While this is not a comprehensive survey of American history, it definitely covers quite a bit of it. And all of it in relation to Scots, or the descendants of Scots, who came to America. The author makes the point that the unique Scottish personality helped make Americans and America who and what we are today, and was especially important in the early years. While obviously other nationalities have also had an impact, he does make some good points. Fry also covers some Scottish history as well, both to explain some of these personality traits, and why so many Scots immigrated to America. He also shows how, especially early in America’s history, we had a lot in common with Scotland.
The book is divided into chapters detailing the type of Scottish settler, such as Pioneers, Revolutionaries, or Frontiersmen. The first chapter basically sets the stage, with some history of the history of Scotland and England before the American colonies were settled. While some of the names Fry mentions are familiar, a few are less so. And he lists a number of people who have Scotch heritage on their mother’s side, so it may not have been obvious that they were Scottish. But his list seems to be pretty complete. Some of the details he covers were not things I had read before.
Most of the book deals with the years before 1776, since Scotland and America were both essentially under British rule until then. Dividing the chapters into specific groups or professions was actually helpful in telling the story. Doing it chronologically would actually not have been as effective. However, one of the last chapters is on Contemporaries, which, since this book was published in 2003, is not completely up-to-date.
If this was your family, how would you research them? Many of us have been told that we have Scottish heritage, even if it is in the very distant past. So far, I have not been able to get far enough back to prove that I have any Scottish heritage, but I really hope I can find some! As usual, I’m sure Family Search will have some resources. And I may also be able to find information on the National Library of Scotland website, https://www.nls.uk/homepage/, or the Genuki site (https://www.genuki.org.uk/ ). That stands for Genealogy of UK and Ireland, and they have links to other sources as well.