was that of the Livingstons
of Livingston Manor, famed alike for their ability and their
patriotism. The first of the family in America was Robert Livingston
(1654-1725), born at Ancrum, Roxburghshire, who came to America about
1672. He married Alida (Schuyler) Van Rensselaer. His eldest son,
Philip (1686-1749), second Lord of the Manor, succeeded him and added
greatly to the family wealth and lands by his business enterprise.
Peter Van Brugh Livingston (1710-92), second son of Philip, was
President of the first Provincial Congress. Another son, Philip
(1716-78), was Member of the General Assembly for the City of New
York, Member of Congress in 1774 and 1776, and one of the Signers of
the Declaration of Independence. A third son was William (1723-90),
Governor of New Jersey. Other prominent members of this family were
Robert R. Livingston (1746-1813), and Edward (1764-1836). The former
was Member of the Continental Congress, Chancellor of the State of New
York (1777-1801), Secretary of Foreign Affairs (1781-83), Minister to
France (1801-05), and Negotiator of the Louisiana Purchase (1803). He
administered the oath of office to George Washington on his assuming
the office of President. Edward was Member of Congress from New York
(1795-1801), Mayor of New York City (1801-03), Member of Congress from
Louisiana (1823-29), United States Senator (1829-31), Secretary of
State (1831-33), and Minister to France (1833-35). Robert Fulton, the
inventor, married a daughter of the Livingstons and thus got the
necessary financial backing to make the _Clermont_ a success. A sister
of Edward was married to General Montgomery of Quebec fame, another to
Secretary of War Armstrong, and a third to General Morgan Lewis.
The Bells of New Hampshire descended from John Bell, the Londonderry
settler of 1718, gave three governors to New Hampshire and one to
Vermont. Luther V. Bell, formerly Superintendent of the McLean Asylum,
Somerville, Massachusetts, was another of his descendants. The McNutts
of Londonderry, New Hampshire, are descended from William McNaught,
who settled there in 1718. The McNaughts came originally from
Kilquhanite in Galloway. The Bean family, descended from John Bean who
came to America in 1660, were pioneers in new settlements in New
Hampshire and Maine, and bore the burden of such a life and profited
by it. About one hundred of them were soldiers in the Revolutionary
War. The Macdonough family of Delaware is also of Scottish descent.
Thomas Macdonough, the famous naval officer, was of the third
generation in this country. The Corbit family of Delaware are
descended from Daniel Corbit, a Quaker born in Scotland in 1682. The
Forsyths of Georgia are descended from Robert Forsyth, born in
Scotland about 1754, who entered the Congressional Army and became a
Captain of Lee's Light Horse in 1776. The Forsyths of New York State
trace their descent to two brothers from Aberdeenshire (John and
Alexander). The bulk of the Virginia Gordons appear to have been from
Galloway.
Alexander Breckenridge, a Scot, came to America about 1728, settling
in Pennsylvania and later in Virginia. One of his sons, Robert, was an
energetic Captain of Rangers during the Indian wars, and died before
the close of the Revolutionary War. By his second wife, also of
Scottish descent, he had several sons who achieved fame and success.
One of these sons, John Breckenridge (1760-1808), became
Attorney-General of Kentucky in 1795; served in the state legislature
1797-1800; drafted the famous Kentucky resolutions in 1798; was United
States Senator from Kentucky (1801-05) and Attorney-General in
Jefferson's Cabinet from 1805 till his death. Among the sons of John
Breckenridge were Robert Jefferson Breckenridge (1800-71), clergyman
and author, and Joseph Cabell Breckenridge. John Cabell Breckenridge,
son of Joseph C. Breckenridge, was Vice-President of the United States
(1857-61), candidate of the Southern Democrats for President in 1860,
General in the Confederate Armies (1862-64), Confederate Secretary of
War till 1865. Joseph Cabell Breckenridge (b. 1840), son of Robert J.
Breckenridge, also served with distinction in the Civil War, and took
an active part in the Santiago campaign during the Spanish-American
War. Henry Breckenridge (b. 1886), son of Joseph C. Breckenridge, was
Assistant Secretary of War, and served with the American Expeditionary
Forces in the Argonne. William Campbell Preston Breckenridge
(1837-1904), son of Robert J. Breckenridge, was Member of the
Forty-ninth Congress.
The descendants of James McClellan, kin of the McClellans of Galloway,
Scotland, who was appointed Constable at the town meeting held in
Worcester in March, 1724, have written their name large in the medical
and military annals of this country. Some of his descendants are
noticed under Physicians. The most famous of the family was General
George Brinton MacClellan (1826-85), Major-General in the United
States Army during the Civil War, unsuccessful candidate of the
Democratic Party for President in 1864, and Governor of New Jersey
from 1878 to 1881. The General's son, George B. McClellan (b. 1865),
was Mayor of New York (1903 and 1905) and is now a Professor in
Princeton. James Bulloch, born in Scotland c. 1701, emigrated to
Charleston, South Carolina, c. 1728. In the following year he married
Jean Stobo, daughter of the Rev. Archibald Stobo, and was the first
ancestor of the late President Roosevelt's mother. His son, Archibald
Bulloch (d. 1777), was Colonial Governor of Georgia and Commander of
the State's forces in 1776-77, and signed the first Constitution of
Georgia as President. He would have been one of the Signers of the
Declaration of Independence had not official duties called him, home.
A descendant of his, James Dunwoody Bulloch, uncle of the late
President Roosevelt, was Lieutenant in the Confederate Navy and
Confederate States Naval Agent abroad. Irvine S. Bulloch, another
uncle of Roosevelt's, was Sailing Master of the Alabama when in battle
with the U.S.S. Kearsarge. Another of this family was William B.
Bulloch (1776-1852), lawyer and State Senator of Georgia. The Chambers
family of Trenton, New Jersey, are descended from two brothers, John
and Robert Chambers, who came over in the ship _Henry and Francis_ in
1685.
In the eighteenth century many natives of Dumfriesshire emigrated to
the American colonies, and of these perhaps the most prominent were
those descended from John Johnston of Stapleton, Dumfriesshire, an
officer in a Scottish regiment in the French service. His second son,
Gabriel, became Governor of North Carolina. In the house of the
Governor's brother, Gilbert, it is stated that General Marion signed
the commission for the celebrated band known as "Marion's Men." Among
the more prominent descendants of Gilbert Johnston are: (1) James, who
became a Colonel on the staff of General Rutherford during the
Revolution and served in several engagements; (2) William, M.D., who
married a daughter of General Peter Forney, and died in 1855. This
William had five sons: (1) James, a Captain in the Confederate Army;
(2) Robert, a Brigadier-General; (3) William, a Colonel; (4) Joseph
Forney, born in 1843, Captain in the Confederate Army, Governor of
Alabama from 1896 to 1900, and United States Senator for Alabama in
1907; (5) Bartlett, an officer in the Confederate Navy. Samuel
Johnston, a nephew of Gilbert's, was the Naval Officer of North
Carolina in 1775, Treasurer during the Revolution, and Governor of
North Carolina from 1787 to 1789, President of the Convention that
finally adopted the State Constitution, and first Senator elected by
his state in the United States Congress in 1789. His son, James, was
the largest planter in the United States on his death in 1865.
Gilbert's brother Robert, was an attorney and civil engineer. His son,
Peter, served as Lieutenant in the legion which Colonel Henry Lee
recruited in Virginia, and after the war became Judge of the
South-Western Circuit in Virginia, and Speaker of the Virginia House
of Delegates. He married Mary Wood, a niece of Patrick Henry. Their
eighth son, Joseph Eccleston Johnston, born in 1807, graduated from
West Point in 1829, served in the Federal Army in all its campaigns,
up to the time of the Civil War. Although holding the rank of
Lieutenant-Colonel and Quarter-Master-General, he resigned and joined
the Confederate Army, and rendered brilliant service in its ranks.
Another eminent individual of this name was General Albert Sydney
Johnston, the son of a physician, John Johnston, the descendant of a
Scottish family long settled in Connecticut. Christopher Johnston
(1822-1891), a descendant of the Poldean branch of the Annandale
Johnstons, was professor of surgery in the University of Maryland. His
son, also named Christopher (d. 1914), graduated M.D., practised for
eight years, studied ancient and modern languages, and eventually
became Professor of Oriental History and Archaeology in Johns Hopkins
University. He was one of the most distinguished Oriental scholars
this country has produced.
Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804), one of the founders of the Republic,
served with distinction in the Revolutionary War, but it was as a
Statesman of the highest ability that he acquired his great fame. He
was one of the most prominent Members of the Continental Congress
(1782-83), of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and Secretary of
the Treasury (1789-95). He was born in the West Indies, the son of a
Scots father and a French mother.
Thomas Leiper (1745-1825), born in Strathaven, Lanarkshire, emigrated
to Maryland in 1763, was one of the first to favor separation from the
mother country, and raised a fund for open resistance to the Crown.
Robert Stuart (1785-1848), pioneer and fur-trader, born at Callander,
Perthshire, a grandson of Rob Roy's bitterest enemy. In 1810, in
company with his uncle, John Jacob Astor, and several others, he
founded the fur-trading colony of Astoria. His share in this
undertaking is fully described in Washington Irving's _Astoria_. In
1817 Stuart settled at Mackinac as agent of the American Fur Company,
and also served as Commissioner for the Indian tribes. General George
Bartram, of Scottish parentage, was one of the "Committee of
Correspondence" appointed to take action on the "Chesapeake Affair" in
1807, when war with Britain seemed imminent, and was active in
military affairs during the war of 1812. Allan Pinkerton (1819-84),
born in the Gorbals, Glasgow, organized the United States Secret
Service Division of the United States Army in 1861, discovered the
plot to assassinate President Lincoln on his way to his inauguration
in 1861, and also broke up the "Molly Maguires," etc. William Walker
(1824-60), the filibuster, was born in Tennessee of Scots parentage.
Rev. George Keith, a native of Aberdeen, became Surveyor-General of
New Jersey in 1684. He founded the town of Freehold and marked out the
dividing line between East and West Jersey. In 1693 he issued the
first printed protest against human slavery, "An Exhortation & Caution
to Friends concerning Buying and Keeping of Negroes," New York, 1693.
James Alexander (1690-1756), a Scot, was disbarred for attempting the
defense of John Peter Zenger, the printer, in 1735. Along with
Benjamin Franklin he was one of the founders of the American
Philosophical Society. Andrew Hamilton (1676-1741), the most eminent
lawyer of his time, Attorney-General of Pennsylvania, and chief
Commissioner for building Independence Hall in Philadelphia, was born
in Scotland. For his championship of the freedom of the press and his
successful defense of Zenger he was hailed by Governor Morris as "the
day-star of the Revolution." His son James Hamilton, was the first
native-born Governor of Pennsylvania and Mayor of Philadelphia. James
Breghin or Brechin, Missionary, born in Scotland, took a prominent
part in the affairs of Virginia (1705-19) and was an active supporter
of Commissary Blair. Charles Anderson, another Missionary, probably a
graduate of Aberdeen, served in Virginia from 1700 to 1719, was also a
supporter of Blair. James Graham, first Recorder of the city of New
York (1683-1700) and Speaker of Assembly (1691-99) was born in
Scotland. Thomas Gordon (d. Perth Amboy, 1722), born in Pitlochrie,
was Attorney-General of the Eastern District (1698), Chief Secretary
and Registrar in 1702, later Speaker of Assembly, and in 1709 Chief
Justice and Receiver-General and Treasurer of the province. Alexander
Skene, who previously held office in Barbadoes, settled in North
Carolina about 1696. In 1717 he was Member of Council and Assistant to
the Judge of Admiralty to try a number of pirates. In 1719 he was
elected Member of the New House of Assembly and became leader of the
movement for the Proprietary Government. He was "looked upon as a man
that understood public affairs very well." Major Richard Stobo
(1727-c. 1770), a native of Glasgow, served in the Canadian campaign
against the French. It was he who guided the Fraser Highlanders up the
Heights of Abraham. Archibald Kennedy (c. 1687-1763), a relative of
the Earl of Cassilis, was Collector of Customs of the Port of New York
and Member of the Provincial Council. In his letters to headquarters
and in his reports he urged the importance of the American Colonies
to the mother country and advocated measures which, if carried out,
would undoubtedly have strengthened their loyalty and added to their
wealth and prosperity. Alexander Barclay, grandson of the Apologist of
the Quakers, was Comptroller of the Customs under the Crown in
Philadelphia from 1762 till his death in 1771. William Ronald, a
native of Scotland, was a delegate in the Virginia Convention of 1788.
His brother, General Andrew Ronald, was one of the Counsel
representing the British merchants in the so-called British Debts
Case. William Houston, son of Sir Patrick Houston, was a Delegate to
the Continental Congress (1784-87) and a Depute from Georgia to the
Convention for revising the Federal Constitution. His portrait, as
well as that of his brother's, was destroyed by fire during the Civil
War. Sir William Dunbar (c. 1740-1810), a pioneer of Louisiana, held
important trusts under the Federal government and was a correspondent
of Thomas Jefferson. Rev. Henry Patillo (1736-1801), born in Scotland,
advocated separation from the mother country on every possible
occasion, and was a Member of the Provincial Council in 1775. John
Dickinson (1732-1808), Member of the Continental Congress of 1765, of
the Federal Convention of 1787, and President of Pennsylvania
(1782-85), was also the founder of Dickinson College, Carlisle,
Pennsylvania. The Dickinsons came from Dundee in early colonial times.
John Ross, purchasing agent for the Continental Army, was born in
Tain, Ross-shire. He lost about one hundred thousand dollars by his
services to his adopted country, but managed to avoid financial
shipwreck. John Harvie, born at Gargunnock, died 1807, was Member of
the Continental Congress (1777), signer of the Articles of
Confederation the following year, and in 1788 was appointed Secretary
of the Commonwealth. John McDonnell (1779-1846), born in Scotland, was
in business in Detroit in 1812, and "thoroughly Americanized." He
opposed the British commander's orders after the surrender of Hull,
and redeemed many captives from the Indians. Became Member of State
Constitutional Convention (1835), State Senator (1835-37), and
Collector of the Port of Detroit (1839-41). John Johnstone Adair (b.
1807), graduate of Glasgow University, settled in Michigan, filled
several important positions and became State Treasurer, State Senator,
and Auditor General. Colonel James Burd (1726-93), born at Ormiston,
Midlothian, took part with General Forbes in the expedition to redeem
the failure of Braddock. General John Forbes (1710-59), born in
Pittencrieff, Fifeshire, was founder of Pittsburgh. He was noted for
his obstinacy and strength of character, and may have been the
prototype of the Scotsman of the prayer: "Grant, O Lord, that the
Scotchman may be right; for, if wrong, he is eternally wrong."
Captain William Bean was the first white man to bring his family to
Tennessee. His son, Russell Bean, was the first white child born in
the state. His descendant, Dr. James Bean, died in a snowstorm on Mont
Blanc while collecting specimens for the Smithsonian Institution.
George Rogers Clark (1752-1818), to whose prowess is due the
possession of the territory Northwest of the Ohio, secured by the
peace of 1783, was of Scottish descent. David Crockett (1786-1836),
was most probably of the same origin, though vaguely said to be "son
of an Irishman." The name is distinctly Scottish (Dumfriesshire).
Samuel McDowell (1735-1817), took an active part in the movement
leading to the War of Independence and was President of the first
State Constitutional Convention of Kentucky (1792). Colonel James
Innes, born in Canisbay, Caithness, was appointed Commander-in-Chief
of all the forces in the expedition to the Ohio in 1754 by Governor
Dinwiddie.
Isaac Magoon, a Scot, was the first settler of the town of Scotland
(c. 1700), and gave it the name of his native country. Dr. John
Stevenson, a Scot, pioneer merchant and developer of Baltimore, if not
indeed its actual founder, was known as the "American Romulus." George
Walker, a native of Clackmannanshire, pointed out the advantages of
the present site of the Capital of the United States, and George
Buchanan, another Scot, laid out Baltimore town in 1730. John Kinzie
(1763-1828), the founder of Chicago, was born in Canada of Scottish
parentage, the son of John MacKenzie. It is not known why he dropped
the "Mac." Samuel Wilkeson (1781-1848), the man who developed Buffalo
from a village to a city, was of Scottish descent. Alexander White
(1814-72), born in Elgin, Scotland, was one of the earliest settlers
of Chicago and did much to develop the city. Major Hugh McAlister, who
served in the Revolutionary War, later founded the town of
McAlisterville, Pennsylvania, was of Scots parentage. James Robertson
(1742-1814), founder of Nashville, Tennessee, was of Scottish origin.
His services are ranked next to Sevier's in the history of his adopted
state. Walter Scott Gordon (1848-86), founder of Sheffield, Alabama,
was the great-grandson of a Scot. The town of Paterson, in Putnam
county, New York, was settled by Matthew Paterson, a Scottish
stone-mason, in the middle of the eighteenth century, and was named
after him. Lairdsville, in New York state, was named from Samuel
Laird, son of a Scottish immigrant, in beginning of the eighteenth
century. Paris Gibson (b. 1830), grandson of a Scot, founded and
developed the town of Great Falls.
SCOTS AS COLONIAL AND PROVINCIAL GOVERNORS
Of the colonial Governors sent from Britain to the American Colonies
before the Revolution and of Provincial Governors from that time to
1789, a large number were of Scottish birth or descent. Among them may
be mentioned the following:
NEW YORK. Robert Hunter, Governor (1710-19), previously Governor of
Virginia, was a descendant of the Hunters of Hunterston, Ayrshire. He
died Governor of Jamaica (1734). He was described as one of the ablest
of the men sent over from Britain to fill public positions. William
Burnet (1688-1729), Governor in 1720, was also Governor of
Massachusetts (1720-1729). He was the eldest son of Gilbert Burnet,
Bishop of Sarum. Smith, the historian of New York, calls him "a man of
sense and polite breeding, a well bred scholar." John Montgomerie,
Governor of New York and New Jersey (1728-31), was born in Scotland.
John Hamilton, Governor (1736). Cadwallader Golden (1688-1776),
Lieutenant-Governor (1761-1776), born in Duns, Berwickshire, was
distinguished as physician, botanist, mathematician, and did much to
develop the resources of the state. O'Callaghan in his "Documentary
History of the State of New York," says: "Posterity will not fail to
accord justice to the character and memory of a man to whom this
country is most deeply indebted for much of its science and for many
of its most important institutions, and of whom the State of New York
may well be proud." John Murray, fourth Earl of Dunmore, Governor
(1770-71), afterwards Governor of Virginia. James Robertson
(1710-1788), born in Fifeshire, was Governor in 1780. Andrew Elliot,
born in Scotland in 1728, was Lieutenant-Governor and administered the
royalist government from 1781 to November, 1783.