Joseph W. Reed took his BA, MA and PhD from Yale University. In 1960 he arrived at Wesleyan, where he stayed until his retirement in 2004. During his time at Wesleyan, he served as chair of the English Department and of the Sesquicentennial Committee, and he also helped found the university's American Studies and Film Studies.

Reed was married to author and fellow professor at Wesleyan, Lillian Hyde 'Kit' Craig (1932-2017), with whom he had several children, including author Kate Maruyama.

Son of William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock (d. 1746), and Anne Livingston. He married, firstly, Rebecca Lockhart, daughter of Alexander Lockhart, Lord Covington, with whom he had a daughter. He married, secondly, Isabella Carr (1747-1808) with whom he had twelve children.

In 1758, he succeeded his maternal great-aunt, Mary Hay, 14th Countess of Erroll as the 15th Earl of Erroll, also changing his surname from Boyd to Hay. 

Daughter of Sir William Carr of Etal (d. 1777). In 1762 she married James Hay (d. 1778), 15th Earl of Erroll,  with whom she had twelve children.

Boyd was the son of William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock (1705-1746), and Anne Livingston (d. 1747).

He fought on the Jacobite side with his father at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, while his elder brother James (1726-1778) and twin-brother William (1728-1780) both fought on the Government side. Their father was captured and beheaded at the Tower of London, while Charles escaped and went into hiding on Arran before going into exile in France for about 20 years until pardoned. While waiting for his execution at the Tower, the 4th Earl wrote to his eldest son, James, the following about Charles who had by then gone into hiding:

Use all your interest to get your brother pardoned and brought home as soon as possible, that his circumstances, and the bad influence of those he is among, may not induce him to accept of foreign service, and lose him both to his country and his family. If money can be found to support him, I wish you would advise him to go to Geneva, where his principles of religion and liberty will be confirmed, and where he may stay till you see if a pardon can be procured for him. 1

Following his return to Scotland, Boyd lived for the most part of his time in Aberdeen and at Slains Castle north of Aberdeen with his older brother and their respective wives and children. According to Boswell, during his stay on Arran in 1745-46, Boyd "had found a chest of medical books left by a surgeon there, and had read them till he acquired some skill, in consequence of which he is often consulted."

He married, firstly, Jeanne Antoinette Wyandt, a French lady whom he met during his exile, with whom he had at least two children. He married, secondly, Anne Lockhart, a sister of his brother's first wife and daughter of Alexander Lockhart of Covington.

• 1(Source: Historic Earls and Earldoms of Scotland)

Professor of Philosophy, and Principal of King's College, Aberdeen.

Roderick MacLeod was the son of Donald MacLeod, 3rd of Talisker, and Christina, daughter of John MacLeod, 2nd of Contullich.

MacLeod was educated at King's College, Aberdeen, from where he obtained his M.A. in 1746. A few years later, in 1749, he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at his alma mater. He later became Sub-principal and, in 1800, Principal of the college. 

In 1780, at the age of 53, he married Isabella Christie (1759-1832), with whom he had numerous children.

Leslie's father was Rector successively of the schools of Haddington and Dalkeith. 

At some point in the late 1740s, Leslie was hired as Tutor to Sholto Douglas (1732-1774), Lord Aberdour, son of James Douglas, 16th Earl of Morton (1702-1768). In 1751 he accompanied the young Lord to Leyden University, where they stayed until 1753. Clearly satisfied with the services done by Leslie to his son, Lord Morton settled on Leslie an annuity of £40.

The next year, in 1754, he was offered the position of Professor of Greek at King's College, Aberdeen, a position which he accepted and stayed in until his death in 1790.

He died on May 24, 1790. An obituary in the Aberdeen Journal read as follows:

His attachment to his pupils, and his unwearied exertions to instruct them in the principles of languages to preserve order and regularity in their behaviour and to enforce the practice of every moral and religious duty will render his memory dear to all who have been under his care.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Leslie did not publish any writings, and he is largely unknown today. The main source for information on his life is the 17 page biography An Aberdeen Professor of the Eighteenth Century by J. G. Burnett, published in The Scottish Historical Review, Vol. 13, no. 49 (Oct. 1915).

Dunbar was a Scottish writer and Professor of Moral Philosophy.

He was educated at King's College, of which he was elected a regent in 1766. He taught moral philosophy as a Professor there for the next 30 years. In 1783 he became a founding member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

James Dunbar published two works: De Primordiis Civitatum Oratio in qua agitur de Bello Civili inter Magnam Britanniam et Colonias nunc flagrante (1779), and Essays on the History of Mankind in rude and uncultivated ages (1780).

Merchant and five-time Provost of Aberdeen.

Jopp was the son of Andrew Jopp (d. 1742), a tailor and merchant in Insch, and Janet Innes. In 1752, he married Jean Moir (1730-1782), a daughter of the Rev. George Moir, with whom he had 11 children, 6 of them surviving to adulthood.

He made a considerable fortune as a wine and cloth merchant, and in 1776 purchased the lands of Cotton from Lady Diana Middleton. Jopp was elected Provost of Aberdeen several times, from 1768 to 1770, from 1772 to 1774, from 1776 to 1778, from 1780 to 1782 and again in 1786, although he refused to act as Provost following his last election due to health issues.