Yep, and my wife's Richardsons were ALL in Scotland (she still has living 2nd cousins there) and she has them documented at least back to the 1720s. The point being that - and no offense is intended - if you are looking for a single source of immigration from Europe to America or a single source anywhere of the surname, you are wasting your time. Because the name is a patronymic - a surname based on the father's first name, it is totally possible for multiple Richardsons families from the same county/parish to be unrelated. Son/Sen does, indeed, mean son of and it tended to be used by the Scandinavians and their descendants - and there were lots of those in the early British Isles. Napolean forced the Dutch to start using fixed surnames in the early 1800s, but my wife's Norwegian ancestors were still using patronymics when they came to America in the mid 1870s. Her great grandfather, Nils Sanderson was the son of Sander Oleson. Also, Fitz may be thought of as Irish these days, but it came to England with the Normans. And for what it is worth, I read somewhere that Richard - the base name for Richardson - is an old Saxon/Germanic name. Jack Butler -----Original Message----- From: Richard Tennesen [mailto:richtofca@charter.net] Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2005 5:09 PM To: RICHARDSON-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [RICHARDSON] origin of Richardson name Gary writes: > That they came from England seems to be a given. << My Richardson ancestors apparently stem from Scotland. My ggf, Richard Richardson, was born in Canada, and came to Kentucky about 1863, and the rest is U.S. Don't even know if Richard had any siblings. All I know about his parents is from his sheet, indicating they were born in Scotland, so he was a first generation emigrant. I don't know their names, though, -- anybody know how to find out so I could do some looking in Scotland? Thanks, Richard Tennesen, Capitola, CA ==== RICHARDSON Mailing List ==== To use the Richardson Query Board: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.richardson To review Archived messages: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/RICHARDSON-L

A little clarification. The Richardson's in Vinton's Richardson Memorial were reportedly all from England. I didn't mean to imply that every Richardson hailed from that country.... Seems to me that I read Fitz is another indicator for son of, such as Fitz Randolph might mean son of Randolph. Would that make Fitz an abbreviation from a longer surname? ----- Original Message ----- From: Jack Butler<mailto:jabutler@comcast.net> To: RICHARDSON-L@rootsweb.com<mailto:RICHARDSON-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2005 6:39 PM Subject: RE: [RICHARDSON] origin of Richardson name Yep, and my wife's Richardsons were ALL in Scotland (she still has living 2nd cousins there) and she has them documented at least back to the 1720s. The point being that - and no offense is intended - if you are looking for a single source of immigration from Europe to America or a single source anywhere of the surname, you are wasting your time. Because the name is a patronymic - a surname based on the father's first name, it is totally possible for multiple Richardsons families from the same county/parish to be unrelated. Son/Sen does, indeed, mean son of and it tended to be used by the Scandinavians and their descendants - and there were lots of those in the early British Isles. Napolean forced the Dutch to start using fixed surnames in the early 1800s, but my wife's Norwegian ancestors were still using patronymics when they came to America in the mid 1870s. Her great grandfather, Nils Sanderson was the son of Sander Oleson. Also, Fitz may be thought of as Irish these days, but it came to England with the Normans. And for what it is worth, I read somewhere that Richard - the base name for Richardson - is an old Saxon/Germanic name. Jack Butler -----Original Message----- From: Richard Tennesen [mailto:richtofca@charter.net] Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2005 5:09 PM To: RICHARDSON-L@rootsweb.com<mailto:RICHARDSON-L@rootsweb.com> Subject: Re: [RICHARDSON] origin of Richardson name Gary writes: > That they came from England seems to be a given. << My Richardson ancestors apparently stem from Scotland. My ggf, Richard Richardson, was born in Canada, and came to Kentucky about 1863, and the rest is U.S. Don't even know if Richard had any siblings. All I know about his parents is from his sheet, indicating they were born in Scotland, so he was a first generation emigrant. I don't know their names, though, -- anybody know how to find out so I could do some looking in Scotland? Thanks, Richard Tennesen, Capitola, CA ==== RICHARDSON Mailing List ==== To use the Richardson Query Board: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.richardson<http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.richardson> To review Archived messages: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/RICHARDSON-L<http://archiver.rootsweb.com/RICHARDSON-L> ==== RICHARDSON Mailing List ==== To use the Richardson Query Board: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.richardson<http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=board&r=rw&p=surnames.richardson> To review Archived messages: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/RICHARDSON-L<http://archiver.rootsweb.com/RICHARDSON-L>