Hi Jes, and all, Jes will check my data later on the Trask. Blue Bellied Yankee?? that's a new one. :) I wrote a short article in my Pick Gen. about the various known Yankee names. I'll zap it here, if it's of any interest to anyone?? Can anyone add anything ? Alice --------------- Blue-Blooded or Swamp Yankee: You have all heard of these two names, I'm sure, from your parents and grandparents. I always heard Blue-blooded Yankee as opposed to Swamp-Yankee. Is it because the elders truly believed they came from Royalty? Or was it because they believed there was no foreign blood in their veins? Yankee may have derived from the Dutch word "Janke" meaning John. The dictionary tells us Yankee is any American from the northern states or any soldier or his family who fought in the Revolutionary War. A few people have been researching the two titles, Blue- Blooded and Swamp Yankee, concluding that neither title is covered in any known sources. They even resorted to calling known Yankees in the area to help define the logic behind the two above stated names. The research proved fruitless, to any real solution, both written and verbal sources; However; a few definitions were volunteered, as follows. " The Swamp Yankee was a rural , southern New Englander, whose family dates back to the Revolution. One who is frugal, not wealthy; laconic, not wordy; self-reliant; earthy and proud." That defines our Pickering Line, very well, however the Blue- Blooded Yankee was never defined in either sources. A recent article in the Woonsocket Call, R.I. sent to me on the subject, does describe a Boston Brahmin Yankee. The article states; "The Boston Brahmin come from a wealthy, more sophisticated background than the Swamp-Yankee." also; the Swamp Yankee was defined as " A native who comes from a country background and takes a down-to-earth approach." Swamp Yankee pronounced: (Swomp Yangkee) Ref.Source: Mark Patinkin; article, 1989, Woon. Call, Woon.,R.I ; American Heritage Dictionary of English language: Article; donated by Muriel (Pickering) Dalton

I checked several sources for Yankee, blue blood, blue belly, & swamp Yankee. I found nothing on the latter two. I have the impression that swamp Yankee is a regional colloquialism because I never heard of it until I started doing New England research. I checked 1) Fowler's "Modern English Usage", 2) Almond's "Dictionary of Word Origins", and 3) Freeman's "The Story Behind the Word". References 2 & 3 agreed that "blue blood" has Spanish origins. No. 2 said it was applied to persons of aristocratic families as opposed to all others. No. 3 said the nobles used it to distinguish themselves from the darker skinned Moors. All three references agreed that the origins of "Yankee" are uncertain. It was first applied to anyone of old New England stock. In the "War Between the States" southerners used it for anyone north of the Mason-Dixon line but usually prepended the word "damn". Europeans & other nationalities use it to mean anyone from the U. S. Ref. #2 & #3 said the most popular belief about the origin of Yankee is that it came from the Dutch "Jan Kees" a variant of "Jan Kaas", which literally means "John Cheese", an ethnic insult applied by New Yorkers to Hollanders (cheese being a national product of Holland.) John Fennimore Cooper, author of "Deerslayer" believed that the Indians originally pronounced "English" as "Yengees", but there is no evidence to support it. The Scottish word "yankie" means a gigantic falsehood. The Dutch "Jahnke" is a diminutive form of "Jan" or "John". Jim Bullock Littleton, CO