Curtis, I am a Macdonald of Sleat as you are a Macdonald, either of Ardnamurchan or of Glencoe. My Welsh forebears were most active in the underground railroad and my GGGrandfather was Elijah Lovejoy's chief lieutenant. He was with Lovejoy at Alton, IL when Lovejoy was murdered as they were defending their Freedom Press. I am aware that some Scots were much against slavery but others were equally delighted with it. The man that wrote Amazing Grace penned the hymn on the deck of the very slave ship on which he was captain. He subsequently repented this dreadful occupation and became a minister opposing slavery. This was not always the case. I am descendent of a patriot McLean who is buried in North Carolina. My branch of the family went north and became both abolitionists and Union officers and soldiers. Others remained in the south and became CSA officers and men. Nothing is ever very simple. I am currently living in middle Tennessee and a member of the Highland Rim Scottish Society as well as a Convenor for Clan Donald of Tennessee. Most of my compatriots in both organizations are descendent of Confederate soldiers. I genuinely wish that I could reach out my mind to some grand Scottish or Welsh (since I am both) sense of fairness and decency but, alas, they were people. I must say, I have never understood the enormous number of Scots, that had just been beaten into the ground by the English at Culloden in 1745, choosing to be Loyalists in the Revolutionary War. I admit that some didn't, including my forebear but huge numbers were Tories. I certainly don't want to step on romantic illusions but history simply doesn't bear out your saying, "Scots were not in favor of people living in bondage." Perhaps your Rankin forebears despised slavery, and I applaud them, but they would be an exception rather than the rule. Warm regards, Dick Hudson