The Scottish Covenanter Genealogical Index - (1630-1712)

Book excerpt: This work evolved out of a love for my ancestors, one being John Whitelaw, the Covenanter Monkland Martyr, who was executed for his religious beliefs in Edinburgh, 1683. While searching for his records I came across reference to thousands of other Scottish Covenanters. This Index lists those Covenanters found in some books written about the period between 1630 and 1712.There are many, many more Covenanters, whose names need to be added to this work, and, God willing, I will do it. The Covenanters were steadfast in their Presbyterian beliefs and refused to take an oath unto the King stating that he was the head of the church. They believed that Christ was the Head of the Church and their loyalty to this belief allowed them to lay their lives down for it. The Royalists and Dragoons, who were seeking to bring them into obedience to the King, relentlessly chased the Covenanters from glen to glen. This disregard for their civil rights was brutally carried out basically in the Lowlands of Scotland. Many of their records were destroyed along with their lives and their stories only live in family lore and books that were written about them. I have extracted some of their names and created The Scottish Covenanter Genealogical Index, which is by no means complete, but is a work in progress.