***************************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. ***************************************************************************** In the Highlands there were, to simplify drastically, small tenants and large tenants. The large tenants were known as tacksmen. The word derives from the Scots word tack, meaning a lease. It should not be assumed, however, that because a man is designated a tacksman, that he has a lease (occasionally one comes across a tackswoman - usually a widow) The term was more an indication of status, largely based on the size of the holding. Tacksmen often possessed several farms, some held whole districts. They farmed some land themselves and sublet the rest to subtenants. In the past the tacksmen provided the officers for the clan as a military unit and this continued when landlords raised regiments for the Crown. It is often said that the tacksmen were related to the chiefs/landlords. Some undoubtedly were, albeit at a distance. There were others, however, who were incomers. In terms of land, the subtenants were on a par with the small tenants. However, they often had a harder time of it as the tacksmen required them to provide many days service in the year, ploughing, sowing, harvesting, digging peats etc Complaints of such treatment are evident in the emigrations of the early 1770s. Towards the end of the 18th century the tacksmen were removing subtenants to make way for commercial cattle farming/sheep. Estate managements - both on the Sutherland estate and on Lord Reay's estate - tried to limit the numbers of subtenants the tacksmen removed. The term continued to be used in the 19th century, even with reference to the large sheep farmers. By the 1820s the Sutherland estate management was dead against tacksmen having subtenants - although there were still some farms held by tacksmen and subtenants until the 1840s. Malcolm Bangor-Jones -----Original Message----- From: Judy Meibusch [mailto:raigmore@tmba.design.net.au] Sent: 03 May 2001 00:23 To: SCT-SUTHERLAND-L@rootsweb.com Subject: tacksman ******************************************************************* This email has been received from an external party and has been swept for the presence of computer viruses. ******************************************************************* Would SKS be able to explain the term tacksman. Is it just a tenant or a particlar type? Where did the word originate? ==== SCT-SUTHERLAND Mailing List ==== You may, at times, wish to check out previous messages to this list. You can do this at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/SCT-SUTHERLAND-L/ ============================== Visit Ancestry.com for a FREE 14-Day Trial and enjoy access to the #1 Source for Family History Online. Go to: http://www.ancestry.com/subscribe/subscribetrial1y.asp?sourcecode=F11HB