East Jersey Bound: Scots migrants to America in the 1680s

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National Records of Scotland

The little-known story of the 17th century Scots colonial venture to New Jersey and reflection on the challenges in researching the emigrant

Speaker: Derrick Johnstone, Research Affiliate, Department of History, University of GlasgowIn the early 1680s, several hundred Scots emigrated from Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Montrose to establish colonial settlements 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 <a href="" title="" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">East Jersey Bound </a>and reflect on some of the challenges in conducting micro-historical research for this period of time, drawing on sources in the National Records of Scotland and New Jersey State Archives. The site contains a genealogical database of 600 emigrants and over 2,200 of their kin and associates.BiographyDerrick Johnstone is a Research Affiliate in the Department of History at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. He completed his dissertation on the Scots emigrants in 2025 and has published research on the Sweet Singers, an extreme Covenanter sect. 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. Image: Ship departing Leith. Extract from ‘Prospect of Leith’, Greenville Collins 1693. Reproduced with the permission of the <a href="https://maps.nls.uk/view/216444088" title="https://maps.nls.uk/view/216444088" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">National Library of Scotland</a>

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East Jersey Bound: Scots migrants to America in the 1680s

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East Jersey Bound: Scots migrants to America in the 1680s

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