-----Original Message-----
From: David Strickland <dstrickland(a)optekinc.com>
To: CAPSTACK-L(a)rootsweb.com <CAPSTACK-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Date: Friday, March 19, 1999 3:41 PM
Subject: Origin of name Capstick?
Anyone have the origin of this name?
I have seen pictures of a cap on a pole, but forgot what it signified.
From what I've read, a "copestake" was a sort of
property marker in the
Middle Ages -- a big wooden pole you installed on top of a
hill or at a
property line to signify that a piece of land was yours. One who either
made or lived near one of these poles might have been called Copestake,
Coupestacke, or any of several subsequent variations of which Capstick is
one.
Anyone else out there, please correct me if I'm wrong or just a bit off.
Any idea why a molecatcher in Westmorland/West Riding Yorkshire would
head
north to coal mining villiage in Scotland in 1840?
The St. Patrick of moles was working in the West Riding that year?
The love of a woman?
Family couldn't stand him anymore? <sarcasm off>
Other than that, I'm can't be much help, sorry...
-- Tim
http://students.cec.wustl.edu/~lkm1/tim.html (personal)
http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Pier/8775/capstack.html (genealogical)