Gilbert Baillie, gypsy, prisoner in Edinburgh, Tolbooth, transported from Greenock to N.Y., 21 Oct. 1682, ETR

John Baillie, gypsy, d.o. from Greenock to N.Y., same date

Robert Baillie, gypsy & thief, prisoner in Dumfries Tolbooth, 5-1-1739, banished to plantations in America for life

Jean Brown, gypsy & thief, prisoner, as above

Mary & Peter Faa, gypsies, prisoners in Jedburgh Tolbooth banished from there 30 Nov. 1714, transported via Glasgow on a Grennock ship…to Virginia

Jean Hutson, gypsy & thief, prisoner in Dumfries to America for life…1 May 1739

Mary Robertson, gypsy, prisoner in Jedburgh, 9-1-1715 to Virginia


English surnames which show up in various works on the Gypsies include Bailey, Belcher, Boswell, Brown, Green, Robinson, Robson, Roberts, Smith, Stanley, and Sutherland, among others. The descendants of such early settlers would be justified in believing that their ancestors - who bore English and Scottish surnames and arrived on these shores in English ships – were indeed “English” or “Scottish.” But the reality of their true ethnic origins can be found with just a little digging…

Around 1000 A.D., Gypsies, who had originated in India, migrated westward to Turkey where they still reside in significant numbers, and then fanned out again into the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and, finally northern Europe.

Gypsies probably reached the British Isles by the year 1500, travelling to trade, work in metals or entertain for a living......In the British Isles we have four groups - in their own languages: Romanichals (English Gypsies), Kale (Welsh Gypsies), Nawkens (Scottish Travellers/Gypsies) and Minceir (Irish Travellers). Together they number around 100,000 in the UK, about half nomadic."

http://www.melungeons.com/articles/jun2004.htm