I imagine the first question anyone will ask is what is a column called "Scottish Flotsam". I guess we will have to begin with what is "flotsam". Among the definitions of the word are "things washed ashore" or "miscellaneous trifles". Well, we believe you can find some great treasure on the ocean shore. But -- you will never know what you will find or its value. So we decided that is what this column is - flotsam. We wanted a place to put things that didn't fit anywhere else and might be of interest. Each item could be a column itself and might be some day but for now it will be the flotsam, which washes our way.

When the United States were first formed and the thirteen states selected their first governors, nine were of Scottish ancestry:

• Archibald Bulloch (Georgia)
• George Clinton (New York)
• William Livingston (New Jersey)
• John MacKinlay (Delaware)
• Jonathan Trumbull (Connecticut)
• Richard Caswell (North Carolina)
• Patrick Henry (Virginia)
• Thomas McKean (Pennsylvania)
• John Rutledge (South Carolina)

In addition, all the members of the first American cabinet had Scottish ancestry:

• Secretary of State - Thomas Jefferson
• Secretary of the Treasury - Alexander Hamilton
• Secretary of War - Henry Knox
• Attorney General - Edmund Randolph

It is time to stop combing the library but we can not quit without some quotes from Quotable Scots another great History bookshelf resident. Let's see what quotes we can find.

Land

Scotland's an attitude of the mind.
Maurice Lindsay, 1819, Speaking of Scotland

Scotland small? Our multiform, our infinite Scotland small
Only as a patch of hillside may be a cliche corner
To a fool who cries 'Nothing but heather!'
Hugh MacDiarmid (G. M. Grieve, 1892-1978), Scotland Small?

We are the men
Who own your glen
Though you won't see us there -
In Edinburgh clubs
And Guildford pubs
We insist how much we care
John McGrath (1935-), The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil

Cha robh Samhradh riamh gun ghrian; Cha robh Geamhradh riamh gun sneachd; Cha robh Nollaig mbòr gun fheòil; No bean òg le deòin gun fhear.

Summer ne'er was without sun Winter never without snow Christmas never without flesh Nor will willing woman without man.

You can find more articles in the archive under Scottish Flotsam.