A Ramble Among Surnames , Which the Ti Tle O Fthis Volume Promises to Its Readers

E nt r d acco rdin to A ct o fCon r ss m th e ar 1 8 e e , g g e , ye 93, W B y . amn J . D ,

In th e O fﬁc o f th e L ib rarian o fCo n r ss at Washin ton. e g e , g C DEDI ATION .

It is the custom ofauthors to dedicate their productions to someperson or ersons N o limit has been xed relative to the number eo le to p . ﬁ ofp p w hom a sin le volume ma be devoted H ence the auth or takes the lib g y . m dedicatin this volume most res ec ull w ithout consultin them y of g p tf y, g , however to ever man w oman and child w h ose surname is recorded , y , , w ithin this hook with the sincere ho e that the erusal its a es ma , p p of p g y he as pleasant to those who read as the w riting ofthem w as to the

A U TH O R . (3)

PREFACE .

IT is natural that all m en desire to know th e origin as w ell as ﬁ o le th e the signi cati n of their names . This litt volume , author

‘ flatters th e d o f himself, will gratify that appetency in min s m w h o any may read it . i We are not too modest to declare our honest convict on, that a close and thoughtful perusal of the page s of this b o ok will help many readers to a higher appreciation o f E nglish history s and literature . The author h a struggled with those environ r m ments , which circumsc ibe the ajor part of the readers of this ua m to e day and time . Hence he pers des hi self b lieve that he sympathiz es with that large class of readers w h o have neither . the time , nor the library in and by which , to solve the problems that are continually presenting th e mselves to every thoughtful reader . Let every reader decide for himself as to h o w much he has really lost already by not having been able to appreciate the E to n allusions in nglish literature the customs , man ers , and do m a h o f estic life of our progenitors . It may be th t t ousands pages of history and fiction have been read with the hearty ap preciation of a certain degree of vagueness pervading the whole , and arising from certain missing links , or at least clues not in the possession of the reader . Who has not at some time in his life stumbled , so to speak , upon an exposition of some old cus tom o r usage which has shed a volume of light upon what he has read ? Is it a presumption o n the part of the writer to ai firm that most authors have assumed that the ordinary reader is more conversant with the social , moral , and political life of his m edize v al proge nitors than he really is ? If such statements savor of a spirit of audacity, then the writer pleads that his ex r n pe ience a d observation have been thoroughly anomalous . fiatters The author then , of these pages , himself that this r in book will bring much pleasu e to ordinary readers , not only ' o m o f th eir s lving the proble of the meaning and origin names , (5) M M 6 A RA BLE A ONG S URNAM ES . but also in shedding at least som e light upon m uch that they h ave read . The book herewith submitted to the public has fur erm re th o been written for the people . Hence the w riter hopes that it w ill be instrumental in helping even the youthful reader m a d to appreciate more fully what he y rea hereafter . It is no t m by any eans a treatise on etymology , though it necessari l h as to do h y much wit that branch Of linguistic research . th e h as d w Wherever author un ertaken , ho ever, to trace a name to h as w d m its primary root, he follo e the latest and ost highly approved standards . It may be necessary to state that the author has penned these pages during the fragm ents Of time snatched from professional h m a fo r d duties . T is in part, y account many efects in the h w t m book . Truly thankful , o ever , wi hout be oaning the many w imperfections Of the volume , for hatever favor his former pro du ctio ns have met with from an indulgent public, he sends forth this unpretending treatise on surnames in the hope that many i m ay be enabled thereby to learn so m ethit g that they did not fi know before . If the reader nds , however, as he doubtless h im re h , will , t at the subjects treated freq uently change let “ ” f . m ember the o ld adage : Variety is the spice O life The mellow notes of the Southern m ocking birds which have greeted the w riter’s ears during the composition of the volume m h w hich h e now gives to the public ad onis him of the truth

TH E A U TH R . ful ness Of the adage just quoted. O

h st r S . . C e e , C CONTENTS .

What’s in a N am e ?

R CHAPTE II . A Few E nglish Surnam es That Make U s Laugh

CHAPTER III . Patronymic Inheritances from R emote Fatherlands

R CHAPTE IV . Surnames Derived from the Signs of Shop Keepers

CHAPTER V . surnames Derived from the O c c upations

CHAPTER VI . Surnames Derived from Plac es Of R esidence

CHAPTER VII . R The Smiths , Browns , Blacks , and ailroads

CHAPTER VIII .

E A - 1 0 Surnames Which mbody the nglo Saxon Idea Of Home . 4

CHAPTER IX .

Islands , Fords , and Lakes

CHAPTER X . Surnames from Civil and R eligious O fﬁces

CHAPTER XI . A Fe w Gaelic Surnames

R CHAPTE XII . Co nclusion

A RAMBLE AMONG S URNAMES

C HAPTER I .

’ ” WHAT S IN A NAM E ?

HEN th e stude nt becomes wearied and ex n e l n ha st d by close and prolonged app icatio , there is no surer or more efﬁcacious restorative than a ram ble along the prattling brook or through the deep shades of the forest or over the hills and

through the secluded valleys . Nature has her

’ v z s m edicatrix him own , and to only who dares to penetrate the solitary glens and the sylvan se clu sions O f earth will come th e aroma O f wild ﬂowers ’ and the exhilarating voices O fWild nature s revels . Many rare and choice bouquets may be gathered elsewhere than from hothouses and well-cultivated

. S O O f flower gardens , along the byways litera n n ture and almost u writte history, the rambler may gather th e sweetest nosegays O f unadorned truth . I therefore propose in this chapter , a vin dicatio n , if such defense is required at my hand , “ ” O f A Ramble among Surnames , which the ti tle O fthis volume promises to its readers . m A ra ble , such as we have determined to take , may be considered by the student , as he sits in his O f cozy library , surrounded by thousands volumes (9) I M M M O A RA BLE A ONG S URNA ES . of the best literature of all the ages of the historic ro fes past , to be wholly unnecessary ; while the p u find in sio al critic may much , as he would even scrutinizing a beautiful flower that God made , to condemn in the proposed ramble through the t backwoods of history . The strict u ilitarian may l k n demur . We even now hear his cynic i e i terro ’ ” gatio n : What s the use of it ? But we too may O f ask , as we stand upon the border the territory which we mean to partially explore : Have all such demurrers forgotten the declaration even O f ” o S ine no m ine h o m o no n est? the old R man , and may a m an not seek to know where his name came from and what it means ? Surely he who is no t interested in all that pertains to his individual appellative , whether such relative matter comes from th e noonday sce nes O f civilizatio n and refine ment or from what we have chosen to Christen b s n o t rambles throu gh the ackwoods of hi tory , is capable of being interested . But w e have th e teachings of the ancients on u our side , and that fact is even potent eno gh to u s persuade the critics to go along with , for any thing that is antique has more influence over many of the degenerate sons of Adam than even the truth O ld itself . The Grecian philosopher , Pythagoras , taught that the name b estowed in childhood was instrumental in shaping the character in after life , O f and that , therefore , the success people depend ed largely upon the names bestowed upon them in infancy . The ancient Romans also laid much em “ ’ ” WHAT S IN A NAM E ? 1 1

O f phasis upon the choice names for their children . A great feast was made on the day the child re ceived t its appellation , which hey called N o m i nalia , the naming feast or festival . And even so wise a heathen as Cicero believed that names in ﬂu enced O f the formation character , therefore he has left on record a list of names which he co nsid ered fortu nate . But it may be that many are inclined rather to pass over these declarations of the ancients as merely the outgrowth of that degree of supe rsti tion which characterized those dark ages in which they lived ; but really there is much more in this afﬁrmation than we are liable to suppose upon merely a casual examination of the subject .

The Cherokee Indians , the noblest of all the

North American tribes , called the panther , once so numerous in that territory formerly occupied by ” them , the cat of God , and selected it as one f O their great religio u s emblems . Their male chil dren Were made to sleep upon its skin from infam c y to manhood , that they might imbibe from it some portion of the cunning , strength , and prodi gions spring O f the animal to which it belonged . On the same principle their female Offspring were reared on the soft skins O f fawns and buffalo m O b e calves , that they might beco e gentle and ‘ m dient . We must ad it that these results were

achieved by the Cherokee parent . Their women ,

’ “ s O fU . . Logan s Hi tory pper Carolina , p 54 1 2 A RAM BLE AM ONG S U RNAM ES .

th r th e t f e ea liest historians tell us , were gen lest O th e women of all the tribes of the North American and Indians , their men were , until corrupted by

the white trader , the bravest and noblest of their t race . Who then will deny hat these several traits O f character were largely produced by th e custom to which we have alluded ? The children of these savages were taught the design of that cu stom from their earliest infancy up to mature man hood and womanhood ; therefore th ey strove to incorporate into their moral and physical natures

the lessons intended to be taught thereby . The ff results , however , would have been quite di erent if the child had been left in ignorance as to the ﬁ O f signi cation or design these pallets O f skins . f O . This , course , is merely illustration

The Greeks , Romans , and ancient Hebrews , th e O f - unlike people to day , knew the mean ing and understood thorou ghly the import of m their na es . Therefore , on the same principle that the Cherokee Indian was inspired by the as sociations that clustered about the bed of skins upon which he or she was reared , so the ancient

Greek , Roman , or Hebrew youth was ambitious to emulate the ideal contained in the name which

s . w as di tinguished him as an individual There , then , really no superstition in ascribing virtue to a name , the meaning of which was understood and appreciated by the man or woman upon whom it was conferred ; and therefore there ought not to be the remotest surprise at the fact that Cicero “ ’ ” WHAT S IN A NAM E ? 1 3 denominated certain Roman names as hand

no mina .

We can base an argument , however , proving the influence of names on character on no higher f authority than that O divine inspiration . If really n O f is a ame , the meaning which appreciated by in the person upon whom it is bestowed , has no flu ence over the moral and mental natures O f an t us e O f individual , hen we may j tly d mand those w h o thu s aflirm a reason as to why G o d claimed the sole prerogative O f bestowing names upon cer tain individuals who were to become mighty O f agents in perfecting his plans , and changing the nam es of Abraham and Sarah when they were ‘ called actively into his service . O f But some one , out harmony with history , may ask with Juliet What’s in a name ? Th at which we call a rose by any other name w ould sm ell ” as sweet .

That is doubtless true , but we must remember that she had just said : 0 be some other name ! ”

Thus she has left on record the fact that sh e re al l O f t e y felt , as a mere matter sentiment , tha th re was not a little in th e cognomen by which men and fﬁ things are known , or we may more properly a rm that the doctrine that there is something in a name is really Shakespearean . There is much in an ap

* Fo r a n O f n m er XL fuller accou t scriptural a es see Chapt , “ ” 1 20-1 2 2 m l G pp . , of y litt e work The irl in Checks . I4. A RAM BLE AM ONG S URNA M ES .

v n pellation , even if it ser e no other purpose tha that of distinguishing man from man and thing

. O f u a from thing All us , indeed , are bro ght to p re iate u w p c its val e when , ishing to speak of some o r O f n thing some perso , we awake , as did Nebu h a nez z ar O f O ld c d , to the realization that the thing

is gone from us .

There can , indeed , be no exercise in the whole business O f instruction more useful to the mind than th e analysis O f names in the concentrated light of history and the co nditions out of which u t n they were evolved . It brings the caref l s ude t

into the inner sanctuary of thought , as it relates to th e the annals of nations , for they are but crystal liz atio n of thought as it stands connected with the great as well as the lesser events of the ever reced

. O f ing past Surnames are the side lights history , while the appellations which things and places bear constitute the foot lights O f the drama of life - as it was played by our Anglo Saxon progenitors . He who reads history without a knowledge O f the derivation O fnames may stand in the dim light of O f the outer court , and even there he may indeed

fer incense , but he who penetrates within and looks upon the scene under the resplendent in ﬂu ences of side and foot lights beholds it grow

incandescent in interest , and he worships and

adores . Surnames became generally hereditary about f the close O the thirteenth century , and all kinds O f methods were resorted to in order to establish ’ ” “ WHAT S IN A NAM E ? 1 5

ances them . They w ere ﬁxed upon us by our tors from the most casual incidents and evit o u c h aracteris ments , as well as from commonplace

. at ﬁ t tics and occupations It may , the rst hought , appear incredible that surnames should have bee n applied so indifferently ; but when we consider f w tu S n that only a e cen ries ago the ingle ames , which our Anglo-Saxon ancestors bestowed upon their children , were really less than four hundred in number , and that only twenty or thirty of these , — all for each sex , were in common use half of the names of men being made up O f the seven appel latio ns , John , Henry , William , James , George , —S O Thomas , and Richard that a number of per sons even in a small com munity would bear the same name ; and w hen w e remember that these ingle names gave no hint O frelationship or family descent , we can easily see that the necessity for a second , or surname , would speedily arise , and that the source of supply w ould be a matter O f secondary importance .

Surnames , therefore , became a necessity , and are really so to this day . However , we have our no h o w patronymic appellations , matter they came , and we are all more or less inclined to trace our genealogy as far back as w e possibly can . In O f Massachusetts , it is said that so many articles fu rniture are claimed , even to this day , to have n bee brought over in the Mayﬂower , with the

Pilgrim Fathers , that it has long since passed into S i a standing joke to allude to that h p , so famous 1 6 M A RA BLE AM ON G S URNAM ES .

“ n tu ve in America litera re , as The furniture s

sel . This disposition to trace our lineage as the far into remote past as we can , and to make the descent and con nections as honorable as we can f , seems to be an innate propensity O man

. n ? n kind And is it not comme dable I deed , we have no hesitancy in afﬁrming that this predisposi tion in the heart O f man h as been strengthe ned O f r by the strict genealogies the Bible , whereve the teaching O f divine inspiration h as Obtained th e ascendancy . O f But , as merely illustrative this disposition to ’ s trace one s genealogy , the tory is told of a dis pute betwee n an Irishman and a Jew as to the i ant quity O f their respective nations . The Jew grew eloquent as he correctly aﬂirm ed that he l his ne could direct y trace , through the Bible , ge

. r alogy to Adam It was a c ushing argument , but the ever ready Hibernian was competent to meet “ ” “ . an it Why , tare and ages , said he , my ” cesto r married Eve when she was a Widow I This somewhat amusing anecdote is true to na t : e ure when man cannot trace his genealogy , th re is frequently a disposition to invent a line O f de scent . t ac Again , the absurd and puerile attemp s to count for the meaning O f some surnames have e given prominence , among the unlearned mass s , to w certain traditions , which have been handed do n from father to so n . The reader may have heard the anecdote by which some would-b e wit at

1 8 A R AM BLE AM ONG S URNAM ES .

v in ga e utterance to the solution of the problem , the presence of the progenitors of that worthy and M o re in - numerous family . the Anglo Saxon inh r tongue means great or large , a surname e antic ite d by the gig men among our progenitors . The reader will pardon the insertion of another

one of these old family legends . It was related to me by an intelligent member of the Scotch family

of Moreheads , and the narrator evidently believed

the myth by which he accounted for the surname . “ ” “ There once lived , said he , in Scotland two

Johns More , who were neighbors . One of them

lived on the top of a high hill , and the other lived

at the foot of the same hill . They were popularly

known as John More at the head of the hill , and

John More at the foot of the hill . But in the course of time a mad bull made its appearance in

the community of the two Johns More , and the ferocious monster became the terror of the entire

neighborhood . The citizens determined to S lay u the mad beast , and on a certain day they t rned en m asse out to hunt and kill , if possible , the fero

cions intru der . At sundown they were to meet

on the top of a neighboring hill , that the results of the search for the bull might be made known to all

of the hunters . On the day appointed , therefore , the hardy Scotchmen of the community sought w l every here , over hi l and through valley for the u dist rber of the peace of their neighborhood , and as the sun began to sink behind the western hills they began to gather together , one by one , at the “ ’ ” WH A T S IN A NAM E ? 1 9

appointed place of meeting . And as each sturdy Scotchman came in from the hunt he was com pelled to announce the results of the fruitles s search for the monster . At last all the hunters had returned but John More at the head of the hill , and no one had found the mad bull . The absence of John More , beyond the time of meeting v a pre iously agreed to , however , begot serious p prehensions relative to the probable fate of the

. tw brave Scotchman But anon , in the dim ilight , they beheld the hitherto absent hunter S lowly wend ing his way toward the appointed place of meet ing . He staggered under the ponderous weight of some object , which he carried upon his shoul der i ; and when he reached the circle of his fr ends , it w as discovered that John More at the head O f n - the hill had encountered si gle handed the brute , e had kill d him , and had cut off his large head , w hich he laid down at the feet of his waiting countrymen as a trophy from the hard-fought

ﬁ . e t eld His neighbors , therefore , ver after hat event called him John Morehead , and he became the progenitor of the numerous family which ” bears his name . Morehead , however , like the C eltic Kenmore , simply means large head , and was doubtless bestowed upon some Scotchman just as the grandson of Duncan , Malcolm of the Great

Head , got his surname .

Does not , therefore , the mere existence of these old traditions relative to surnames , which , as we have just seen , are frequently untrue , make it plain 20 M M S M A RA BLE A ONG URNA ES . to e ve ry one that any attempt to arrive at th e ru is l n if t th commendab e , eve it relate s to o nly ? a name Indeed , there is something supe rbly grand in that measure of honest and sincere men tal culture which enables any m an to rise supe r nm rior to his envi o ents , to get above that which is enda s i merely leg ry , and to at sfy that appetency to w t s as t if is kno why hing are hey are , even it merely to know the causal age ncies of so insignifi m cant a thing as a surna e . We appreciate the sentiment of th e old Roman alienum Nomo sum , humani nihil a me m an u Surnames relate exclusively to , and are nat rally of universal interest . Hence the writer pro poses in the following chapters to pull at the latch m dimval s s strings of e castle , to refresh him elf under the rooftree of the humble cottages of the Middle to m Age s , walk a id the din of the crafts of our o e progenit rs , to ramble over th ir playgrounds and fie m edimval e battle lds , to linger amid rural scen s , ’ to it and s in old England s marts of trade , view ing all of these things unde r what w e have chose n to term the foot and side lights of the drama of e w as e to lif , as it act d by our forefathers , and all th e end that w e may know what there is in a name . n e e is fre The Mesopotamia trav l r , it said , is que ntly surprised to find the by no means preten tious buildings of the modern inhabitants of that ancient cou ntry cons tru cted of b rick stamped

w to a man can a I am a man , and nothing hich relates be ” m e m atter Of unconcern to . “ ’ ” W H A T S IN A NAM E ? 2 1

th w ith e cuneiform legends O f Nebuchadnez z ar . es v e Th e ancient brick have sur ived mpires , felt the shocks of the battering-rams of b es eiging s n ntu e armie , and having spa ned ce ri s pregnant with decay and revolutions awful to contemplate , now furnish building material for the dege n e rate w h o n Mesopotamian , is totally ig orant of the mean ing of the c une iform inscriptions imprinte d on them . A sad lesson indeed ! but may we not dis cover a more hum iliating fact in the wide-spread n r sur ig o ance relative . to th e meaning of those names w hich are alm ost daily uttered by our own tongues ?

Surnames are instructive , and it is frequently the case that the stu dy of a single name produces m t tu uch food for though , just as the s dy of words gives us clearer ideas and broader conceptions , u for English s rnames are but words , and many of them words which have long ago become obsolete .

Indeed , family names make up the links of that

. Din chain which binds us securely to the past g , no w al as an old English verb , for instance , is most obsolete , and to many educated Englishmen it is as much a mystery as a w ord from the Greek language would be to one who had never stu died the beautiful language of Plato and Aristotle . rv But Dingman still su ives as a surname , and it is w as a precisely the same name as Thrower . It p plied to one who became an expert in hurling tw o n missiles or implements of war , and the ames e bear exactly the same relation to each other , r la 2 2 M M S M S A RA BLE A ONG URNA E . tive to the time in which they were applied as sur r names , that the patronymics A cher and Gunner

sustain to each other . We see that the one is

older than the other , and the names Archer and Dingman bind those w h o have inherited them to ae th e medi val arts of war , and later name keeps an

O ld word from dying completely . h t a T ere is something hen in name , and in the following pages w e will endeavor practically to

e . d monstrate this truth If , however , some things ma are written which the reader y think irrelevant , and if no w and then that which is ridiculous and that which may provoke a smile claim the atten tion of those who may follow us in these desultory is rambles , let it be remembered that our design somewhat S imilar to the spirit which pervades Marmion ’s palmers TO charm a weary hill

With song , romance , or lay ; o r Some ancient tale , glee , or jest,

Some lying legend at the least ,

They bring to cheer the way . CHAPTER II .

M A FE W ENGLIS H S URNAM ES THAT AKE U S LAUGH . HERE are many peculiar surnames which provoke a sm ile th e moment we hear them u t

tere d. It is worthy of note that the most amusing surnames that w e hear and read of are pure Eng

lish words . This is the result of two causes . The fact that we readily perceive their meaning

makes them funny . Many very common family names wo uld appear just as ridiculous as the most peculiar patronymics that we occasionally hear if

w . we knew hat they mean The other cause , w hich lends an air of oddity to certain surnames ,

is the fact that the word or words , which enter s into the composition of such name , have under gone very radical changes relative to their signiﬁ

cation . Take , for example , the English family fﬁ name Co n , which formerly meant a covering ’ of any kind . In Shakespeare s Titus Andron icus the word is used to denote a pie crust . In V . . tu Act , Scene II , Ti s addresses his daughter e Lavinia , relative to her enemies , Chiron and Dem triu s ! i Hark , villains I will gr nd your bones to dust, A nd ’ with your blood and it I ll make a paste , ” A nd of the paste a cofﬁn I will rear .

The word also meant a chest , so that the origi (23) 2 A A M M M S 4 R BLE A ONG S URNA E .

nal Co flin may have been a chest maker . In the cours e of human events a C o flin may have claimed — i . e . r the hand of a Wainwright , a wagon make — and among their progeny there may be o ne of whom those who fear th e coffin and shudder at the thought of a grave may say:

’ is as w as th e w o o w s Her voice s eet hipp r ill , ’ A nd the sunshine s in her hair ; ’ ’ But I d rather face a redskin s knife ” r f z z O grip o a gri ly b ear .

A nd yet there is re ally no difference between m d a chest maker and a wagon aker . Who woul not be as willing to be called the one as the other ?

There is little Julia Tan ne r Such a mite o fa gal ! tw o o f z n Why , her si e rolled i to one ’ d Won t itto sister Sal .

Yet S h e is plucky ; but notwithstanding all the s e e e things , the ffeminate , though tall and handsom Charlie Fairchild claims her hand in holy wed w lock . If the current of domestic life ﬂo s smooth l w t y, all ill be well ; but suppose there is a lit le unpleasantness , then the timid Fairchild may truthfully say :

’ ’ z Though she ain t any si e , while I m s t Con iderable all , ’ n S h e s m e I m nowhere whe peaks to , ” She makes me feel so small . It is very plain to every one who has even casu ally studied surnames that certain personal traits and ac and characteristics , peculiarities oddities , nt a a e co mplish m e s and h bits , h v entered largely

26 A RAM BLE AM ONG S URNAM ES .

is frequently written , together with Whiteman , are m names of co parison relative to complexion . The Whiteheads and Blackheads could very frequent l m l t t y swap surno inal appel ations , and hus tru h ’ fully bear each other s patronymic . l a Longfel ow and Short , as descend nts of pro genitors who worthily inherited those c o gno m enic

titles of distinction , can no longer claim their names by virtue of anything uncommon in their - u no . bodily make p, but are w really as other men But here is a scene worthy of the pages of a

r patent medicine almanac . It might b e ve y appro

ri t l p a e y styled before and after taking . John

Stout , lean and cadaverous , arm in arm with Hen

r . y Tallman , who is almost as broad as he is long The scene speaks eloquently of h o w the mighty w are fallen , and really the shado y has passed

into genuine substance . n This natural predisposition , to give sur ames ex

pressive of qualities or attainments , is beautifully

illustrated by the line of old E nglish kings . B e “ ” ginning with Alfred , surnamed the Great , or ” r the T uthteller , we have as his direct descendant d Edwar , surnamed the Elder , who was succeeded E d by Ethelstan , surnamed the Steadfast , and m so und the Deed Doer , and Edred the Chosen , called on account of the many excellencies ﬂow ing h d from his pious life . T en came E gar the Peace n m Win er , who really ade peace , however , by vir th tue of hard ﬁghting . Then we have Edward e

Martyr , so styled because he died at the hand of S URNAM ES THAT M AKE U S LAUGH 2 7

’ - an assassin instigated by Edward s step mother ,

E lfth rith . Ethelred , surnamed the Unready , no w m which did not mean then what it would ean ,

[ ll-adv ised but , was the Rehoboam of the long

line of Old English kings . th e From line of Danish kings , descended

from Harold Bluetooth , we may note Sweyn Fork

beard , Harold Harefoot , so named because he was swift on foot ; and from the House of Flan A ders , rnulf , surnamed the Young , and Baldwin Fairb eard , as illustrating the disposition of the populace to confer surnames because of certain

distinguishing features or characteristi cs . If kings

were thus named , we submit that the populace was n even more liable to be nick amed . We do not mean to institute invidious compari

sons , but it appears to be a very reasonable prop o sitio n S that , ince almost every rural town has , d to ay , its Cheap John , it is not at all strange that old English communities should have had a

John Smart or a Henry Sharp . u - n O tlaw is rather a suspicious looking sur ame , but he who thinks that there is anything disho nor able connected with that formidable-looking name n h o ly publishes his ignorance of English istory .

It is a name which may be placed in a line , for all w m we kno , with the names of artyrs , who died for u the tr th . The great rulers of England frequent u ly o tlaw ed the best of men . Note the following “ ” : A D . 1 0 0 instance One day about . 5 , King ’ -in- “ Edward s brother law , Eustace , who was a 28 A RAM BLE AM ONG S URNAM ES .

see w as Frenchman , had been to the king , and riding back to the sea to pass over to his o w n earl m m do of Boulogne . When he and his e n came

o e e la to D v r , th y behaved wlessly , and wished to make the townsmen lodge the m where they

would ; and one of them struck a townsman . e ﬁ a e Th n a ght began , and m ny wer slain on eithe r side ; but at last the men of Dover drove them out f o town . Then Eustace rode back to the king

and complained of the Dover folk , and told the

o w n . story his way The king was very angry ,

and m . bid Godwin , the earl , go and punish the But God w in said he would not till they also had been heard , and he told the king that the French m e n ought to be punished . Then the ki ng sent for Leofric and Siw ard ; and Godwin summoned his b e folk , and it was like to have come to a battle tween the two armies . But Leofric thought it bet ter that the Wise Men be called together to settle m the atter . Wh en the Wise Men met they out w la ed Sweyn again , and called Godwin and Har old , his son , to come alone before them ; but they would not come unless safe conducts were given an them . So the Wise Men outlawed Godwin d - his kin . We have quoted thus from York Pow ’ ’ ” ell s Epoch s of English History to S how that o utlaw s were sometimes the best of people . n The surname Toplady is an E glish word , which is rather hard to understand intelligently in the - connection in which it is used . The old fash io ned and no w obso lete Whipsaw doubtless gave 2 S URNAM E S THAT M AKE U S LAUGH . 9

us this name . Timber was formerly saw ed length

wise by means o fa saw operated by tw o men . One

stood in a pit , hence the surname Pitman ; and the t o n th e af and o her stood sc folding above , was l w ca led Topman . They dre the saw u pward and s downward , and thus awed the timbers used in

me diaevil n . e buildi gs We can , therefor , easily con ceive h o w the au d ghter , or wife , who may have ’ of been bereft her husband , for mere consistency s a s ke , may have been called Toplady in the day whe n surnames were not perma nently fixed as they sa now are . It is impossible to y positively how the n surnam e Overall came into use . It is a mode r s a e Engli h word , and while its me ning is p rceptible c an fi h o w to every one , no one say , con dently , it came to be applied as a surnominal appellation . is h It very probable , owever , that the title was given to some early u nder k ing who was raised to the kingship of several factions . o is th e Gooden ugh , without doubt , a survival of old Puritan idea of coining such names for th eir children ; for th e old registers abou nd with such ful - - Christian names as Thank , Dust and ashes , - - e m a Hold the truth , Accepted , Rep nt , and ny such m ridiculou s na es . The story is told of a back woods Americ an m other that she nam ed her in n fant daughter Amazi g Grace , and when some one ’ s he r S h e : ! remon trated with , replied Why it s a ’ m . nice na e , for it s in the hymn book Charlotte “ n M . Yonge says : Origi al is a family name still at handed on in Lincolnshire . Probably it was M 30 A R AM BLE AM ONG S URNA ES . first Original Sin Every whim and peculiar notion to which humanity is heir seems to have

been utilized as materi al for names . Hence sur nominal literature teems with a sense of the ridic l u o u s . William Loveman may edit a matrimonial jour c o no nal , John Trueman may still be true to his g S tick w ells m anufactu red lu e men , and the have g

and mucilage . n - A bicker w as an e graver , the Anglo Saxon ’ stea ( steth ) means a bank or shore ; Bickersteth ﬁ ’ therefore signi es the engraver s homestead , for s e t th is really cognate with stead. But as some old

Bicker lived on the coast , it was very natural that he should have dug a dike to keep back the tides , hence we have the territorial surname B ick ersdik e conferred on some one who lived in close pro xim n ity to the dike . Washbur e was applied to a branch that was subject to overflow . It is not a ’ Washb u rne s matter of surprise , then , that Minnie affections should break over the channel in which fi fill B ick ersdik e they were once con ned , and with sunshine and happi ness . A ttacu laculla was a prominent Cherokee chief who lived and reigned over his tribe from about 1 00 to I fi 7 753. The name signi es most excellent n wood cutter . The old English ame Truax , which has lost an e betw een the contiguous to and a ffi th e O ld , the su x being the way English spelled axe fi , has about the same signi cation as the name of th e old chief to which we have just alluded . E S U RNAM ES THAT M AK U S LAUGH . 3I

No doubt the progenitor of th e Truax family

kne w how to hew to the line , and kept a keen

edge on his tools . This suggests the surname ’ Whetstone , with which the writer has met . Would it not provoke a broad smile if a Truax should marry a Whetstone ? Those of our progenitors w h o loved to have sun shine in the so ul , who laughed away the dark i shadows of l fe , and who sought happiness every where and in everything , have given the world the surname Lovejoy . The ancients regarded the

rose as a symbol of secrecy . It was suspended over their tables at their festivals in token that all that was said there S hould not be divulged . Hence

arose the saying sub ro sa . In the feuds between the houses of York and Lancaster the white and red rose became respectively the badges of the

contending partisans . It is not , therefore , strange that we S hould meet with Rose as a family name ; nor is it surprising that he who distilled the rose l was cal ed Rosewater . The name Peabody was bestowed on some plump-bodied mediaeval Englishman in very much ’ - the same manner that Edith Swan s neck , whom

Harold dearly loved , got her surnominal appella

. an k tive The name has been contracted to S w e c . t d Notwi hstanding the o dities of surnames , how ever , they have multiplied as man has gone forth on his mission of multiplication .

n w as See Chapter IV . The ame doubtless suggested by a S shop ign . M 32 A RAM BLE A ONG S URNA M ES .

Peabody Duty perhaps keeps a store , With washing tubs and wigs and wafers stocked; uack enb o x A nd Dr . Q proclaims the cure O fsuch as are w ith any illness dock ed ; Dish A lcibiade s holds out a lure O f n su dry articles , all nicely cooked ; A nd Phocion A ristides Franklin Tibbs b and s Sells rib ons , laces , caps , slobbering bib .

! er But hold h e comes William , or for short Bill l e and Graybil , whos black hair beard tell us too plainly that he is not o ld enough to claim the true import of his name , arm in arm with John Bed se e good , who angular form sp aks so eloquently b e ac and convincingly that we had , y far , rath r cept the truthfulness of what his name implie s than to put it to a practical test . h Speak of t e and his imps will appear .

th e . True to proverb , here comes John Walkup ru the It was c el to say least of it , that some uncouth characteristic of the primal progeni tor o f the accomplished little Nellie Wildman S s hould have fastened such a urname on her , but then it need not b e so for a lifetime . She may change her name without a special act of the Leg

islatu re . ! C But alas there is poor John raven , S e who has an eye ingl to the prize , and Miss Nel e t lie feels that , if surnam s are to enter in o such l matters , in the approaching nuptials she wi l have “ only leaped from th e frying pan into the ” ﬁre . These matrimonial alliances are really ri diculo u s sometimes . Only last month Walter Fitz —i n Water— . e . the so o water , Walter f married

M 34 A RAM BLE A ONG S URNAM ES .

w e notices of divorce suits , ever since read of Robert Child wedding Minnie Breakspear ; we have lived cherishing the hope , however , that no bones have been broken in the severe course of discipline through which the bride may have s caused the tupid Child to pass . n But enough of such puerile punni g with names , if even they do justify it at least in some measure .

Brock means a badger . It has long since passed into an adage in speaking of persons or things ex trem ely gray to refer to them as being gray as a badger . It may have been because of gray hairs that this appellative was besto w ed . A beard streaked with gray would have reminded our sim ple-hearted progenitors of the streaked face of the badger . Hence we have the surname Brockman . h n r —i n r o s o o d . e . Joh s ud is a corruption of J , the measure of land that belonged to John . Gilhousen is composed of the Gaelic gil ( a servant) and ho usen (the old English way of spelling house ) .

Gilman simply means a servant man . Goodnow is h o w thoroughly English , but long will that blessed state continue ? Who Would not as willingly sub th e B w w mit to patronymic og ood as to S inburne , or h o gb ranch ? Who had not just as lief be a ’ Roundtree as a Rockwell .

Pennypacker was an employee in the mint , and a more liberal monetary policy on the part of the government might have obviated the necessity for

* a ne These are territori l names , and are fully explai d in

Chapter VI . M M S URN A ES THAT AKE U S LAUG H . 35

th e surname Poorm an . The name Starkw e ather is connected in some way with a sheep divested of m h o its war coat of wool , but as to w the name n originated o one is able to explain . Livingood is a descendant of one who lived well and fared

u Ho mir s mptuously every day , while g e lived near a swamp in which hogs were pastured . L o o k ab ill is an English surname with which the writer has met . It is doubtless a corruption of the L uck B ill pet name y , a popular cognomen which was bestowed on some mediaeval William to whom

tu w as . i for ne partial A fr end of mine , however , told me that his mother knew a family living in one of the Northern States whose patronymic ap h if r pellation was R ed e e . I gave my Yankee friend the palm , for that was to me the most ri diculo u s surnominal cognomen I ever heard of a man enduring , and really it must have been humil inting to the feminine members of the family . Happy lot for them that they could change their family name through the services of a minister , and it is to be hoped that all the boys ofthatfami ly w ere girls and that they all found suitors .

Many of the more seriously disposed readers , however , of this book may criticise the light man ner in which the writer has dealt with quite a num ber of peculiar names which occur in this chapter , but he has only one suggestion to offer relative a to peculiar surnames , and no apology for wh t re they may suggest to the mind , for he is not : sponsible for them . The suggestion is this Love 6 M M S M 3 A RA BLE A ONG URNA ES .

covers a multitude of defects , even in surnames ; and matrimo ny annihilates a vast number of n u - - couth family names . Peg a way is an American

all . ism , the meaning of which is familiar to of us The fact that it is an Americanism saved the ex pression from having been fastened on some poor

S tick aw a . mortal as a surname , for y is actually a patronymic appellation . Charlotte M . Yonge , in C ” her excellent work , hristian Names , says that in one of the Northern States there is a family Tw o where the sons are called One , , Three S tick aw a y and the daughters First , Second , Third k ” S tic aw a . y The best we can do , then , with our peculiar names , if we cannot change them , is ’ -a simply to imitate the honest Shoemaker , peg stich to the last way and , for what Englishman would not rather have the most peculiar surname with its centuries of Anglo-Saxon history and prog ress han any patronymic appellation that could be coined in the light of this nineteenth century ? We love our names with all of their oddities b e cause our fathers bore them .

See Chapter V . CHAPTER III .

PATRON YMIC INHERITANCES F ROM REM OTE FA

T H E R L A N DS .

HE names of countries have veryfrequently per

formed double duty , if we may so express the idea , for we often meet with them as surnames . Many of our progenitors sought their fortunes in other lands than those in which they were born , and in the emergencies and exigencies which necessarily evolved family names it was very nat n ural that the ame of the country , from which one emigrated to England , should serve also as a sur name . Thus Thomas from Wales very naturally became known to the people as Thomas Waley or n Waleys . In this way also the names Welch a d i Walsh were der ved , and the progenitors of those who bear either of these three family names were w h o undoubtedly Welsh emigrants , cast in their lots with their nearest neighbors , the Englishmen . The etymology of the eth nic name Welsh proves conclusively that the term w as conferred upon the inhabitants of the Province of Wales by the Ger

m . th e mléch ans , as a reproach It is from Sanskrit , and means a person w h o talks indistinctly or ” m a jabberer . The Sanskrit frequently b e comes w in the Gothic tongue . Hence according to this phonetic law from mlich we obtain the (37) 38 A RAM BLE AM ONG S URNAM ES .

w lach w alach w alsch German , and , The root , s a ys Isaac Taylor , appears in German in the

w al o rei n form , which means anything that isf g ” r n or st a ge . Hence we obtain the German word w aller n , which no longer survives in E glish except as a surname , and which means a stranger or pil ’

. l w allet grim We sti l have , however , , a stranger s ’ or pilgrim s equipage . The surname S axon has survived that ethnic branch of the great Indo-European family from

. n which it sprung The term mea s a knife , a short

. u r sword , or dagger The term was applied to o n ancestors as an ethnic ame , doubtless , because of the peculiar arms with which th is warlike tribe de fended themselves . As a surname it was bestowed n upon some bold desce dant of the old S axons , n who , like Cedric of Ivanhoe fame , clu g tena cio usl y to old Saxon customs and manners , and who preserved the purity of the Saxon blood after the Norman invasion and the revolutions that fol

l . lowed that period of Eng ish history The Saxons , however , unlike the Waleys , Welchs , and Walshs , no t were immigrants , but the conquerors of the - dark skinned Euskarian tribes , which originally inhabited England .

Hugh , the German who sought a home among n - his A glo Saxon cousins , was very naturally called

Hugh German or Gorman . Isaac Taylor says of this name : The etymology has been ﬁercely bat tled over ; perhaps the most reasonable derivation air m ean is from the Gaelic g , one who cries PATRONYM IC IN H E R ITA N CE S 39

’ ﬁ out , and the name either alludes to the erce war cry of the Teutonic hordes , or more probably it expresses the wonder with which the Celts of Gaul listened to the u nintelligible clash of the ’ cot harsh German gutturals . S means a wanderer . th e scu ito It is derived from Irish , which denotes w andered a rover . Thus William , who over into th e England , became known to people as William th e Scott ; while Harold , from Land of the Mid h ” nig t Sun , and a descendant he may have been i of the V kings , inherited the surname Norman or m Norris . Thus Louis fro France passed very

w n . easily into Le is Fre ch , Francis , or Frank If v n the later appellation pre ailed , as was freque tly

w n . the case , his progeny would be kno n as Fra ks It has been very plausibly supposed that the e w n Fr nch or Franks , like the Saxons , o their eth nic ranca title from the use of the f , a kind of jav elin . The surnames Briton and English doubtless came into use through the effort of our progeni in tors to distinguish , a day prior to the annihila t ff tion of ribal di erences , between two persons r bearing the same Ch istian name .

en o l The place name Holland means thef , from

lant . w as , marshy ground It applied as a surname to some emigrant from that country . Thus w e may account also for the surnames Ireland and

Spain . The Flemings were emigrants from

Flanders .

These surnames , which clearly demonstrate the A M 40 A RA M B LE ONG S URNAM ES . prevalence of foreigners in England at a very ear l S w ho y period of her history , ho w readily our progenitors received strangers from any part of

. th western Europe Isaac Taylor , in tracing e history of place names in England , satisfactorily proves that many of these emigrants to England h were of t e noblest families of Western Europe . They were in many instances the descendants of ” . Icelin s kings and noblemen The g , says he , are Ich the noblest family of Mercia , found at n li gham in Suffolk . The name of the place Ich lin ham Icelin s g , the home of the g , where the name still obtains as a surname , proves very con clusively that this ancient family chose that place as their home when they ﬁrst entered the land m ﬂirm of their adoption . The sa e writer a s that

the Hastings , the noblest race of the Goths are ﬁ yet found at Hastingleigh and Hastings , places rst settled by them in the counties of Kent and Sus

. e a sex The name fr quently occurs as surname , and wherever we meet with it we may rest as sured that it sprung from this noble race of Goths .

Arding is a royal name . The name was applied to a race of kings among the Vandals . This roy al a in th e f mily settled Sussex and Berkshire , as place names Ardington and A rdingley conclu sively prove . A branch of the royal Visigothic ﬁ family rst founded Belting in Kent . Hence the name by which they were known was not only b e given to the town which they built , but was stowed upon many o f their descendants as a sur

42 A RAM BLE AM ONG S URNAM ES . are familiar with all the conditions out of which

they were evolved . Hence it frequently occurs

that the study of surnames , for they are words more closely connected with prevailing condition n of society at the time they were applied , tha any w a e other class of ords , perhaps , gives us clear r conception of the meaning of kindred terms than

we could easily obtain otherwise . In the eastern section of South Carolina there

is no more familiar name than Easterling . Our Anglo-Saxon forefathers called emigrants from the country lying east of their little sea-girt island

easterlin s . . g Hence the term Sterling Connected , t herefore , with that name we have a most inter

esting piece of history . -O ff In that far age when surnames were made , when every petty earl or baro n had his private m b v int , when money was coined towns as well as e n ro by states , w ca not fail to learn even from mance literature that men had even then learned

the art of short weight . A scene in Ivanhoe illus

trates the prevalent shortage at that time in coin . u l u When G rth , the thra l of Cedric , acting , cla des tinel y, squire to the disinherited Wilfred , paid Isaac of York eighty zecchins for the use of the disinh r noble steed and goodly armor , which the e ite d knight used in the tournament at Ashby , it will be remembered by every one , who has read ew the scene , how the covetous J weighed the eightieth zecchin on the end of his ﬁnger and tried its genuineness by ringing the metal upon th e PATRONYM IC IN H E R ITA N CE S 43

n table , struggli g all the while between a desire to

reward the swine herder and his greed for gold . But the clear ring and full weight made Gurth one zecchin poorer than perhaps he would otherwise

have been . In that age when there could be very little guarantee of the genuineness and quality of

the current money , the coin brought to England by the Germans was known as Easterling or Ster a ling money , which was synonym for its purity , n hence the pound sterli g , or the term as used to m n denote a a of pure character .

The surname Wightman is of doubtful origin . The preﬁx w ight may be the Scandinavian term denoting nimble , active , or strong , or the name may have been applied to an emigrant from the

Isle of Wight . In the latter case it literally means “ -man o f E d the Jute , or Goth , for in the laws ward the Confessor the men of the Isle of Wight — i . e . . are called Guti , Jutes or Goths We have

’ Wiht also the intermediate forms Geat , Gwit , , ”

. i n s and Wight Newport , either the I le of W u ight or in South Wales , has perpet ated itself as

. no an old English surname There are , however , less than twelve villages in England bearing the w h as name Ne port , and the place name become a family name , just as the villages of Stroud , New suﬂix h land , Newby , (the y means a town ) , New u and bury (sometimes corr pted into Newberry ) , many other place names have passed into sur names . The name Galloway is a beautiful illus tratio n of how the place names which have become R M M S M 44 A A BLE A ONG U RNA ES .

surnames were frequently de rived from mere ao i n alleo ns c de t. One of the g of the famous Span ish Armada “ succeeded in weathering Cape - ” Wrath and the storm beaten Hebrides , and was at last wrecked on w hat is no w the coast of G al

n . loway , hence the place ame Tradition avers that a Spanish stallion rescued from the wreck became the ancestor of the strong and serviceable ” breed of Galloways . i Ratcl ffe , at Bristol , England , has given us a red el h family name . It means if Norwood (North w ood ) was bestowed on some denizen who inhabited such a region of uncultivated coun

try . Thus w e have also such surnames as Bald ridge and the poetic appellatio ns Whitehurst - (white forest) , and Silverwood . But as we will devote a c hapter especially to these territorial sur it w e names , is not necessary that pursue the study of this class of family names at this point in our

rambles .

It may be a matter of information , however , to h say , before closing this chapter , t at all surnames were originally written not after the Christian

name , as they are now placed , but above it . Hence su erno mina they were originally called p , or over in n names . They were never hereditary Engla d h e till after the Norman conquest . When they h over came ereditary , they were no longer called ’ names S s s . , but irname or ire name CHAPTER IV .

S U RN AM ES DERIVED FROM T H E S I GNS OF S HOP

KEEPERS .

HE chief towns and cities of England have al m ways been busy marts of trade . The anufac turer as well as the trader , the shop keeper as well all re as the importer of foreign articles , had their

tiv . spec e places of business Thames Street , Lon in s b e don , was , that period when surname were ﬁ h m s . stowed , literally alive with ongers There were so many fast days and Lenten seasons that ﬁsh w e formed an important article of food , and may rest assured th at Anglo-Saxo n energy and

enterprise created a supply equal to the demand . ’ Ironmo nger s Lane was ﬁlled with the smoke of

the furnace , while the clanging sound of the ham m er ’s strokes upon the anvil and the groan of the bellows told plainly how busy the begrimed smiths were who stood toiling at the forges . Armors u im le had to be manufact red and repaired , p ments of bloodshed as well as tools for the artisan ; in fact everything that was made of iron e n n gaged the atte tion of the busy workmen , for a m e dimvil city made nearly eve rything that the populace wanted . The Vintry tells of the place where the vinters stored and dealt out their wines . (45) 6 M M S A M 4 A RA BLE A ONG URN ES .

East Chepe or East Market as the name implies ,

. m St Nicolas Sha bles , and the Stocks Market all tell us of the places of business of the medie val

butchers , while Cordwainer Street was the abode

of the sons of Crispin . Paternoster R o w and Bowyer Row tell us respectively of the places where beads were turned with which the saints w and th e orshiped , bow s were made with which

sinners killed each other . It is not till one examines the long lists of trades collected together by Riley that he can form anything like a correct estimate of the enormous amount of work th at w as performed and day by day , of the divisions and subdivisions

of labor that prevailed on every hand . The craftsmen were nearly all specialists in some par ticu lar m line of trade . We ay rest assured that the spirit of rivalry was abroad among these mul titu de s of laborers . The craftsmen did not forget to advertise their wares and their respective places

of business , though it was done without the aid of ’ printers ink . Macaulay speaks of the gay appearance of Lon in don the olden times , caused by the painted

signs of the store and shop keepers . All sorts of u animals , frightf l dragons and monsters were painted to attract the atte ntion of the passer-b y

and invite his custom . The shop keepers of feu dal times were ambitious to excel each other , as - they are to day , in the novelty of their signs ; and

this , together with the ignorance of the times , gave T HE S IGNS OF S HOP KEEPERS . 47

rise to m any amusing scenes . The story is told S of a certain hoe maker , who hearing or seeing th n M ens co nscia recti e Lati expression , , though knowing nothing of its meaning , thought it would be an additional attraction to his S ign and had it inscribed be neath his pictorial S hoe . A rival son of Crispin , not to be outdone in business enter at n prise , once offered an ame dment , and placed ’ ’ S M en s and w o men s con upon his ign the words , e i scia re t . These signs gave rise to personal ” names . The Fishers made their name with hook and ﬁsh line , but the competing mongers along Thames

Street in London and elsewhere , took their names doubtless from the pictorial representations of their in fi craft painted gaudy colors over their sh stalls . fish m o n er fi u Thus John , a g , who had the g re of a b o dfish painted over the entrance of his place of business or who dealt especially in that species of fish as , would become very naturally known John B o dfish , by way of distinguishing him from some one else beari ng the same Christian name . In like manner the surnames Bass , Pike , Roach , and Fish were no doubt conferred upon those w h o fi rst received these appellations . There is a sad and pathetic chapter of Ameri can history relative to a surname , which doubtless originated from these painted signs of the medi vil fi ae sh mongers . Every student of the colonial history of America has lingered with feelings of sorrow over the account of Sir Walter Raleigh ’s A S 48 A R A M BLE AM ONG S U RN M E . attempt to plant a colony on Roanoke Island , on the eastern coast of North Carolina . The little band of brave men and women left by that u n o u in 1 8 fortunate explorer the island the year 5 7, and never again seen by white men , has been gen e rally alluded to by historians as the lost colo ” nists . Recent investigation , however , has estab w as lish ed the fact that the colony not destroyed , l but allied itself with the Croatan Indians , who sti l ’ n hold a reservation in Eastern North Caroli a . Virginia Dare w as the name of the first child fi born in the colony , and therefore the rst white child born upon the American continent . Her fi h h progenitors were doubtless s mongers . T e ” m h word dare eans a small species of river fis . The name as applied to men doubtless originated ” from the painted S ign of the dare or dace over the place of business of th e man who first received the name . dars dare Dare is from the old French or , a dart or javelin . It is more remotely from th e L w dardus o Latin which meant the same thing . fish w as m The so named from its quick otion . The word w as pronounced by the Anglo-Saxons ” as if written dahr . Strange to say that when Hamilton M cM illan began to investigate traditions among the colony of Croatans in Robeson County ,

. C . l f N , re ative to the fact of their descent rom

’ For proof of this alliance see O ut from under Cre sar s ” h V . and . au Frown , C apters XX III XXIX , a work by the thor .

50 A RA M BLE AM ONG S URNAM ES .

many English names in this way , for in the medi aeval towns and cities where the trades were thor oughly distributed we ﬁnd one man making one thing and nothing else all his life . The maker of bolts for crossbows would very naturally exhibit over his place of busi ness as a S ign the painted im o f age a great bolt , hence he would be distinguished by his neighbors from other persons having the n same Christia name by the surname Bolt . Like wise the maker o f spears inherited that title as a patronymic distinction for his long line of descend ants . We sometimes meet with the English name n Swords , which doubtless came i to use as a surname from the S ign of that instrument of carnage over the place of business of the m edimval sword maker . The forger of chains would very appro priately exhibit the painted linhs of a chain to pub lish to the eyes of the passing throng the manner h of business t at was carried on within . When we take into consideration the fact that our ancestors , in the days when surnames were formed and bestowed , were generally ignorant to a degree that debarred them from reading their i u h o w mother tongue , we read ly nderstand em b le m s painted upon S ignboards over their shops and stores were the only mediums through which the artisan and trader could intelligently co m mu nicate the nature of their vocations to the great

mass of their customers . Therefore the m anufac tu rer of bells would have an enorm ous bell paint ed o u some conspicuous object at his place of busi I T H E S IGNS OF S HOP KEEPERS . S

ness , so as to attract the attention of any one need ing work in his line , and in the course of time his

S ign became his surname . And assuredly the Bells had a lucrative trade ; for m edimval E ngland struggled through the mists of the Dark Ages , n keeping step with the jingli g , jangling , and jar ring tones o f thousands of bells on every side .

They rang , says an English writer , all day long ; they rang from the great cathedral and from the little parish church , from the stately monas ter n y, the nu nery , the college of priests , the r th e and spital , the chant y , chapel , the hermitage ; they rang for festivals , for fasts , for pageants , for processions , for births , marriages , and funerals , o ﬂicers for the election of city , for coronations , for victories , and for daily service ; they rang to mark the day and the hour ; they rang in the baby ; they rang out the passing soul ; they rang for the bride ; they rang in memory of the dead ; they rang for work to begin and for work to cease ; ” they rang to exhort , to admonish , to console . The bell makers were therefore important factors in early English civilization . They not only ad vertised their craft through the medium of the eye , but manufactu red that which advertised almost everything through the medium of the ear . We sometimes meet with the English name

Hornblower . Since there were men , therefore , who m ade their surnames by winding horns , it was very necessary that the demand for that instru m ent of torture to sensitive ears be supplied. Hence 2 A M M S M 5 A R BLE A ONG URNA ES .

n there were horn makers then as now . I deed , the S pirit of the times made that branch of m anufac i ture very essent al , for our progenitors were a ve ry

. u noisy set of fellows The h nter , the yeoman , u w the soldier , and the r stic , as ell as the gentle

. d man , owned horns Indee , it was an accomplish

h w ho rn ment to know o to wind a horn . The m aher ainted his si n , therefore , p g , won his sur and name thereby , added by his craft to the daily volume of noise that ﬂoated out upon the air of - the sea girt island . What a blessing the air is , anyhow ! It swallows so much that is offensive

. its and discordant Verily , digestive organs are good and powe rful ! We have already alluded to short weight in the coin that was circulated in mediaeval times . There was a necessity for weighing apparatu s in i pr mitive times as well as now . Hence scale m the S i akers were in demand , and again painted gn has given us the surname Scales . In this manner many of the names of the ani mals of the forest were fastened as surnames upon men . A number of rival butchers doing business in the same town or city took their names from the painted images of certain animals over their places of business . Thus we have from the mam mals Buck , Bull , Bullock , Lamb , Roe , and many others . The surnames Fox and Todd must have origi n t a ed through these signs of the S hop keepers .

Tod , generally written Todd as a surname and T E S F S H IGNS O HOP KEE PERS . 53 frequently spelled To dde in the oldest Saxon n books , is of Scandinavian origi , and primarily meant a bush ; but the term was applied to the fox , it is supposed , on account of its bushy tail . o The names Fox and Todd , theref re , are the same in meaning , and doubtless came to be used as fam ily names through the medium of these signs . The name Hinds may have originated from the fact of some mediaeval butcher having painted the ﬁ u m g re of a female deer over his eat shop , or it may possibly have been derived from the Anglo hine d Saxon , the being excrescent , a domestic . The birds of the forest were no t ignored in the a day of surname making , for we h ve the names

Wren , Dove , Sparrow , Swan , Nightingale , Finch , B ullﬁnch d , Jay , Hawkes , Crane , Drake , Partri ge ,

Woodcock , Henshaw , which is , properly speak H ern n ing , shaw , another name for hero ; and this m d ’ brings to ind the saying , He oesn t know a ” w hawk from a handsaw , herein the last word is n i a corruption of hernshaw . By substituti g th s w ord the drift of the proverb is apparent , inti mating that one does not know the difference b e tween the hawk ( o r falcon ) or the heron (or hernshaw ) which the hawk pursues . Peacocks adorned the tables of the rich at gre at banquets ; the hedgecock was also co nsumed as

an article of food . Hence we have these names

as family nam es . r m The major pa t of these na es , perhaps , came f S s m rom the painte d igns of huck ters , though so e 54 A RA MBLE AM ONG S URN AM ES . of them may have originated from trivial charac teristics and incidents . Carlyle informs us that ﬁ Harald , the rst Christian king of Norway , as “ ll D. A . 61 G re e early as , 9 , got the name of yf from his people on a very trivial account , but seemirigly with perfect good humor on their part . Some Iceland traders had brought a cargo of furs n to Trondhjem ( Lade ) for sale . Sale bei g S lack n er than the Icelander wished , he prese ted a cho sen specimen , cloak , doublet , or whatever it was , n to Harald , who wore it with accepta ce in public and rapidly brought disposal of the Icelander ’s l ” stock and the surname of G reyfe l to himself . The surname of the ﬁrst conqueror of the nu m ero u s a w Fairh air j rls of Nor ay , Harald , and that of the author of the Norman conquest of E u gland , Rolf the Ganger (Walker ) came from inci dents equally as trivial as that which gave Harald r f l G ey e l his appellation . Rolf Ganger w as so weighty a man no horse could carry him , says

Carlyle , and he walked , having a mighty stride ” withal and great velocity on foot . Hence his name . Harald aspired to marry the beautiful : Gyda . The proud beauty answered him Her it would not beseem to wed any jarl or poor crea h i ture of that kind . Let m do as Gorm of Den w mark , Eric of S eden , and Egbert of England n fu subdue into peace and regulatio the con sed , contentious bits of jarls around him , and become a king ; then perhaps she might think of his pro ”

. w a posal ; till then , not The proud ans er ple sed T H E S IGNS OF S HOP KEEPERS . 55 th e young suitor , and he vowed to let his hair b grow , never to cut or even to com it till this feat were done and the peerless Gyda his o w n It took him twelve years to accomplish th e work ;

~ b ut it w as a w ife . done , and he won and a surname Therefore it is clearly seen that our progenitors were quick to perceive and apply any peculiar trait , sign , or acquirement . Surnames were sometimes bestowed from a spirit of jealousy . We have a striking illustration of this truth in the earliest historical records of

rw . No ay Thus , Chapman is of Norse origin , and means a merchant or peddler . Bjorn , the son of Fairh air Harald , as early as the middle of the ﬁ ninth century was the rst man , so far as history informs us , that ever bore that surname . He was

ru a peaceable , f gal , trading , and economic under king whom his jealous brothers mockingly called

Bjorn the Chapman . He was cruelly mur dered by his brother Eric Blood-axe about

A D . . . . 933 But the name still lives As it comes to us through the English we have Chapman , but that branch of the hardy family that sought their fortunes among the Germans was called Kauf tw man . The o names have a common Norse origin , and are really one and the same name .

The Osbornes also are of Norse origin , and the ” name means The Bear of the Gods . It was bestowed originally , doubtless by some viking , upon some brave Norman who fought with an en ergy and a spirit of fearlessness which character 6 R M 5 A A BLE AM ONG S URNAM ES .

z i ed th e northern bear . Many names came from

i . personal habits , customs , and peculiar ties Prior 1 1 2 ff n to the year 7, Geo rey , Count of A jou , had received the surname Plantagenet from his cus tom o fwearing a sprig of ﬂowering broom (gen ” ista ) in his cap . Likewise three of the sons of

Henry XI . as early as 1 1 69 had received surnames by which they were popularly known . Henry , S h o rt M antle surnamed , doubtless from the lack u of his mantle to measure p to , or rather down to , the customary standard , received from his father ’ i Cwur a o Maine and Anjou ; R chard , surnamed

L io n , the second son , so named on account of his as bravery , w given Aquitaine ; Geoffrey , the third w as son , made Duke of Brittany ; John , the h im h e nce fourth son , had nothing given to , he w as called John Lackland .

Philip V . and his son Charles , Kings of France , both inherited the surname Fair . Another son ,

X . Louis , on account of his temper , was surnamed

so n . the Quarreler ; while still another , Philip VI ,

th e L o n . was popularly known as Philip g Again ,

John , the son of Philip of Valois , who succeeded h i 1 0 s father on the French throne in the year 35 , w as v like his father , impetuous , iolent , brave , and prodigal , altogether a very bad man , yet he

G o o d s was surnamed John the , because doubtle s of that extraordinary degree of personal valor which characterized him a quality at all times po sse ssing an i rre sistible charm for the French ’ people .

8 R M M S M 5 A A BLE A ONG URNA ES .

among our progenitors , even as late as the seven teenth century : that of wearing patches on the

face . This peculiar custom originated with the ladies of the court who cut court-plaster (hence the origin of that term ) “ into the shape of cres

cents , stars , circles , diamonds , hearts , crosses , and some even went so far as to patch their faces S cha with a coach and four , a hip in full sail , a ”

teau . ac , and many such things Thus we may

count for many surnames , such as Cross , Ship , or

C . Shipp , and astles Doubtless the Surname ' Standish originated from this custom . It will be remembered that Pope received a present from Lady Shirley consisting of a standish and tw o

pens . A standish ( stand dish) was a standing ” dish for pen and ink . The surname Pitcher must have either originated from this strange cu s r l tom o from a shop S ign . The O d French ew er has been ado pted by our voracious language and r was cur ent in the day of Shakespeare , for Gre ’ “ mio , one of Bianca s suitors in Taming of the ” w Shre , eloquently presses his suit before Baptis ’ ta , Bianca s father i F rst , as you know my house within the city Is richly furnished with plate and go ld ; e w ers Basins and to lave her dainty hands .

The surname Ewer may be referred to thi s cus o f t- tom pasting patches of cour plaster on the face .

Vane , a weathercock , Pear , Flagg , Crowe , and

Crabb , with a great host of English surnames of n this type , all had their origi either from shop TH E S S S IGN OF HOP KEEPERS . 59 signs o r patches of court-plaster worn as orna m o n . ents the face The surname Trump , one ” i o f of the su t cards that takes any other suit , is trium h a corruption of p , and it is by no means im a probable th t a noted gamester , exulting in his skill as a card player should have so shaped the ornamental bits of court plaster that he pasted on his face as to advertise the fact that he was a

Trum . ru p May the T mps continue to triumph , l but along other ines , however , than that of mere gamesters . and The surnames Shear , Clock , Coulter , Sickles were doubtless derived either from these S igns or from the custom of wearing the patches - I of court plaster to which we have alluded . n deed a large number of surnames were thus orig inally conferred upon the progenitors of those

h ear . who now them The reader may account , h therefore , for many purely English names w ich do not appear in this chapter by remembering the customs to which we h ave alluded . CHAPTER V

S URNAM ES DERIVED FRO M T H E OCCUPATIONS .

- HE Anglo Saxon race , at any period of its his

n n . tory , can ever be accused of idle ess Our S progenitors were not only shrewd traders , killed in the art of advertising their wares in those days

prior to the introduction of printing presses , and m when al ost universal ignorance prevailed , but

they were a producing people . The din of indus try and the whir of crude machinery in mediaeval

times , united with the clanging of bells , the blast

of horns , and the cries of hawkers and traders ,

made old England a Babel of discordant sounds .

In fact , if the voice of history were silent on this u point , English surnames alone would constit te an imperishable monument to the memory of this truth ; and a nobler heritage than th e fact that our ancestors were laborers has never descended to

any people . They wrought and they dressed . Did they not have th e right to array themselves in cost l y garments on holidays , at least , when honest toil was the price paid for such bodily indulgences ?

sho e m aher S n Chaucer , old English for , i gs of their A n extravagance in dress . d since his progenitors had made a surname for all of their descendants by sticking to the last , did not this father of Eng lish poets have the right to violate the declaration (60) T HE OCCUPATIO NS . 61

’ L E stran e of g , The cobbler is not to go beyond ” n his last , and to si g of the gayly attired young ae medi val squire ,

‘ E mb ro w did w as as he , it were a mede A l o ffresslie ﬂo w ures and ? ful , white reede

But not only could the squires afford to dress ’ well in those days , but of the honest carpenter s wife he says :

A se nt w ai y [girdle] sche ered , barred of silk ; A barm -cloth eek as whit as marn e mylk U lendes m pon hir [loins], ful of any a gore . a b ro w did al b fo re Whit was hir mok , and y A nd b h nde eek y y on hir coler aboute , O f e - w ith inne w ih to ute col blak silk , and eek .

There were Wymplers in those good old days

when surnames were made , and they took the r name of their occupation for thei patronymic . t They manufac ured wimples , or neckerchiefs , for

women , and many a Saxon belle , as well as queen l m f o f y atrons , like the wi e Bath , of whom this S n m poet , descended from the cobblers , i gs , ight ae a have been seen , in medi val Engl nd , with their

scarlet stockings , and we may rest assured that they were not over-particular to conceal them—why should they be since they were beautiful (we mean ﬁne the stockings) and with their white wimples ,

or kerchiefs . Ancient Hosiers ’ Lane in London tells of the

extent , as well as the antiquity , of the stocking i W m lers trade . Ver ly , the y p and Hosiers were ’ m en th e lady s , and , since one sought to adorn the 62 M M S A RA BLE A ONG URNAM ES .

“ neck , he must have been subject to their beck ” h and nod ; while the ot er , working daily to clothe

: and adorn the other extreme of their fair bodies , ’ o otball was simply a f for beauty s fantastic toe . W m lers v But these old y p and Hosiers ha e never , ’ in any age of the world s history , been without sympathizers and a goodly number of fellow-asso m ciates struggling with like environ ents . Indeed , while a few men , possibly very few , may be really ’ h en echea t hen p , countless multi udes are veritable ’ h ussies , if having to do with women s concerns makes them such . Many English names like th ese we have referred fﬁ r r to have the su x e and ster . These are the e spective endings of masculine and feminine nouns

u . in the Saxon lang age Thus some Nimrod , who ’ in mediaeval times roamed over England s maje stic n forests of oak clad in his jacket of Lincoln gree , that he might the better conceal himself alike from th e he his foes and game sought , being in strictest harmony with the panoply of green about him , with - n his quiver of steel tipped arrows , silver hu ting - b o w horn , and well bent of flexible Spanish yew , n who , like Locksley of Ivanhoe fame , could otch the S h aft of a Hubert or cleave in tw ain the sway transfix ing willow rod , or the advance guard of a flock of wild geese winging their way to the soli — tary fens of Holderness such a woodsman w o rthi n ly won the title of Hu ter . - Baker as an English surname is wide spread ,

competing , in this particular , with the names T H E OCCUPATIONS . 63

w . Bro n , Smith , and Jones The work of the baker was in great demand , and it always will be , hence the name is common . Not only were there public l bakeries then as now , but every gent eman had his domestic baker ; and besides , there were great bodies of Church fu nctionaries w hich must have employed quite a number of professional bakers .

A recent writer , Walter Besant , in speaking of St . Paul ’s Cathedral and of the great number main t ined a by the Church in that building alone , says “ 1 8 0 that in the year 5 the society , the cathedral : body , included the following The bishop , the a dean , the four rchdeacons , the treasurer , the pre cento r w e , the chancellor , thirty greater canons , t elv ﬁ lesser canons , about fty chaplains or chantry

r . priests , and thi ty vicars Of inferior rank to th e and these were sacrist three vergers , the suc cento r , the master of the singing school , the mas ter of the grammar school , the almoner and his four vergers , the servitors , the surveyor , the twelve r h scribes , the book t anscriber [whence we ave the n ch aimb r name Scrib er], the book binder , the e n lain [hence the surname Chamberlain], the re t ” collector , the baker . This last and important “ r r functiona y ovened eve y year , says the same

r Writer , loaves , or eve y day more than a hundred , large and small Hence the chief baker of such an establishment must have em ployed quite a number of helpers . A great Church institution like this gave to the world at large , therefore , a

large number of persons bearing the name Baker , M 64 A RAM BLE AM ONG S URNA ES .

whe n trades came to be applied as surnames . tu Therefore , that Baker , more for nate than Pha ’ ro ah s , who probably lost his head on account of bad cooking , one who excelled in the culinary art , at least to that degree necessary to the establish ﬁ ment of his profession , xed that title as a surname upo n the long line of his numerous progeny . ” In Mincing Lane , London , we are told , dwelt the men of Genoa and other parts who ” brought wine to that port in their galleys . Hence these importers of wine came to be known after awhile by the surname Vintner or Vintners .

Mercer means a merchant . We frequently meet n with the ame in its Middle English form , Mercer , and also in its modern form , Merchant . The names are one and the same .

In every great cathedral there were , besides t those already mentioned , sextons , gardeners , urn ers of beads for prayer , masons , painters , carpen ters , gilders , and carvers . It may have been that these names of trades were ﬁrst applied as sur O f names among the inmates these cathedrals , for we can readily concei ve how a greater necessity for some such co gno m e nic distinction would exi st among so great a number of m e n placed thus in actual and daily contact than would arise among the people outside , and who were not brought into n such close perso al contiguity , just as surnames became a necessity in towns and cities before they were essential in the more sparsely settled country districts .

66 A RA M BLE AM O N G S URNAM ES .

e i ﬂa ut a conc al ng the w , they p their cracked w res

o n th e m arket and sold them as sound vessels . Roman pottery merchants thus imposed upon were

taught to look , when they made their purchase , for th e w ax that concealed the ﬂaws of imperfect

workmanship . Hence when they discovered a per fectl a sine cera y sound vessel , they s id it was , with m w S out w ax. Fro this e have the word incere ,

signifying primarily without ﬂaws . o ur t w Since progeni ors , as we have seen , kne

how to dress , weavers were a necessity , hence we - have Weaver as a surname . The Anglo Saxon w ebba a ﬁ a word meant weaver ; the suf x , says

. no w o b Skeat , denoted the agent The word is

s b . olete , except in the old English surname Web

The great Webster whose eloquence , logic , and astute statesmanship won him a name second to none in the annals of America the learned Webster whose lexicographical labors yet abide as th e standard of English-speaking people ; and the lesser Websters whose names have not been placed upon the roll of honor and fame may all trace their origin to some gentle and humble Saxon dame h o w plied the shuttle , day by day , thus winning

an honest living and a surname for her progeny . The th ump of the loom was her piano and the h um f o the distaff her organ . Her vocation ranked ﬁn da among the er arts of that y, and had been con sidered an accomplishment second to none from time immemorial . The science of music was left in the hands of strolling harpers and clowns , and the H T E OCCU PATIONS . 67 websters were useful as well as ornamental ; and tw o while it may be said of these accomplishments , h a ﬁ t t the rst has verily become the last , we should i never forget that poets , as far back as h story leads a th us , h ve sung of distaffs and looms as e choicest

symbols of princely women . Thus Homer de scrib es th e present o fA lcandra to Hele n

A e mm l andra , consort of high co and , ’ A golden distaﬁ gave to Helen s hand ; A nd w ht that rich vase , with living sculpture roug , b e Which , heaped with wool , the auteous Philo

brought . ﬂ m The silken eece , impurpled for the loo , ” R o m ecalled the hyacinth in vernal blo .

So also Theocritus , when he gives a present ’ r his f iend s bride , couples it with verse

0 distaﬁ ! to friend warp and woof, ’ ’ s Minerva gift in man s behoof, t Whom careful housewives still re ain , A nd d gather to their househol gain , distaﬁ d Thee , ivory , I provi e , A present for his blooming bride , a With her thou wilt sweet toil part ke , ” A nd aid her various vestes to make .

tu at hu And even Augus s himself , the height of man splendor , wore a robe which was made for

i . him by Liv a , his wife in There was an old practice the years agone , that a woman should never be married until she had herself spun a set of body , table , and bed fﬁ l h o w linen . It is not di cu t to see easily the term became applicable to all unmarried women , and 68 M M A RA BLE A ONG S URN AM ES .

ﬁnally became a law term and became ﬁxed as

spinster . h ‘ The Websters , t erefore , like the Smiths , may

claim an ancient and honorable lineage , and though the Harpers sung in palaces and b efore

kings , the Websters really have higher claims to

aristocratic origin . b o r We er , webber , meant a male weaver . The

word is no w obsolete except as a surname .

Tucker is a Norse word , and is synonymous with

the English word weaver . It is not , however ,

quite obsolete , like weber , but still survives not in only as a surname but as a word . We have it i - the modern tucking m ll ( cloth making mill) .

Brewer is a very common English surname . There was not a single monastery in all England

that did not have its brewer as well as its baker . ’ ~ It is recorded that the brewer of St . Paul s Cathe 1 286 dral in London , brewed in the year gallons of beer . Verily the Church at least h as m ade considerable progress in the virtu e of tem r n h pe a ce . But we ave Brewster also as a sur ’ name , showing that the brewer s art was also in the hands of women . Over the products of their art many a brave knight uttered the common Saxon toast w aes hael ( be well) to his drinking m co panion , and drank to the king , queen , or his lady love . But many of the descendants of the Brewers and Brewsters are to-day heart and hand tr ﬂi against the a c of their progenitors .

See Chapter VII . T H E OCCUPATIONS . 69

And so also the plucky Saxon dame , who dared at that early period of English history when sur n f ames were made , to enter the arena of pro es u sio al trades and compete for custom , placed her bread tables by the thoroughfares and exhibited r — i a the f uit of the oven tempt ng b rley loaves , kneaded by her hand and baked under her su — pervisio n and thus won not only a living but a n —b ak ester name for all of her offspri g , a female

baker . Hence we have the name Baxter . tailleur t Tyler is from the French , a cut er , a

term applied to an individual , who stood with drawn

sword , as the guard of a lodge of Freemasons . Those who have been initiated into the profound mysteries of that ancient order may appreciate m th w a ore oroughly , perhaps , h t his real duties were

than the great outside world . Whatever else may o fF be the merits of the order reemasonry , it must be admitted that it has given the English-speaking people of the world a surname . The surnames

Butler , Plater , Glover , Collier , and Fuller are purely modern English names , and were derived from the vocations of the progenitors ofthose who be ar them . The Scrivener was a scribe or cop yist. There was no vocation known to our me diaeval ancestors to which the world is more in debted than to the work of the Scriveners and

Scribners . We o w e to them not only the preser r vation of our early histo y as English people , but the conservation and guardianship of ancient t s of th e litera ure and the Bible , the corner tone 70 A RAM BLE AM ONG S URNAM ES . vast and imperishable ediﬁce of Anglo-Saxon

Civilization . Hatch er is a name easily understood when w e remember that one of the trades of the Middle Ages was that of raising sporting hawks for the

e . a g ntry Hence one eng ged in that occupation , a hatch e of re ring hawks under a or coop , was call d

Hatcher .

There is no excellency Without labor , and , a e few indeed , it appe rs that ther would have been surnames without it . Like the doves of w hich ’ Israel s sweete st singer speaks of hovering , among u se the pots , pon the ﬂat hou tops of the Jews , e th re seeking a resting place for the night , but soaring away in the early dawn with their Wings ” “ covered with S ilver and their feathers with ” yellow gold , untarnished by the sooty cooking u s o o o and de tensils , the C ks Cooksons ma them selves a name in the crude k itchens of our Anglo

Saxon ancestors .

Dexter sometimes occurs as a surname . The progenitors of thos e who have inherited that patro nymic were the attendants of the knights . It was an heraldic term (me aning on the right side ) , and the name w as applied to the chief herald at tour name nts a fﬁ . , place as well as an o ce of honor

Hence it came in use as a surname . The Woodward was the keeper or warden of ffw as the forest , While Woodru the master of the woo d . d The name Shepherd scarcely nee s explanation , 1 T HE O CCUPATIONS . 7

n a d is closely allied to Steward . They both b e longed to that class of laborers which looked after th e stock of the old Saxon and Norman landlords . S ti-w eard and Steward was originally written , ”

w . meant arden of the sties , or cattle pens The religious denomination which I have th e honor to - represent has well nigh monopolized the word . s Stewards are no longer keepers of the tock pens , though they may think that they h ave some hard sto ch to deal with when the time comes to collect uartera e are no w ﬁ a q g , but the nanci l board of a

. e as great Church They ought , therefor , a body ” men not only to be of solid piety , but they ought to demonstrate their sound judgment by abounding in the graces of liberality and thanks h giving , for the C urch has rescued them from a i very me nial ofﬁce . But that name in ts ancient as well as modern signiﬁcation carries with it the idea of very great responsibility . The old Saxo n S ti-w eard was responsible for the stock committed h as to his keeping . And so God honored this m a h as na e bove all others , and , in one sense , he

made it of universal application , so that all men are stewards of the talents he has committed to t heir keeping . But it ough t to be a source of pride to every Englishman and American that S O many people bear names which are derived from the pro fe s i n l s o a trades . One of the most interesting fea tures of name study is the fact that a large percent age o f our ancestors made their names by dili M 72 A RA M BLE AM ON G S URNA ES .

gence and persevera nce in some honorable voca

tion . Even the wild savage recognizes those traits n of character and attai ments , which distinguish the possessor from the less accomplished ; and he is n o n wont to co fer the brave , the cunning , and the wise such titles as are expressive of their attain ments . B o o k staver , one who compressed the folded sheets or pages of books with a pointed or edged instrument , preparatory to stitching them together , occurs as a surname . Bookhammer was the manufacturer of a broad-faced hammer formerly u sed for beating together the pages of books . It was used especially for hammering the leather backs of books , in very much the same manner - that a cobbler uses his sho e hammer . The Carrier was an overland transporter of mails and pack o f h ages merchandise , while the C eeseman w as the manufacturer of that article of diet . “ A good name is rather to be chosen than great ” th e riches , says writer of Proverbs , and , while it is true that our progenitors did not choose their n in ames directly , it is evident that they were an dustrio u s people , and that they so wrought in the professions and trades as to secure to their de scendants n honorable ames .

Caraways , Pliny informs us , were originally from Caria . The seed of the caraw ay were mu ch used in confectionery and also in the composition : of certain sweetmeats , for Cogan says We are caraw a s wont to eat y , or biscuits , or some other

M M M 74 A RA BLE A ONG S U RNA ES .

tivatio n the word has lost its primitive force . The in word fold is from the same root , and means an ” closure formed by felled trees .

Badger is often met with as an English surname . w n The name is also applied to a ild a imal . But

Sceat says that the name , as thus used , is a sort m of nickna e , the true sense of the Middle English w as badger or bager being a dealer in corn , and it thus presumably jocularly transferred to the ani

mal because it either fed , or was supposed to feed

on corn . This fanciful origin is veriﬁed by the n blaireau fact that the animal was similarly amed , ”

blé . in French , from the French corn The blad er I name was originally spelled g , the having been dropped for convenience of pronu nciation ; bladier it is from the old French , explained by ” “ n Cotgrave as a merchant or i gro sser of corn . d m a bla u . Origin lly it is from the Low Latin , corn

The surname Bu ckner is common . It is closely d allied with the English name Lan er , which , in launder Middle English , was variously spelled , la nder landar y , and , and meant , if we are gov erned by the masculine ending , a washing man .

Verily , the occupation of washerman has been w im wrested from the sterner sex , like that of the ? pler and many others . Who can tell The good women may yet relieve us of much of the w ear and tear of political life . There may be a rest day in u t the near f ure for man , for the good women have t S already taken us from the wash ub , and the igns of the times indicate that w e have just had a fore T HE O CCUPATIONS . 75

taste o fth e elevation that aw aits us . The occupa tion of washerman had not wholly passed out of ’ men the hand of in Shakespeare s time , for in

Merry Wives of Windsor Mrs . Ford orders the : servant Go , take up these clothes here quickly ’ th - ? where s e cowl staff look , how you drumble ; carry them to the laundress in Dutch et mead ; quickly , come . a But when Mr . Ford entered the ap rtment , he ’ meddled like a modern husband in woman s af th e r : fairs . Hear him as he addressed se vant How no w ? whither be ar you this ?

To the laundress , forsooth .

Mrs . Ford , like a modern wife , could not sub mit to such h igh-handed indignity on the part of th e husband without at least telling h im that it was no ne of his business ; let him attend to his own af fairs . Why , what have you to do whither they bear it ? You were best meddle with buckwash ing ? ” The intermeddling husband showed very clearly n the traits of his ge u s . If we m ay use a Western h bucked p rase , he like a thoroughbred broncho Buck ? I would I could wash myself of the buck ! ? A Buck , buck , buck y, buck ; I warrant you , ” buck . n ﬁ Buck sig i es to wash linen , to steep clothes in d e buchner w as a bleach y , and the term applied to er of linen . C f l The Chandler , or andler , a di ferent spe ling m of the same name , got a surname fro his occupa 6 M M S M 7 A RA BLE A ONG URNA ES .

tion . He was a candle seller or maker , thus car in r . y g light into many homes It is , indeed , a sin gular coincidence that one of that name should really have been the originator of female colleges , thus sending into innumerable h omes more light than was ever dispensed by his candle-selling an

cesto rs . 1 8 In the year 35 , a young lawyer ,

Chandler by name , made an address at the Com

m encem e nt G a . at Athens , , in which he declared his belief in the mental equality of the sexes , and advocated collegiate education for young The speech resulted in the establishment of the

n G a . Methodist Female College at Athe s , , the ﬁrst female college instituted strictly as such in the l wor d .

Parker was the keeper of the wood . We may get a better idea of the true import of the name by comparing it with the somewhat kindred appella tion , Forester , or , as it is sometimes contracted ,

. ae o restis Foster Medi val writers Oppose the f , or - ia arcus . Open wood , to the walled wood , or p An “ old writer says : F o restis est ubi sunt fem no n ” l ae inclusw arcus lo cus u bi sunt erw inc us . , p , f So the Forester , or Foster , was an inhabitant of the open wild wood , while the Parker was the keeper of the inclosed wood .

By thatch we mean a covering for a roof . This word is a weakened form of the old Anglo-Saxon hah thakhe t , due doubtless to the use of the dative

’ m See Smith s History of Methodis in Georgia and Florida ,

08. p . 5 E T H OCCUPATIONS . 77 and l thahhes p ural ; hence we have , in provincial thach English , , a thatch , and Thacker , both as a surname and a word , denoting a thatcher .

Linder is derived from the lime tree , the lind .

The wood was white and smooth , and hence it was much used for carving purposes ; therefore the term generally used for shield by the Anglo-Sax lind ons was , because it was made of the wood of

. v in the lind Hence , Linder was a car er Lind wood , or a shield maker . The Palmer was a priv ileged character in medi enval society . He bore about a palm leaf in token —h e of having been to the Holy Land was a pilgrim , hence he was granted immunities which were not o best wed on every son of Adam . To his fertile a inatio n g , and the prevalent propensity of that and day for hearing telling tales , we may attribute many of th e u nreasonable legends and myths of m edireval England . w as Bower , says Skeat , a bow maker , while the th e occupation of Downer was , in all probability , to plume arrows . u The English s rname , Marshal , is primarily m arah from the Old High German , a battle horse ,

shale . and the Middle High German , a servant It is ve ry closely allied in meaning with the surname

Stabler , a master of the horse , a farrier or groom . s fﬁ Thi name , like the o ce of constable , has wor thily worked itself up from the stables of the old n landlords to the position of a title of ho or , just as that ofﬁcer of th e peace was originally in the Latin 8 M A M S M S 7 A RA BLE ONG URNA E .

co mes stabuli tongue , literally count of the stables , a ’ n ki d of overseer of the master s horses . and Goodman was the master of the house , ’ in this se nse it is used in King James s translation

of the Bible . (See Luke xii . At the time , e and even prior to that day , when surnames wer

made , the old feudal lords were away from their

castles much of their time , either on crusades to the holy land or o n the w ar-path against rival or

enemy . Therefore it was necessary for them to have some trusty stew ard to look after matters at h the castle during their absence . Those w o have ” re read The Abbot , by Sir Walter Scott , will member h o w vividly the great novelist portrays the

u . necessity of s ch an overseer This name , like

that of Steward , enjoys the distinction of having

been incorporated into the text of Holy Scripture . re No Goodman should , therefore , ever bring w atch proach upon that name , but should day and — . 0 night , as he is commanded in Luke vii 37 4 , that ’ no thief spoil the master s goods . It has been frequently stated by writers on sur nominal nomenclature that Sanders is a corruption of the Greek Christian name Alexander ; but it ” seems clear to th e w riter of these Rambles

that Sanders , as a surname , was derived from what must have been rather a prominent occupation ’ with our Catholic progenitors . On saint s days — and they were neither few nor far between w e are told that the air of mediaeval England was fra grant with that scented Indian wood called san THE OCCUPATIONS . 79

ders . There must have been men , therefore , who

imported and sold that great ecclesiastical staple , and who very naturally inherited the surname San

ders .

The moorer was a laborer on board of a ship . Primarily his work w as that of conﬁning or secu r ing a vessel in a particular station by means of ﬁ l rope s or cables . The term was na ly applied to an v a y laborer in marine ser ice ; hence , lso , the

name Moorman . Stricker w as applied as a surname to the man a an who m nufactured the strickle , instrument used i e to str k grain to a level with the measure , which

contained the threshed cereal. Taylor and miller i are occupations which still surv ve , so that the ori gin of these names of trade and their use as sur m na es is clearly obvious to every one . The sur m r are na es Carter , Ca twright , and Boatwright n purely English , and therefore need no explanatio to make clear their origi n ; and Hooper is equally as plain whe n we remember that th e laborers of ll h mediaeval times were a specialists . T e hooper

e th e . was , ther fore , a necessary adjunct to cooper ’ ” According to Haydn s Dictionary of Dates , hops were introduced from the Netherlands into E n

1 2 in . ia gland about 5 4, and used brewing The tro du ctio n t h m of his plant , toget er with the com er cial c s m demand for the herb , reated a urna e ,

Hopper , a dealer in hops . and w The surnames Hayward Ho ard , says a recent English writer , are corruptions of Hog 80 A M O S N M E A RAMBLE NG UR A S .

fﬁ n u warden , an o cer elected a n ally to see that the swine in the common forest pastures or dens were

duly provided with rings , and were prevented from ﬁ straying . The Howard family rst comes into no i t ce in the Weald , where their name would lead us ” to expect to ﬁnd them . So the family name Co w

ard may also be accounted for . The duties of the - cow warden were analogous to those of the how ard . The patronymic Cush man is very probably de

- cusceo te rived from the Anglo Saxon , a wild pigeon ,

whence we have the modern English cushat , a - — w ood pigeon . Hence Cushat man by contraction Cushman—was doubtless a hunter or vender of

wild pigeons .

The names Dyer , Draper , Cutler , Fowler , and w Stoneman , together with Bo man and Rickman , doubtless S prung from the several vocations of the

t . n progenitors of those who bea them Rickma , however , was the master of the barn or rickyard . Th e th e arkwright was a chest maker , and board man was a manufacturer of tables . ” i Sir Walter Scott , in Ivanhoe , in the nterest l tw ing dia ogue be een Gurth and the clown Wamba , has stressed the fact that bacon is Saxon : it was preeminently the ﬂesh upon which our progenitors fed . There are many evidences , even in surnames , of the importance attached to swine in Anglo-Saxon times . It is not , therefore , surprising that there n should be Baco s , as well as Lardner , in the list o fEnglish names . The latter name was bestowed on dealers in lard .

8 2 A RAM BLE AM ONG S U RNAM ES .

—a c a Spenser is clerk of the kitchen spender , or

te rer.

’ In King Lear s reply to his daughter , Regan , n S h e h whe admonis ed him to return , after dis ” missing half his train , to the roof of her sister

Goneril , we have an allusion to an occupation which gave us a surname R eturn with her ? Persuade m e rather to be a slave and s umpter ” To this detested groom .

and Roquefort says , it is corroborated by the

quotation we have just made , that sumpter orig inall h y meant not the horse , as we mean by t at m ’ ter now , a pack horse , but the horse s driver .

It is accordingly , he says , from the old French ! so mm etier . , a pack horse driver The surname is generally written Sumter , having lost a p . The fﬁ Falkner managed hawks , more di cult to govern , w as doubtless , than the charge which committed to the hand of the Sumpter . It is synonymous

w . ith , or rather it is the same word as , falconer The Tyerm an made iron hoops with which he bound together the segments of coach wheels . ’ cra t The school teacher s f gave him a surname , Schoolcraft ; while the preserver of fruits faste ned the patronymic Pickler to his progeny . The cris man professional hair curler was called a p , which has been corrupted into the surname Criss man . The Holder was a laborer who worked in the hold of a vessel . There was a kind of snare m used for capturing s all animals , called in Middle T HE OCCUPATIONS . 83

s rin e th e English a p g , from fact that it was pro vi ded with a ﬂexible rod . P . Plow man alludes to

V . 1 . t it in Book , 4 The manufac urer of these snares would very naturally inherit the title

Springer , just as the maker of the

e d Arcadian pip , the pastoral ree ,

S u of which Milton ings , became pop larly known by the surname Reeder . He whose craft w as to ornament with gold lace the sleeves of the gentry was known as Gilder

sleeve , while he who administered to the ills to

docto r which ﬂesh is heir was designated , not the ,

but the Leech , so the soldiers in the closing lines A of Timons of thens , propose to Make each ’ Prescribe to other , as each other s leech .

The shop keepers of London , even down to the

reign of George II . , kept men and boys stationed at the doors of their respective places of business

to cry out an invitation to buy , and to enumerate

the wares on sale at their shops . The streets where the private residences were located were ﬁ lled with hawkers crying their wares , so that the

city was a perfect medley of harsh sounds . Hence ' we have the surname Crier . The Miner , unlike

the Crier , was not city bred . The warren was a place privileged by pre k i scription or grant from the king , for eep ng cer i ta n beasts and fowls , called beasts and fowls of 7 , w arren . Therefore we have not only the sur w ho name Warren , bestowed upon some one 84 A RAM BLE AM O NG S UR NAM ES .

r lived near a wa ren , but also Warrener , the keep

er o fthe warren . This latter name has been con

tracted into Warner .

It may be merely a guess , but it appears to be in strict accord with the spirit of the age of surnom m atens inal generation that the aker of p , the plate or vessel on which the consecrated bread in d the eucharist is place , should have been called

Pater . Hence we have Patterson . A man who wrought steel very naturally took d h . To the name Steelsmit , as we have already n said , means a fox . He ce the surname Todhunter

is easily understood . We sometimes meet with

the family name Trainer . The progenitors of

the family may have trained either horses , hawks ,

or dogs . Wright was applied to any one who n w rought wood for mecha ical purpose s .

Proctor , says Skeat , means a procurator , an

attorney in the spiritual courts . Hence it is also applied to an ofﬁcer w h o superintends university ” d discipline . It is evi ently a corruption of the

ro curato r . C Latin p opeman means a merchant .

ho o man m ho o en It is derived from the Dutch p , fro p ,

to buy . It is the same name as the Norse Chap m man and the Ger an Kaufman . B . Johnson uses the word in its original sense when he says : He w ould have sold his part of paradise co eman For ready money , had he met a p . The trades and professions have given the world a large percentage of the surnames in common - use to day , and as we conclude this desultory TH E OCCUPATION S . 85

ramble among the shops and place s of business of mediaeval craftsmen to refresh ourselves in the

rural districts of old England , as they were in the r t days of our p ogenitors , it is wi h a degree of par fﬁ donable pride , we hope , that we a rm that our surnames teach us that our ancestors made an

honest living by honest work . C HAPTER VI .

S U N M E S E E M S E S R A D RIV D FRO PLACE OF R IDENCE .

T was natu ral that men w ere surnamed from

the places of their respective habitations , for place names have always existed , and men were — doubtless first distinguished from each other that th e —b is , those who had same Christian names y appending to their given names the names of their respective places of residence . This class of fam ily names is perhaps the oldest in existence This method of discriminating betw een tw o persons in the same region of country , who bear the same u name , is still in use by the people in the r ral districts . Thus , two Johns Anderson , where one lives near a bridge , and the other in the fork of o r two rivers creeks , would be distinguished by B rid e their neighbors as g John and F o rh John . r h There is sca cely a neighborhood , into w ich one h may enter , w ere he will not hear some such dis tinction made relative to members of its co nstitu reall a no w ents . If such , then , is y custom , when surnames prevail , we can readily perceive how much more extensively such a usage would nat u rally obtain when there were no surnames . ae h Some medi val Englishman , therefore , w ose name we will suppose to have been Henry , and who lived close to a tower noted for its height , (86) PLACES O F RES IDE NCE . 87 w as distinguished from another Henry , who lived n o u in or ear an unusually large house , by the p p lar appellative Henry Hightower , while his neigh bor having the same Christian name was called m o re Henry Morehouse , signifying great or large in Middle English . So John who reared his crude mediaeval dw elling o n the top of some high hill forever fastened the patronymic Hillhouse stachr on his progeny . The Norwegian word meant a columnar rock , but when the word was h stac . Anglicized it became Hence another John , perhaps in the same community , who built his cabin near a massive pile of columnar rocks was known popularly , and his descendants after him , w n as John Stackhouse . Thus e get the moder m h English surna e Gunhouse , w ich is of very late origin , having been applied as a patronymic after the introduction of the manufacture of guns . Sten S tanho u se house is undoubtedly a corruption of , - which means in Modern English stone house . fi Ware was at rst a place name . It is connect ed with the romantic history o fthe great and good w eir King Alfred , who constructed a across the river Lea in order to cut off the retreat of a Dan ish fleet , which had dared to invade his kingdom . Ware in Hertfordshire marks the place where this darn was built . Hence the surname was applied to an inhabitant or inhabitants of that place to dis tinguish them from other persons living in the neighboring communities . These territorial sur names have in many instances been so abbrevi 88 A RA M BLE AM ONG S URNAM ES .

ate d that they are scarcely recognizable . For ex l o f . ample , Wi liam St Denys was contracted , or corrupted rather , into William Sydney ; John of

St . Maur became John Seymore ; Henry of St . Paul passed popularly into Henry Semple ; and

George of St . Leger became known in the ver il in nacular of the people as George S l ger. In the early annals of London mention is made of Sir S eve no k e h e William , who was so called because m i a was fro the town of Seven Oaks , wh ch as surname has been unmercifully abbreviated into m Snooks . So the place na e Trotterscliffe h as

Tro sle . passed into y, also used as a surname Hinton was applied as a place name to a town s n e located behind a hill , and the term as a ur am was ﬁrst bestowed upo n a man or men dwelling in the little village hiding itself away beneath the brow of the hill . a Croft in the S xon tongue meant a wood . It is frequently used also as an element in other sur names . Therefore those names compounded of that term give us at least the place of the habita tion of their ancestors . The old English nam e Ravenscroft was ﬁrst given to some man who lived near a forest noted as a haunt of that mis ch evo u s and noisy bird . B an meant a proclama tion . It is of Sanskrit origin , and is closely allied

bane ru . w e m to , dest ction Hence have even fro di abandon ban t . other tongues , , etc It therefore meant a proclamation of outlawry . A wood infest ed with outlaws would very naturally be spoken of

90 A RA M BLE A M ONG S URNAM ES . Much unwritten history and thrilling traditional scenes clustered about their great gnarled trunks and limbs ; the yeomen of the Middle Ages had held their councils and divided the spoils of their predatory excursions beneath the S hade of these old seers of the forest , and the old Druids

had gathered mistletoe from their great , clutchy h in arms . Hence the oak has become t oroughly co r o rated p into English history , songs , and bal

ﬁ . lads , ction and legends , as well as English names May those into whose names the oak enters as an element be as solid and useful as the timber from which their names were constructed ! a v l l The ash is also a u ab e timber . It constitutes - the framework of many Anglo Saxon names .

A sh ﬁeld n . Thus we have , Ashland , and Ashto The surname Nash may be thus accounted for William who pitched his tent or cabin near some notable ash would be very naturally referred to as atten n ﬁ m William Ash , co tracted nally into Willia

. no Nash There is , therefore , really difference x between that name and Ashmore , e cept the dif ference between the size of the respective ash trees near which the progenitors of these two branches m t of the Ash fa ily pitched their rude co tages , m o re - being Anglo Saxon for great . B y, particularly in the North of England , meant ’ l De e n a dwe ling or a town ; as rby , deer s dw lli g , corrupted by dialectic i nﬂuences to Darby ; Kirk by , town of the church ; Rugby , rock town ; Ash

w o r ash . by , d elling town at the Nasby is really PLACES OF R E S IDENCE . 91 th — e same as Ashby thus , William who lived in a town situated in a grove of ash would be alluded atten l to as William Ashby , abbreviated to Wil iam

N ashb . Nasby , or y Let , therefore , the numerous namesakes of this towering giant of the forest bend as gracefully under every trial and calamity as does this handsome S ylvan giant u nder the fiercest blasts of Boreas . Let them be as flexible , graceful , use ful , and as strong as this sound and tall production a of the rich alluvial pl ins and bottoms , for their n ge ealogy , as the name proves , extends as far back n i the annals of English history , proportionally , as the penetrating roots of the graceful ash e nter into the firm clay subsoils of the earth ; for is not the fact of ancient lineage inspiring to all men ?

Relative to the name Birch , which was applied h in the same way as the names just referred to , t is story is told of Lord Lytton : He was seated one day at dinner next to a lady whose name was

Birch , and who , tradition says , was beautiful , if not over intelligent . Said she to his Excellency “ Are you acquainted with any of the Birches ? “ : 0 Replied his Excellency yes , I knew some o f t them most in imately whilst at Eton ; indeed , ” more intimately than I cared to . ” “ Sir , replied the lady , you forget that the

Birches are relatives of mine . “ h ” And yet t ey cut me , said the Viceroy ; but , n and he smiled his wo ted smile , I have never ” felt more inclined to kiss the rod than I do now . h h . sa t e Mrs Birc , sad to y, did not see point , 92 A RAM BLE A M ONG S URNAM ES .

and , so the gossips have it , told her husband that his Excellency had insulted her . le But , to return to surnames ending in y, we tu have Shipley , a sheep pas re , and Whitley , a H tl w hite meadow or pasture . eu ey and Hartley both mean deer meadow . Huntley was a little r pa adise for the sportsman , a meadow in which

n . game abounded , and therefore a hu ting ground - m sciran . Shirley is fro the Anglo Saxon , to divide shire Hence we have the word , a division of the kingdom . Therefore the Shirley was a meadow which divided or separated tw o sections of coun ﬁ try . The rst syllable of Shockley is modern Eng S lish ; it was a meadow used , therefore , for hock t ing corn . Beasley is doubtless a con raction of v r l B ea e s ey. Beverley is an older form of the same ’ w name . Eversley meant ild boar s wood . Arley

E rn le ff and a s y are di erent forms of the same name , — ’ and chronicled the haunt of the eagle eagle s - wood , as we would designate a place even to day frequented by th at bird .

Surnames of this class help us to arrive , at least , at a vague conception of th e importance attached - to the various Anglo Saxon deities . Our progen it r Tew esle o s worshiped in groves , hence y was the Tiw th e place where , the god of war , received Fr le adoration of our benighted ancestors . eas y tells us of another grove or meadow , where Frea , the mythological wife of O dh in or Wodan and the goddess of marriage , was worshiped . Wadley and Wansley were places where the chief deity of PLACES O F RES IDENCE . 93

our progenitors , Woden , received that reverence and homage which the heathen render to their s gods . Thursley w a a grove dedicated to the wor

ship of the dreaded Thor . Tinsley was th e meet h ing place of T ings , or general council of the

whole island . The Thing was introduced into n b th e m Engla d y North en , and it has given us a m number of place names , at least one surna e , and D n . . ase t two of our commonest words Thus , Dr m eetin m ot thin informs us that g is from g , the as semb l l hustin s y of freeholders , whi e g is derived m ho use thin s fro g , an ancient council of duly qual iﬁed householders to delegate their legislative po w

ers to representatives elected to a higher council . h en st Hinkley , from g , a horse , was , like Horse

le t . ley , a forest y, or pas ure for horses Henley is - h ean . c from the Anglo Saxon , poor Hen e the name implies poor pasture or meadow in the sense of barren . Langley means long meadow . Stanley , f stan rom , a stone , was , as we would say , stony m eadow . A very interesting piece of history is connected n with the ame Markley . Dr . Isaac Taylor says When the unbelievers had bee n ﬁnally expelled from Northern and Central Spain . the debatable ground was th e province which no w goes by the name of Murcia . This word means the district of th e m arch m ar m arc , or gin , the de ation between

' t o m arh w alien races . To make a is to draw a m ar ue boundary . Letters of q are letters which contain a license to harass the enemy beyond th e 94 A RAM BLE AM ONG S URNAM ES .

- frontier . A Margrave , Mark graf , Earl of March,

or Marquess , was the Warden of the Marches , who held his fief by the tenure of defending the o f fr ntier against aggression , and this important o ﬁce t gave him rank next to the Duke or Dux , he

leader of the forces of the S hire . The root is - found in all the Indo Germanic languages , and is m ar a probably to be referred to the Sanskrit y , a sm ri boundary , which is a derivative of the verb ,

to remember . We may compare the Latin m argo

th m ar . and e Persian g , a frontier The uncleared forest served as the boundary of the gun of the '

. m brh Teutonic settlers Hence the Scandinavian , m urh a forest , and the English word y, which orig in ll ae a y denoted the gloom of the prim val forest . The chase took place in the forest which bounded

. m r a the inhabited district Hence the Sanskrit g ,

. s no n chase , hunting A huntsman being nearly y y m arc mous with a horseman , we have the Celtic , a horse , which has found its way into the English m arch m aréchal verb to and the French word , a ” “ - groom or farrier . Therefore the Anglo Saxon kingdom of Mercia was the frontier province b e ” tween the East Angles and the Welsh . Hence we have the place names along the frontier line : Mar brook , line of border brook ; Marbury , border m arc town ; and Markley , from the Celtic , a horse , l e . and the Old English y, a meadow or pasture Hence the meaning of this surname is really the same as Hinkley and Horseley . H a h aw y, or , more properly , , meant a hedge ; F PLACES O RES IDENCE . 95

S therefore we have the urnames Haynes , or Hedges in modern English ; Haley , Hawley , or Harley , f l di ferent spe lings of the same name , and all mean ing hedge pasture . Hawes is identical in meaning m with Haynes . Haywood eans Hedgewood , and o r a w Hagood , which has lost a y, more properly , means a good hedge . Hayw orth may be easily understood when we remember that w o rth m eans t w a dwelling or o n . Hawthorn means a thorny e h dge , while Haughton and Houghton , the same m tun . name , si ply mean hedgetown , or strata w e From the Roman , or paved roads , get the surnames Stradley and Streatley . They were w meado s along these old Roman roads , which crossed the island from point to point , and which were as straight as the course of an arrow . Net tu neat l ley meat a pas re for catt e , while Wheatley S imply meant a meadow which had been cleared

N r i h and planted in wheat . o le g and Sudley mean respective north and south meadow . Dud dud ley is compounded of the Scottish , a rag , and

l n . the sufﬁx ey . Hence it mea s rag meadow Mobley was a place where some one of those dis a m ob orderly crowds designated as , for which

m imval . ed England was noted , once assembled L ow and law as su ﬂixes of English names are the same word . The former is English , while the latter is the pronunciation of the word on the Scot tish border . The word is derived from the Anglo

hlaw . Saxon , a mound , or rising ground Brad law therefore signiﬁes broad hill . The numer 96 A RA M BLE AM ONG S URNAM ES .

ous peels along the Scottish border are an evidence of the insecurity arising from border warfare in ’ times when every man s house was , in a literal

sense , his castle also . The hill where the border clan o fthe Maxwells used to assemble previous to their dreaded forays bears the appropriate name l of the Ward aw (gu ard hill) . A reference to this trysting place is contained in the war cry of the clan : I bid you bide Wardlaw ! In the surname Winslow we have an allusion to some hill w ins dedicated to the worship of Woden , of which t is a corrup ion . Low and L aw also occur in sur

. s no n names They are , as will be readily seen , y y

mous with the English name Hill . We are not

surprised therefore , that there are Lowsons and

Lawsons . — ll i . w ard de e . Waddell is a corruption of , the ’ watchman s dell . It is a Scotch border name ,

like Wardlaw and Ward , a watchman . “ ’ ” Ludlow means the people s hill , a place of

meetings , just as the ancient place of national as

semb l m ate hill y in Scotland was the at Scone ,

near the ancient capital of the kingdom . Thur low was a mound or hill upon which Thor was

worshiped .

Towns and streams , hills and wells , and the trees of the forest were als o a fruitful source from w hich family names were culled . While Richard who lived at or near the wood naturally inherited tw the title Richard A ood , John from Cornwall became John Cornw all or Cornish ; while Wil

8 M M S M S 9 A RA BLE A ONG URNA E .

Thomas Whitmarsh issued the S o uth Caro lina G a z tt e e 8 1 1 . on Saturday , January , 73 His succes

sors , though not swamp bred , have done much for th e State and for humanity in dissipating the

moral miasmas of the Swamp State . Long live

every true knight of the quill . Boggs is likewise

a territorial Scotch name . It was bestowed on some man who lived close to some one of the nu m erou s ens ba s f or g of Scotland . Our progenitors were doubtless ignorant of the S e ci nce of botany , as ignorant as many of their de scendants are of the meaning of the names which they have fastened upon themselves , yet patro nymics derived from the names of plants are found n - alr in great abundance . The A glo Saxon , de r o t alnus ived fr m the La in , an alder tree , together w e ith the Teutonic y, an island , gives us the sur name Olney . Thus we have the names Allerton A llerdale or Ellerton , and , implying respectively alder island , alder town , and alder dale . The l lime tree has given us L indﬁe d and Lyndhurst . H urst m - h rst h is fro the Anglo Saxon y , a t ick wood . The apple comes in , at least for a small share of English surnames , as may be seen in the names Appleby and Appleton , both signifying m th t n . e apple d The names are the sa e , only difference being that the Applebys were originally b from the North of England , where y meant a t in just as to n did farther south . We have m et with the modern English name n m t Crabtree . The meaning of the a e is clear o - PLACE S O F RES IDENCE . 99

to a as a sur eve ry one , but how it came be pplied name cannot b e accounted fo r o therwise than that some Englishman w h o did no t have a surname

happened to live near an apple tree of that species . We must rememb er that surnames w ere made by the people at a time w hen a taste for aesthetics did It is f a in t m not prevail . requently mus g to no e fro r what triﬂing incidents surnam es w e e evolved . Walter Besant qu otes a curious little story I il which happe ned in th e reign of King James . , O ne in s lustrati ng this fact . day Bishop gate ” s a r na Ward , say he , poo man med Richard m a - Atkinson , going to re ove heap of sea coal w e th e ashes in his wheelbarro , discov red lying in as ashes the body of a newly born child . It w and his w i w h o still breathing , he carried it to fe , n washed and fed it a d restored it to life . The w as a d - child goo ly and well formed boy , strong l- tu t t and wel fea red , wi hou blemish or spot upon ’ it . They christened th e child at St . Helen s w Church , by a name hich should cause him to remember all through his life his very remarkable l origin . They ca led him , in fact , Job Cinere

E xtractus . n w A oble name , for the sake of hich alone he should have lived . What an ancestor to have had ! H o w delightful to be a Cinere Ex tractus l Who would not wish to belong to such a family and to point to the ash heap as the origin of the ﬁrst Cinere E xtractu s ? Nothing like it in r histo y since the creation of Adam him self . h ! W at a coat of arms On a shield azure , an ash IO O A R AM BLE AM ONG S URNAM E S .

r r w u r tw o m heap p ope , ith s ppo ters of dust en with s l t th shovels ; for crest , a ieve ; motto ike hat of e r s ‘ uo descensus? P Cou tenay , Q oor little Job E xtractus a w h o w Cinere died three days fter ard , ’

and . ever , now lies buried in St Helen s church ”

a . yard , without even monument Thus sur names were bestowed from almost every co nceiv f able source . What dif erence does it make with u s wh ether w e were named from an ash heap or

a canebrake , granted that we do not know what our names mean ? And canebrakes were utilized

. ? as name material What was not Rodney ,

Reed island , and Retford or Redford , Reedy ford h as we would say , conclusively prove t at there

were homes where the reeds grew . Farnham and Farnborough tell us respe ctively of a h ome and a - fort among the ferns . The silvery barked beech th e has given us e nam s Buckland , Buckhurst ,

t . t Buckley, Beecham , and Buckhal er Was his last name applied to some Englishman who by accident or misfortune was forced to test the

truthfulness of the adage , necessity is the moth o f er invention , and thus provide for his steed a halter improvised from the ﬂexible limbs or withes of the beech ? Such things do occur even to this

day in the extreme rural districts . The birch has also forever perpetuated its name in the patro nymics Bircholt (birch wood) and Birbeck (birch branch) . B en and bin mean bean in the Anglo-Saxon language Therefore Ben nington signiﬁes a set

1 0 2 R M M A A BLE A ON G S URNAM ES .

t Hants , which in urn gave many Englishmen its w n o name as a surname .

The old chronicles speak of the family , or , more

properly , the tribe of the Hardings . The word w ard carries with it the idea of protection . There is very little difference betw een the sound of w ard and hard w ard o c ; hence many names , in which a curs as component element , are spelled in Ger ’ har man and French as if they were d. There h ard fore the term , when met with in names , is frequently a corruption of w ard . Both of these e ﬁc words , in th ir primitive signi ation , are closely allied to the German h eri and the Northern h er

har w ar. N d or , The old orsemen elighted in relegating to themselves the idea of strength and ﬁ i rmness , therefore the Hard ngs w ere the de scendants o f rm w e the ﬁ men , or , as would say , invincibl the es . Waelsin s The g were the men of Wili , one of o f O ld the primeval gods the Teutonic race , w ill n which impersonated the . The Wa lsi gs t l r set led in Norfo k , Durham , and No thumber Wo o l in h am land , and Wolsingham and s g are a n corruptions of W lsi gham , the home of the men of Wili . Hence we have th e surnames n Walli g and Woolfolk . A rrin s l n and The g sett ed at Arrig y , in France ,

. aar th e at Arrington , in England The word in

Scandinavian tongue meant an eagle . Hence the A rrin s g were the descendants of the eagles , and the

’

f N . 20 Yo o a . Charlotte nge s History Christian mes , p 4 S F S PLACE O RE IDENCE . 1 03 place name Arrington has passed into a somewhat common English surname . From the aar we get also the surname Arnold , eagle power . Thus we ﬁnd l quite a list of these old fami y or tribal names , herr as Herring from , an army , or , as it is some a u stan times translated , soldier ; Sta ning , from , a illie stone ; Gilling , from g , a servant ; and Can ning , from which the philosopher of Chelsea de —ho nniu —hannin rives the term king g g , the man h n w o hnow s or cans . Ki gs among the original Scandinavian tribes were the strongest and most

‘

. t potent men , physically and mentally Their a tainm ents fitted them for the position of leaders and governors . The darkest ages of the world h ave recognized true worth and have honored and rewarded the acquireme nts and accomplishments hno w s cans of their sons . The man who or has ever been the true king of his com munity . ffi den Many English surnames end w ith the su x , n which in Middle English mea t a valley . The word finally came to be applied almost exclusive l t t y to hog pas ures , however , and very na urally , lo w too , because the valleys were adapted to this “ n use . Isaac Taylor says : The de s were the swine pastures ; and down to the seve nteenth cen ’ tu w as ry the Court of Dens , as it was called , h eld at Aldington to determine disputes arising out ” of the rights of forest pasture .

Cam is a G aelic term which means crooked . C The surname , as well as place name , amden , n therefore , in plain E glish , simply means crooked 0 M M S M 1 4 A RA BLE A ONG URNA ES .

. u valley There are , to the American who has st d ’ ied n i his cou try s history , sad associations cluster ng

. A S about the name Camden we stand , even at nk this late day , among the Southern pines and thi th e of struggle of our brave sires for liberty , the “ G and defeat of the American army under ates , the fact that many brave patriots were hung at cl Camden , the place , even at this distant ay , seems to be enveloped in an atmosphere of grief . There is , indeed , no sadder wail in all the multiplied r u lo w fo ces of nat re than the , sorrowful moan of

. w and n the Southern pine The wido orpha , as they listened to the soft wail of the pines around

Camden , may have almost imagined that their groans , borne away on the Southern zephyrs , were h w n but echoes of t e grief in their o hearts . The an ac pines have a right to moan , however , for tor whose atrocities stand out in bold characters upon the pages of Southern history was ushered upon the scene of defeat at Camden . Rawdon is purely an English name , and when we restore the eliminated w in the last syllable we get the full of R aw -do w n barren h eath meaning the name , or , a name bestowed doubtless , because of the barren nature of the lands where the ﬁrst Rawdons reared their primitive dwelli ngs . The name is repulsive even to this day to the ears of an American . We fancy that we can almost hear the bleak winds of

* E n n ﬁ Gate , in Middle glish , sig i ed a passage , lane , or Open A n n n c s ing . i dividual livi g at the conjun tion of several way w ould be called Gates .

1 06 A R AM BLE AM ONG S URNAM ES . lish sense of the word is well preserved in th e h um th e related word p , which is same word with a ” nasalized termination . The original base was

h u h ub o r ho b . H u p, easily corrected to p means ,

says Skeat , to go up and down ; whence also the m odern English hop Kirk is Gaelic for church . Hence Hobkirk was applied as a surname to some man who reared his dwelling in close proximity to a church built upon the pinnacle or highest part of a hill . Many English surnames still preserve the Mid dle English spelling and pronunciation . Thus we and have Dunstan , Dunham , Dunton , frequently n corrupted into Dutton . Du is the Middle Eng n - dun lish pronunciation of the A glo Saxon , a down tan ham or hill . S and are Middle English for n stone and home , therefore Dunstan literally mea s hill-sto ne sto ne-hill , or , as we would say , ; Dun h illh o m e ham , , or Hillhouse , as it is written in modern English ; Dunton , hilltown . Sometimes we m eet with names composed of both Modern and Middle English words . Down l ham is a striking i lustration . It is precisely the same name as Dunham . Stanton is Middle Eng - . S tan lish for stone town , a stone , and the Welsh ﬁ c l m k suf x y , an oven or cell , a e the surname Stan n cil . All of these sur ames were doubtless b e stowed by the populace because o f the place of h o f abitation those who inherited them . Harden may be explained by restoring an elim inated d har , but as is a common element in sur F PLACES O RES IDE NCE . 1 0 7

are names , we very sure that as it occurs in patro n mics v ar y it antedates its deri ative h d . A single as har warrior w called by the Northmen . It was co m o tent very early in use as a p element in names , ’ U lﬁlas as it is not only used in Bible , but occurs Harivald in the names and Harald , meaning an ” army wielder . Tacitu s alludes to the name in Ch ario valda speaking of a Batavian prince as , evi dentl H r y a Latinization of the name a ivald. Ger har arm man scholars have translated the term by y, w as instead of warrior or soldier , hence Harden doubtless ﬁrst applied as a territorial surname to some individual who lived near or within a valley or hog pasture which had become distinguished as

the camping place of an army . Thus we may a n ccount for the sur ames Harman , a soldier , and

Harrington . Til - , in Anglo Saxon , meant good or excellent ; therefore the purely Anglo-Saxo n surname Tilden n is easily interpreted . Cobden mea s spider pas tu n t co b A n re , if we tra sla e it literally , for was the glo-Saxon term for spider and still survives in the modern English cobweb . The name was doubtless applied to some hog pasture i nfected by S piders . We are inclined to believe that Ogde n has lost an h n initial , which when restored makes the ame m comprehensible , just as the restoration of an eli inated e gives us the unmistakable meani ng o f Kinde n de , or as the restoration of gives us the - signiﬁcation of the surname Gladen (glade den ) . u Arde n means great forest or past re . The 1 08 A RAM BLE A M ONG S URNAM ES .

ﬁ l rst syl able of Dryden is thoroughlyEnglish , and

is therefore easily interpreted as a surname . A hog pasture the principal growth of which w as the

alder would very naturally take the name Alden .

Golden and Colden , in their present forms , are liable to mislead us relative to their prim ative sig n ificatio n . The former was evidently applied to m its w so e hog pasture noted for yello soil , or pos ibl l s y for the production of ye low flowers , as the m arigold ( named in honor of the Virgin Mary ) or n - some other w ild flower . Our A glo Saxon pro genitors would have very natu rally called a pasture s u lden-den thu disting ished gy , which , in Middle

n l . E g ish , was shortened to Golden The latter name either came from the fact that there were den m a coal deposits in or near the , or it y have taken its name from a species of the cabbage which

den col the produced , for the Middle English or n caul mea t a cab b agé.

Dow den has lost an n . Do w nde n w as its origi nal form . Hence the name literally translated means

t . Car n hill pas ure is Welsh , and mea s a fortress . Philologists are not agreed as to whether it is re lated to the Erse cath air or the Latin castra ; Car den therefore means the fortress pasture or den , a ﬁ t place name , doubtless , at rs , which was after ward bestowed as a surname . Since w e have car and given the meaning of , the surnames Carr

Carson will be easily understood . In this connec l w e ﬁ tion , a so , may understand the signi cation of I ia the surname Carlisle . The in this name is

1 1 0 M M S M A RA BLE A ONG URNA ES .

or in some one of the earlier settlements of E u I gland . t is therefore closely allied to the thor

oughly English name Townsend . Westcott w as so named on account of its position relative to the

. h o w points of the compass The name Prescott ,

ever , is not so easily understood . The English ress word p , says Skeat , is rather poorly explained “ by th e dictionarie s . It meant formerly to en gage men by earnest money for the public se rv ” “ . d : ice Quoting We gewood , he says It is quite certain that press is a corru ption of the old rest word p , ready , because it was customary to give earnest money to a soldier upon entering the v e da ser ic , just as to this y a recruit receives a

shilling . This earnest money was called prest — — i . e . money , ready money advanced and to give im rest no w a man such money was to p him , cor

ru ptly written impress . At a later period the practice of taki ng men for the public service by co mpulsio n made the word to be understood as if ﬁ o rce and it signi ed tof men into service , the orig inal reference to earnest money w as quite lost ” sight of . It is therefore evident that a cottage given as a hire or a reward for service , would be n called prest cott . The t havi g been dropped for e th e convenience of pronunciation , w have sur name Prescott . The name Bacot is compounded of the Anglo beec and cote Saxon , back , , a small dwelling or o inclosure . Cott or cat was the Northern and c te n the Souther form of this word . The position of I I I PLACES OF RE S IDENCE .

the cote relative to other co tes determined its

name . The Bacots were originally from South

ern England , and strange to say , the old Saxon

pronunciation still adheres to th e surname . It is c t pronounced as if written B ay o e . The origin of

Tresco t is not clear . The old dictionaries speak e ser of the tr s , a weaver , or one who plaits or ’ ” o r ro ules o w o m en s haires as makes tresses , f ,

an old writer expresses it . We are very certain , Tresco t tresser therefore , that is an abbreviation of

co te . “ In comparing the names Urbanus , one who ” u rbs P a dwells in , a city , with the derivatives of

us . : g , Charlotte M Yonge says In opposition to r P a this word Urbanus comes that for the ustic , us in g , signifying the country ; the word that n s rose ais Italia become p , in Spanish p , in French ﬁ pays . The gospel was rst preached in the busy

haunts of men , so that the earlier Christians were

s r . town folk , and the ustics long continued heathen e Pa anu s n b e Whenc g , once simply a cou try man , n came an idolater , a Pagan , and poetized i to Pay nim , was absolutely bestowed upon the Turks and S ar n acd s . in the Middle Ages In the meantime ,

d sano however , the rustic had come to be called p , a s a san and easant p y , p y , p , independently of his

a o religion ; and Spain , in addition to her p y , aisano the country man , had p , the lover of the and country , either in the sense of habitation or patriotism Pagano was erected into a Christian a E u name in It ly , and Payen in France , whence 1 1 2 M E M S M A RA BL A ONG URNA ES .

gland took Payne or Pain , still one of the most frequent surnames . There is a bit of biography connected with the “ r name Payne wo thy of preservation . John ‘ Howard Payne , the author of Home , Sweet ’ w as a i o f Home , warm personal fr end John ” Ross , says a recent writer , in recording some personal recollections of the celebrated Indian C Chief , at the time the herokees were removed from their homes in Georgia to their present res rv n e atio west of the Mississippi River . Payne was spending a few weeks in Georgia with Ross , i who was occupying a miserable cabin , hav ng been forcibly ejected from his former home . A num ber of prominent Cherokees were in prison , and that portion of Georgia in which the tribe was lo c ated was scoured by armed squads of Georgia militia , who had orders to arrest all who refused to leave the country . While Ross and Payne were seated before the ﬁre in the hut , the door was suddenly burst open ix and S or eight militiamen sprang into the room . ’ Ross s wife was seated on a tru nk containing many valuable papers and a small amount of money , and at the unexpected intrusion she sprang up and screamed wildly . Ross spoke to her in the Cher okee language , telling her to be seated , as she th th would save e contents of e trunk . She sat and h e down again , the intruders told Ross that and Payne were under arrest and must prepare to m acco pany the squad to Milledgeville , where they

1 1 4 A R A MBLE AM ONG S URN AM E S .

t e r r a r l m reached Milledgeville , h y we e , afte p e i inar e m u y xa ination , discharged , m ch to their sur it e th e prise . Payne declared that was becaus leader o fth e squad had been under the magnetic ’ f in inﬂuence O Ross s conversation , and Ross sisted that they had been saved from insult and ‘ imprisonment by the powe r of Home , Sweet ’ Home , sung as only those who can feel can sing ” it . n w en This close frie dship existed bet e Ross , C oh-w eh-s-hoh-w eh th e whose herokee name w as K ,

swamp sparrow , and Payne , who sung so sweetly h e r and tenderly of home , yet neve owned a home until the grave closed over the mortal te mains o fhim whose song has found a home in al ’ most every Englishman s heart .

Lynch is an interesting surname . It strikes t r error to the heart of cou ts of justice , robs the nd lawyer of his fee , a relieves the jailer of his - saddest duties . It is derived from the Anglo S hlinc a n on , a hill , se se still preserved in the mod l v m linc ern Eng ish pro incialis h . (See Halliw ell . ) The term no w means to punish summarily by law w as s mob , but originally applied to ome sturdy Anglo-Saxon who lived on o r near a ridge “ . m of land Skeat , in his Ety ological Diction ” ar u m y of the English Lang age , quoting fro ’ “ ” “ s a h Haydn Dictionary of D tes , says that t is mode o f administering justice began about the end ” t of the seventeenth cen ury , and that is said to n w h o derive its name from Joh Lynch , a farmer F PLACES O RES IDENCE . 1 5 exercised it upon the fugitive slaves and criminals dwelling in the Dismal Swamp in North Carolina ; While Webster says that the term is said to be de r n ived from a Virginia farmer amed Lynch , who ” thus took the law in his ow n hands . Thus it will be Observed that these learned lexicographers differ as to the place of habitation of that Lynch who gave to the world a word and a quick way to i th e a just ce or , as is doubtless sometimes case , short route to injustice .

We are not willing , however , that South Caro lina should be robbed of her dues even by such dis tin uish e d i g authorit es as those we have just quoted . s Lynch was not , properly peaking , a farmer , neither did he live in Virginia or North Carolina ; r r but he was a stock raiser who , t ue to the impo t e of his nam , lived in the mountainous section of ’ i South Carolina . In Mill s Statist cs of South ” ” n e Caroli a , under Pendl ton District , this sen “ tence is recorded : At the foot of the mountain e e r sid s Captain John Lynch , the author of the e famous law called by his name , of very notabl ” ff e 1 8 2 2 e ect . The book was publish d in , and it

s . seem that Lynch was then living When , prior th e to Revolutionary War , as the struggle for n e e e American indepe denc is som tim s called , it was impossible to bring a criminal to justice in the ” e back country , as the border settl ments were h th e t en denominated , owing to fact that there were no courts of justice outside of the city of i Charleston , and when the ent re back country 1 1 6 A M M S M S A R BLE A ONG URNA E .

t o s es was overrun wi h h r e thiev , John Lynch r s r ff and m acted as judge , ju y , and he i , sum arily hanged these miscreants to a limb of the m o st e conv nient oak whenever they fell into his hands . His name became a terror to these wretches and s is yet a terror to the heinou criminal . And while the bad example which John Lynch inaugurated has spread to the utmost bounds of the United e Stat s , no state , perhaps , has suffered so severely from its evil inﬂuences as South Carolina . Th e surnames Ledyard , Ridgeway , Whitesides , and Westall are all thoroughly English words , and are therefore perfectly intelligible The last n ame mentioned , however , has lost an s , the res to ratio n of which makes the meaning clear when we remember that th e Middle English stal was ap ’ plied to one s place of business .

Wich is common as an element in surnames . It occurs in Norse names as well as in Anglo n Saxon names , and while the spelli g of the word th e a dif is the same in both languages , me ning is n : fere t . Isaac Taylor says With the Anglo

Saxons it was a station or abode on land . He nce a a house or a village . With the Northmen it was

n . station for ships . He ce a small creek or bay Th e sea rovers derived their name of v ikings o r creehers from th e w ies or creeks in which they n are anchored . The inla d wicks , therefore , e w ies th e mostly Saxon , whil the Norse fringe coasts . The names Eastwick , Westwick , and Northwick were ﬁrst applied to bays where the

1 1 8 A RAM BLE AM ONG S URNAM ES .

ﬁ water ﬂowed forth . Hence Bradwell signi es

broad spring . Crosswell was doubtless bestowed upon some man who reared his crude hut or well ﬁ e forti ed castle , as the cas may have been , near a spring w here some pious pilgrim had set up a crude wooden cross to commemorate his gratitude to God for th e mission of its gurgling waters in an hour of intense thirst and suffering on the part of

the enthusiastic wanderer . Caldwell is a common

English surname . It was bestowed in all proba b ility upon the progeny of some man who liked e cold water as a drink , and who accordingly chos a site for his dwelling house near a spring noted

for its cold water . The preﬁx cald is simply th e

Mercian form of cold . H el was the mistress of the gloomy under ” b ut Helw ell world , in Devonshire is probably th e only the covered well , word hell originally

meaning only the covered place . Thus a wou nd h eals when it becomes covered with skin . Th e h eel is that part of the foot wich is covered by th e

helm et . hull th leg . A covers the head The is e

covered part of the ship . To hele potatoes is to al clamp or tump them . In Kent to he a child is e to cover it up in its cradl , and to heal a house is l to put on the roof or covering . A he lier is a ”

S . later Therefore the name Elwell , having lost

h . an , simply means covered spring The O ld English surnames M u ndenh all r and Munhall are interesting names from the fact that e h eal h eall they mbody this idea expressed in or , E 1 1 PLACES OF RES IDENC . 9

- the Anglo Saxon word for hall , the original sense S being cover or place of helter , and because the m den for er embodies the or swine pasture , w hile e m un both names hav the Teutonic , signifying ﬁ rich protection , as a pre x . The former name give s us to understand that there w as a well fo rtiﬁed hall or castle reared within or close to the tu hog pas re , the name of which was eventually conferred as a surname on its inmates . It seems that Shakespeare had some grave apprehensions of r the advancement of the p ice of hogs . In his ” great play , Merchant of Venice , he makes Jessica say : I shall be saved by my husband ; ” he hath made me a Christian . : Launcelot , the clown , replies Truly , the more to blame he ; we were Christians enough before ’

u . e en as many as co ld well live , one by another This making of Christians will raise the price of hogs ; if w e grow all to be pork eaters we shall ” n o t shortly have a rasher on the coals for money . d However , if we may ju ge from the prevalence dens of the , the supply must have been equal to l - co mbe the demand . The G e to Saxon word means ” - a bowl shaped valley . It is the same word as “ cro m the Welsh , and in Wales it denotes a cup

S haped depression in the hills . When we unite

ho ll su ﬂix combe re the Norse , a hill , with the , m emb erin ﬁ g its Welsh signi cation , the surname

Holcombe becomes perfectly intelligible . Comp C o mb eto n G atco mb ton , originally , and , Gate combe , are easily understood when we thus restore 1 2 M M 0 A RA BLE A ONG S UR NAM ES .

their original forms . The surnames Dodd and Doddridge are plain enough when we le arn that the Cumbrian Dodd means a mountain w ith a

round summit . B arrow bo ro u h ber r uﬂi , g , and g a e s xes of place

names , and hence , since men frequently took their

names from the place of their habitation , they e ﬁ have pass d into the eld of surnominal literature . Isaac Taylor says that these sufﬁxes are related to - beo r an the Anglo Saxon verb g , and the German

ber en . a r g , to shelter or hide The s me autho says : Sometimes these words denote the fu neral mound which gave shelter to the remains of th e - th em dead , but more frequently they mean e banked inclosure which afforded refuge to the liv

ing . Such places were Often on the crests of hills . e the e H nce word came to m an a hill fortress , cor - responding to the Celtic dun . In Anglo Saxon a bearh w an distinction was made between , hich t ber buruh swe s to the German g , a hill , and , which th b ur e . is equivalent of the German g , a town

This distinctive usage is lost in Modern English .

barrow e ﬁ The word , how ver , is generally con ned l to funeral mounds . Mar borough was therefore ﬁ a forti cation erected on a marly or chalky soil . t In the surname Richberg , where another for ress rich was erected , describes the fertile nature of

. far n the land is of Celtic origin , and mea s rapid or rough . The name Yarborough was therefore doubtless applied to the descendants of some d brave , hardy mountaineer , who selecte a site for

M A M 1 2 2 A RA BLE ONG S URNAM ES .

w as distinguished President , a distant relative , he a large man , weighing over four hundred pounds . l Scarborough is closely a lied to Yarborough . S car n is a Norse word , and mea s a face of rock ” or cliff. The latter name was given to one who w r r might have lived on any cliff , hile the fo me b S herries was bestowed on some inha itant of the , or the rocky islets near the coasts of England , which so frequently became the harboring place s of the hardy Norsemen . The church set upon a hill could not be hid in that day in which our progenitors sought sur l name material . Churchi l commemorates the fact and that there was a church thus located , that ’ some Englishman s cottage also shared the heights of that hill with th e sober old stru cture dedicated to th e worship of God . Its walls and worshipers h e ave long since returned to dust , but the surnam which it gave still lives . Longstreet and Short Weth erh all n house , Newland and are E glish names , and their meaning is perceptible to every

Englishman . The last name , however , has been contracted into Weth erall. The h all in Old Eng n lish S imply meant a place of protection . A bar S n w for sheep would hardly be called a heep hall o . e Carstairs means stone steps , applied as a surnam doubtless because some one happened to live at o r near a stairway constructed of stone . The Celtic man fﬁ shi word meant a district , while the su x p , sci e to from the Old English p , is equal our word

sha e . dist ic h a p Hence manship means r t s pe . F PLACES O RES IDENCE . 1 2 3

Shaw means a shady place ; a wood . In the Robin Hood Ballads it is used in the plural .

e shaw es sh e ne In som r when the be y , A nd leves be large and longe ,

His is full merry in feyre foreste , ’ fo u l s To hear the y song .

The B rez o nec her is precisely the same word as car n chester the Welsh and the E glish , all of which

~ castra . are from the Latin , a fortress By the sur name Kershaw we therefore understand that th e originator of that name lived near a fortress lo cated in the wood . Crenshaw is a corruption ’

C rane sh aw . E versh aw of , wild boar s wood , co er b from f , a wild boar , and Hinshaw , a wood e a b ill hind , are frequently met with as English sur

. a h b red d names Cromwell is y , compounde of crom the Welsh , bending or bowed , and the Eng lish well , a spring or fountain of water . Wad in the Anglo-Saxon tongue meant the m w o ad sa e as the modern word , an herbaceous ” [ satis plant , says Webster , of the genus , of which one species was formerly cultivated for the e blu coloring matter derived from its leaves , but is now used only with indigo as a ferment in the ”

. o vat This plant was cultivated by the Brit ns , the ﬁrst inhabitants of England . Frederick York h is Powell , in Early England says , in speaking

: of the old Britons When the men went to war , they used to throw off their cloaks and rush into battle half naked , painted blue with the juice of an herb called woad , just as is the habit of some 1 2 R M M S M 4 A A BLE A ONG URNA ES .

savages now . The name of this species of in digo cultivated by our progenitors , together with w orth w ﬁ , a d elling , near the eld where it was cul

tivated . , gives us the surname Wadsworth

But th is ramble must close . We hope that th e reader will be able to arrive at the meaning of many surnames not contained within this chapter , by means of what is suggested by it .

1 26 A R A M M S N S BLE A ONG UR AME .

fﬁ a A di cult problem , it is s id , once puzzled the r i brain of a ustic American cit zen . He could not solve the mystery as to the existence of so many peo ubi uito us m ple who bore the q cogno en Smith . It th e was indeed problem of his life , till at last he drifted , by chance it may have been , into the City ” of Brotherly Love . There he read this S ign over the main entrance of a great factory : THE SM ITH M MANUFACTURING CO PAN Y . The problem was s h olved satisfactorily , at least to him ; t ere , he con t s t cluded , they made Smi h , and hus peopled the w orld . n n But that honorable ame , so laudably co nected

- r with almost every phase of Anglo Saxon histo y , s t th antedate not only the ci y of Philadelphia , but e glories of the N ew World itself . It is of ancient origin , and was a common name among the R o — a . mans . (Fabricius smith ) There is , indeed , an allusion to the name in the N ew Testame nt it

s : et S w h o S t. elf Dem rius the ilversmith , did Paul

n . as very great wro g If that name , it is recorded in the sacred volume , had appeared as a disciple , C e o or follower of hrist , it would hav become a p w erfu l argument in the hands of polemics in th e universal establishment of the doctrines of Armin

i ni m r m n . a s , o salvation decreed for all e e r t Smiths are not made , ther fo e , as the rus ic backwoodsman imagined , but the whole frater nity o fthem enjoy the honorable distinction of b e - o s ing self made , and may honorably claim a gl riou and ancient lineage . They get their name from S M ITH S BROWN S BLACKS R A ILR OADS I 2 7

- S mitan the Anglo Saxon , to smite . That term was applied to all w h o dealt blows in an honest and lawful craft . Their vocation was not to smite men fi on the bloody eld of battle , thus weaving for e in themselv s garlands of victory , and thereby scribing their name in the annals of the world ’s butcheries ; but they smote the crude material ’ “ ” rt w from the ea h s bo els hip and thigh , and t thus brought beauty , order , and u ility out of - chaos . They were the artisans , the Tubal cains - f . o the Anglo Saxon race Therefore , while the theological controversialists have be en unable to use the name in the establishment O f their doc trines , that name proves conclusively that the disposition of the Anglo-Saxon race has ever been in favor of getting an honest living by honest strokes . South Carolina and the w orld owes a lasting it debt of grat ude to that name , for our rice takes th e precedence in all the markets of world . In 1 6 e h 93, w are told , Landgrave T omas Smith — o f whose descendants more than five hundred were living in the state in 1 808 ( a number doubt less largely increased since ) , moved perchance by a prophetic sense of the fitness that the father of such a numerous progeny should provide for the — support of an extensive population introduced the

culture of rice into South Carolina . The seed

came from the island of Madagascar , in a vessel ” that put into Charleston harbor in distress . It n an is , indeed , an evil wind that blows obody y 1 28 A RAMBLE AM ONG S URNAM ES .

good , but it always requires a Smith to smelter and

hammer it out of adverse circumstances .

But this eminent Smith , who not only enjoyed f the distinction o having been created a lord , with tw r of four baronies of elve thousand ac es land , in

1 6 1 9 , which baronies , together with the title , it was expressly declared by the patent dated on the

thirteenth of May of that year , were to forever de scend to his heirs “ paying an annual rent of a of penny , lawful money England for each ! 1 ! But alas that unlucky date , the 3th of May Had the patent been granted by his Majesty on 1 some other date beside that of the unlucky 3th , perhaps the Revolution of 1 776 would not have proved so disastrous to that title and the four baro tw nies . But that famous Smith , no ithstanding his tu misfor nes , impressed his good sense and sound

judgment upon at least one usage of his country . Tradition says (and it is corroborated by authentic dates and facts ) that he obtained the passing of the r a law , p inciple of which continues to this day , for drawing juries indiscriminately from a box so as to preclude th e possibility of packing a jury to ” r r o s carry any pa ticular pu p e . T Ho w fortunate it is for us that the inﬂuence of the Smiths has generally been upon the side of right for really they hold in all moral and politi f cal issues the balance o power . t n Jones is a Scrip ure name , a corruptio of Johns .

’ ” R m V o l. I. . . a say s History Of South Carolina, , p 5

id. V o l. . . 1 1 . l , II , p 3

M M S 1 30 A RA BLE A ONG URNAM E S .

w as ness in which he engaged , and he left it , as ‘ ’ th e books say , in disgust . On his way back to England both th e captain and mate of the ship w as m on which he sailing died , and the com and r of the vessel was given to John Paul , who b ought her into port with so great success th at the owners appointed him to the captaincy . In 1 773 the elder of th e Paul brothers died in

a . Virginia , and his est te fell to the younger It was

at this time that the latter took the name of Jones .

His reason for doing so does not appear , but I conjecture Jones was the maiden name of his so n no w w - mother , and that the , t enty six years of a e ﬁ g , and red with ambition , determined to trans ’ mit h er name rather than the father s to pos ’ terity . d I am inclined to isagree w ith the historian . May it not have been prudence that caused him to adopt the name Jones ? Virginia had her John to Smith , and the young seaman could never hope

rival him . Who wants to be overshadowed by a greater man of the same state ? It may have been m odesty that caused the young captain to adopt the name Jones ; or perhaps it was because he de it sired to help the weaker . Eve ry colony had s th Smiths , and John Paul came to the rescue of e

Joneses , and thus helped to cement the United Col u e e o ies by a dual lement of commonality , for thes common names ought surely to bind together

every segment o f our glorious Union .

* R The Chautau uan a h 18 2 John Clark idpath , in q for M rc , 9 . S KS R A DS . 1 1 S M ITHS , BROWN , BLAC , ILROA 3

r Virginia and South Carolina may , the efore , ” t grasp hands even across the old Nor h State , m m t with her teeming ultitudes of S iths , and exul in the historic distinction that while the personal w a magnetism of one John Smith , in some y or

other , touched the heart of the fairest wild maid of the Virginia forest when Powhatan was about S miter to become practically a himself , our Land grave Thomas Smith retaliated on the proud O ld n m chief , a d snatched the last , lingering laurel fro t the brow of the poor red man , who has hi herto exu lted in th e distinction that he had nobody else to thank for his corn ; but no w th e Smiths may rival these denizens of th e forest in the fact

that they have nobody else to thank for their rice . m dimval But in the e birthday of names , when u ﬁ th e t t occ pation xed cognomen Smi h , Smy h , s ecies th e enus Goldsmith , and Smithers , p of same g , - upon so many hardy Anglo Saxons , complexion also had much to do in fastening everlasting ap ll ti ns pe a o upon the sons of men . The Browns belonged originally , perhaps , to that honorable h class of men w ich cultivated the earth , or at least their ancestors must have S pent much time out brow ned doors ; and thus tanned and , perhaps , by ’ th e sun s rays , they won their laudable titles . The

Blacks were more tanned , and hence their name . Many of the descendants of the Browns and Blacks would exchange appellations with the Whites , and many of us w ould lose our co gno m enic disti nctions if another naming day were to roll around . ’ M 1 32 A R A M BLE A M O NG S U RNA ES .

S o th e Browns and Blacks belong really to the enus e S m iters g Smiths , for they wer too , though ” th w e they smote e earth fore and aft , and were to institute a co mparsio n betw een them w e would follow the model of that distinguished Smith who taught more children the principles of the t a o r English language h n any other man , dead e v l in alive , and who ven ri aled Cupid himse f t eaching the youthful pupils that they might , l — e w cou d , would , or should love w would follo — ositive co m arative his model and say p , Smith , p ,

w su erlativ e . Bro n , p , Black But while the world owes a deb t of gratitude to that enterprising Smith who introduced the cul t ure of rice into South Carolina , it should never forget another South Carolinian , Alexander Black , who did more for the old Palmetto State than

man . O ur any other , living or dead fathers had t rather a slow way of ge ting from place to place . ’ “ O N eall Judge , in his Annals of Newberry , tells

t 1 8 1 . us hat as late as 3 the Hon Ker Boyce , then e t k eping a store in the li tle village of Newberry , “ C . Ph il S . , began to trade overland w ith adel phia . Cotton was hauled from Newberry to Phil adelphia , and goods brought back by wagons . He and Thomas Pratt [a fellow-townsman] nu nu ally mounted their horses and rode to Philadel th e phia , purchased their goods , and thus laid ”

r . foundation of thei respective fortunes Again , there is a manuscript in the handwriting of General h Thomas Pinckney , still extant , w ich tells us that

. M S 1 34 A RA MBLE A ONG U RN AM ES . tu dinal o in w oden rails , about nine inches square , s t fi e r -five o n variou leng hs , from fte n to thi ty feet , th e the n th e top of which , on i ner side , flat bar Th e r fi iron is nailed . t acks are about ve feet ” apart . Historians have robbed South Carolina of the honor of having built the first railroad in America ;

is e l t a but it due the stat , even at this ate day , h t she have restored to her th e honor she h as merited a m e in this matter . It is claimed that the B lti or and Ohio railroad was th e ﬁrst built in the United

States . That road has unjustly worn an nu m n erited honor lo g enough . O n the 28th of De cemb er 1 82 n n , 9 , the co tracts were give out , and th 1 8 0 ac on the 9 of January , 3 , the railroad was tu all y begun , by the driving of piles at Line

Street , Charleston , S . C . “ a u e r th e The B ltimore and Ohio , beg n b fo e

Charleston and Hamburg , was intended for horse t power , it being then supposed to be imprac icable ” to use locomotives on short curves . ” . C Mr Peter ooper , whose progenitors doubt r h o w r e less knew o iginally to make cu ves , pra u 1 8 0 tically refuted this notion in Aug st , 3 , but some months before his experiment at Baltimore

. o n th e 1 1 8 0 ﬁve viz , 4th of January , 3 , days after the commencement of work on the Charleston — and Hamburg road the Board of Directors of that road (the Charleston and Hamburg ) adopted r n e the eport of Mr . Ben ett , containing this m mo rable sentence : ‘ The locomotive shall alo ne b e S M S S S S . 1 ITH , BROWN BLACK , RAILROAD 35

u sed . The perfection of this power in its applica tu tion to railroads is fast ma ring , and will certainly th e reach , within period of constructing our road , a degre e o f excellence which will re nder the ap plication of animal power a gross abuse of the ’ gifts of genius and science . Thus it is clearly seen that the Charleston and — Hamburg railroad as a road fo r the use of loc o — motives is seven months older than the Baltimore

and Ohio . f o r e . . In the construction this oad , at Aik n , S C - (a name frequently met with as a surname from th e A A ach th e Old German or , ﬂowing water , and C hen m t eltic , a cape , or headland , eaning , here at th e w e fore , the head of ﬂowing at r) , a point six

hundred feet above Charleston , the engineers met

with quite an obstacle . There is quite an abrupt descent from the heights at A iken to the lo w plains th t of the Savannah , upon which Hamburg , e nor h m O f d western ter inus the roa , was located . The civil engineers were compelled to make a precipi tous descent of tw o hundred feet within half a th e b e mile , air line , in order to reach level plain h o f i low . T e idea construct ng a curve along th e

sides of the sand hills , thus securing a gradual de t n scent into the lowlands , seems never o have e tered their minds . They therefore laid a double f e l track for hal a mile , an inclin d p ane , thus reaching the base of the high sand hill upon w hich

the town of Aiken is built . Upon the crest of the w as hill located a stationary engine , which operated 1 6 R A M M S M 3 A BLE A ONG URNA ES .

r ﬁ a large ho izontal wheel , about fteen feet in dia a meter , with groove in the rim , or fellies , in which th e worked , as a belt , an enormous rope , as long as track constituting the inclined plane . This wheel was placed between the tracks . When the engine a reached Aiken from Ch rleston , therefore , it was side trached n , having reached the end of its jour ey . Half a mile below could be seen the engine on the other end of the road waiting for its coaches , which were to be let dow n this inclined plane . b e The wonderful feat , in civil engineering , now gan . O ne end of th e great cable was fastened to a coach at the bottom of the inclined plane , while th e other end w as attached to a coach O n the heights , thus serving as a balance to each other . As the great w heel revolved one car descended w e slo ly into the valley , while the oth r ascended the heights . Thus one by one the coaches were let down and drawn up . The coaches were very much like our modern freight cars . There was a door in the side t n hrough which the passe gers entered , and a seat , a rough bench , was constructed along the entire length and Width of the coach , against the walls , which constituted the back of the seat . There was no need for checking baggage , as every pas senger was required to deposit his traveling effects on the ﬂoor in the center of the co ach in which n he was placed , so that all of the passe gers sat

s with their backs again t the walls of the coach , and facing the pile of baggage in the center of the

1 38 A RA M BLE AM ONG S URNAM ES .

o f To macadamize a road , a system road mak m ing devised by John Macada , means literally to M ac son of manise a road , from the Gaelic , a son ,

A dam . and the Hebrew , man Surely the roads of mediae val times needed to be made passable for e the sons of men , for that dark age was an age lik f that in which Shamgar lived . In the days o th Shamgar e son of Anath , in the days of Jael , the highways were unoccupied , and the travelers ” walked through byways . (Judges v . This fact is beautifully portrayed in th e ﬁrst chapter of ” u Ivanhoe , in the dialog e between the Prior , the

. a t Abbot , Gurth and Wamba Therefore , if P h ﬁ a w e nder occurs as surname , are not surprised ; ifJohn and Henry really indulged in the privilege o f having a road through the dark forest to the . r place of their habitation , we are not su prised that their fellow-men should have distinguished them from the masses by bestowing the surname Hatha way ; and if William really reared his crude dwell ia ing upon a roadside , we are not surprised if he — h erit d . i i . e . e the surname Attaway R dpath , —R id ath ep , gives us to understand that many of - th e roads of our progenitors were merely b y ways .

In concluding this ramble , then , let us notice some of the periods of development in road mak i ing . A name frequently g ves us a memento of tw o or three periods of English history . Thus A vo n or A v en is a Celtic term which means a strat strata river ; is an abbreviation of , the name by which the Romans called the roads which they S M S S S R A I S . ITH , BROWN , BLACK , LROAD built through the territory of th e ancient Bretons ; therefore we have Strathaven , a river road ; S O in the rural districts w e hear roads referred to as the - river road and the ridgeway . Rutledge (from the rut h Celtic pat ) means the same as Ridgew ay . ’ “ The name of Shakespeare s birthplace , Strat ford on Avon ” contains words from three periods S trata of English history , Celtic Avon , Roman , - d and Anglo Saxon fo r . From the bypaths of the a R O Celts and S xons , to the great roads of the mans , we pass on through the intermediate stages of road making , and enter a parlor car , take up a morning paper published hundreds of miles and away , as we speed along through our great country we are u ngrateful if we do not breathe a

o w . benediction on the Smiths , Br ns , and Blacks CHAPTER VIII .

S URNAMES WHICH EM BODY T H E ANGLO-S AXON IDEA M OF HO E . HERE is nothing connected with English sur names with which the student o f patro no m a l to o gy is more impressed than with the prevalence , - m ﬁ in Anglo Saxon na es , of those pre xes , and fﬁ su xes , principally , which convey the idea of

i . find protect on , inclosure , and defense We may a cause for this national ide a of the sacred right of property in the fact that the S axons were fi invaders , and therefore found it necessary at rst to fortify and protect their homes and their prop erty. Hence the sacred idea of home , from this incipient step O fwhat may be termed national self preservation , has become thoroughly incorporated - into the very nature of English speaking people , as well as into the very texture of the civil institu tions of those countries where the Anglo-Saxon element predominates , as in that of no other peo ple or nation on the globe . A close examination O f these suffixes gives us a correct insight into the distinguishing ch aracteris O f tics English civilization , and indeed that love of privacy and seclusiveness of home life which they reveal , as well as the sacred rights of prop

rt O f th e e y and home , constitute basic elements (140)

1 2 M M S 4 A RA BLE A ONG URNAM ES .

m ar h nn i another to his c a d se . This usage is t e tained in Scotland , where a solitary farmstead still e to un go s by the name of the , and in Iceland , where the homestead , with its girding wall , is n called a tu . In many parts of England the rick ton t yard is called the bar , hat is the inclosure for bear the or crop which the land bears . Thus we have the English patronymic Barton , corrupted Ke rto n frequently into Burton , and or Kirton from ' th e B rez o nec 11 er th e castra , either from Latin , or th e e cathair ers , a fortress , thus implying fortress inclosure . So w e may also account for the sur

t . name Kershaw , fortress wood or thicke In the name Winchester we have the remains of Roman i ﬁ civilizat on in England . The rst syllable is from w ent the Celtic g , a plain , which by Latinization -v enta m passed into , which in ti e was corrupted into w in ; the word Chester is from the Latin cas “ tra , a fortress , Winchester therefore means the ” fortress of the plain . Chichester , anciently writ Cissanceaster ten , and meaning fortress of Cissa , who , according to the Saxon chronicle , was one E Ke no r of the three sons of lle , who landed at y n n in Selse , and havi g advanced into the interior and succeeded in capturing the old Roman fortress no w ( Chichester ) , established the capital of his kingdom over the South Saxons at that place . ” a Dorchester , s ys Taylor , was the city of the ”

D uro tri es r. B ur g , or dwellers by the wate is i man Celtic , and means water . The Celt c word , r n a dist ict , occurs in the name Ma chester , dis - D F M 1 THE ANGLO S AXON I EA O HO E . 43

trict fortress . Colchester is from the Latin word

ia th e suﬂix chester . colon , a colony , and Taylor “ says that in the immediate vicinity of Colcheste r a legion w as stationed for the protection of the ” t “ colony planted here by the Romans . The precise spot which w as occupied by the camp of this legion is indicated by the remains of extensive ” “ L exdo n Roman earthworks at , England , a ” L e ionis Dunum name which is a corruption of g . e These place names were , of cours , conferred upon men as surnames because they happened to be inhabitants of those places . r tu tu But , to e rn to the s dy of surnames ending suﬂix to n w ith the , the name Washington brings up an interesting feature of the Anglo-Saxon lan

. In w w as guage g , hile it not universally used in that sense , was the common patronymic of our s C progenitors . Thu the old Saxon hronicle of

D. A . m k 547, long before the day of surname a w e : ing , read w a s B Ida opping, E O a w a s E pp sing , E sa w a s In w in g g, In w i A en w itin g g g. Which in Modern English means

’ w as E o a s Ida pp son , ’ E o a w as E pp sa s son , ’ E sa w as In u s g y son , ’ u n A e nw it s I g y , g son .

’ a th e fi in In f ct , suf x g , says Isaac Taylor , “ in th e names of persons had very much the fi fi M ac same signi cation as the pre x in Scotland , M A RA BLE AM ONG S URNAM ES .

’ A in B eni O , p , in Ireland o Wales or among the ” Arabs . Wash - w a is from the Anglo S axon scan . The ”

t . original sense , says Skea , was probably to ’ ” wet . Hence to flood with water , therefore W we have the English place name The ash . Hence Washington was the son of some pioneer who reared his tun or habitation on some alluvial plot of ground which was subject to overflow or inundation . There is frequently observable a de fi b e gree of tness , purely accidental it appears , tw een names , separated by time and geographical

S . o pace , that is really remarkable A beautiful c incident o f this kind may be traced between the first local settlements of those pioneers upon whom th e surname Washington was bestowed and the ‘ site of the national capitol . This fortuity becomes still more noticeable when we remember that fi n n Potomac signi es , in the I dian to gue , river of ” th e m burning pine , or , which is ore intelligible to “ Englishmen , the river or place of the council ” r fi e . We are led to marvel at these thoroughly fortuitous combinations of what may be appro priately styled ancient and modern facts and asso i i n C at o s .

Morton simply means great or large inclosure . This meaning is readily observed by restoring the

e w e m o re eliminated , whence have the Celtic ,

The greater portion of the prese nt site of Washington w as w m h almost a s a p less t an a century ago , and subject to ﬂ over ow .

1 46 A RAM BLE AM ONG S URNAM ES .

w as ell Neville , are one and the same name , the o nly difference is that the last two have a French fﬁ C a su x . arl and Ch rl both mean a churl in the a S xon tongue , but it by no means follows that the Carltons and Charltons are the descendants of

churls , because they are the progeny of some one , who happened to live in a m edia val town by that

name , any more than it makes a man a horse if

he S hould have been born in a stable . a dal Dalton is compounded of the old S xon , a v th e ﬁ tain alley , and pre x , meaning , therefore , val '

. tun ley home A , or inclosure , standing apart

from all other buildings would , very naturally , be

referred to as Singleton . Hence the surname . Saxton marked the spot where some old Saxon

’ tun reared his buildings ; the of the Saxon , or

more properly speaking the English , for Saxon is

really a misnomer , was very different from that of the old Briton who lived in wattled huts half

sunk in the ground , without windows or chimneys . These huts were set together in villages which had often a wooden paling and earthen walls

round them , and were placed in the midst of r woods , or on islands in the rive s or marshes ; or ”

i i . Th e on h lls , so as to be safer aga nst foeman s English or , as the Welsh called them , Saxon

were not a savage people , but a nation of yeo men ia his , living each own homestead , tilling the ground and keeping cattle . They did not dw ell in w to ns , but men of the same kin lived together

little in knots or farms . They called these vil HE - F 1 T ANGLO S AXON IDEA O HOM E . 47

lages after the name of the kin that dwelt in them , A shin h am A shin s as g , the home of the g , or family ” C o tin h am C o tin s of Ash , and g , the home of the g

or descendants of Cote , a small mud cottage .

Coton is the plural of cote . Hence the surname o o n- Cotton as it is frequently spelled . C tt tun

simply means co ttages . We frequently meet with families of German ex

traction which bear the name Little . The original

name was Klein , which has been translated into

the English surname Little . Other branches of

the same German family have , in America , trans

formed the name into Cline . Just such trans formation doubtless took place ia m edia val E u m gland , when their cousins , the Germans , so e of K lein whom bore the diminutive appellation , or t Lit le , cast in their fortunes with our English

progenitors . Hence we have the English sur

name Clinton , or Littleton . Denton was simply a tun located in a swine pasture ; while Heaton is

’ H ath to n tun a contraction of e , a built on some heath . G ra rave rov e - f, g , or g , from the Anglo Saxon ra an g f , to dig , signify a small inclosure , or grove , and are frequently met with as component ele - in ments in Anglo Saxon names , as Grafton , an closed town , Cotgrave , an inclosed cottage , cir cu m sc rib ed M us , perhaps , by a ditch or moat , and grave , or grove , the name is the same , the only i f S d f erence is in the pelling , which meant in the an Saxon tongue odorous grove , or inclosure , and 1 M M O S M E 48 A RA BLE A NG U RNA S .

w besto ed , doubtless , upon the progenitors of those who now bear the name from having lived w ithin - some sweet scented grove . There is a bit of interesting Southern history

i . C connected w th the last name aptain Musgrove , during the latter portion of the seventeenth and e tu the former portion of the ighteenth cen ries , was a prominent Indian trader with the Creeks . The historians of Georgia have had much to say o f this successful , though unscrupulous trader , under the name of John Musgrove . “ ” tho r e Oglethorpe , (evidently a nickname ; p m e s eans a village , and as a surnam correspond w n ﬁ ith the E glish name Towns , the pre x was doubt o ﬁ less bestowed up n the son of the rst Thorpe , who doubtless had a son whose eyes were defect O le ive or peculiar , for g , a Dutch word , which was introduced into England at a late period , for it was ’ added by Todd to Johnson s Dictionary , means ” ’ s to look at sideways , or to cast sheep s eye ” t e e upon one , herefore the nicknam Oglethorp is very much the same as , we sometimes hear it ,

C ro sse ed . tu y John If we substi te Thorpe , or the English equivalent Town for John in the last sen tence we have th e full meaning of the name ) says an early historian on his ﬁrst ascent of the Savan nah River , found him established , with his famous l - e u ha f bre d wife , Mary , on the same bl ff where now stands the city of Savannah . This Indian , in 1 00 o f Mary , was born the year 7 , at the town Ch att h h ﬁ Coweta , upon the a o o c e (painted or g

1 A M M M 50 RA BLE A ONG S URNA ES .

thorpe , and several times saved the early colonists ” of Georgia from savage butchery . It was in 1 736 that this woman became indi rectly the tutoress of the great founder of Metho “ m . n dis Mr . I gham came to Savannah from Frederica on the 3o th of March to en

M r. able Wesley , by exchange of appointments , “ s to visit his brother Charles in his sicknes , which it was thought might prove fatal . After ’ Mr . Wesley s return from Frederica to Savannah o n th e 20th u of April , it was tho ght best , in view of the missionary work contemplated among the

Indians , that Mr . Ingham should remain at Savan n nah and learn their language . He accordi gly arranged to spend three days a week in taking les l - sons from a ha f caste woman (Mrs . Musgrove ) , and the other three in teaching what he had ”

r . learned to M . Wesley T ul This beautif woman , Mary Musgrove , married

Capt . Jack Matthews after the death of her ﬁrst husband . She was again left a widow , after B o so mw o rth which she married Thomas , a cler m n n gy a of the Church of E gland . Her history ﬁ a lls , fter her union with the notorious Bosom worth ( w o rth is Anglo-Saxon for mansion or B o so m to w n town , therefore or mansion ) , a large and inglorious part of the early annals of Georgia and South Carolina . sw eet-scented Thus , really , the wild maid of the

’ A m Pickett s History of laba a . ' ’ “ in 1 Shipp s History of Methodism South Carolina . - 1 T HE ANGLO S AXON IDE A OF HOM E . 1 5

was wooed and w o n by the sw eet-scented

rove ! S h e w as w ma g , but , alas too true , hatever y have been her virtues , to the wild and barbarous h B mw h instincts of t e savage . She and o so o rt lie ’ buried on S t. Catherine s Island . The surnames Hargrave and Hargrove are com o f har pounded the old Norse , an army , and the - r o u . Anglo Saxon g af , to dig Hence an encamp

ment fortiﬁed by means of moats o r ditches . A man who lived near a plot of ground thus distin guish ed from the surrounding country was thus

named from the place of his residence . “ suﬂix ham The , which is very frequent in

English names , appears in two forms in Anglo

s . hdm ﬁ Saxon document One of these , , signi es

an inclosure , that which hems in , a meaning not f n very di ferent from that of to or w o rth . These words express the feeling of reverence for private hdm right , but involves a notion more mystical ,

more holy . It expresses the sanctity of the family : ho me bond it is , the one secret (geheim ) and - sacred place . In the Anglo Saxon charters we frequently ﬁnd this suﬂix united w ith the names of

families , never with those of individuals . This as word , as well the feeling of which it is the sym

c bol , was brought across the ocean by the Teutoni S s colonists , and it is the ign of the mo t precious of ia all the gifts for which we thank them . It may e deed be said , without exagg ration , that the univer sal prevalence throughout England of names co n taining this word ho m e gives us the clue to the 1 2 M 5 A RAM BLE A O NG S U RNAM ES . real strength of the national character of the A n - glo S axon race . What a world of inner differ ence there is between the English word ho m e and the French phrase chez no us ! It was this supreme reverence for the sanctities of domestic life which gave to the Teutonic nations the power of breath ing a new life into th e dead bones o f Roman civil ” iz atio n . A number of these surnames ending In ham are

easily understood , as Bigham , Oldham , Park l ham . Beckham and Burnham were dwe lings a reared close to rivulets . The origin l sense of ” bar a . is thing cut , a shaped piece of wood Hence Barham m eans a house built of hewed m in s . H a timber , however , occurs uch names as o f Willingham , the home of the descendants

kin . Wili , and Cunningham , the home of the g T The Anglo-Saxon yard and the Norse garth are

synonymous terms , and both are very nearly

’ n equivalent to tu . The primary m eaning is that n t i ru of an inclosure by mea s of rods , w gs , or b sh wood . The plot of ground took its name from the nature of the fence by which it was inclosed , a sense still adhe ring to th e English words yard and garden . Therefore we have such surnames — i . e . as Stanyard , a yard inclosed with a stone — a le wall and Applegarth , which simply means pp

o rchard.

The terms stohe and stow are sometimes met

u A stohe with as component elements in s rnames .

’

n c 82 . a d . 10 Taylor s Words Pla es , p TSee page 3.

C P T HA ER IX .

IS A N S S K L D , FORD , AND LA E S .

H o lm HE old Norse means an island in a river . We may thus account for the family name Holmes and many other patronymics ending with o lm ffi h as a su x . An island in the sea is denoted fi e a generally by the Teutonic suf x y or y, as Whit ’ ney or Ramsay , white island and ram s island . The world owes a debt of gratitude to Eli Whit O f C t v ney , onnec icut , who in ented the cotton gin 1 in 793, and thus made cotton c ulture the great industry of the South . The sea islands along the f Southern coast , and the mainland ar into the ih terio r fi , annually , as the elds really become w hite ” r unto the harvest , seem to whispe the name of the great inventor , and to breathe , after all of our n internatio al troubles , sentiments of a closer union of the states . Surnames which have originated from progenitors who lived on the numerous is h o f lands t at fringe the coasts England , Scotland , and Ireland are really as multitudinous as any other class of territorial names . Thus we have Fairey , fair , or beautiful island ; Lindsey , denoting an island where the linden grew abundantly ; Rod ‘ ney , reed island ; Henney , poor island ; and Kirk

. h o w sey , church island It is not always easy ,

a See p ge 93. ( 154 ) S S S K S . 1 I LAND , FORD , AND LA E 55

r to w w eve , distinguish bet een names ending ith s ﬂix le th e the u y, an open place in wood , and

e a . those ending with y or y, an island They are rr r all te itorial surnames , howeve , just as Lange n land , long la d ; Parkhurst , park wood ; B ver —e id e A sb urn i. e . g , beaver ridge ; and , ash branch , a rivulet characteriz ed by the ash trees that grew

in the territory through which it passed . Notwithstanding the fact that England w as a w - s r e in ell timbered country , as the u names nding h urst a cro t t , wood , f denoting the same hing , and le arh den e many other words as y, p , , v rify ; there seems really to have bee n ve ry few bridges in the days of surname making ; ne vertheless Bridges and Bridgeman came in eventually for a small share of the family names that were handed down

. w to posterity The scarcity of bridges , ho ever , t t w a was not due to a lack of imber , for here s wood of every variety from the Haz elhurst to the

Broadhurst , or from the hazel thicket to the broad forest , embracing every variety of building mate rial . But the streams were crossed just as if there n had bee bridges in abundance . The name Ford , which was applied to some one who lived at or

near those places where the streams were forded , evidences the fact that the rushing stream was really no barrier to our hardy progenitors , even if they had not brought the art of bridge build ing to perfection . But Ford was rather too gen eral to designate every one who lived at such cross v ings . Hence we ha e the patronymics Sand 1 56 A RAMBLE AM ONG S U R N AM ES .

r r e r fo d , Oxford , Woodford , Stanfo d ( ston fo d ) , H ert r r Stratford ( road ford ) , and or Ha tfo d

. w o rd no t ( deer ford ) The ord f does always ,

e e s fo r how ver , d note passages acros rivers men and cattle . The term is frequently of Scandinavian Th th e o rigin . e Vikings applied word to pas sages for ships up the arms of the sea . Hence we have the surname Langford (long ford ) which could no t be very appropriately applied to the r crossing of a st eam , for in such case we w ould d r as o u r s say Broa fo d , just progenitor did say

Bradford . t a ff w ol th There is no doubt h t Wo ord is from , e

rm o x th e s fﬁ . Slavonic te for , and u x ford Fo r the sake of euphony and ease o f pronunciation w ol has been changed into w of. Quite a number of surnames are derived from fords named from th e fact of having been the crossing places of cer neat tain animals . From cattle and sheep w e have N utf rd o and Weatherford , the bear has given u s th f e surname Beresford , and the hog Swin ord . ae w is The G lic and Erse word for water is ge . rr i w is e-bo The word whisky is a co upt on of g y, w e th e r yellow water . In Welsh have elated word ” w s t. e w as a y g , a curren Henc Wishford river crossing distinguished on account of the sw ift cur rent o f water with which the traveler had to con

! tend . The place name Stratford was easily cor ted tf rup into Stra ord , which frequently occurs as a r f w as surname ; the in Straf ord dropped , and the ' t r surname was called S aﬁo d. Mountford and

1 58 A R A M BLE AM O NG S UR NAM ES .

Cam al where w ater flows forth , as we have ready said , means crooked . The word was adopted by the English from the Welsh , but is now obsolete . ” Shakespeare in the play Coriolanus , Act III . , h d I. cro o e Scene , applies the word to the reasoning ” of M enenius Agrippa : This is clean kam . In the dialect o f Manc hester to cam means to w a bend anything a ay , or to cross or contradict ” C s person . He nce the surname amlin really mean crooked pool , just as Hamlin means home pool , and Camb eck signifies crooked or bowed branch . Sherburn was the brook that marked the boundary S betw een two hires , and he who pitched his ” tent by the side of its gurgling waters took the h name of the branch for his surname . But is neighbor John or William , or whoever it may have l been , got for himse f and progeny the surname th Overbrook , or Brookover , because he lived on e opposite side of the brook relative to some o ne else who had the same Christian name . Welborn simply means spring branch . Carw ell signifies

. B radb ro o k rock spring Blackburn , Burnley , , and Hilb urn are intelligible to all who have fol lowed us in our rambles to this point . Wardw ell ri car es us back again to the Scotch border .

Drinkwater and Stockwell , pure English names , give us to understand that our progenitors did not share a S pring in common with the beasts of the D l ﬁeld . il b eck tells us of a stream where th e dill grew in abundance . 6 See page 9 . S S S A S . 1 I LAND , FORD , AND L KE 59

w l The Welsh p , an inlet or pool , has given us

the surnames Poole and Bradpole (broad pool) . n - o ra The A glo Saxon , the shore of the sea or of

a river , occurs in the surname Windsor , which as I’Vindleso ra a place name was anciently called ,

the winding or tortuous S hore . From the Celtic R uimne - m ere and the Anglo Saxon , both of which

mean a marsh or a district of small lakes , we get

the surnames Romney , marshy island as we would w say , and Mersey , hich means the same thing , or l k r rather the island of lakes . B ac me ( e ) is per fectly intelligible when we restore the lost e . But w e have rambled by the side of the clear “ i water of the deep mountain pool , ly ng like a ! tear on the face of the hill , along the prattling brooklet , through the marshes , by the shore of the

deep blue sea , and over the islands dotting the ’ land s end , and for fear of wearying those w h o u s may have accompanied , we will close this chap ter and seek rest and refre shment under the arched ’ m edia val roof of the cathedral , and amid kings palaces and the spacious halls of Parliament , for many of our English surnames have originated amo ng these scenes of religious and civil life . CH APTER X .

S R M E S R M A N D E O S U NA F O CIVIL R LIGI U OFFICES .

HE Church and the State have h ad a large m In share in the work of surname aking . deed , there could not exist any phase of govern n ment worthy of the ame of government , as we m understand that ter , Without the existence of sur

names . Confusion would reign everywhere su preme . As an illustration of the disorder that would arise from the fact that the re were no sur n th e ames , supposing such to be really case , let us take o ur stand at the delivery window of some fﬁ post o ce , and there witness the embarrassment no t fﬁ only of the o cials of the government , but of the recipients of the mail as it is handed out to th e waiting crowd of citizens . A letter or package b directed to John , William , or Henry could e claimed by a half dozen constituents of the town or community . This would lead to the exposure f frequently of private af airs , to great delay often in the delivery of mail to the proper person , and indeed to almost every conceivable form of diso r der and confusion . This illustration may be ap plied to almost every department of the govern n sur ment , thus demonstrating the ecessity of names . Bible history beautifully illustrates the growing (160)

1 62 A RAM BLE AM ONG S URNAM ES .

the face of the earth . Hence , as it was very natural also that the mother desired to perpetuate the name of the father or grandfather in the ap w ’ pellation besto ed upon the infant on her bosom , there arose the need of some additional means of

designation , and to meet this necessity the name f of the father , grand ather , or mother came to be

added to the Christian name . Thus , we read of ” Joshua the son of Nun , to distinguish him from all other persons upon whom that popular

name had been bestowed , and of Simon Bar — — i . e . Jonas , Simon , son of Jonas to distinguish as him from all other Simons . This custom w in use among the Jews down to comparatively rece nt

times . Frederick the Great compelled all the Israelites within his kingdom to abandon this cus tom and to take surnames . Thus arose the sur n name Strauss . Simon , son of Jo as , means Si

m o n u . , the son of the dove , in the Hebrew tong e n Hence the Germa Jews , in order to comply with S the edict of the great Prussian king , imply trans lated Jonas into the German language , left off the m ter for son , and in this way the name Simon , son of Jonas , became Simon Strauss , or in our tongue ,

Simon Dove . It would indeed be very interesting to trace the results of this civil enactment to its ut most inﬂuence o u surnominal nomenclature among no t the German Jews , but such is within the de f sign o this work .

The old Greeks , however , adopted the same

—6 See Luke i . 59 3. A N S 1 6 CIVIL D RELIGIOU OFFICES . 3 plan as that which was in vogue among the Jews ' the father s name was appended to the name of the son . This custom also prevailed among our

English progenitors , and although they were not compelled by civil action to take surnames as were the Jews , yet the name of the father thus append ed very naturally passed into a surname by com mon consent . There is but a single step from ’ m James Thomas s son to James Tho pson , and ’ from John James s son to John Jameso n . So Wil ’ m liam John s son became Willia Johnson , and thus we have the Clue to a large number of patro ’ n mi — — cs n i . e . y , as A derson , Andrew s son Dix

and . i son , Dickson , Richardson The appellat on William thoroughly illustrates the patronymic pos sib ilities w hich one of these English Christian names has proven to have contained . It has transcended its original sphere in Christian nomen clature , and has become in surnominal literature a generic title , surrounded by no inconsiderable number of specific appellations . e The bold and adventurous Northmen , whil fi w ill they were heathens , dei ed the , and we may u rest assured that no feat re of ancient mythology , as crude as the mythologic speculations of the n Northme may have been , has exerted a more powerful influence on English history and civiliza tion than this phase of the ancient Norse religion . ” A u In the beginning , not God , but the cow du mb la h fi contrived to fas ion the rst man , Bur , not out of the dust of the earth , but laboriously M M S 1 64 A R AM B LE A ONG S UR NA E .

licked him out of the solid rock . It is not there a s r s t the fore u pri ing fact hat Bur , creature of of su ch persistent will force on th e part of th e co o d sacred w , became the grandfather of the g i W li , the Will , who ranked equally with Odin , the - V 6 . e all pervading , and , the holy Hence we hav

the Teutonic Christian name William , denoting ” s r helmet of resolution . The name w a popula - throughout the whole Teuto nic speaking world . Hence before th e day of surnames John or Henry th e sons of William would very naturally be al ’ t s s lu ded o a William s John or Henry , and in thi

way th e Christian name passed into a surname . l Therefore we have Williamson , Fitzwi liams , and are e Mcw illiams . Wilson and Willson contra

tions of Williamson . Billing is the son of Will , and the addition of the letter 5 to this last name s us n i give Billings , the gra dson of the orig nal Will e or Bill . The appellative Willi was pronounced the n n Wylie in North of E gland and in Scotla d ,

and frequently o ccurs as a su rname . Willis is also a th e a Scotch contr ction of Willies , and is precisely

same name as the English Williams . Wilkin s and Wilkes are dialectic variations of the same popular o Wilmett n h cognomen . Wilm t and are old E glis a feminines of William , and are occ sionally met

s . m e is w ith as surname Wi s is a Dutch nam , and th e same as th e English Williams . m r Willim ar e e Wil e is from the German , r solut Willih eri fame , while , resolute warrior , has given u s the German surname Willer and the English

1 66 A RA M BLE A M ONG S URNAM ES .

n n ants of John . The g being dropped for co ve ie nce w e of pronunciation , have the common sur m name Jenkins . We someti es meet individuals a bearing the surnomin l diminutive Littlejohn , whose gigantic bodies eloquently deny the truth n ful ess of their patronymic title . But when we t consider hat Jones is a corruption of Johns , and ponder th e universal prevalence O f this Scripture m t ﬁ cogno en , ogether with its speci c appellatives , we must conclude that the fall of man by no means contravened the injunction of God to

Adam , Be fruitful , and multiply , and replenish n the earth , and subdue it ; for , as we have see , while there is a visible connecting link betw een William ses l the Smiths and the , there is an invisib e spiritual afﬁnity suggested by divine revelatio n linking indissolubly together the three most wide spread and numerous families on the earth . Towering over all the numerous progeny of the m n sons of Ada , at least in civilized lands , the ame ’ ” John , the Lord s grace , and the appellatives of e that name , stand conspicuously pre minent ; next O f in order come the sons Wili . the will ; while u last , but not least , the Smiths , the st rdy actors in n w ill the drama of life , go forth in Obedie ce to the , under divine grace , to multiply , replenish , and sub due the earth . Though we hear no more of Wili ﬁ after the creation of the rst human pair , except O f vald in names bestowed by the sons men , ,

valeo identical almost with the Laten , to will or choose , expressed in the Teutonic tongue that 1 6 CIVIL AND RE LIGIOUS OFFICERS . 7 will power which the god was believed to have “ ” n . planted in the huma soul Names in Wal , s- ays Charlotte Yonge , are chieﬂy Northern , ” those in Wil mostly Saxon . The German Wal ther and the English Walter are therefore closely allied to William and its appellatives . The names have a commo n origin in the mythological deity m Wili . Walther and its English for Walter C n were and are popular histia names , the mean ing of which is powerful warrior . They have also become common as surnames . Wat is a very early co ntraction of Walter ; and since there were

Watts , it is by no means a matter of surprise that

Watso ns . there were and are Water , another form ’ O f nam e w as the same , in use in Shakespeare s day , for Water was the assassin of Suffolk . Hence h we have t e surnames Waters and Waterson . s s fﬁ in The English pos essive is frequently a xed ,

O f 5 072 . stead , to the name of the father Thus John ’ m n Andrew s son , instead of beco ing John A derson , became John Andrews . The Greek name Steph en , a crown , having been the name of a father , p erpetuated itself also as the surname O f his prog eny , as Stephens and Stephenson . The latter n m r a e is frequently cor upted into Stinson , the writer having met with such a contractio n relative to this name by a somewhat backwoods populace , in spite of the repeated protests on the part of the f in O . unfortunate descendant Stephen Robert , i ” the Teutonic language s gnifying bright fame , has given us the surnames Roberts , Robertson , 1 6 M E 8 A RAM BLE AM ONG S URNA S .

n and e nr f m th e Robinso , Robeson ; whil He y , ro “ ” e rul r h a same tongue and meaning hom e , s su ns and a r n nd given us the rnames Hawki H r iso , a n nn through th e G erman He nd ricks a d He ing . But th e reader m ay ask how these names are rec o n il d to f s a t I n r c e the caption O thi ch p er . a swe that the family w asa civil institution andis approved is t e in by God , and h refore a div e institution also , and that we are simply rambling accordi ng to th e ﬁ r O f th e o and promise made in the rst pa t b ok , that we are coming presently to those names de n ﬁi rived directly from civil a d religio us O ces . ’ And if the critic s name should happen to b e Davis s a h we seek to appease him by aying th t he , wit Davieses the Davids , Davidsons , and , descended from some Welsh progenitor whose Christian ” “ t name David means beloved , and hat the primal progenitor of the wide-spread family w as ’ a o w n r and at the man fter God s hea t , th among the Welsh the name was contracted into ff s l t Ta y , but it mu t be distinct y understood tha the writer is not manufacturing tafy to avoid

criticism from the sources mentioned . fi F itz filiu s so n The Norman pre x (from , a ) is ' frequently met with . The Russians afiix w z tz and k i the Polanders s y to sign fy the same thing . The

ﬁ u ﬁ . f Welch pre x p, which signi es son It is said O ' l a We shman , who was very zealous that no one

should surpass him in the length of his pedigree , when making out his genealogical tree , wrote near “ the middle of his long array of dj ﬁs : About this

1 0 A M M 7 A R BLE A ONG S U RNAM ES .

tradictio ns . But it does seem a little strange that ' O f R ices R i ckards TIz o m ases the daughters the , , , B rians N eals , and did not receive any such last n m ni ing co g o e c distinction . But perhaps names i were not plent ful , and evidently they were not ,

H eat/z Wo o d for our progenitors utilized every , , G len M eado w , , pasture , marsh , hedge , and h C ristian name in making surnames . Therefore they must h ave thought that it would be but a waste O f time and name material to confer such appellations on the sex ever ready to change them

w hen a proper opportunity presented itself . I have no apology to Offer for leading those of my readers who have followed me thus far into H ed es the swamps , along the g , by means of the H ed e atb To w ns and i g p , through the cit es , over the ields u Wo o ds F and thro gh the and pastures , and R iv ers B ecks along the , across the , and along the pathway by t/z e B urns ; for if these rambles have

made you tired , have we not refreshed ourselves O f under the thatched roofs the Williams , Richards , ' and a number O f others I need not mention ? and have we not looked upon the ﬂaxe n-haired progeny O fthese O ld Anglo-Saxons through whom w e have received our names ? Who remonstrates with me ? Have we not sat by th e S tillw ell at noo n and lis te ned to its progeny chatter like gurgling waters ? th e Have we not scaled Aldridge ( high ridge ) , Whose progeny have suffered an inappreciative e u O f populac to corr pt the name that eminence , where beautifu l landscape scenes burst u pon our 1 1 CIVIL A N D R E L IGIOUS OFFICES . 7

i ? View , into Aldr ch Have we not listened to the so ngs and chirps O fthe birds of the F o rest? Why complain , then ’ But here is a priest s cell , and verily , as we re. a w e im fresh ourselves at his humble bo rd , are pressed with the fact that he gave the world a sur n in ro h ib ame through his progeny , spite of the p h ito ry law O f the mother Church . But o w the mighty are falle n ! Here even the progeny of the Popes greet us ! The infection is wide-spread S n i ce the Popes have set the example , for here th e comes the descendants of Abbot , the Prior or

Pryor (you may spell their names either way , for precedent and rule are unknown factors in spell ing surnames ) . But these holy Churchmen w ere n t O f o ashamed their crime , for they suffered their a n fﬁ progeny to t ke their names , eve if their o ces were not communicable . Really there seem s to be but little difference in this respect betw een saint and sinner ! But here comes a descendant O f the ! Dean . Alas he appears to have tarried too long at the wine , but the Protestants are not one whit behind the Catholics when it comes to breaking law , for there goes Bishop and Parsons arm in arm ! h , and jolly fellows they are Perhaps t ey have never thought O f the holy ashes O f their pro genitors . But we sometimes see the Sexton a fﬁ little too lively for one holding his o ce , while the songs of th e Clark were not alw ays le arned at Sun day school O r holy service . But holy privileges and immunities do not always make a man after M M 1 72 A RA BLE A ONG S URNAM E S .

’ s ea e is l e tun ar r God h rt , for her a ittl re ed unde w O f the very shado the holy temple , and men call the offspring of him who dwelt so near th e house O f b ut s ! God Templetons , ala like many of ’ a s s th e e e o n no t Ad m s degenerate on , T mpl t s are all Christians . The Jordans are de scended from a religious pe ople . Their progenitors were probably Cru saders w as th e n , for it u iversal custom of the pil grims to Palestine to bring back w ith them a b o ttle o f o i water fr m the Jordan for bapt smal purposes . ” s n at Hence , ays Skeat , the term Jorda came last to signify a bottle or vessel in which ﬂuids w e and s r in u er kept , in thi way the te m came se m as a com on English Christian name , and even tu all e u s r y became a common surnam , j t as Hen y ,

. Th e Thomas , and William became patronymics n bottle , however , as well as the child or childre , t th e e ook name , doubtl ss , from the River Jordan , th e water of which was used at the christening . But alas ! m any of the degenerate sons of men have left O ff carrying bottles of holy water from s to the Jordan , and instead of that bapti mal water w t n s e r hich supers itio a cribed gr at merit , ca ry con cealed on their persons and otherwise bottles con taining ﬂuids intended for other purposes than a s sacramental uses . May none of the descend nt of the Jordans ever thus compromise the holy her itage whic h their fathers have left them ! t r Our progenitors were very religious . A s o thei piety so much cannot be afﬁrmed ; yet they h ad

M S A M S 1 74 A RAMBLE A ONG URN E .

turned into the realms of ﬁction . It certainly would have been quite an addition to the school of

. B O b O an O ld idealists is Teutonic word , and is one O f the many forms of the primitive and uni

abba . versal , father In the Old German it occurs

: B o b . in three forms Bobo , , and Poppo It is

synonymous with the English Pope . But to return m G u dleifr to the surna e Gulley , is a Norse name , “ and signiﬁes divine relic . History informs us that a man by that name came to England with the m w as tu Danes , where the na e rned into a sur n G ulleiv ame as , then shortened into Gulley , and

lengthened into Gulliver , a veritable though quaint surname for the Lemuel Gulliverwhom Swift con ducts through Laputa and Brobdignag with cool ” r ness worthy of northe n forefathers . Mauritius was naturally a term with the R O Th ﬁ mans for a man of Moorish lineage . e rst saint O fthis name was the Tribune of th e Theban m an legion , all Christians , who perished to a O f - under the blows their fellow soldiers , near the

h . foot O ft e great St . Bernard To this brave man is due the great frequency O f Mau rits in Switzer

land , passing into Maurizio on the Italian border O l and Moritz on the German . The d French was O ld Meurisse ; the English , Morris The Breton w form is Norris ; the name , ho ever , when assimi ‘ lated to the Latin spelling , becomes Maurice . The Irish and Scottish Morris must no t be con founded with the English and French Morris and

* “ N m Y . 20 1 See Christian a es , by Charlotte M . onge , p . 1 CIVIL AND R ELIGIOUS OFFICES . 75

Maurice . The name as it occurs in Ireland and Scotland is in “ imitation of the Gaelic Morier ” tagh , a sea warrior . i O f Samson was a m ghty man valor , a prod i gy in strength . Hence the British Church did not pass him by when it sought for names at the bap tism l a font . Samson was a prominent Welsh b a ishop and s int in the Olden time , from whom m the name beca e a monastic appellation , as is ’ evidenced by Mr . Carlye s favorite Abbot Sam

son . Our English progenitors , however , together - in with all the English speaking world since , have

sisted , in writing the surname Samson , in putting

a p where it has no business , just as is the case

with the English name Hampton . The French th e a i have , in this name , changed into , and write n h it Simso , which is per aps more like the origi nal ; and our Simpson and Simkins may thus be n h derived from it , whe t ey do not come from m ” Simon , which was much ore frequent . Simeon sc/z anz a is Hebrew from , to hear , it is frequently b e confounded with the Greek Simon , which , I

lieve , has come to have the same import , obedient . tw o The last surnames , together with Simmonds ,

Simmons , Simcoe , and Sykes , are all corruptions O f that Hebrew appellation ﬁrst bestowed by the l O d patriarch Jacob on one O f his sons . We may thus derive many English surnames r from Ch istian names , which were really gathered O f from the four corners the earth , and which w s w ere brought into what , in those days , a a very 1 76 A R AM BLE AM O NG S URNAM ES .

O f dark co rner of the world , which explains many th e inconsistencies w hich adhere to surnames . Names which were derived from civil Ofﬁce s [ fin s ueens are ve ry common . We have g and Q n b ut amo g us , those who bear these titles of roy alty must not become elated and claim truly roy a a! descent . The fact that man is named King or Quee n may really evidence nothing more than th s that his progenitors were merely e attendant , or u O f a ho sehold servants , royalty , for there is but ’ step between the King s John , and John King . w : th e O fth e One thing is patent , ho ever progenitors Kings and Queens were men who at least stoo d ” d in the presence O fKings . Men were knighte S s for brave deeds , and ince there were Knight t O f t e many , it is no mat er surprise hat they hav “ multiplied from the rivers to the ends O f th e ” h w earth . The squire as al ays been an important civil functionary . His progeny have taken th e

u . name Squires and Sq iers The Page , Earl , C tuart e Baron , Duke , Lord , onstable , and S hav each given the world a surname . As a surname combining the dual idea con taine d in the caption O fthis chapter the writer begs to close this ramble among the civil and religious Ofﬁces O four ancestors by pre senting his own sur

n e . O ld e nominal cog om n Daniel is an nam , and ” is of Hebrew origin . It means a divine judge . O ld r The p ophet of the captivity , vindicated , in his th e O f administration , validity the idea embodied th in his name ; he , like the American branch o f e

C HAPTER XI .

FE W S M S A GAELIC URNA E .

T was Sydney Smith who said that it required a ham mer and a chisel to get a joke into a ’ Scotchman s head . Perhaps the reverend wit never knew why his Gaelic neighbors were so steeled against th e funny things that Englishme n nd wrote a spoke . There is a possibility of satiety even in the risible regions of jocundity . That which is ludicrous at ﬁrst may become so common h as to disgust rather than delight men . He w o would arouse the risible faculty of a soul must ﬁnd out something new under the sun . Jokes are really so common with the Scotch that their prev alence have rendered that which is only O rdinari

l . are y funny , dull and insipid Their surnames freque ntly veritable jokes . Dr . Guthrie reports

f . having read O one Rev . Mr Scamp , who was in et w as a sense , always a scamp , y much esteemed ” while he lived , and died greatly lamented . His

r . saw ve y name was a capital jest , and Dr Guthrie the point without the aid O f either a hammer or a m chisel . Some Gaelic surnames in co mon use to-day surpass farcically even that unfortunate ’ n preacher s humiliating co gnomen . There is Joh “ ” Dougal , the black stranger , who is neither a h stranger nor very dark . He married a Scotc (17s) 1 A FE w GAELIC S U RN AM ES . 79

f lassie , O course , for the Scotch are generally clan nish ; Bessie M cDo ugal may have been her name

so n . that is , Bessie , the of the black stranger But what is truly remarkable , they raised as interesting a family of as w lz ite children as could be found a on the A merican continent . It was feat which no Englishman could have possib ly accomplished .

Dugald is precisely the same name as Dougal , or tw o Dougall , as it is sometimes spelled . The names have been from time immemorial Highland m na es , and together with Donald serve as the national nickname of the Gael among the Low ” C . . landers , says harlotte M Yonge Dowal is an

Irish form O fthe name Dougal . Donald is said to have been the ﬁrst Christian king of Scotland . The author we have just quot ed , Charlotte M . Yonge , maintains that the name Do n h al w is the Anglicism of g , bro n stranger , but th e Irish glossographers have translated it proud

Chieftain . The colony of Scotch Highlanders planted about the middle O f the last century at

C . Fayetteville , N . , was made famous by its having been the place where the heroine Flora M acDo nald , with her husband , found a home after she had effected the escape O f Prince Charles ’ u him n Stuart , having disg ised in a Woma s clothes and passed him O ff as her servant ; and his head r was worth thi ty thousand pounds , and not a High all lander , poor as they then were , could be tempt ” ed to betray him . The heroic Flora , of whose adventures in her early years Sir Walter Scott has M M 1 80 A RA BLE A ONG S URNAM ES .

to written much , while on a voyage from America Scotland took passage in a ship w hich was at

tacked by the enemy ; and Flora , although nearly x ﬁ si ty years of age , bravely engaged in the ght , and thus had her arm broken in the war O fAmer

ican independence . The heroic Amazon was ,

therefore , true for once to her surname , Flora , the o n f f s O the proud chie .

Douglas means dark gray . By an ancient , t Dou lasses though improbable , radition the g are said to have derived their name fro m a Champio n who had greatly distinguished himself in an action . When the king demanded by whom the battle n had been won , the attendants are said to have a ” sw ered S h o lto , Douglas , sir , which is said to “ ” mean , Yonder dark gray man . But many writers contend , notwithstanding the tradition which we have quoted , that the surname is terri to rial and that it is taken from Douglas river and m vale . We cannot dog atically dispute this O ld w a tradition , for the Victor to whom the name s ap plied may have been dark so far as complexion is

concerned , and gray beard and hair may have If ﬁlled the description otherwise . the tradition s O f Do u lases is true , the de cendants the g have O f outgrown the complexion their fathers . Saun ders is a Scotch corruption O f the Greek Alex

O f . t ander , helper men Perhaps the improvemen O fthe Do uglases relative to their complexio n is o w S u nd rs ing to intermarriage w ith the a e es . Brian r or B yan became popular as a Christian name ,

2 1 8 A RAM BLE AM ONG S URNAM ES . th e N iales progenitor of the whole legion of , Nails , ’ M cN iels O N eils n Neils , , and , who have bee scat

tered to the four corners of the earth .

It will be remembered that James I . gave th e ’ O N eils shield of the of Ulster , upon which was “ a n engr ved a red hand , to the k ights baronets , whom he created as undertakers of the new

colony of English , which he wished to found in ” r Ulster . This red hand has a histo y . Neill of the Nine Hostages w as one of the greatest of th e pagan kings of Ireland . He was

next to the last of that name , who ruled ancient

Hibernia , and was assassinated about the year

0 . n H 4 5 His childre , however , known as the y

, m Niel became. the ost noted of all the clans of m Northern Ireland . Of the the story is told that on going to se ttle on the Ulster coast one of them resolved to take seisin of the new country by fin touching the shore before any one else , and d ing his boat outstripped , he tore out his dagger , O ff h cut his rig t hand at the wrist , and threw it on fin fi the beach , so that his gers were the rst laid on ” ’ ’ . O N il the domain The war cry of the e l s was , “ ” L amb dear A bo o o n . therefore , y , red hand set It was this renowned Neill of the Nine Hos tages w h o unconsciou sly planted the Church in

Ireland . His clan made a piratical descent on th e i Romans at Valentia , and among the capt ves car ried away was the boy who afterw ard became the

Apostle of Ireland . th e Fingal is a Scotch surname , and means 1 A F E W GAELIC S URNAM E S . 83

F io nnlao c/z white stranger , and Finlay , from , sig as niﬁe s the white soldier . Fion or Finn w the ” grand center of ancient G aelic giant lore . Fion is the same as the Cymb ric names Gwynn or

Wynn , and means White or fair . He was called by the name of Finn in the Saxon Chronicle , and ’ is there said to have been Odin s fourth forefather .

B eat/z S n , ignifyi g life , was a saint sometimes n called Hien or Hayne . She was born in Irela d , 620 and in , or about that time , she was consecrated ﬁ at Whitby , in the North of England , as the rst nun of No rthumbria . As the names of saints were particularly sought and applied as Christian names , the name Beath passed into the surname

Bethea . But we are told that this saint left North umbria in charge of St . Hilda , and founded the ” n abbey known by her E glish name of St . Bees . u n M cB ee Hence we have the s r ame , in which the ﬁn s al has been dropped , and which in the Teu tonic tongue means the son of prayer , or in its ﬁ Gaelic signi cation the son of life . Whatever the O ld h saint did beside , it must be admitted t at she

tw o . so n gave the world surnames Macbeth , of

n . life , is from this sai t

i n m ear Mears is properly an Ir sh ame , from , merry . The Scotch surname Gillies is from G i o lla l o sa r O f ntra , the se vant Christ , a homely co c tion . The Scotch Catholics bestowed much wor O n ship the archangel St . Michael . Hence w e m have the surname Car ichael , the friend of Mi G ilmi h c ael f . chael , and , the servant O Michael 1 84 A RAM BLE AM ONG S URNAM ES .

G ilmo r ar th e s n y and Gilmour e ame name , a d - r r i . G iolla na mean the servant of Ma y , the Vi g n nao m/z w as a fre , servant of all the saints , very quent Irish name during the Middle Ages in the - - . G ille n e ob n Highlands It passed into , and was ﬁ nally contracted into the modern surname Niven , and of course since there were Nivens there must

needs be M acN ive ns . When Neill of the Nine Hostages made his pi ratical n i descent on the Roman colo y at Valent a , o ff and carried to Ireland the young Roman , C al u rniu s n British p , he and his clan jesti gly named

b o P atricias . the y captive , the noble That name was destined to cli ng forever to Ireland and Scot land . St . Bridget ( strength ) , the pupil of St .

. G ilbrid Patrick , has had many votaries , servant u of Bridget , has been corr pted into the Scotch M aelbrid/z d Gilbert , while the pupil of Bri get , K el has became M acB ride . The great Object of ” tic veneration was , however , St . Patrick , says b e Charlotte M . Yonge . Nobody ventured to n G io lla Patrick alo e , but many were Phadraig ( servant O f Patrick ) or Mael Phadraig (pupil of G io lla Patrick ) , and the descendants were Mag

Phadraig (son of the servant of Patrick) , whence Fi atrick arises the surname t , translating the

Mac and omitting the Gillie . Others again were

Kilpatrick , but it is not easy to tell whether this K il o is the contraction of Gille or territorial , fr m ”

. . A f w the cell or church of St Patrick ter ard , ﬁ O ff however , the pre xes were left , and many

1 86 M M A RA BLE A ONG S URNAM ES .

l le bell , Colvi le , Somerville , Grant ( grand ) , and

Fleming are all , as their names bear Witness , of

continental ancestry . Richard Waleys , that is ,

Richard the foreigner , was the ancestor of the ” great Wallace . Hence that surname is a corrup

tion of Waleys . cli b t . Clyde is from the Gaelic , strong Kin K innaird ard is from , high head , or more prop

. . n erly , high peak Charlotte M Yo ge accounts for the surname Kelley in this way : G io lla

i C eallach Chealla gh was common in honor of , a

very local saint of royal birth , who was educated ’ by St . Kieran . On his father s death he was

about to ascend the throne , when his tutor inter fered , probably considering this an infraction of

his vows , and on his persisting , laid him under a

curse after the usual fashion of Irish saints . He m re lost his kingdo and became a bishop , but o f signed his see for fear his enemies , and retired to a hermitage on Lough Con , where , however , he was murdered by four ecclesiastical students ,

Whose names all began with Maol . His corpse w as in hidden a tree , where for once it did not show the inco rru ptib ih ty supposed to be the prop Th e rty of sanctity . e murderers were all put to u death on an eminence , called from them Ard a o f maol , or hill the shavelings , and his admirers ’ O Kill - have resulted in the surname y kelly , or for ” - short , Kelly that is , Kelly is a corruption of

C e allach S , which imply meant a devotee , and was transl applied to one living in a cell . A liberal a 1 A FE W GAELIC S URNAM ES . 87

tion of the whole name would , therefore , be ” grandsons of the servant of the cell . ’ O To o le Tuatb al Toole and are derived from , eian lordly . Kean is from , vast or large . The Tierna Ti h earnach surname y is derived from g , n kingly , an Irish saint who died about the e d of the ﬁfth century . Lachlan or L o ngb lan is said by

lao cb ail etymologists to be derived from , warlike .

Ferguson is a very interesting Scotch surname . It is claimed by etymologists that F ear is analo v i gous to the Latin r . The Gaelic for man is - - ear r . F ear co breitlz f , and the plural is ﬁ Thus , m an O l the who judges , was Latinized by the d V er o b retu s Romans and became g , the magistrate , f E o f du i. it will be remembered , the From the us ear Gaelic g , or deed , and f , a man , we have Fear h u s g , which , as a surname , was as prevalent among the Gael as Smith is among the English . Fear h u s The Fergusons , the descendants of the g , ’ O N eils a race of kings like the , are the sons of the man of deeds .

Buchanan simply means a washer of linen . It m is the Scotch for of the English name Buckner . G illas ick Gillespie is from the Scotch p , the ’ bishop s servant , which , it is probable , is a con G ialla E asbui th e a traction of the Celtic g h l st i word being the Celtic form O fthe Latin ep scopus . Gill and M c G ill mean th e servant and the son of the servant . We have rambled far eno ugh over Scotch terri tory to be impressed with the beauty and trans R 1 88 A R AM BLE AM ONG S U N AM E S .

cendent interest of Gaelic surnames . An open ﬁ m s t eld full of surno inal curio i ies , but very t e u n cult to ravers , lies before any one who may de rtak e to trace the meaning and history of Scotch r l names . We conclude this stroll ove Gae ic terri tory in the hope that some Scotchman will give to i the world a work embodying the mean ng , history , th e n n m s fo r e and traditio s of Gaelic a e , no peopl have a richer store of lege ndary lore than th e

Scotch .

1 0 M M S 9 A RA BLE A ONG URNAM ES .

will take the red way which leads by the ancestral R adw a s home of the y , and thence across the

Westwood , Where the ancestors of those in our

company who bear that appellation , once lived . If our way leads us by some steep declivity over grown with ferns , it will impress us with the ear Fu rnsid liest associations of the e family . But i here s a crude hut in need of repairs . Perhaps the Owner would recover his cot if he could think of the necessary w ork when it was not raining .

Verily , he has very much the same spirit that the pioneer interviewed by the Arkansaw Traveler had . a John Overstreet , who boasts of h ving a long line - of city bred ancestors , may tw it George Needham w e n as pass by the decayi g cottage , but even that will add to the fun by the way . Now our path way divides : one pro ng leads over the hill where that John whose progeny took the name Overhill once lived , and Richard , whose descendants are ’ Dick o ver called , may have been John s neighbor , or brother so far as we know . The other prong leads up the murmuring brook which ﬂows out from an ancient hog pasture . Hence its name ’ O f Hardenbrook . Here the progenitor the fam ily which has taken the name of the brook as a surname once lived . The Beckwiths may have n a been his earest neighbors , for that name was p plied to one who lived by a rivu let . If we con in t u e our journey along this murmuring brook , we shall pass , cropping out from the hillside , a deposit

10 See page 7. M 1 1 A RA BLE AM ONG S URN AM ES . 9

f w iz ite acre o chalk , popularly known as , contract ed into the surname Whitaker . Longacre and

Foraker may have been originally town lots , and one may have been in front of the other ; at least ’ the Fo r( e )ak er was in front of some man s landed no t w as n possessions , whether or it the Oblo g shaped lot which has given us a surname . But we have not noticed the numerou s play grounds by the way . May day was a great day ﬁ l in m edimval England . M ay e ds are numerous because there were many places where games h were celebrated on the ﬁrst day o f this mont . Those of our progenitors who may have loved syl van retreats built their cottages by the side of large bodies of woodland . Hence the name

Woodside . Those who thus reared their crude buildings in the dark shadow of the wood may have been freemen or they may have been Saxon t/z ralls who ran away from their Norman masters . w Hence e have the names Bond and Freeman . But as we have talked and rambled we have f drawn near to the site O an O ld mill . The pro genitors of the Millhouse family once lived here . They arrested the water that rushed over these ﬁn e rocks , turned it into es , and poured its con en trated f n orce on the great drivi g wheel , and thus n made for themselves an ho est living , and the place without even a very great “ local habita ” n tion has given ma y a man a name . But do you hear Robert Gritman singing ? His ancestors furnished sand to put where we place carpets . 1 92 A R AMBLE AM O N G S URNAM ES .

Why does he sing ? Because the site of this old is u s and rim see mill pict re que , he is like a pilg king rest and shelter . What doe s he say?

Mine be a co t beside th e hill ; ’ A e h h um al o m ear b e ive s sh l s othe y . ; A w illo w y bro o k th at turns a mill With man a all h al in n y f s l l ger ear . Th e s w allo w o ft beneath my th atch Shall tw itter from her clay-built nest ; O ft hal th e th e s l pilgrim lift latch , A nd sha m m a a w m t re y e l , elco e gues . A ro und my ivied porch shall spring E ach fragrant ﬂow er th at drinks the dew ; A nd u at w e s L cy , her he l , hall sing In u w n and r sset go apron blue .

b e n ! Her But hold your tongue , Ro rt Gritma

. Who name may not be Lucy , after all knows but that you may persuade some ill-ome ned Jane t ? - to share your humble cot age Ill omened , did I ? say Why , yes . Was not Lady Jane Grey b e ? headed for treason Was not Jane Beaufort , the

a . r ? wife of J mes I of Scotland , c uelly murdered Jane Seymour was one of the Victims of O ld King

Hal . And was not Jeanne de Valois , wife of

Louis XII . , repudiated for her lack of personal ’ ? A lb ret beauty Was not Jeanne d , the mother of ’ ? Henry IV . , poisoned by Catharine de Medici Did no t Jane of Castile lose her reason through of the neglect her husband , Philip the Handsome , n Archduke of Austria ? Did not Ja e I . of Naples cause her husband to be murdered ? and did she not afterward marry his assassin ? And w as not

INDEX TO SURNAMES .

A iken ’ A lb ret , Jeanne d A lden A lderman

A ldridge . A lexander A llamong A lle rdale A llerton A nderson BACON A ndrew Bacot A ndrew s Badger A ppleby Baldridge A pplegarth Baliol 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 . O n A ppleton Ba croft 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

A rcher Barber 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A rden Barefoot A rding Barham n A rdington Barro 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A rkwright Barrow 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A rley Barton 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A rmstrong Baskerville 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

A rnold Bass 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

A t t ing Baxter 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

A rrington Beasley 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A sh Beaufort , Jane INDEX TO S URNAM ES

Beavers Boatwright 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Ck 0 B C o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o Bobo o o o o B o dﬁsh B eekett o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 0 0 0 o o o o o o o o o

Beckham 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Boggs o o o o o o o o o o 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Beckw ith Bold

Bedford Bolt 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Bond 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Bookhammer o o o o o o 0 0 0 0 0 k B o o staver 0 0 0 0 0

Belling Bosomworth o o o n o w Bellinger Bo er o o o o o o 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 B m eltings Bow an o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o B o w Bennington yer o o o o o o o o o o . 0 n o B radb ro o k o o o o o t o 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bradford o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o B radlaw 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Bradpole 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 B id d ever ge Bra well o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Breakspear 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 . w Bicker Bre er 0 o o

B ick ersdike 0 0 0 0 Brewster 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bickersteth B rian o o o o o o o

Bridgeman 0 0 0 0 o o o o o o o o

Bridges 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Bridget o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Bristow o o o o o o o o o o o o o c c

Birch Briton o o o o o o o o d o o o o o o o B irch h o lt c . Bro k B irch ley B rockman o o o o o Birm ingham Broadhurst Bishop Broadford

Black Broadwater 0 0 0 0 0 0

Blackburn Bromley 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Brookover 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Brown 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 u Br ce 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Bloodaxe , d Bluetooth , Harol . Bo ardm an Buchanan 1 96 A R AM BLE AM ONG S U RNAM ES .

Buck Carw ell Buckh alter Carver Castile ane o f , J Castles Buckley Centings Cham b erlain Bull B u llﬁnCh Bullock m Burnha . Burnley Chattahooche

Burns Chaucer 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Burnside Cheesman Chester Chichester Child E Chosen , dred Callum Churchill Clark Camden Clarkson

Camlin . . Claybourn Clayburn Cleveland ' ' Candler Cliﬁo rd IIIIIIIII Clifton Capet Cline Clinton Clock Clothier Clyde Cobden Cm u r-de -Lion Co ﬂin Colchester Colden Coli n Collier

o o o o 0 o o o o o o o 0 o o o Collum o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

A A M A M S 1 98 R BLE ONG U RNA MES .

P A G E . 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10

106 Fielder 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 06 d 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Fiel s 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 106 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Fingal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 106

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Finn 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Fitz patrick itz w ater F 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 z m Fit willia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .

Finch 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 h Fis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Fisher 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Flagg 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 m 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Fle ing 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Foraker 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Fo rd 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 d w Forkbear S eyn 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Forest Forester

Foster 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Fo ulb k 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ec 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Fowler 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Fox 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Francis 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Frank 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Franks 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

161 Fair 56 French Fairb eard 2 , Baldwin 7

Fairey 1 54 Fuller

Falconer 82 Falkner 82 m 6 Far er . 5 Farnborough 100 Gardner 100 Garﬁeld INDEX TO S URNA MES I99

A d Great, lfre

Greenwich . Gregg

Grey , Lady Jane G reyfel! G rieg Griggs Gritman Gildersleeve Groves Gilhousen Guildford Gill Gulley G illas iCk p o o o 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Gulliver 0 0 0 0 0 Gu nhouse Gunner Gilling Gwynn G ilm ich ael . Gilman H A G OOD G ilm ary Haley H allifo rd Gilmour Hamlin Gladen Hammersmith Hampton Harald Harden Hardenbrook Harding

Harefoot, Harold Golden Hargrave Hargrove Golightly H arivald Good Harley Goodenough Harman Goodm an Harper Goodnow Harrison Gorman Harrington G o th m an Hartford Grafton Hartley Grant llase lh u rst 200 A M E M S U N M A R BL A ONG R A ES .

PA G E .

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 h w 4 , 93 Hins a 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hinton 1 38 Hobkirk H o gmire Ho gw o o d Holbeck Holcombe 1 68 Holder Holland m Hol es . Hooper Hopper Horn Hornblower Horsley

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hosier 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 H o u lb eck Houghton Hedgecock Howard Hedgepath Howe] 1 0 Hedges 95, 7 Hunter Hedgewood Huntley Hellier 1 1 8 Hurst Hendricks 1 68 Hennings 1 68 ICE L IN G Henley Ingham Henney 1 54 Ingro ve Henshaw Ireland Hentley 92 Iring 10 Herring 49, 3 Isaac Hertford 1 56 Hien 1 83 Hightower 87 Jacob Hill 97 Jameson Hilburn 1 58 Hillborough 1 2 1 Jaynes Hillhouse 87 Jenkins Hinds

Hinkley 0 x

202 A M M S RA BLE A ONG U RNAM E S .

M ill er 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

l M iner 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ﬁ ’ s7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

‘ M o ab 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ﬁ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

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0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

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Marsh . Marshal N ash M aso n N 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 eal 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 N Maurice . . eedham

N eill N etley Maxwell N eth erw ick N evil 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 N 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 eville 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 N 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ewberry 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 M E 20 INDEX TO S URNA S . 3

N ew port Parker N ewton Parkham N ial Parkhurst N ightingale . Parks N iu l Parson N iven Partridge N ivens Pate ﬁ N o rleigh Path nder N orman Patie N orris N orthwick Patrick N orton Patterson N orwood Payen N utfo rd Payne Pa nim O AK L EY Peib o dy O c y 0 0 kle Peac e w inne r E dgar O d g en Peaco c k O glethorpe Pear ’ O Kelley Peat O d l ham Pe nnypaCker O lney ’ O N eil O riginal O sborne ’ O To o le O verall O verbec k O verbrook O vercash O verhill O verstreet

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PA G E Pain 20 A M B A M S M S 4 RA LE ONG U RNA E .

PA G E

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 QU A c N no x Q 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 uarreler . Q 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ueen . 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

R A DW A Y 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

R a(w )leigh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

DD R f L E R 0 0 atclif e SA 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 S am so n R 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 avenscroft p 0 0 0 0 0 0 S am R 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 awdon son 0 0 0 0 0 d San ers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

R dh eif r 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 e e 0 0 0 0 0 0 . Sandford 0 S andw ich 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Saunders 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Sawyer 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 S axo n 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Saxton 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 Scales 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

R d 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 etfor . Scamp 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

R 0 0 0 ice . Scarborough 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Schoolcraft 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Scott 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Scribner 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Scrivener 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Semple 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 S e veno k e 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Sexton

Seymour 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Sharp 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 w Sha 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Shears 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Shelton 0 0 0 0 d Shepher 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Shipley

206 A RAM BLE AM ONG S URN AM ES .

PA G E .

m ter S u 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

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0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 IN DE X T O S URNAM E S . 7

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W rh all eth e 0 o -o o 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 ! 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wheatley 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Wheeler

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Whetstone 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Whitaker 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

o 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 White

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Whitehead 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Whitehurst 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Whiteman

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Whitesides 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 Whitington 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Whitley

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Whitman

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Whitmarsh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Whitney 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 Wickham o o o o o o o o o o o o o g Wicklow Wight Weaver Wigh tman Webb Wih t Webber Wildman Weber Wilkes Webster Wilkins Weiland Willer Weland Willingham Welborn Wilmer Welch Wilmet Weller Wilmot Wells Williams Welsh Williamson Wesson Williamston a West ll Willson 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Westcott W estﬁeld Westley Weston Winch ester Westwick Wi nslow Westwood Winsor S 208 A R AMBLE A M ONG URNAME S .

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

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0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

W b um O O d 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

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