Scots in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth city of Kėdainai (1633-1650).

by Rebecca Lucas (ffride wlffsdotter)

© 2019; all rights reserved
last updated 22 December 2019

Introduction

In the 16th century, Scots began to emigrate to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in large numbers, particularly itinerant pedlars and merchants (Ozog 1995; 57-58). Their presence in the Commonwealth is evinced in royal decrees from 1563 onwards, that sought to tax or otherwise restrict their merchanting activities (Bajer 2012; 98-99).

Although Scots were present in parts of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by the 16th century, Ragauskaitė says that Scots were not mentioned in the town of Kėdainai specifically until 1628. A selection of the names mentioned in Ragauskaitė (2016), dated between 1633 and 1650, are therefore included below.

As Ragauskaitė was interested by the different ways the surnames in the data were spelled, the records she mentions often refer to the same person multiple times. For the time period covered here, only the names of men were listed. While Bajer (2012) does include the names of Scottish women in his appendices, including in Kėdainai (Polish: Kiejdany), he appears to have normalised the spellings. Therefore they have not been included here.

Given Names

Surnames

Please note that these surnames are sorted by their modern Scots spelling, taken from Black (1962) unless otherwise indicated. The dated spellings are those found by Ragauskaitė.

* Modernised form taken from Bajer (2012; 441).

Raw Data

The names extracted from Ragauskaitė's article, sorted by date, are as follows:
1633 Tomasz Szot
1635 Andrys Szot
1637 Alexander Görden
1637 Alexander Ogilbe
1637 Jan Arnet
1638 Alexander Gordon
1638 Jan Arnat
1638 Thomas Melisson
1638 William Oliphant
1642 Jan Mekienen
1643 Jan Chapman Szkot
1646 Jakub Kujck Szkot
1646 Wilhelm Olephant Szot
1647 Jan Forbesz
1647 Tomasz Meleyson
1648 Andres Symson senior
1648 Mateusz Ramza
1649 Jakub Kujck Szkot
1649 Jan Nikiel Szkot
1649 Jan Ramzaj
1649 Tomass Skromse
1650 Jana Lausonna Szkota (genitive)
1650 Jan Nikiel
1650 Jan Nikoli
1650 Wilhelmus Meleyson

Bibliography