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This colorful book discusses the region known as "the Borders," where England and Scotland meet. The author presents many transcriptions from original 16th-century Scottish records, but he always gives a lively account of the historical background necessary to understand these records. Included are such interesting items as a 1547 list of Borderers and Border Clans who had taken the oath of fealty to the English government, a partial roll of the year 1587 from records of the Scottish privy council, the roll of the names of landed proprietors over the whole of Scotland in 1590, "The Names of the principall Clannes and Surnames of the Borders, not landed, and Chiefe Men of Name amongst them [in 1597]" and "The Names of the Barons, Lairds and chiefe Gentlemen in every Sherifdome [1597]." A few of the famous Scots mentioned here are Sir Walter Scott, Rob Roy MacGregor and Mary Queen of Scots. Cultural and religious conflicts are discussed briefly, as well as the problems of cattle thieving (prevalent in the Borders and known as rieving), taxation, traitors and false coiners. Offenders found guilty might be sentenced to such strict penalties as drawing, hanging, drowning or decapitation. The second part of the book, an account of the Dixon/Dickson clan, opens with a list of more than thirty variant spellings of this surname, which is descended from the clan of Keiths, who were Earls Marshall and one of the most powerful families in Scotland. There are brief accounts of Dickson families by region throughout Scotland and descriptions of their coats of arms. The history of the Homer Dickson family spans 1733 through 1878, and includes members in Britain and America. Closing out this valuable history are lists of landlords and tenants, and members of Parliament, plus a surname index, making this a rich source of information for anyone interested in the clan Dickson and Scottish border clans.
