Be Sure to Visit my new 1900 Galveston Storm Website at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootseb.com/~barnette
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SCOTTISH SURNAMES BASED ON PATROMYMICS
In England it was not until the early 12th Century that surnames became hereditary among the noble classes. The use of surnames spread very slowly among common people over the next century creeping from town to town and from the
south of England to the north. In fact, most people in England had no surname until the end of the 14th Century. It was even later that people in Scotland and Ireland began using surnames. In Scotland the
"Mac" prefix of a surname is patronymic in nature. It is considered an addition to a surname and in Gaelic mean's "son of". Thus, MacWilliams was the son of William and MacIvor, the son of Ivor.
In the Gaelic naming system surnames were usually derived from one's lineage, from a clan or from one's personal attributes. MacDonald may have been the son of Donald, a person of the MacDonald clan or family or Donny Little, one
named Donald who might be of a young age or small in size or stature. In Black's The Surnames of Scotland or MacLysaght's The Surnames of Ireland
"Mac" is treated as the original and only spelling of a name. In the past, however, people abbreviated all types of words including surnames. Common abbreviations found in Scottish documents change the surname prefix "Mac" to "Mc" or even "M' ". Thus MacIntosh might be shortened to McIntosh or even M'Intosh. It is unusual in modern times, however, to see the later abbreviation.
When surnames are alphabetized in Scotland the prefixes "Mac" and "Mc" are usually ignored and the first letter of the remaining part of the surname is utilized. Under this system MacAlister
would be alphabetized as Alister and MacKeown as Keown. In modern usage the second part of the surname may be spelled in upper or lower case letters-MacDonald or Macdonald. This style was adopted in the Nineteenth
Century to distinguish between a person who was the son of Donald or one who was of the general clan MacDonald. To avoid reprisals after the Rebellion of 1745, or after migrating off the land, many Scots Anglicized
their names by dropping the "Mac" making MacKnight become Knight. For more information on Scottish and other national or cultural names and naming patterns visit Carolyn and Richard Cunningham's webpage at
GENEALOGY CLASS OFFERED
Offered by Leisure Learning, Mic Barnette will teach an introductory course in family history. Roots of Genealogy-How To Research Your Family Tree will be held from 7 P.M. to 10 P.M. Tuesday, June 5 at Leisure Learning's 2990 Richmond Ave campus. The following week the class will tour Clayton Genealogical Library and conduct on site census research. For more information and to register, contact Leisure Learning at 713-529-4414.
SCOTTISH FESTIVAL IN ARLINGTON
The 15th Annual Texas Scottish
Festival and Highland Games will be held Friday evening and all day Saturday and Sunday June 1-3 at the University of Texas at Arlington's Maverick Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The festival features Scottish
competitive games, vendors of Scottish clothing, food and crafts and Scottish music, including harps, bagpipes, fiddles, dancing and singing. There will also be workshops for whiskey tasting, genealogy, Celtic art and medieval
history. For schedules, tickets and other information visit the festival website at
SCOTTISH FAMILY HISTORY SYMPOSIUM
In conjunction with the Texas Scottish Festival there will be a Scottish Family History Symposium from 8 A.M. to 4 P.M.
Friday June 1 at the LaQuinta Conference Center, SH 360 and Six Flags Drive in Arlington. Taught by two very knowledgeable lecturers, Lloyd Bockstruck and Grady McWhiney, the theme of the symposium will be The
Celtic South. Bockstruck is the supervisor of the Genealogical Section of the Dallas Public Library and McWhiney, a professor of history at Texas Christian University, is the author of Cracker Culture,
a book about the comparative lifestyles of the Scots-Irish in Ireland and the United States. For tickets and more information about the symposium visit the festival website at
NEWS FROM THE BOOKSHELF
For over twenty
years David Dobson has been held in high esteem as one of the most ardent researchers of Scottish immigration to America. He has located and published information pertaining to the identity of over 75,000 early Scots immigrants. In his research Dobson examined every known or potential source of information, including published and original parish records, passenger lists, prison records, church records, court records, deeds, wills, marriage
contracts, Treasury papers, State papers, newspapers and journals. Published in sixteen books covering the years 1607-1875 Dobson's compilations have been made available on a CD-Rom titled Scottish Immigrants to
North America, 1600's-1800's: The Collected Works of David Dobson. This CD-Rom is now available for $43.45, postpaid, from the Genealogical Publishing Company. 1001 North Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD 21202-3897.
