OWEN ORIGINS

OWEN is a given name occurring in Welsh and Old Irish. Sometimes it is spelled Owain. According to Harrison, the best authority on British names, it is not a Welsh word at all, but a loan-word, borrowed before the year 500 A. D. from the Latin and Greek. It is the same as "eugene" or "eugenius," Greek for "wellborn."

In Welsh most family names are patronymics, that is, they indicate that the person named is "the son or descendant" of somebody. 'Ap' is the Welsh equivalent of the English 'son,' thus John ap Owen, in Welsh, means "John the son of Owen." In English this relationship is also indicated by the use of the possessive form ending in ‘s’. John Owens means "John the son of Owen”.  After patronymics were no longer used, some retained the name of OWEN and others used OWENS.

The Owen family has been prominent in the British Empire and in America, its members having played important roles in war and in peace. The list is long of various early Owen families in Wales.

ROBERTSON CLAN

The Robertson Clan are an Ancient Clan whose forefathers once walked and lived in the spectacular scenery of Perthshire in Scotland

The Robertsons are one of the oldest documented clans. Initially the clan was called the Clann Donnachaidh. However, they adopted Robertson from Robert Riabhach, the fourth chief whose name means "grizzled".  In 1437 he captured Sir Robert Graham who, with others, had just murdered King James I at Perth. In reward James II gave Robert a charter in which all his lands were made into a feudal barony, giving him administrative control over them. The barony was called Struan and the chief was henceforth known as Robertson (from this Robert) of Struan.

Successive chiefs led the clan through the intermittent turmoil of 15th and 16th century Atholl. In the 17th century the Highlands were drawn into national history in support of the Stuart kings. In 1644 the Clan fought with Montrose and never lost a battle. The clan regiment was in evidence again in 1653, 1689, 1715 and 1745. The last three dates mark the Jacobite risings, in all of which Alexander Robertson of Struan, the Poet Chief, took  part.

PERTHSHIRE is a east midland county of Scotland, and includes some of the grandest and most beautiful scenery in Scotland, combining features characteristic both of the Highlands and the Lowland. The ranges of the Ochils and the Sidlaw Hills, which are parted by the estuary of the Tay, occupy the South East, while the North and North West. districts, to the extent of more than one-half of the entire county, are occupied with the mountains of the Grampian system, this Highland region being  intersected by numerous lochs and glens.

Scotland (and Ireland) did not use a “Coat of Arms” to identify clans or families’ surnames. The combination of a Crest and Plaid Tartan usually provided a unique identification of the clan.Family tradition says that our Robertson forefather that came from Scotland to South Carolina, as many Scotch-Irish did, returned to Scotland, leaving at least some if not all of his family in South Carolina. No one at this time knows his name.

His son or grandson, Joseph Wilton Robertson, as far as has been determined, was born in South Carolina or possibly Alabama. Information from the 1900 census records state that he was born in South Carolina, his father in South Carolina and his mother in Ireland. His son-in-law provided the information so it may not be correct.  He died in Savannah, Georgia in 1905. His first wife's name was Nancy McNamara. He married Mary Jane Harvey after his first wife's death. He shows up in the 1860 Census as age 12 living with a Mary Henderson in Barnwell County, South Carolina. This might indicate he was an orphan, depending on who Mary is. He is listed in the 1870 census as head of household and Mary Henderson, age 69, still living with him.

Variations of the Robertson name include Roberson and Robinson. Several items of correspondence have been found in the course of research that are signed by some, but not all, relatives using the name Roberson, dropping the ‘t’. This has been as recent as the 1920s.

HUDSON ORIGINS

The Hudson name dates back to about 1066 in the county of Yorkshire, England and is traditionally believed to be descendants of the Lords of Hoddleston by European Genealogists. The Lords of Hoddleston occupied the castle Millom in Cumberland, on the coast of the Irish sea. After the fall of the Roman Empire, there was fierce rivalry between the Norman’s and the Saxons over Yorkshire and the land around the RhineValley. The battle of Hastings (1066) found the Normans’ as conquerors although the early ancestors of the Hudson family remained. Hudde was a common nickname for Richard, as Bob is to Robert, so it appears that the immediate decendants of Sir Richard Hoddleston were known as the sons of Hudde (Hudson).

Although the Hudson Coat of Arms has changed over the years, the oldest known Hudson Coat of Arms consists of Three Lions in the Rampant position with three boars heads as supporting badges. The symbolism of the lions signifies rearing with strength, courage and loyalty as character traits. The boars' heads were badges that suggested allegiance to the royal arms of King Richard III. King Richard III utilized boars heads as his identifying badges to signify bravery and perseverance. Possibly, the three lions rampant is significant in identifying with King Richard III also.

WISE ORIGINS

The most ancient Saxon Viking surnames of GEWISS and WISS are northern Teutonic in origin, and are found in the 13^th (1200s) and 14^th (1300s) centuries in Angus and Moray, Moryshire, Scotland. In the medieval (1100-1200 A.D.) Kingdom of Essex (England) and in Scotland, the Anglo-Saxon surnames WYSE, WYS, and WISE are also found in the same families as contractions of WYSEMAN and WISEMAN.  Later, in the 17^th century (1600s), the surname is found recorded as Wyse and Wise in old Arbuthnott and Maryculter, Kincardineshire, Scotland.  In the 19^th (1800s) and 20^th (1900s) centuries a large density of the surname Wyse and Wise are found throughout Fifeshire, Scotland

The most common contemporary English, Irish, and Scot spelling is Wise and Wiseman, and these surnames are found throughout present day England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and the United States.  Those so named found in what was known as the “Scots area” of northeastern Ulster (Ireland) are most likely descendants of the English and Lowland Scots who were removed during and since the “Ireland Plantations” in the 17^th century, after England suppressed the Irish Rebellion. Other Scots having the same surnames in Ireland most likely came from those who fled or were exiled by the English soon after the 1745 “Jacobite Rebellion” was suppressed in Scotland

According to “Keating’s History” (Ireland), the WISE name is among the chief families of English descent settling in Waterford and Tipperary. These English families primarily possessed the territory called from them Gal-tir, signifying “the country of foreigners” now the barony of Gaultiere.

Wyseman was the name given to the juggler or conjurer at markets or fairs. Often contracted to WYSE and WISE. Sometimes, no doubt, the wiseman was the male witch, as the wisewoman was the female dealer in the lighter forms of soothsaying and charming away of ills. The wiseman and the wisewoman emphatically protested against having any dealings with the Evil One. There are such exercising their profession as white-witches still in Devonshire, and deriving a revenue from it.

The motto of the Wyse and Wise families is “SAPETE AUDE” or “Dare to be wise”.

VANN ORIGINS

The VANN name is undoubtedly from the British Isles, most likely Scotland.  It is known that some with this name did immigrate to the Carolinas in the mid 1700s, almost entirely all men, and probably prisoners that were released if they would agree to come to the new colonies and help establish them.

It is also known that because of the absence of women, many of these men took Cherokee wives. There are many Vann names in the Cherokee history during this time. All of them are part Cherokee and part white, often referring to their fathers as being Scottish traders.

Our Vann ancestry has not been traced past Elzey Vann who lived in the early 1800s. He brought his family from North Carolina to Georgia during this time. North Carolina was part of the Cherokee lands.

VARNEDOE ORIGINS

The VARNEDOE name is derived from VERNADEAU and is definitely French. Almost all American Varnedoe lines can be traced back to Leonard Vernadeau of South Carolina

There are various oral and family traditions that Leonard and his brother Henri were the only survivors of the Huguenot persecutions, which they accomplished by fleeing the Vivarais Provence in France.

It seems most probable that Leonard was born in France and fled from his ancestral home in the Limousin District near Limoges or from the Vivarais District. Pierre Vernadeau of Paris wrote that Saint Leonard was a famous local saint in the Limousin area and that the French Vernadeau’s used Leonard as a name frequently up to modern times.

The very first American hard record of our family is an entry in the South Carolina council Journal of the British Crown Colony of South Carolina dated 9th April 1736. It lists Leonard as a "patroon" [boss] of a trading boat.

As descendants spread from South Carolina the name of Vernadeau all but disappeared as it was changed to Varnedoe by those going to Georgia, Varnado by  those going to Mississippi and west, and others changed it to Varnedore.

FOWLER ORIGINS

An article by wireless to the NEW YORK TIMES from Berlin, Germany, on June 22, 1937: 

GERMANY EXHUMES BONES OF HENRY I, Its First King.

The bones of HENRY THE FOWLER, first king of Germany, have been exhumed in the ancient town of Quedlinburg, it was announced here today. The remains were examined by experts at several universities and all agreed they were the bones of the son of OTTO the Illustrious, Duke of Saxony, The one-thousandth anniversary of King Henry's death was celebrated last year (1936). Henry 1, surnamed The Fowler, is believed to have been born about the year 876 A. D. He was chosen king by the Franks and the Saxons in 919 on the advice of King Conrad 1. He died In 936."

Reference: Calendarium Genealogicum Volume 2. page 602.

There is in interesting note in history that Otto The Illustrious was such a wise ruler of Saxony that neighboring people asked him to rule them but he declined as his own people kept him busy but his son, Henry, the Fowler, united the Saxons, Franks, etc. into what In now the modern Germany. Some of his descendants were such good fighters that the King of France offered them Normandy to live in if they would fight his battles. Later they helped William the Conqueror gain the throne of England.

An old and rare book, published In the early days of type-setting, contains what I have not seen elsewhere, viz: the origin and signification of all the   family names In England. This book said that a Saxon chief, fond of the chase, and being a daring hunter, was called Fowler. This Fowler, accompanied by a numerous band of retainers and followers, went to England about a hundred years before the destruction of the Heptarchy, and the union of all the kingdoms of England into one, under Egbert. He settled in Sussex, and according to this old chronicle, the Fowler family had never failed to have a representative member from the eighth century to that present time of writing, to wit - in the early part of the sixteenth century.   Although the early chronicles of the country speak of several members of the Fowler family as being distinguished for conduct in arms In the local wars of the times, it will be seen that the professions of law, literature and the Church, have been mostly chosen as fields of labor and usefulness, by the descendants of the Hunters and Fowlers.        (Dr. Edmund Fowler, New York)

From ENGLISH BARONETAGE by Thomas Wotton, printed in 1741, Vol. LV, pp. 102-103, number 2101 b as the libraries were arranged in the British Museum, London, England, in July, 1937:

"This family was of great antiquity before the reign of King Richard I, when in that warlike prince's expedition to the Holy Land, Richard Fowler of Foxley, in the County of Bucks, serving as a commanding officer, in the wars, in which that prince was engaged against the Infidels, together with   other Chieftain princes, ....... 1190, maintained, at his own expense, a certain number of British bowmen, all his own tenants, to serve likewise in the said wars. And, at the siege of Ptolomais, (otherwise called Acon) upon an attempt of the Infidels, to surprise the Christian camp in the night-time, he, thro' his extraordinary care and vigilance, happily prevented them; his royal master, therefore, in honor to such eminent service, knighted him in the field, and caused his then crest, which was the hand and the lure, to be changed to the vigilant owl."

  From BURKE'S COMMONERS Vol. 11, p. 385, edition of 1834:

Burke adds to the above account that Richard Fowler was disturbed by an owl, he investigated, and found a sentry had been silently slain near the tent of the king, he aroused the camp in time to save the life of the king, and meet the surprise attack of the enemy.

JONES ORIGINS

LOVE ORIGINS

WILLIAM DELOSS LOVE, D.D. was researching the LOVE family in the late 19th century and the early 20th century. He never published his findings but his son WILLIAM DELOSS LOVE JR. used his notes to create a manuscript which is now held by the Library of Congress in Washington. WILLIAM DELOSS LOVE SR. visited Scotland in 1888. He searched the testament (will) files and the historic books which had been written in the 1800s. But he became convinced the LUIFES in Glasgow had come from Lochwinnoch Parish. So he talked to a JOHN LOVE who was living in Threipwood where there have been LOVES since the early 17th century. He then made many comments on where he thought the LUIFES had arrived from when they came to Scotland.

When WILLIAM DELOSS LOVE SR. was convinced the LUIFES had originated in England he pursued his investigation there. He uncovered a huge amount of information about LOVE families in the 16th and 17th centuries. These turned out to be no connection to the LUIFES in Scotland. He studied two ancient books on the surnames of Britain. One was LOWER'S - PATRONYMICA BRITANNICA and the other BARDSLEY'S -

LOWER in his Patrynomica Brittanica is sure it came from the French word for WOLF which is LE LOUP. In Norse it is LUFA and remembering that a Norseman ROLF THE VIKING, and ancestor of WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, had taken over Normandy about 911 A.D. the name may have started back that early. In Netherlands it was spelled LUF. In Italy it would be LUP and in very old French it was LOU or LOUE. BARDSLEY in his English Surnames agrees with LOWER on these names. In the Middle Ages a wolf was regarded in mystic awe which many  passages in early literature prove. In the time of Charlemagne several church dignitaries were called LUPUS.

St. LOU succeeded St. URSUS in the See of Troyes in the 15th century. It seems the name LUPUS was a sobriquet that was given because of the disposition of a warrior or in compliment of his deeds. It appears to be one of the earliest Norman surnames and was in use in Normandy long before WILLIAM the CONQUEROR invaded England in 1066 A.D. Several persons of that name arrived in England with WILLIAM. In some cases the name was "LOUEL" which was the diminutive form of 'LUPELLUS" meaning "Little Wolf" and was thus adopted by a younger son.        

SHERMAN ORIGINS

Shermans of Yaxley Newsletter, December 1997 (Vol. 3, No. 2)

The origin of the name SHERMAN apparently comes from some early progenitor whose occupation was a  dresser or shearer of cloth. One who shears worsted, fustians, etc., to even the nap, called clothiers (they dealt with cloth, not clothes). Referred to as the Shermancraft.

The name SHERMAN first appeared among some Savony people living along the Rhine River as far back as the 10th century. The Shermans could have come to England during the migration after the Norman conquest of England, under the command of William the Conqueror. Also, because of their profession, the SHERMANS could have very likely come to England from Flanders during the middle 1300's.

The SHERMANS of England were middlemen who bought lengths of cloth from cottage weavers, then they dressed or sheared it, dyed it if they had a woadhouse, sorted it for quality, baled it, marked it with their trademark, and sold it  to the clothes makers. Many of the Sherman ancestors of England were wealthy landed Gentry and Yeomanry.

England used to export raw wool to Europe, especially Flanders, and then import the woolen cloth. As early as 1332 the crown forbade the importation of foreign cloth into England and the exportation of raw wool. Later, Edward III established duties to favor the export of wool cloth, rather than wool. Immigrant Craftsmen,  skilled in the making of cloth, were lured by the English rules from Flanders to England Woolen cloth became the decisive specialty of England by the end of the 14th century.

Robert L. Sherman, Roswell, GA, Shermans of Yaxley Historian

It seems that it is impossible to trace SHERMAN family records farther than Thomas Sherman who died in 1492 because there are very few records of people of any kind at that time. The use of surnames at all does not go too much further back. And unless someone is involved in some legal or court record, there would be nothing. As to the origin of the name, it is recorded that June 8, 1274 a license to trade in wool was granted at Westminister to Richard le Shereman merchant of Huthe (Hythe) in Essex near Coljester [Colchester?]. (Cal. Of Pat. Rolls, Edward I).

(Recorded by Bertha L. Stratton in Sherman Allied Families, page 3).

"SHERMAN one who shears worsteds, fustians, etc,: an employment known at Norwich, England by the designation of Shermancraft." Since names were seldom written, they were spelled as the writer saw fit to  produce the desired sound. So one finds in the early records in England: SHERMAN, SHARMAN, SHEREMAN, SHURMAN, SHEARMAN. It would seem that the name comes from the early clothiers, weavers, and workers with cloth.

Roy V. Sherman, quoting Frank Dempster Sherman, in Some of the Descendants of Philip Sherman the First Secretary of Rhode Island

BACON ORIGINS                                       

The family is of very early origin, and while there are several versions as to the derivation of the name. The general opinion is that it originated from the Saxon word "baccen" or "buccen," meaning a beech tree. Burke's Peerage says that "Various conjectures have been hazarded as to the origin of the surname of Bacon, but to little purpose. It matters not, however; the antiquity of the family is beyond dispute; and there are few houses in the kingdom more distinguished for the production of great and eminent men." Lowers Patronymica Britannica says, "Bacon, A seignory in Normandy."

According to the genealogy of the great Suffolk family of Bacon, one Grimbald, a relative of the Norman chieftain William de Warenne, came into England at the time of the conquest and settled near Holt. His great-grandson is stated to have taken the name of Bacon. This was only an assumption of an ancient Norman surname which is still existing in the north of France. William Bacon, in 1082, endowed the Abbey of the Holy Trinity at Caen.

In "Family Names and their Story," published by S. Baring Gould, he says that Bacon comes from Bascoin, the family name of the Seigneurs of Molai. He speaks of William Bacon who founded the Abbey of the Holy Trinity as being Lord of Molai.

William Arthur, in his "Dictionary of Family and Christian Names," gives the origin of the name as from the Anglo Saxon bacan to bake, to dry by heat. He also says that some derive the surname from the Saxon baccen or buccen, a beech tree.

"The Baronetage of England," published in 1801 by the Rev. William Betham, says, regarding the name: "The learned Cambden, in his 'Britannia,' says that Buckinghamshire and Bucknam in Norfolk were so called from the buchen or beechen trees there growing ... and from thence it may be the surname of the family, being anciently written de Bachone or Bacchone as Trithemius; or Baucan or Baccoun, as Matthew Westminster, and some old records call them; as well as the word bacon, both in Latin and English, for swine's flesh, which Cambden, Verstegan and Minshew say came from the same word, because the best of that kind was made upon their feeding upon beechen mast."

As has been said, one Grimbald came from Normandy at the time of the conquest and settled at Letheringsete near Holt in the county of Norfolk where he had grants of land. He had three sons: Rudolf, who became the Lord of Letheringsete; Ranulf, and Edmund. The latter was appointed rector of the Church of Letheringsete, which was founded by his father. The son Ranulf, or Reynolds, resided at Thorp, Norfolk. It has been stated that he was the one who assumed the name Bacon or Bacon-Thorpe, but some authorities attribute this name to his son Roger. There were several places called Thorp in Norfolk, and he added this name to distinguish him from other lords of Thorp. The name Bacon having been said to have been taken from the word buchen or beechen, meaning beech tree, we might call him lord of the beech tree village. The word Thorp is said to have been the saxon name for village.

ARCHER ORIGINS

The chronicles of England show the early records of the name ARCHER to be derived from the Norman race. The name appears in England from about 1066 A. D., and its history is interwoven within the majestic tapestry which contains the history of Britain.  ARCHER occured in many references, but from time to time, spellings included Archer, Archar, Arsher, Arshire, Archere, Archire, and many others.