The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-07-30

| ASSA ~ 0~-
ancestors where we may look upon the
haxen-haired urchins of our old Saxon
progenitors. If our resting place be
under the humble roof of John we can
certainly find no difficulty in account
ing for the existence Of the Johnsons: II
we stop with William we may account
for many surnames, and an English
writer has framed list of thirty from
tn, single appellative, as Williams,
Williamson, Wilson, Fitz Williams,
etc. The Johnsons and Jacksons have
one common origsn, they are all sons
of John. The Richardson's and Dick
sons are limbs from the same genealogl-
cal trunk. The Jameson, Clarksons,
and Thompsons, or Thomasons all bear
the name of their progenitors.
The Norman prefix Fifty (from fslius
a SOM is frequently met with, The
Russians ofhx aoity and the Polanders
! sky to signify the same thing. The
Welch prefix ap which signifies son.
It is said of Welshman, who was very
Jealous that no one should surpass him
in the length of his pedigree, when
making out his genea' gicai tree, wrote
near the middle Of his long array OF
aps-"about this time Adam was
born" Frequently the q in ap was
dropped and thus John ap Richard
became John Prichard-ap Howell,
Powel-ap Rice, Price and so on. We
are all familiar with the Macs and Os.
The Irish and Highland Scotch prefix
Mac to indicate sonship, while the
Irish use O to signifying grandson:
Some ludicrous things occur some
times in bestowing Christian names,
when some little Jenkins or Jones is
handicapped for life with some such
historic cognomen as Julius Caesar, or
| George Washington. T knew one little
Smith, not above five years old, bear
ing the ponderous appellation Napoleon
Bosaaparte. But things still more
amusing occur in surnames, when, for
instance some sweet little maid bears
the name Minnie Clarkson, or Nellie
O'Brian, or Julia McElhany, which in
plain English means minnie the son
of Clark" or smelly the grandson OF
Brian,n or Julia the son of Elhany.'
The Macs and O's when bestowed as
component elements in Christian
names give rise to very amusing con-
tradict;ons-"John Bolton O'Neall
Smith, means that John Bolton is the
grandson of Neal Smith, which ma,
be anything else but true, for the
grandfather in all probability was really
the ubiquitous John Smith.
But an unrelenting fate has liked
these names upon US and we claim
them with all of their contradictions.
But it does seem little strange that
the daughters of the Rices, Richards,
Thomas, Brians and Meals did not re-
ceive any such lasting cognomenic dis
tinction. But, perhaps, names were
not plentiful, and evidently they We're
not for our progenitors utilized every
Heath, Wood, Glen, Meadow-pasture
marsh, hedge, and Christian name in
making surnames, therefore they must
have thought that it would be but
waste of time and name material to
confer such appellations on the sex ever
ready to change them when proper
opportunity presented itself.
Towns and streams, hills and wells,
and the trees of the forest were also a
fruitful source from which family
names were culled. While Richard
who lived at or near the wood, natural
ly inherited the title Richard Atwood,
John from Cornwall became John
Cornwall or Cornish. While William
who lived on a hill, under hill. or
near a hill, we'll won for himself the
surname William Hill, or Underhill or
Atwell. Thomas who lived near
small stream (Anglo-Sa1on q becket)
was Thomas at the beckett, and thus
was named the martyr Thomas a
Beckett. John who lived near clump
of oaks was John otten oaks abbreviated
into Noaks. William who had pitched
his tent or cabin near notable ash
tree was known as William dtten ash,
!, ~hich easily drifted into Nash.
Surnames were also derived from re-
ligious offices which men held as Priest.
Abbot, Prior, Dean, Parson, Sexton
and Clark: and from civil offices as
King, Queen, knight, Squire, Squires
or Squiers; Earl, Baron, Lord, Cham
berlain, Marshal and Page.
But, to conclude this ramble, may
we not aspire to become leaders in our
several vocations. The Duke (from
dux-a leader were leaders, and it is
duty we owe to ourselves, to yonder
temple of learning, our country and to
God not only to become stewards ofthe
talents that God has given US, but to
aspire to be dukes among men. Ham
in the Saxon tongue meant home. Gun
ningham therefore means "the home OF
the knowing man." The knowing
man was truly the leader Of the men Of
his community, the name signifies pri-
marily the home of the king. God
:'hath made no kings and priests"
The great Carlyle derives the term
king from konning-kanning, the man
who knows or cans. Kings among the
original Scandinavian tribes were the
strongest and most potent men physi-
cally and mentally. Their attain
ments fitted them for the posi-