While researching in New Jersey recently, I came across a book that mainly had page after page of records of Scots who emigrated from Scotland from the late 1600's to the late 1700's, mainly to the "colonies", but also to other Western destinations such as Canada and the Caribbean. Next to each name it had either the abbreviation "sh.", meaning that they voluntarily "took ship", or "tr.", meaning "transported", which meant that they were being exiled for petty crimes or for political or religious reasons. We tend to forget that the "colonies" were used somewhat as a dumping ground by the British courts, as well as being a haven for people who wanted to get away of their own volition. Anyway, there were a number of Gordon entries in the book, not all of them leaving voluntarily. One typical entry read "Elizabeth Gordon, Perth, whore & thief, tr. 1754 to Md.". Well, I'm sure she's not related to anyone on *this* list :-). Doug Gordon