Conincidence or Serendipity

My master’s thesis grew out of an internship at the National Museums of Scotland, checking a transcription of the only extant early 18th century Edinburgh goldsmith’s ledger and doing some digging into the goldsmith’s life.  Within a few weeks of working with the ledger I knew that I wanted to study it extensively, and that it would make a good topic for my thesis.

Being that John Rollo, Goldsmith was also John Rollo, Sixth Lord Rollo of Duncrub, I was able to find basic genealogical information for John. And thus I discovered that we share a birthday. The man whose life and business was the focus of my master’s thesis was born the same day and month as me. Well, sort of. He was born in 1708, prior to the change from Julian to Gregorian calendar. Our recorded dates, however, match up.

So, Happy 302nd Birthday, John Rollo.