In Aberdeen the Quakers took considerable hold, and were there joined by .some persons of influence and position, especially Alexander Jaffray, sometime provost of Aberdeen, and Colonel David Barclay of Ury and his son Robert, the author of the Apology.
In American balladry he was pre-eminent; such pieces as " The Swan Song of Parson Avery," " Marguerite," " Barclay of Ury," " Skipper Ireson's Ride," " In the ` Old South,' " hold their place in literature.
Much light has been thrown on the history of the Quakers in Aberdeenshire by the discovery in 1826 at Ury of a MS. Diary -of Jaffray, since published with elucidations (2nd ed., London, 1836).