The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-11-15

an umlaut. In this country the name was difficult to pronounce and the spelling was, therefore, turned into Kester, Kos ter and Custer. The first settler of the name was of the name Paul Kuster, who, with his wife, Gertrude, and his three sons, Arnold Johannes and Hermanus, emigrated to America probably about 16S5. Their home in Germany was Crefeld, on the Lower Rhine. From there they had gone to Holland and finally they settled in Germantown, Pa.
 The Cute family are probably of Ger man or Dutch origin also, though there seems to be no record of the first settler of the name. There was a Pieter Clute, of Schnectady, whose son, Peter, of Sche- nectady, married Angelina Van Slyck. Their descendants are to be found in AL bany and other parts of New York state.
 To w. N, who asks for information about the Passage family:
 The only information I have about this name is that it is of English origin, and according to the authority of nomen- clature, Lower, it is a local name and was first borne by family living in a passage.
 To Mrs. A. G. w., who asks for infor- nation abou the McNeal and Harmon families:
 The older spelling of McNeal was Me Neil, and McNeal does not appear to have been substituted for the older form any where but in this country. The clan Macnell was one of the oldest of Scot land and is surrounded by q romance of many centuries.
 In this country one of the largest branches of the family was founded by John and Archibald McNeill who came from Scotland in ITO Archibald was d physician and settled in Georgia, and John was a general in the British army. John came to Georgia on a leave of ab- sence, and on the breaking out of the Revolution he was recalled into service by the British government, but he refused to obey orders, as his sympathies were all with the colonists. Without actually taking part in the struggle against the mother country, he did everything in his power to forward the cause of the colo nies. John had two sons, John and Archi- bald, both of whom located in Sangamon county, Illinois.
 The name Harmon is of pure English origin. The coat-of-arms for the family is described thus: Argent cross sable a stag's head between four birds of the | first. The English family is seated at Moors hall, County Stafford. | The first settler of the name in this l country was John Harmon, who was born l in England in 1917. He was one of the original settlers of Springfield, Mass | There are many thousand descendants ol ] this John Harmon In the country at the 1 present time
 | To J. H., who asks for the origin anf coat-of-arms of the Allard family.
 The coat-of-arms of the Alard family
 Is described as follows: Argent (silver three bars gules (red) on canton azure I (blue) leopard s head or, 1 can find nr data as to the origin of this name. al though the fact that the name Allarduc
 is derived from the name of an estate il
 the parish in County Kicardine. Ireland
 suggests that Allard may also be a plac
 name.
 To Mrs. F. J. S., who asks for informa
 ton about the Hampton family. of Eng land, and their oat-of-arms: : The Hampton coat-of-arms is described thus: Gules tred) on chevron betweeI
 three lambs heads embossed argent (sil
 ver).