This article contains a brief overview of Scottish Immigration to America from the first Immigrants through the 1800's and 1900's. Important historical events have been highlighted which had a significant impact on Scottish Immigration to America. A brief description of the effect of the first immigrants from Scotland. Our article on Scottish Immigration to America also outlines subjects such as the highlanders and the Lowlanders, the Presbyterians, the Scots-Irish and Ellis Island immigration center. A helpful educational resource for kids on the subject of Scottish Immigration to America. He said: “He was strange. He was flamboyant in one sense. I have the impression he was actually quite a private man and quite a troubled man. I mean, he was intriguing. Erected by Samual McClune, in Ross, in memory of Alexander McClune, his son, who died 12 January 1772, aged 17 years.

Dillon has performed this work to audiences up and down this land almost a thousand times, yet he never appears to tire or grow stale. Far from it; these same renditions just keep getting better and better.Dillon’s virtuosity made other on-man shows appear narrower in range. Randall Stevenson, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, 31 August 1990 Rumour has it that De Melker's spirit haunts Ward 7 of the Transvaal Children's Hospital (now the Florence Transition Home) in Braamfontein. It is here that she worked as a nurse and learned about poisons. The De Melker trial lasted thirty days. Sixty witnesses were called for the Crown and less than half this number for the defense. To present the forensic evidence, the Crown employed the services of Dr. J.M. Watt, an expert toxicologist and Professor of Pharmacology at the Witwatersrand University. In summing up, before giving his verdict, the judge pointed out that the Crown had been unable to prove conclusively that Cowle and Sproat had died of strychnine poisoning. "It does not convince me, nor does it convict the accused," he said.[3] The previous evening depression had set in with the sight of much second-rate acting from Kenneth Brannagh’s Renaissance Company. Now my spirits are restored by George Dillon’s display of theatrical technique, timing and diction of flawless precision in all three monologues. And if there are echoes of his colleague Berkoff in his style, it certainly serves Dostoevsky well. His Dream of a Ridiculous Man is my Fringe discovery. Joan Bakewell, THE SUNDAY TIMES, 19 August 1990

In 1993, a television mini-series was made about Daisy de Melker, with Susan Coetzer in the title role.[4] A week later, the police arrested Mrs de Melker and charged her with the murder of all three men. Public interest in the De Melker case grew, and the newspapers gave the story a great deal of coverage. The Turffontein chemist from whom she had bought the arson that killed her son, recognized De Melker from a newspaper photograph as being Mrs D.L. Sproat, who had signed the poisons register, and went to the police.left) In memory of John, son of Edmund Gasson of Rye, Sussex, who died 10th May 1822, aged 2 years. Also Elizabirth (sic) Gasson, who died 10th Jan’y 1823, aged 1 year. Daisy de Melker was a trained nurse who poisoned two husbands with strychnine for their life insurance while living in Germiston in the central Transvaal (now Gauteng), and then poisoned her only son with arsenic for reasons which are still unclear. She is historically the second woman to have been hanged in South Africa. Meanwhile, George Dillon is busily ‘ Stunning the Punters‘ at Marco’s with a triple-bill of solo shows by punk populist Steven Berkoff (‘ Master of Cafe Society‘), Robert Sproat (‘ Stunning the Punters‘) and Dostoevsky (‘ Dream of a Ridiculous Man‘). While the first two primarily provide two showcase performances of virtuoso acting – all coy looks and fiercely measured aggression – the last sees Dillon clambering inside a monologue that explores a poetic nightmare born of Milton’s ‘ Paradise Lost‘ . It’s a hypnotic spectacle; a ‘ Brazil‘-like allegory that switches dramatically from a grey, spiritless, urban world to savage sensuality as the ambiguous dream-narrator is transported to a Paradise (read Earth) which he subsequently contaminates, Lucifer-like, with the so-called wisdom of a fallen world. Pretentious? yes, but beautifully executed. James Christopher, TIME OUT, 29 August 1990

By far the longest part of the triptych is Dostoevsky’s The Dream of a Ridiculous Man. Consisting mainly of a would-be suicide’s redemptive dream of a world without sin, it is also the least obviously dramatic, but Dillon manages to express the Himalayan emotional range of Dostoevsky’s character, from ecstatic wonder at an innocent world to horrified disgust at his own contagious imperfection, in a remarkable performance. No epitaph for this actor; let him be granted more work in better places. Harry Eyres, THE TIMES, 18 August 1990 Tomlins, Marilyn Z. (2 December 2007). "Daisy de Melker: South Africa's First Serial Killer". Crime Magazine . Retrieved 14 June 2022. Front) Dedicated by his loving son Howard E Sproat II, May 20 1989, in memory of Howard E Sproat, USA, May 20 1889 - August 25 1963. Son of Josephus, 1862 - 1947. Son of Robert, 1821 - 1902. Son of William, 1782 - 1862. Son of Alexander, Borgue 1740 - 1825 Idaho. Son of John, Mill of Plunton 1720 - 1800 Penn'a. Son of John Sproat and Elizabeth Johnson of Brighouse. Rear) Also of Janet Maizland, postmistress, Borgue, daughter of the said Douglas Maizland, who died 15th Nov. 1920, aged 61 years. The De Melker trial lasted thirty days. Sixty witnesses were called for the Crown and less than half this number for the defence. To present the forensic evidence, the Crown employed the services of Dr. J.M. Watt, an expert toxicologist and professor of pharmacology at Witwatersrand University. In summing up, before giving his verdict, the judge pointed out that the Crown had been unable to prove conclusively that Cowle and Sproat had died of strychnine poisoning. "It does not convince me, nor does it convict the accused," he said. [5]An interesting point to ponder is this: Robert Sproat had been prescribed a tonic by his doctor several months before he died. One of the major ingredients of the tonics manufactured at the time was strychnine. Strychnine had the unfortunate habit of settling to the bottom of a tonic bottle when the bottle was not in use. Sproat had not taken the tonic for some time prior to his final illness and, when he downed the last dose in the bottle, he ingested almost pure strychnine. This could have at least contributed to his death and could also have been the source of the strychnine traces found in his corpse. .. So: did De Melker poison him? Or did he unwittingly poison himself and thus engineer the fall from grace of a good and god-fearing woman? References In this final piece, whilst a man is considering his own suicide, he falls asleep and dreams that he has killed himself and travelled to another planet where people live in harmony and remain undefiled by evil. However, over time, his own presence defiles these people and he believes he can only redeem them by offering himself as a sacrifice for their sin. Yet he is met with hostility and is treated as a madman. The man is only reconciled by believing that humanity is not fundamentally evil, but has only fallen from grace. It is a story of its time, in that it reflects much of the Orthodox Church’s effect upon the Russian nation. He concludes by compassionately imploring his onlookers to love one another, even as we should love ourselves. In memory of John Sproat, in Conchieton, who died 23rd Sept'r 1829, aged 63 years. Also of his children: Alexander Sproat, died 26th July 1801, aged 7 months. Samuel Sproat, died 31st Oct. 1804, aged 9 months. Margaret Sproat, died 22nd Feb. 1824, aged 19 years. Samuel Sproat, died 25th Oct'r 1825, aged 10 years. Isabell Sproat, died 23rd Aug't 1829, aged 21 years. Also Isabella Thomson, spouse of the above John Sproat, who died at Ingleton of Kelton, 3rd March 1862, aged 88 years. In memory of Mary Sproat, born at Conchieton 3rd Oct. 1807, died at Fleet St., Gatehouse, 6th Dec. 1884, aged 77 years. John Sproat, his son, died at Gatehouse, 19th July 1890, aged 80 years.

Front) In memory of Hugh Sproat, who died in Lennox Plunton, 2nd June 1847, aged 45 years. Also David, his son, who died 16th May 1853, aged 16 years. And Hugh, his son, merchant in London, who died at Lennox Plunton, 14th March 1878, aged 43 years. Mary MacMillan, wife of Hugh Sproat of Lennox Plunton, born at Viewfield, New Galloway, 11th December 1810, died 6th September 1887. John, their son, died at Rainton, Girthon, 17th December 1887, aged 45 years. James McMillan Sproat, their grandson, and son of Robert Sproat, Lennox Plunton, who died 30th Jan, 1886, aged 11 months. Erected by John Neil, in loving memory of his wife, Janet Manson, who died at Brighouse, 6th Sept. 1899, aged 50 years. Also James, their third son, killed in action at Vimy Ridge, France, 9th April 1917, aged 36 years, Also Robert, their youngest son, killed in action in France, 29th July 1918, aged 30 years, interred at Oulghy-le-Chateau, S.S.E. of Soissons. “They died that we might live.” Also Mary Thompson, his wife, who died at Boatcroft, 15th June 1923, aged 52 years. Also the above John Neil, who died at Glenlochar, 12th November 1935, aged 85 years.West) In memoriam. Near this place lie interred the remains of Thomas Sproat, eldest son of Thomas Sproat at Brighouse, having passed many years as a colonist in the parish of Ballarine, near Geelong, Australia, he returned to his native country in the year 1855, and died at Moffat, on the 30th day of January 1859, aged 60 years. Each of the plays contained an astonishing range of characters. In Berkoff’s Master of Cafe Society, it’s the frustrated out-of-work actor munching and slurping his way through a ritualistic breakfast till one can smell the bacon and feel the clawing of greasy pan bread on the palate; the Neanderthal father, with his fag-soaked voice and inarticulate philistinism; the down-trodden, ever-so-proud-of-her-son mother; and a hideous parade of sleazy agents and actresses. First murder: William Cowle (first husband)Early on the morning of 11 January 1923, William Cowle become ill soon after taking epsom salts prepared by his wife. The first doctor who attended him did not consider his condition to be serious and prescribed a bromide mixture. But, Cowle's condition deteriorated rapidly. Not long after the doctor had left, he took a turn for the worse. His wife summoned the neighbors to help and called for another doctor. Cowle was in excruciating pain when the second doctor arrived. He foamed at the mouth, was blue in the face, and screamed in agony if anyone touched him, until he died.