The average Scot and Clan association or affiliation.

[Blueline72]

Sorry, this one is kind of going to meander, but bare with me. I posted a while ago about my puzzling family in Yorkshire. However on my mothers side some extremely interesting people were found. One branch of the ancestors were Andersons who immigrated over to Ulster following the land grants there. (yeah I think the Irish are still bitter about that one). They then immigrated to the U.S. at some point. However, on one branch of my mothers side of the family one of my ancestors was captured in one of the Jacobite Uprisings and sentenced to slavery in the Americas. On his arrival in the Virginia colony that sentence was commuted to Indentures Servitude with an indefinite term. (He eventually went on to purchase the plantation he worked from his "owner." There has to be good story there.) His name escapes me right now, I would have to go look it up on my wifes computer. Anyway, the region where he lived (around Perth) was predominately Clan Hay and Moncriefe. Now this ancestors name doesn't show up on any of the septs or lists of those clans, or sept of any clan for that matter. How would your average Scot fit into the clan structure in the late 1600 to early 1700's. I'm guessing this would have been some average guy who probably wasn't of particularly high standing in the community. I don't have a lot of information on him other than the slave ship manifest which has notations on the judgement and crime.

[figheadair]

For 17th and early 18th century Scots living outside of the Highlands, and therefore the true clan system, an individual living in a rural area would have probably owned some sort of feu or tenant duties to the laird. So if the laird decided to go on an 'adventure' then he had a pretty strong lever to compel his tenants to join in. The situation was quite different in the towns and cities like Perth and anyone that joined one side or the other in a conflict would have probably done so for either religious or financial reasons rather than family (clan) loyalty.

[Blueline72]

Thanks, that kind of puts some things into perspective. I was kind of fuzzy on that whole relationship. He lived in a rural area near Perth it would seem, so fighting was probably duty to his Laird as you described. I guess it was pretty lucky his sentence got changed. I found the documentation by the way. He was originally to be sent to Jamaica, but the destination seems to have been changed at the last minute to Virginia. From my own past research, a sentence to Jamaica would have been pretty much a death sentence for a European as Yellow fever and other diseases were rampant and most slaves, and soldiers for that matter, didn't survive very long.

[Tarheel]

Let us not forget the pirates of the Caribbean Islands during that same time period. I have an obscure relative (James Ingram) that was stranded 300 days in Barbados and wrote an acceptable book titled, "The History and Lives of all the Most Notorious Pirates and their Crews" (5th edition printed in 1735). He sailed with the Anstis and Roberts.