Ancient Long Island Epitaphs

Although the links between Scotland and the countries lying along the southern shores of the Baltic can be traced back as far as the late Medieval period, the main period of Scottish settlement in Eastern Europe occurred from 1560 to 1650, when Scottish, German, Dutch, and Jewish entrepreneurs were lured to the Baltic by the promise of economic opportunity. By the 1640s, according to one authority, as many as 30,000 Scots were resident in Poland alone. For this new book, Mr. Dobson combed through more than forty manuscript collections and published works to arrive at a list of 2,500 Scots who settled in the Baltic. Arranged alphabetically, the entries furnish the individual's name with variants, a place of residence in Eastern Europe, the date of the record, and its source. One may also find a reference to the individual's place of origin in Scotland, occupation, relationships to other persons named (i.e., parent, spouse, offspring), membership in a fraternal organization, etc.