Gael,
Here is some further information on the CARSWELLs. John Carswell of
Carnassie Castle translated Calvin's book of litergy into Gaelic. It was the
first book written in Gaelic. There is some thought that he had a son named
Carswell by an earlier liason however it is known he did have several
daughters. He was not a Catholic but rather, I believe, a Presbyterian.
Henry VIII lived from 1509 to 1547 and it was during his reign that the
Catholic Church was kicked out of England, and I believe Scotland. Anglican
ministers were allowed to be married as were Presbyterians. Bishop John
Carswell's book was written in 1562 if my information is correct.
The Carswell name is believed to have originated as a place name derived
from the Scottish accent applied to certain words. In the days before the
wells in the ground as we knew them in the 1800s and 1900s, the 'well' was
the place by the edge of the river, brook, stream or lake where people went
to draw water for their daily use. The "carse" is actually an abreviation
for watercress or "cress" with a Scottish accent applied. Most people with
Cresswell as a name originate in England where the "cress" was pronounced
with an English accent. Before surnames were actually recorded as a regular
thing, people were known by their profession, as in Smith for blacksmith, by
their city of origin, as in Glasgow for someone locally who was known to
have come from Glasgow, by their relationship to someone else as in
MacKinlay, which is derived from "Mac" which means "son of", the hard
K at
the end of "Mac" and "inly" which comes from Mac Finlha...meaning son
of
Finley, in this instance.
When a family "lived near the well where the watercress grew" they would be
referred to as "the family who lived near the carse well" or in the case of
a John, "John of the carse well" to distinguish him from "John the
smith" or
John the son of Finlha" or "MacKinlay." When surnames were officially
recorded by church ministers, the first real recordkeepers of the population
in general, they were always subject to verbal translation as there was no
such thing as a fixed spelling in those days. Hence Carswell in my own
family has been found as Carsewell, Carshill and Carslaw (I think this
minister was dyslexic and transposed the "l" and "w.").
Hence every small village, in which there was a well by which watercress
grew, could have spawned a family known as Carswell. It was really a hit and
miss situation. Not all wells had watercress around them...the names of WELL
and WELLS for example?
I had an number of pieces of correspondence and telephone talks with E.W.
Carswell back in the 70s and contributed to the Carswell Chronicles, the
majority of which I have in storage somewhere along with a copy of the
Alexander Carswell and Isabella Brown book. The origins of connections to
royality have come to my attention on several occasions. One of the members
of royality had a connection with a gentleman named Carswell and several
unrelated individuals, including one older lady here in Canada, have told me
different versions of the connection. There is also some history of a
"bastard," Carswell fathered by a fellow named Carswell as a result of a
liasion with a member of the royality but no one really knows the true
story. Everyone would like to think the have that kind of a connection but
only genetic testing would really tell.
Hopefully, that will add some knowledge to your databank!
Cheers
Bob Carswell
Toronto
----- Original Message -----
From: <sonseeker23(a)yahoo.com>
To: <CARSWELL-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2002 12:28 AM
Subject: [Carswell] Re: re:Carswell Chronicle pedigree
This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Classification: Query
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/BmH.2ACIB/19.55.59.1.1
Message Board Post:
Gael,
I am certainly not an expert and have actually been researching my "Gavin"
side of my family recently.
To the best of my 70 year old mother's recollection, she stated
that her
cousin, Elba Wilson Carswell, who is an author in his own right and an
avid
genealogist, contributed information to the book regarding Alexander
Carswell and Isabella Brown compiled by the Bonds.
My mother remembered something about Mary, Queen of Scots, and
thought she
had been told that our Carswells are decended from her. Actually, some
of my
relatives that are fortunate enough to have a copy are under the same
impression. I read your replys to other postings and you state that we may
be decended from a Bishop, but were Bishop's under a vow of celebacy or is
that only Catholic priests? Again, I am certainly not an expert and really
have done little research of my own on the Carswells, but I am confused at
this point. Since you took the time to reply to my posting, will you please
elaborate on your statement.
I do appreciate any info and your time.
Lisa
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