THE DEVELOPMENT OF SURNAMES

Cher and Fabio are unusual in our world. They go by one name. However, a little over four hundred years ago that fact would not have caused a comment.  Surnames did not come into common use until about 1600. In England they were allowed only two names. The only exception being royalty, of course. They could have three.

The law was enforced, and the penalties were severe. For the first offense the offender would be tied to a whipping post and fiercely lashed.   For the second offense the punishment would be more visible and lasting. He or she would have a body part removed, such as a thumb or and ear. If you were caught a third time, the price was your life. You would be hanged.

I the countries of Europe the naming practices differed. In Italy, as you moved from place to place your name changed to reflect where you lived. A good example of this is in my husband’s family. His fourth great grandfathers’ name was William Poston Monroe Scott. This sounds as British as they come, but all is not what it seems. We are fortunate to have a photo copy of this man’s journal. In it there is a small notation that his great grandfather’s name was Postonii, and he had emigrated from Italy to England. Without this piece of information we would have reached a dead end in England.

In Europe, if the name had a specific meaning such as a tailor it was simply translated into the new language. As people emigrated, names changed. Some who came to America changed their names to be more “American.” Others had their name changed for them by workers at such places as Ellis Island. In America during and after World War I & II many with German ancestry changed their names.

Foundlings were given names by the institutions in which they were raised. There is a woman I was helping with her genealogy who related such a story. Her father was a foundling in the early part of the 20th century, in England. There were no papers or other identifiers, so he was named by the people at the orphanage. Her paternal line stops with him.

Spellings of surnames change through time. There are several reasons for this. The most common one is literacy. The fact is most of our ancestors did not know how to read and write. So spelling of a surname was left to those who recorded information, such as tax collectors and census takers. The problem was that many times they were not a lot better educated than our ancestors. Another reason for spelling to change is family feuds. Two brothers have a falling out, and one changes the spelling to differentiate from the other family.

No matter what your surname is, just remember, that it has probably changed in the last four hundred years.

FAMOUS SCOTS -- THE BRAHAN SEER

FAMOUS SCOTS -- THE BRAHAN SEER

 

Throughout time there have been men who claimed to see into the future. The Medieval world had Nostradamus. The Modern world had Edgar Cayce, and Early Modern Scotland had Kenneth Mackenzie otherwise known as the Brahan Seer.

 

He was born on the Isle of Lewis at the beginning of the seventeenth century. His claim to fame was the gift of Second Sight. He was given this gift through a touchstone. It was give to him by his mother. She was supposed to have obtained it from the spirit of a Viking princess.

 

According to the reports of his prophecies they dealt mostly with Scotland. He is said to have seen the coming of mechanization and industrialization. Also, he is said to have seen the coming of the railroad. He called the tracks “black bridleless horses.” In his vision regarding the Highland Clearances he said, “sheep shall eat men.” The English land owners drove the Scots out to make room for sheep.

 

In one of his more chilling prophecies what he saw concerned the battle at Culloden Moor. “This bleak moor, ere many generations have passed, shall be stained with the best blood in Scotland. Glad I am that I will not see that day.”

 

The following are credited to him.

1. The joining of the locks in the Great Glen. The construction of the Caledonian Canal in the 19th century seems to have fulfilled this prophecy.

 

2. Pointing to a field far from the seashore, loch or river, he said that a ship would anchor there one day. The Caledonian Canal did not come near the spot. It was decided he had gotten that one wrong until one day in the 1930's and an Airship landed on the spot.

 

3. “One day a black rain will fall on the City of Aberdeen.” There seems to be a disagreement over this one. Some say it has not been fulfilled, and others say it refers to the North Sea Oil Fields and the prosperity it has brought to Aberdeen.

 

4. He foresaw the time of piped gas and water, “the day will come when fire and water shall run in streams through all the streets and lanes of Inverness.” The lines were installed in 1829.

 

5. He also made predictions about Tomnahurich the fairy hill of Inverness. “One day the Fairy Hill will be under lock and key and the fairies will be secured within.” It was made into a cemetery in 1860.

 

His most famous prediction is also the one that cost him his life.

 

The wife of the Earl of Seaforth was Isabella. She was worried because her husband was overdue home from a trip to France. She went to the Brahan Seer with her worries.

 

He told her that her husband was fine. When she pressed him for details he took too much pleasure in telling her that her husband was with a woman of little virtue. (He was later proved correct.)  This made her angry. She accused him of lying to ruin the Earl’s reputation, and sentenced the seer to be burned.

 

As the time drew near for his death, he made one last prediction. He foretold of the downfall of the Seaforth clan. The predictions were: a chief born deaf, death, destruction, loss of property, and a woman in white who would come from the East and kill her sister.

 

When Isabella heard these prophecies she became even angrier. To shut him up she ordered him gaged and stuffed head first into a barrel of flaming tar.

 

It is reported that one by one the prophecies came true until nothing remained of the Seaforth Clan.

 

Today there is a stone marker said to be the place of the seer’s death.

 

What became of his seer’s stone? It is said that just before he was put to death he threw the stone into a pool saying, “those who brought the crime upon me will never possess the stone nor ever know its secret.” Where the stone landed, lock Ussie is said to have burst forth.

 

There is just one small problem with this whole story. There is no proof any of it happened. During this time period diarist were everywhere. If you knew the basics of reading and writing you kept a diary. There is no mention of the Seer or his death in the Parish records or any of the diaries of the time. 

 

So if you are going to be a prophet be sure to have a biographer handy.