I hope my Douthit/Dowthwaite folks turn out to be from Yorkshire too...my college French is rusty and my Norman French is non-existent......<grin> I understand Rev Sidney's quip better now....we used to feel the same way in Texas... but then, we got invaded by Yankees. I would appreciate any leads on Dowthwaite Hall..........thanks. malinda Roy Stockdill wrote: > Malinda Jones wrote..... > > >>HI Roy......my biggest brickwalls are in places other than > Yorkshire....at > least I think they are. > > For instance.....my John Douthit was born 6 May 1709 in Coleraine, > Londonderry, N. Ireland. His forebears were supposedly part of the King > James > (II ?) plantation of Ulster. Prior to that , there was a Dowthwaite in > Aberdeen > that was supposedly his progenitor and before that the jury seems to be > divided > between theories of they're being French Huguenots or being from Dowthwaite > Hall somewhere in Ingland. I haven't mentioned the huge number of spelling > variations this name has inspired....e-searches are futile because of it. > > I haven't learned enough about doing Irish research to be able to follow > the > threads. It's the same story with my Scotch-Irish Reeds and Carsons. > > I don't know the origins of my Keevers.....they spoke German , but I've > been > assured that Keever is not a German name. Kever is Dutch...so maybe that's > it.<< > > I CAN'T help, I'm afraid, with German/Dutch ancestry or Reeds and Carsons. > > Irish ancestry is notoriously difficult to trace because so many records > were destroyed in the various "troubles". There were numerous plantations - > i.e. invasion of English and Scottish settlers into Ireland - beginning > under Queen Elizabeth I and continued by James I, Charles I and Oliver > Cromwell and later. > > However, you may just possibly be on the right tracks with your suggestions > for your Douthit/Dowthwaites. I have looked up the surname > DOUTHWAITE/DOWTHWAITE/DOUTHET in the definitive work, A Dictionary of > English Surnames by Reaney & Wilson, and this gives the derivation of the > name as being from a place called Dowthwaite in the county of Cumberland or > from, as you say, a Dowthwaite Hall in the North Riding of Yorkshire. > Cumberland and Yorkshire are virtually adjoining counties, BTW. I do not > know where Dowthwaite Hall was (I would be surprised if it still existed) , > but I will try and find out. However, we are talking Middle Ages here for > the derivation of surnames. I doubt a French Huguenot origin for the name. > Dowthwaite, the place name in Cumberland, seems much more likely. > > "Thwaite" is a very common suffix in hundreds of place names and surnames > in the north of England. It derives from the Viking Old Norse word for a > clearing, meadow or piece of enclosed land. > > I do hope you turn out to have Yorkshire ancestry. Not for nothing do we > Yorkshire folks refer to it as the "Texas of England"! > > Roy Stockdill > Editor, The Journal of One-Name Studies > The Stockdill Family History Society (Guild of One-Name Studies, FedFHS) > STOCKDILL PREST YELLOW BOLTON WORSNOP > GIBSON MIDGLEY BRACEWELL SHACKLETON BRADLEY MOODY in Yorkshire North & > West Ridings > MEAD YOUNG in Somerset, Wiltshire & Gloucestershire > Web page of the Stockdill Family History Society:- > http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/roystock > ”Never ask a man if he comes from Yorkshire. If he does he will tell you. > If he does not, why humiliate him?" - Canon Sydney Smith (scholar and > humorist 1771-1845) > > ==== NEWGEN Mailing List ==== > INVITE YOUR NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS TO JOIN THE NEWGEN LIST > NEWGEN-L-REQUEST@ROOTSWEB.COM (FOR LIST) > MEWGEN-D-REQUEST@ROOTSWEB.COM (FOR DIGEST)