1) I don't know where Tarbolton is, but my Dickies hale directly from Dalry where they were in various skilled trades for several centuries.
2) My specific line were wood workers of various sorts. My Robert Dickie came to southern Illinois (Bunker Hill in Macoupin County) sometime after the Civil War, was censed in 1870 and died the following November of disease. He was a wagon maker and had gone out of town to assess the hardwoods in a neighboring forest when he was stricken. He was married to Mary Patrick. Their children were born in Illinois.
3) Robert came from a family full of Thomas and William and John first names. I haven't pinned down his parents in Dalry yet. *But,* if you're interested, I have a copy of court procedings from Glascow in the 1300s that show Dickies in charge of the water works there. :)
Happy Hunting In 2007!