‘East Jersey Bound: Scots migrants to America in the 1680s’
In the early 1680s, several hundred Scots emigrated from Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Montrose to establish colonial settlement in New Jersey. This was backed at the highest level and sought to ensure that Scotland had a stake in the development of the American colonies. It brought together Quakers, Episcopalians and Presbyterians, a tense mix of religious affiliations. Many of the Presbyterians were transported Covenanters and the Quakers too had had their share of persecution.
This talk by Derrick Johnstone will set out the background to the venture and consider the questions: Who were the immigrants, why did they leave and what became of them?
Derrick will introduce his website East Jersey Bound and reflect on some of the challenges in conducting genealogical research at such a distance in time. The site contains a genealogical database of 600 emigrants and over 2,000 of their kin and associates.
Derrick Johnstone is a Research Affiliate in the Department of History at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, having completed his dissertation on the Scots emigrants in 2025. He has been a member of the Scottish Genealogical Society for 10 years and is Secretary of the Old Edinburgh Club, the city’s history society. https://eastjerseybound.scot