Find Scottish Emigrants to the Americas Using Published Lists at Ancestry.com

Most people are aware that Ancestry.com has passenger ship lists available at their website. These database indexes and the accompanying images are of invaluable help to academic and family historians. What may not be so well known, is that Ancestry also has database indexes for many books that include details of Scottish emigrants to the Americas. Unfortunately, no works by Donald Whyte, compiler of A Dictionary of Scottish Emigrants to the USA, appear on this list. Most of these titles are by David Dobson and his books are useful because he has examined various sources (like wills and correspondence) in the United Kingdom that mention emigrants. These sources might provide a clue about an ancestor or help you identify a community to use as a case study for an academic project.

Ancestry is a subscription site so the links below will only work if you already subscribe to it; they might also work if you are in library that provides access the Library Edition of Ancestry. If you can't access these databases, then you can probably find most of these titles through your local library.

Search for name you are interested in on the search page. The results will include a list of names and links to the actual pages from the book. Once you get to the digital book images, you can browse it like an actual book.

• The Original Scots Colonists of Early America, 1612-1783  by David Dobson 
• The Original Scots Colonists of Early America. Supplement 1607-1707 by David Dobson
• A List of Emigrants from England to America, 1718-1759 by Jack and Marion Kaminkow. They transcribed records from lists of people who signed indentures at the Guildhall in London. There are probably not many Scots, but many people from all over the UK migrated to London then went to America.  
• Directory of Scots Banished to the American Plantations, 1650-1775  by David Dobson
• More Emigrants in Bondage, 1614-1775 by Peter Wilson Coldham. This is his third book on the topic. The first two, The Complete Book of Emigrants in Bondage (1988) and a Supplement (1992) are not available as a database on Ancestry.com. 
• Directory of Scots in the Carolinas, 1680-1830 by David Dobson
• Directory of Scottish Settlers in North America, 1625-1825. Vol. I   by David Dobson
• Scots On the Chesapeake, 1607-1830 by David Dobson
• Scots in the West Indies, 1707-1857 by David Dobson
• Directory of Scottish Settlers in North America, 1625-1825, Vol. II, by David Dobson
• Directory of Scottish Settlers in North America, 1625-1825, Vol. III by David Dobson
• Emigrants from Scotland to America, 1774-1775 by Viola Root Cameron. She was able to copy papers from the Treasury Department of the Public Record Office.
• The Original Scots Colonists of Early America. Caribbean Supplement 1611-1707 by David Dobson
• Scottish Soldiers in Colonial America, Part I  by David Dobson
• Scottish Soldiers in Colonial America, Part II by David Dobson
• Ships from Scotland to America, 1628-1828  by David Dobson
• Ships from Scotland to America, 1628-1828, Vol. III by David Dobson