Siol nan Gaidheal
FAMOUS SCOTTISH AMERICANS
Now that we have mentioned a few famous Scots, it is natural that equal emphasis be placed on the contribution made by famous Scottish Americans.
Thomas Jefferson....Third President of the United States, of Scots descent.
Patrick Henry....Leader of the political agitation which caused the American Revolution. Member of Continental Congress. Greatest speaker/orator of his generation. American Statesman whose father was Scottish.
Samuel Findley Breese Morse....Inventor of Telegraphic System.
Andrew William Mellon....American banker and politician, one of the three or four wealthiest men of his time (1855-1937) 1921 was appointed Secretary of the Treasury. Presented to the American people his $ten million Art Collection. Funded the Mellon Institute in Pittsburgh for Scientific Research.
Andrew Carnegie....Born in Dunfermline, he became an Industrialist and millionaire making his money from Railroads and Pittsburgh steel. Famous for donating money to build libraries in Scotland and elsewhere.
Jefferson Davis....Provisional President of the CSA, of Scots descent.
Thomas Alva Edison....Scottish American inventor of the phonograph and electric light, among others.
Washington Irving....American author of “Rip Van Winkle”.
Alexander Hamilton....Author among others of the Federalist Essays which influenced the formation of the United States Constitution. First US Secretary of the Treasury. Father was Scottish.
Woodrow Wilson....President of the United States of America 1912-1921. Author of 14 points which helped end First World War and inspiration for League of Nations. Grandson of a Scottish Presbytarian minister.
General Henry Knox....This Scottish American was the first US Secretary of War.
General Winfield Scott....Scottish American who commanded American forces during the American/Mexican war of 1846-48. His grandfather fought at Battle of Culloden.
John Witherspoon....Scottish American who signed the American Declaration of Independence. Educationist who took the belief of the Scottish Enlightenment to America. Influential in getting America to seperate State and Church politics.
Saint Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton....Founded Sisters of Charity in Baltimore 1809.
James Craik....Scot from Dumfriesshire who became physician and surgeon of the American revolutionary army. Close friends of President Washington.
Henry Wallace....Secretary of Agriculture under F.D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Grandson of a Scottish presbyterian minister.
John McLaren....Scot from Bannockburn, created the Garden of the Golden Gate, San Francisco.
John MacIntosh....Scot who developed the MacIntosh “apple”, the edible one. Further to this, (computers have named a range of products after him) MacIntosh’s father came from Inverness.
Alexander Wilson....Scot emigrant, author of 7 volumes of American Ornithology.
Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse....Graduate of Edinburgh University, helped found Harvard Medical School.
General Joseph Johnston....General in the Confederate Army, of Scots descent.
General John Brown Gordon....General in the Confederate Army, of Scots descent.
General John B. Magruder....General in the Confederate Army, of Scots descent.
General John C. Breckenridge....General in the Confederate Army, of Scots descent.
General George Wythe Randolph....Brigadier General in the Confederate Army, of Scots descent.
General Ambrose Burnside....General in the Union Army, of Scots descent.
Robert Gibson Eccles....Scot from Ayrshire, researcher & discoverer of food preservatives.
There have been 35 U.S. Supreme Court judges that were Scots.
9 out of 13 Governers of the newly created United States of America were Scots.
This is just a selection of Scottish Americans who have contributed to America’s greatness in every field. We have not touched upon sportsmen or women, film stars etc., etc. If we did, the list would be endless, so suffice to say that these lists prove the very special relationship that exists between America and Scotland. It is hoped that now we have a Tartan Day established, all Americans will take a longer and more interested look at Scotland, their ancestoral homeland, and begin to look further than our golf courses. Spend time reading our history, learn about our present situation, help us to create a better future for our country - after all, it is your ancestral home too.
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