The Topeka state journal., 1905-12-30
WHEN THE RAMsE1s MEET
Only One Thing to Quarrel Over
Use of the a and E.

The Kansas Ramseys and the Kansas
Ramsays held a convention at the
rooms of the State Historical society
Friday afternoon for the purpose of
organizing a state association Of the
Rdn1Saey tribe Owing to the tact that
the attendance wasznot as large as had
been hoped for, and the failure Of sew
eral prominent members of the family
to attend the organization was not
made, but considerable missionary work
was done, and it is expected that the
family organization for Kansas will be
made at a subsequent meeting.
There were about 25 members of the
family present, some of them being
Ramseys and some being RamSayS. It
might be stated right here that this is
the Ramsaey outfit. They can't agree
on how to use the "a" and the "e."
Sometimes the son of a Ramsay will
spell his name Ramsey, but there is,
on the other hand, dogged insistence
on both sides that their particular way
of spelling it is right Both sides can
produce the documents to prove it, if
necessary.
Last year at the ST. Louis exposition,
there was a bigoBaeeting of the Ram
saeys at the New York building. They
had Ramsaeys there from all parts Of
the world. They had one Englishman
who had dined with King Edward, and
was a member of the British parlia-
ment. He spells his name Ramsay. At
this meeting national officers were elect
ed. J. A. Ramsey of Topeka is the ma
tional secretary; Joel W. Ramsey of
California is national president.
At the meeting held in the historical
society rooms Friday a large collection
of pictures of members of the Ramsaey
family were on exhibition. In speaking
of the work of the organization, Mr..
Ramsey the secretary, said:
LAS to the origin of the name we bear,
much is yet to be learned, and many
things are shrouded in mystery. That
the name is old is a fact not to be dis
puted- There are three places In Eng
land which bear the name Ramsey, and
from these places the Scotch Ramsays
seem to have emigra ted, to Scotland. We
have not been able to learn why these
places in England were so named. They
have borne those names for many cen
turies. A question which arises is
whether these places were named for
persons, or were persons named SO be-
cause they lived in those places. There
are many persons in the British Isles
who bear the name Ramsey or Ramsay,
the former name predominates in Ire
land and England while the latter is
found only in Scotland. Some of the
Scotch who spell the name Ramsay
have admitted that their ancestors
signed their names Ramsey to wills and
other legal Instruments. Very many in
America have changed the spelling of
the name from the way their fathers
spelled 1t.
Il hardly need tell some of you that
am firm in the belief that the name
originated with the line of Egyptian
kings, the Rameses or Pharaohs Of
Egypt. Any one who will read history
carefully will see that this might be
possible. There were no less than eleven
of these kings who ruled Egypt between
the years 1929 to 1921 B. G. In the old
A nHev of ArbrOath in Scotland is found
a roll of the ancient knights and one of
these is named De Ramesey- How small
a step it is from "Rameses" to Ram
esey" It is my firm belief that these
powerful kings sweeping to the north
and west from Egypt carried their con
quests even to the shores of the British
Isles. If not this, then their adven-
turous dispositions would lead them to