Especially for the attention of May, Jeffery and Barbara (thanks!) In return for circulating your comments to my (non-DG List contact) he came back with the following observations (copied raw from his message). May be of passing interest? ************* I was particularly taken by Jeffery Davidson's comments and I asked the opinion of a local lecturer on Manchester History whose courses I attend. He confirmed his understanding that miners were treated as virtual slaves in Scotland ( there speaks a Sassenach! ) but claimed he had found no evidence of similar treatment in his researches of coal mining in the Poynton area of Cheshire. But he ventured two other possible explanations: 1) there were various taxes or duties payable for baptisms etc and it may have been that you did not have to pay as much if you skipped over the border to Scotland, and 2) anyone found begging outside his own parish was sent back to his parish of origin. Perhaps people felt they had a better chance in Canonbie than in Kirkandrews on Esk if they fell on hard times! From your friend May's comments I rather infer that this switching of allegiance (which is what I suspect it really amounted to) was particularly prevalent in K on E. A year or two ago I met the Sessions Clerk of the church area that includes Canonbie and he confirmed that it had been common practice without offering any explanation. At one time I wondered whether it had anything to do with support or opposition to the Jacobites; this would have been an important issue when Bonnie Prince Charlie was planning to tackle Carlisle. But I am inclined to discount this and suspect that in the main it was the result of the 'lairds' ( to use Mr Davidson's term) of K on E at that time being the Grahams of Netherby. Some of my ancestors were tenants of the Grahams and maybe that family were deemed not to have improved greatly since they were pre-eminent as Border Rievers! Of course it may have been simply a matter of personal or religious sentiment. ************* Thanks. Ken

Hi Ken, Wish there was a more definitive answer to your friend's query. I can only speak from my own experience regarding my ancestor taking his children across the border into England to be baptised. Matter of fact, that reminds me that on the baptismal certificates it states: Ecclefechan, North Britain - that was in 1721. Kind of fits in with another thread regarding N.B. May <<Especially for the attention of May, Jeffery and Barbara (thanks!) > > In return for circulating your comments to my (non-DG List contact) he > came > back with the following observations (copied raw from his message). May > be > of passing interest?>>

"Sassenach" What does this word actually mean? I know who it referes to, but what is the actual meaning of the word? Sorry if it sounds a bit of a stupid question, but I just don't get it! Helen ( there speaks a Sassenach! )

Sassenach (ch = k). A Keltic word for a Saxon, or for the English language. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lavendersblue" <lavendersblue@ntlworld.com> To: <DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2004 5:38 PM Subject: [D-G LIST] "Sassenach" > "Sassenach" > What does this word actually mean? > I know who it referes to, but what is the actual meaning of the word? > Sorry if it sounds a bit of a stupid question, but I just don't get it! > > Helen > > > ( there speaks a Sassenach! ) > > > ==== DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY Mailing List ==== > ******************************************************************** > To UNSUBSCRIBE > send a message to DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY-L-request@rootsweb.com (for mail > mode) or DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY-D-request@rootsweb.com (for digest mode) with > only the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the message body. NO subject, NO signature. > ************************************************************************ > > >

Many thanks to everyone who has sent messages direct to me, and who have carried on the interesting thread on the list. I knew it was, in general, a derogatory name for an English person, but I didn't know where it had come from...the Saxons, who where west Germanic people who settled in the south of England (I always knew those southerns were weird <VBG!!>) But I didn't know that it was also a term used for people from the Lowlands. I now have this vision in my mind of a ferocious red-headed beast, donned in a kilt, chasing that haggis around the mountain top <VVVBG>. Incidentally, I like haggis; they're so cute, and the way those highlanders squeeze them into that boil-in-the-bag is amazing <lol> But seriously folks, thanks for enlightening me...and thanks for not letting it get out of hand and breaking out into war. Best wishes, Helen ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lavendersblue" <lavendersblue@ntlworld.com> To: <DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2004 10:38 PM Subject: [D-G LIST] "Sassenach" > "Sassenach" > What does this word actually mean? > I know who it referes to, but what is the actual meaning of the word? > Sorry if it sounds a bit of a stupid question, but I just don't get it! > > Helen > > > ( there speaks a Sassenach! ) > > ==== DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY Mailing List ==== > ******************************************************************** > To UNSUBSCRIBE > send a message to DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY-L-request@rootsweb.com (for mail > mode) or DUMFRIES-GALLOWAY-D-request@rootsweb.com (for digest mode) with > only the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the message body. NO subject, NO signature. > ************************************************************************ > >