Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-21
CORNER IN ANCESTORS
Nearly Everybody Wants a
Family Tree.
OF COURSE A CREST
TRADITIONS THAT CLUSTER
ROUND FOUR NAMES.
Real Nice Reading for the Clarks, the
HAIRLESS, the Johnsons and
the SCOTS.
Written for The Evening Star.

The present corner in ancestors. due to
the desire to establish the right to bear
crest or 70 join patriotic society, is bearing
a large crop Of heirloOms. Not silver or
jewels, but traditions and romances which
are almost as precious possessions. To in
duge in this fad requires large bank
account. for it takes dollars by the hun
dreds TO dig and delve for grandfathers and
grandmothers many times removed.
one has the warrant OF Holy Scripture
for taking up this work. for it was a divine
command enJoined upon the ancient Israel
ties To preserve their pedigrees and to
hold in sacred generation the memory of
their forefathers- Among the Romans and
Greeks it was considered euuobliug and in
spring To be able to boast pedigree back
t. the founders of empires. Today it is re-
Garded as a badge Of renown if one can
prove a lineage back to the days of William
the ConquerOr, Alfred the Great, or some
mighty monarch.
In covers of imperial purple and with
letter-press of a similar hue book has re-
Gently been published which proves by
genealogical tables, that there are at this
moment living in America no less than 100
persons through whose veins courses the
blood of Alfred the Great and other soyer-
eigns.
Where the SCOTS Came From.
To trace ones ancestry back to the time
of Moses is not given to every family. More
than ordinarily full of interest. therefore. is
the tradition regarding the family of Scott.
One historian asserts that the name origi-
hated from Scotia. daughter of that Pharaoh
King of Egypt. who was drowned in the
Red sea. Gathelus, of the first king of
Athens. was so troublesome. that his family
sent him to Egypt. where he married Scotia.
To escape from the plaques of which we
in he hell vii
large number of Greeks and Egyptians.
put to sea and 1n1lly landed in Wha. IS
now Scotland, thus named in honor Of
PharaOhs daughter.
In this country the name is common If
the southwest and northwest Richard
Scott is regarded in genealogical parlance
as the "emigrant ancestor or the settler"
'the pilgrim Richard of the first gem
Grafton He and three brothers who came
over IN the seventeenth century. settling in
Boston, Newport and Providence. are re-
garded as the progenitors of the American
family of SCOTS.
The Learned Clark Family.
The name of Clark. in its various forms
OF Clark. Clarke, Clerk, Clerke. Clarkson
and Clarkwel, is OF great antiquity. having
been used in Great Britain long before the
Norman conquest. In the, Doomsday Book
Clerke was Glorious. LIE Clerk is the form
in the "One Hundred Rolls" compiled in
the reign of Edward l. This was a record
of those who owned lands in the time of
William the Conqueror, "for which lands
some paid money, some sheep, some hens
and some service as soldiers" The name
meant learned person-one who could
read and write ancient and medieval lore
Tt was considered so honorable that many
changed their names to Clark: hence its
present frequency. Tradition has It that,
though of AnglO-Sax on extraction, the fam
lily became connected by marriage with
the descendants of Joseph OF Arimathea
The Clarks Were related to the noble fam
ily Of Gordons in Scotland, to Sir Richard
Saltonstal, TO the artist Copley and many
other distinguished people. II is related of
one feminine member of the Clark family
Who came to this country after her mar
riege-that "she was brought up at board
ing school, always had her attendants and
wore a gold watch, worn only by persons
of distinction" She used often to COM
pare her poor living here with her life in
England, but she could flatter herself that
here she had pure Worship"
Joseph Clarke, who came over In 1890 In
the Mary and john is the settler. or Jo-
seph. of the first generation. He was the
proSenitOr of the American family of
tlarkes. There is a general tradition that
Thomas Clarke was one of the officers of
the AaEhower-the mate-and the first Pill
grim father to set foot upon Plymouth
Rock, or. rather, the island in Plymouth
harbor. now called Clarke, and that it was
thus named in his honor. Among family
names are Reuben. Nathaniel Edgar
Hugh. Peter, David, Rebecca, Thankful
Nehetabel and Alice.
Origin of the Name Harris.
Rich in household possessions" is the
origin Of the name Harris. Harrison Har-
riuEtOn. Haara Is Anglo-Saxon for lord
and master; Herra in Icelandic means
King; Henry. Heinrich or Hainrich come
from the same root; and as Henry has
given names TO the most numerous group
OF English kings, so it has also furnished
surnames for a vast number of families in
Great Britain from earliest times. In
Wales the Harris family Is legion, the
name being one Of the most common next
to Jones and Williams In England there
are branches Of the family in every town
ana county. The name Is found in "A
i i OF sixty OF the most common surnames
In England and Wales in 1899 in the book
English Surnames." About the same da te
the name Harris stands the twenty-ffth in
deaths. the twenty-ifth in births and the
tWenty-seVenth in marriages In Great
Britain.
1t is very probable that all early settlers
or New England named Harris were chill
dren of Thomas and Elizabeth Harris who
were born In England. One Of these chill
dren. Thomas Harris, was the first settler
a William Harris removed from Salem
WIN Roger Williams. in 1888, to build
providence. r. l. Among the early set
tiers OF Rowley, Essex county, Mass, In
the seventeenth century were four men
named Harris-John, Thomas, William and
DanieL 1t is presumed that they were
brothers. Each had two-acre house lot
Iaid out TO him. which shows. that they
were men OF property and Importance. The
Oldest ferry in the United States that from
Boston to what is now Chelsea. was kept
by Thomas Harris In the early part of
i'oo Another Thomas Harris was one of
twenty Ipswich men who went as soldiers
against the Indians in 1913 and who for
tneir services were each given ''12d. a day
allowing for the Lords day in respect of
the extremity OF the weather"
There was a Lieutenant James Harris
who figured in the colonial wars A James
Harris and his wife Sarah in the seven
leenth century were friends of Owaneco a
Mohegan sachem, from whom they had
large tracts OF land on or near the Connec-
tlcut river. The successors of Owaneco
were also lavish IN grants of land. and
James and Sarah Harris soon became large
Iahdhoiders. Many grants and transfers
OF land are found on record; sometimes In
the name of Sarah Harris by consent OF
her husband, James Harris" and some
times In the name of James Harris. by
consent of his wife. Sarah Harris" They
are dated about the beginning Of the
eighteenth century.
The American .Johnsons.