This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: JW3Allbritten Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.reid/240.760/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Dear Debbie, You sure picked one damn hard surname to own! My maternal is Whitley/Reid>Reed, white-red-black and all! There were instances in both of those european bloodlines where they mixed with red and black (Whitley in Ga. and Reid in S.C.), and though it appears i only got white and red from them, i have plenty of cuz i've never met in person that are those-three-colors mixing pots. Med. blonde hair with green eyes, i also have a "mediterranean" complexion, meaning i have "olive green" skin tones. So, as i look like a spanish blonde, there's no telling what all i have dancing around in my dna from all my blood lines. Goes to show you how stupid focusing on external color is. As an example of Reid, mine left Somewhere, S.C. as RE-D and arrived in Alabama as READ, turned into REID, became REED, returned to REID, and in the case of my gfather and his kids, became REED. One of my gfather's uncles entire family disappears after the 1920 Census. Period. It also looks as if that uncle's middle name started as one name, became another, and may have mutated into a totally different third. Illiterate, they had no way of knowing exactly how to spell their names, and census takers were not always all that learned themselves and at times came up with bizarro monickers. I found one census for my Reed/Reid line with the surname spelled RIED. I found them by sheer plodding through censuses and luck. I've seen Debbie spelled Deubey and John spelled Jhahn. Allbritten - try imagining all the ways that surname can be mauled and find them in censuses. And don't forget, our ancestors sometimes lied to the takers for one reason or another. I even have one census that ! was taken by a member of one of my family bloodlines in which he records the surname of another one of my bloodlines in that county as something completely different. The scandal was, he was knocking cotton with the wife AND one of the daughters of that family. The wife and the Taker were first cousins, see. And one of his own sons had already run off with one of the other family's daughters on top of that! First REID? Whew. Get this: i once saw a thread on a forum where all these folks were going on about the Read/Reed/Reid lines in Alabama - who they all were, where they came from, where they settled, who moved on and where, etc. It all read very smug. They were so sure they were on top of all the families, mailing and chatting away. So i dropped a post on them about my line, and another three Read/Reed/Reid families that came, some styed, and some went, nearby to mine, and could they tell me about mine and if the others nearby were related. A great many of the given names were exactly alike. Oooooooohh, the silence. It almost gave me a concussion. After about a week of trying to get any of them to even suggest where/how i might get a better line on my group in connection with their work, they all quit replying. Guess we were just bastards, huh? Debbie, they were/are German, French, English, Irish, Scottish, here, look at this: Surname Facts Reid is the 232nd most common surname name of the 88,799 most common surnames listed in the United States 1990 census. Although it has sometimes been said that Reid is the Scottish spelling of the surname and Reed/Read/Reade is the English spelling, it more than likely has to do with the inconsistency of our ancestor's spelling of their surnames until the 19th century. The surname Reid means a red-haired or ruddy person, and legend has it that the progenitor of the Scottish Reid line is Robert the Red (Riach) of Scotland. Reid is among the 100 most numerous in Ireland and is one of the top forty in Ulster, where it is most common in counties Antrim, Down, Tyrone and Armagh. In Ireland, the surname can be of Irish, Scottish, and English origin. In England and Scotland Reid is derived from the word red and denoted a person with red hair or of ruddy complexion, the work red in medieval time being pronounced 'reed'. In Scotland the Islay surname MacRory, from Gaelic MacRuaraidh, became Reid. Also the Scots Gaelic name Ruadh, meaning red almost always became Reid. In Ulster, the name O'Maoildeirg (Mulderrig), meaning descendant of the red warrior, became Reid. The County Roscommon name Mulready also became Reid. Reid is a sept or division of the Scottish Clan Donnachaidh , the clan of Duncan and Macbeth of Shakespearian fame. ----------------------------- The Chinese name for Reid: Chinese Pinyin: li3 de2 ------------------------------ Reid Surname Origin (Oritin Scottish) Nickname for a person with red hair or a ruddy complexion, from Older Scots reid 'red' Source: An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names With an Essay on their Derivation and Import; Arthur, William, M.A.; New York, NY: Sheldon, Blake, Bleeker & CO., 1857. ---------------------------- How about family crests? Many of the symbols adopted into armory have been used since the time of the ancient Egyptians, but heraldry did not occur until the 11th century. On continetal Europe the most ancient family crest is on the monumental effigy of a Count Wasserburg in the church of Saint Emeran at Ratisobon, Germany. I don't know how much more i can discourage you. It didn't work on me. If it doesn't work on you, all i can say is good hunting, cuz, and enjoy the obssesion. yours, John Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.