Folks: As you can see I questioned the surname SHANKS and had a look up done by the Pratt State Library in Baltimore. This answers one question for me, but also invites another one. If the Shanks of Franklin Co. were originally Ulsterscots and probably Presbyterians - how did they become Old Order River Brethren ?? Gordon Crooks ----- Original Message ----- From: "ssh" <ssh@prattlibrary.org> To: "Gordon Crooks@verizon.net" <gordoncrooks@verizon.net> Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2009 9:30 AM Subject: Re: Look up please > Gordon Crooks@verizon.net wrote: >> Eva: Here is a good one. The name Shanks is found in Pa. and they are >> Old Order River Brethren(very similar to the Amish) which originated >> in Germany around 1723. I recently was in contacvt vwith a shanks who >> lives in the South, she is of Ulsterscot ancestry and baptist. I am >> also in contact with two living Shanks in Scotland. >> >> So my question to you is are there Shanks to be found in both U.K. and >> Germany an what is the origin of the name ? >> >> Gordon Crooks >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >> >> Scanned MGW1 > Mr. Crooks : > > The entry on SHANKS in the /Dictionary of American Family Names /(Oxford > Univ. Press, 2003) is : > " SHANKS. Scottish and northern Irish : nickname for someone with long > legs or some peculiarity of gait, from Old English /sceanca/ [meaning] ' > shin bone ', 'leg'. " > I could not find a German connection with SHANKS, but the surname SCHANK > is of German origin. Here is the entry on SCHANK, from the same source : > " SCHANK. German and Dutch : variant of SCHENK. " > " SCHENK. German and Dutch : from Middle High German, Middle Dutch > /schenke/, [meaning] ' cupbearer ', ' wine server' (from Old High German > /scenko/, from > /scenken/ [meaning] ' to pour out or serve), hence an occupational name > for a cupbearer or server of wine. As a German name it also denotes a > tavernkeeper. " > > --Answered by : Librarian, Social Science and History Department, Enoch > Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.5.409 / Virus Database: 270.14.1/2407 - Release Date: 10/01/09 06:34:00