"Fie Fi Fo Fum, I Smell the Blood of an Englishman:" The English Surnames on my O'Rourke - Salmon Tree

The knowledge that my Grandmother, Margaret Jane Salmon O’Rourke, could assert that she was a “quarter English” (per her own words) had been quite an exciting revelation all those years ago.  For me, the English culture appeared very much like a comfortable old friend and so I welcomed the news with open arms!  

“Why?” you might ask. Well, I speculate it stems from being required to study and learn about English history, government, and language for most of my life.  Since the USA is undeniably one of mother England’s children, their histories have been paralleling and entwining since the landing of the pilgrims at the now infamous Plymouth Rock.  (As yet, I have found no direct ancestor who sailed on the Mayflower itself. However, since a couple of men named “Halliburton” were on the ship a chance may still exist!) 

The myriads of books that I have read since being a young child repeatedly took place in England itself or with the English hero/heroine living or traveling to some foreign exotic destination.  One of my favorite reads included the genre known as “Regency romance” where the beautiful peasant always fell in love and married a Duke, Baron, or member of the Royal family forever ending their commoner existence.  The Beatles, Dave Clark Five, Petula Clark, Duran Duran, Herman’s Hermits, The Rolling Stones, to name just a few of the  musicians who were part of the “British invasion” and changed the world with their rock and roll beat for eternity.  Their music made me sing and dance long before I ever danced my first Irish jig or Czech polka!   Now you see why I am so happy to claim English heritage as well!  

So let’s take a moment to look at the English surnames that populate by Grandmother Margaret Jane Salmon O’Rourke’s tree:  Dodgson, Halliburton, Little, Nixon, Phillips, Routledge, Wilson, and Salmon.   I am happy to report that these English lines have been a lot easier to track down than the Irish ones.  Once I discovered that my 2^nd Great Grandfather John Little’s place of birth in 1834 was at Mallsgate, Stapleton, Cumberland, England, the great English wall went tumbling down with a roar.  

Between 1851 -1860, John emigrated from England, the first of my “direct line” to do so.   He lived on the coastal islands of Texas where he married Henrietta Augusta Gregory (1830 – 1920) (full Irish ancestry) in Calhoun County, Texas in 1869, and died at Rockport, Aransas, Texas in 1895.  

The farthest back I can take this Little line with complete sourcing is to John and Jane Phillips Little. Jane Phillips was born in 1740 and died in 1797 in Stapleton, England.  She married John Little on 22 December 1865 in Stapleton becoming Margaret’s 3^rd (my 5^th) Great-grandparents.  The birth date of John is in question at this time. A christening record for the Church of England dated 1712 exists might be for him.  It shows his parent’s names as William and Ann Little.  If this is true, then we can take the Little family back another generation. On the other hand since there is literally a Little under ever bush in England, I must confirm this fact to be certain.

The Halliburton family comes into the tree two generations back for Margaret when Elizabeth Halliburton (circa 1769 to 1833), married George Little (1766 – 1834,) the grandparents to John Little.   Elizabeth was the daughter of Robert (circa 1723 – 1797) and Janet Halliburton (1736 – 1797,) both of Bewcastle.  George and Elizabeth lived there for many many years at the family residence known as Mallsgate located in the Stapleton area.  A plethora of letters written by George and other members of the family from 1800 onward have survived which have chronicled brief snippets of their lives  so well. 

As of this date, I can trace the Routledge family back the farthest to Margaret’s 5^th Great-grandparents (my 7^th) William and Francis Little Routledge (dates unknown.)  William had been born circa 1659 at Addingham, Cumberland, England, and died in 1700 at his residence known as Flatt in Bewcastle.  Their son John Routledge, her 4th (my 2^nd) Great-grandfather (1690 – unknown) married Elizabeth Dodgson (1682 – 1784) on 11 May 1710 in Stapleton, both of whom had lived their entire life and died at Bewcastle.

John and Elizabeth’s son Christopher Routledge was born in 1774 at Flatt, in Bewcastle, and died in 1851 at Stapleton.  He married Ann Nixon (1774 – 1846,) daughter of James Nixon (1735 – 1827) and Elizabeth Wilson Nixon (1740 – 1807,) her 5^th (my 3^rd) Great-grandparents.  (I wonder if we are related to the U.S. presidents Richard Nixon or Woodrow Wilson.  Definitely something to research, don’t you think?)

Grandmother Margaret Salmon O’Rourke was so proud of her “Spanish blood” as she so quaintly put it.  There is a Spanish line somewhere on the tree but as of yet, the surname has not been determined. “Salmon” is not it as so strongly believed by Grandmother.  In fact, its’ roots are English and one of the oldest tracing back to a man named “Salomon” in England’s Doomsday Book in 1056 A. D.  Her Salmon line is a lot more complicated so I will need more information before I can truly place its origin properly.  The known facts are that her Grandfather Benigno Salmon (the earliest generation known) was born in Malaga, Spain in 1841 to an “Irish father” and a “Spanish mother” proving that I must go back another generation to find it. So I have placed Salmon here on the list of English surnames at this time. 

Thomasina Mary Ann Bell, 1st cousin taken in England c. 1872.

The following chart lists the English surnames on Margaret Salmon O’Rourke’s family tree (and mine!) It is not an etymology of the names (that will come later). Instead the chart shows each surname as the family uses it now,  a few variants of the name, the countries and county of origin, and finally, the last known residence of my own particular family member before immigrating to the USA. 

	Variant Spellings	Counties Where Name is/was Most Common	Our Family's Last Residence in the Mother Country
DODSON	Dodgshon Dodgshun	England: Cumberland (now known as Cumbria) Lancanshire	-Bewcastle, Cumberland, England
HALLIBURTON	Haliburton Hallyburton Allerburton	Scotland: Berkwickshire England: Cumberland (now Cumbria)	-Stapleton,  Cumberland, England
LITTLE	Littell Lytle Lyttle	England: Cumberland (now known as Cumbria)	-Stapleton, Cumberland, England
NIXON	Nixson Nickson Nycson	England: Cumberland (now known as Cumbria) Scotland	-Bewcastle, Cumberland, England
PHILLIPS	Phelip Phelps Phelippes Philops	England: Cumberland (now known as Cumbria)	-Stapleton, Cumberland, England
ROUTLEDGE	Rutledge Rudledge Rodledge Routlage	England: Cumberland (now known as Cumbria)	-Bewcastle, -Stapleton, Cumberland, England
SALMON	Salmen Solomon Sammon Salmonde Sulmundr	England Ireland Spain	- Madrid and Malaga, Spain
WILSON	Willeson	England: Cumberland County (now known as Cumbria) Yorkshire	-Bewcastle, Cumberland, England

A family tree like a real tree never stops growing!  And I am so excited  about going further back on all the lines to discover more family lines and surnames to add!

I will keep you updated as I do. 

The Advent of English Surnames

The Oldest Recorded English Surnames  

The oldest written documentation of “surname” usage in England dates back to the reign of King Edgar (959 – 975 A.D.) on old surviving registers.  One such list known as the “Old English Bynames” catalogued a man named Eadric Little living in Northamptonshire County in 972 A. D.  This “index” was the first time a man with the “second name” of Little had been recorded, thus making “Little” one of the oldest English surnames to exist.[i] 

How truly exciting this is since my Great-Grandmother Margaret Jane Little Salmon, hails from this enduring and proud family line. Her father Capt. John Little (pictured below) was born at Stapleton, Cumberland, England in 1834, immigrated by 1860, and died at Rockport, Aransas, Texas in 1895.  It is through his family line that I claim my English heraldry!

The Normans invaded England in 1066! Soon afterward, the Norman barons began to use “identifying” names/surnames for their citizens.  Over the next few centuries, specific names came and went.   However, by the year 1400, the use of ‘hereditary surnames” had taken strong root in the majority of families living in England and Lowland Scotland.[ii]   With the advent of the “poll tax” levied by the government, there was a need to identify their taxpayers more readily and to prove lines of kinship for inheritance purposes.[iii]

The Origins of the Names

So now you may be wondering at this point, how some of these English surnames were created.  Good question! In brief summary, surnames were used to denote:

1.      a place of residence including their town or county, or their actual country of origin.

2.      the name of a farm, hamlet or estate.

3.      a landscape feature.

4.      a trade, job, or occupation.

5.      a nickname, pet name, or shortened name.

6.      the father’s name, baptismal or Christian name.

7.      new immigrants who kept their old names.[iv]

 

2nd Great Grandfather John Little in England.

Over the next several centuries, these “additional” names were then passed from father to son creating distinctly unique English surnames still in use today.  As with their Irish counterparts, the names were often misspelled by the records keepers giving rise to various versions of the original name.  Since the three countries of Ireland, Scotland and England are located within a stone’s throw of each other, immigration of the people is/was a very common occurrence.  As a result, many of the Irish, English or Scottish surnames have roots in more than one country.  Just something to keep in mind as you try to discovery your own family history!   I have come across this very situation myself on a few of my Irish lines which have their surname origins in England but who actually lived in Ireland for the recent generations.

So now are you ready to explore your own British family?  I hope so.  I know I am. 

My next blog will explore the English surnames on my 2nd Great-grandfather John Little's line.    Watch for it!

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[i] “The Surname Database” is located online at: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/little#ixzz2ZW27FwRK, 20 July 2013.

[ii] Blake, Paul, “What’s In a Name? Your Link to the Past,” BBC online website at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/get_started/surnames_01.shtml, dated 26 April 2011.

[iii]  “The Surname Database.” Ibid.

[iv] Blake, Paul.  Ibid.

Why I can claim to be part of the Irish Diaspora: The Irish Surnames on my O'Rourke - Salmon Family Tree

Since my last name is O’Rourke, it has been almost impossible to “hide” my Irish roots from the complete strangers I meet each day.  Cashiers at grocery stores, tellers at the bank, customer service reps calling on the phone, people from every walk of life and culture, all ask me as soon as they see the name:

“Are you Irish?”
  In a flash without thought, I answer a simple “yes!”

With curiosity peaked they then want to know, “How do you pronounce it!”  

“It’s “O’Rourke” (Oh Rork) and rhymes with New York,” I reply and then continue on my way beaming with an enormous smile on my face.  Amazing!

So long ago I decided that I might as well embrace the culture with full force and enjoy “being Irish!”   Over the last twenty years of my life, I have fully immersed myself in Ireland’s people, dance, music, food, drink and even her language “Irish Gaelic.”  Living in North Texas, USA, provides me ample opportunity to fill my appetite with yearly pilgrimages to the North Texas Irish Festival, eating Irish food while sipping on a frothy glass of Guinness poured expertly by the bartender at the local pub, listening to the hand clapping music of master Irish musicians on a lazy hot afternoon before finally rising to do a little dancing with my friends.
 

And so I extend heartfelt thanks to my own grandmother Margaret O’Rourke for keeping the Irish traditions alive and real for my family and me.  Memories flood my mind of the mandatory yearly St. Patrick’s Day celebrations at her home complete with heaping mounds of corned beef and cabbage!  Her infamous Irish coffee made exclusively with Paddy’s Irish whiskey followed the dinner and usually made her quite tipsy by night’s end.  Her own youth included spending many a weekend night filled with music and “ballroom dancing” in the company of husband Joe O’Rourke and their Irish friends but alas, she never had a chance to dance a reel herself.  She died years before I began my Irish dancing career yet I still imagine her in my mind’s eye smiling broadly with her elfish grin toes tapping to each jig that I dance!  

In fact Grandmother Margaret Jane Salmon O’Rourke (1900 – 1986) claimed a very mixed heritage indeed being:  5/8ths Irish, 2/8ths English, and 1/8th Spanish/Mexican.  When ever anyone asked about “her roots,” she always replied that she “was a duke’s mixture” of cultures.   Now I can substantiate those words through my research and by my recent DNA testing!   Her family lines include the Irish surnames of:  Baker, Byrne, Farrell, Gregory, King, MacNamara, McKnight, and O’Donnell.

On 15 June 1921 Margaret married her sweetheart Joseph Leo O’Rourke (1898 – 1951) in Dallas, Dallas, Texas. Although I was not lucky enough to personally meet him, Grandfather O’Rourke had been very well loved and remembered by his family, friends, and co-workers long after his death.  Joe definitely claimed full Irish blood status!  All of his grandparents had immigrated from the Emerald Isle in the 1800's, traveled across the United States before finally settling in the great state of Kansas by 1880.  His family lines include the Irish surnames of:  Curran, Doyle, Hayden, and O'Rourke.  

As of July 2013, the four lines on Grandfather O'Rourke's tree are still shrouded in mystery!  On his father’s side, I have only been able to go back to about 1811 to the birth of his grandfather, my second great-grandfather, Bernard O'Rourke (1811 – 1898) in Dublin, Dublin, Ireland and his wife Sarah Doyle (1842 – 1921) born in Ballyrogan, Limerick, Ireland in 1842.  Bernard’s parents had had eleven sons, no daughters, and all but one immigrated to the USA before 1858!  I know that some of his siblings must have had children of their own but I have yet to find any of these “first cousins once removed.”    
 
His grandfather on his mother’s side, William Curran (1830 – 1907) had been born in 1830 and his wife Mary Hayden (1838 – 1880) born circa 1838 in Ireland but county and town remain unknown. William served with the Union Army during the Civil War in Kansas and his veteran’s file provided lots of good data but alas, no birth place just the date.  He lived at the U. S. National Veterans Home located in Leavenworth, Leavenworth, Kansas from 1886 – 1907 where he breathed his last.  My 2012 New Year’s Resolution was to finally break down one of these genealogical walls this year but as of July, I have made little progress!  
 
I have found more success establishing Margaret’s Irish roots on her mother’s line of Byrne, tracing them back to her 2^nd (my 4^th) Great-grandparents:  James, who died before 1818, and his wife Mary Farrell, born circa 1739 and died in 1819 at Ballyrogan, Wicklow, Ireland; and Thomas King and his wife Honory Baker (dates unknown) who lived and died near Redcross, Wicklow, Ireland.  The mothers of Mary Farrell and Honory Baker were sisters with the surname O’Donnell, the last generation I have identified so far.
 
In regards to Margaret’s father’s line, her great-grandparents, Thomas William McKnight, circa 1828 – 1886, and wife Elizabeth (Eliza) MacNamara, circa 1827 – 1879, were both born in Ireland.   The story goes that their families disapproved of their union.  They “eloped” and were married in County Cork on 5 May 1849.  The couple set sail for Boston, Massachusetts, USA on 19 Jul 1849, lived in Virginia and Tennessee before eventually settling in Texas by 1860.
 

Joseph Leo and Margaret Jane Salmon O'Rourke. c. 1949 at a party in Dallas, Texas.

The following chart lists the Irish surnames on Margaret Salmon and Joseph O’Rourke’s family tree (and mine!) It is not an etymology of the names (that will come later). Instead the chart shows each surname as the family uses it now, the spelling in Irish, a few variants of the name, the countries and county of origin, and finally, the last known residence of my own particular family member before immigrating to the USA. 

	Name written in Original Language	Variant Spellings	Counties Where Name is/was Most Common	Our Family's Last Residence in the Mother Country
BAKER		Bakere Baecere	England Ireland	-Wicklow County,  Ireland
BYRNE	ó Byrne (Irish)	Beirne Berne Bourne Bourns Burn Burne Byrn Byrnes	Ireland: Dublin Wicklow Wexford Louth Carlow Kildare Kilkenny	-Ballyrogan Upper, Wicklow, Ireland -Redcross, Wicklow, Ireland
CURRAN	ó Curráin (Irish)	Corhen Currane Curreen Curren Currin Kirrane O'Currin O'Curran	Ireland: Donegal Dublin Waterford Galway Kildare Kerry Leitrim	Ireland
DOYLE	ó Dubhghaill (Irish)	MacDowell	Ireland: Limerick Clare Wicklow	- Limerick County or Clare County, Ireland, (due to county boundary line changes)
FARRELL	Ui Fearghail (Irish)	O'Farrell O Ferrall O'Farrelly O'Ferrally	Ireland: Wicklow	-Ballyrogan, Wicklow, Ireland
GREGORY			Ireland: Kerry Galway England	-Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
HAYDEN	ó Eideain (Irish)	Haydon Heyden Heydon Heiden Haeden	Ireland: Tipperary England	-Possibly Tipperary County, Ireland
KING	ó Maolchonaire (Irish)	O'Conry Conroy O'MacConry MulConaire MacEnry	Ireland: Galway	-Wicklow County, Ireland
MACNAMARA	Mac Conmara  (Irish)	McNamara MacConmara	Ireland: Clare	-Clare   County, Ireland
MCKNIGHT	Mac an ridire  (Irish)	MacNight MacNeachtain MacNitt MacNutt	Ireland: Antrim Dublin	-Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
O’DONNELL	ó Domhnaill (Irish)	MacDomhnaill MacDonald MacDonnell O’Donel O’Donell	Ireland: Donegal Clare Galway	-Wicklow County, Ireland
O’ROURKE	ó Ruairc (Irish)	O'Roarke O'Rorke Roarke Rorke Rourke	Ireland: Leitrim	-Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Pretty interesting, right?  All of the surnames have a long history attached to them in the annals of Ireland’s history however; the O’Rourke surname is perhaps the oldest of this group!  So when complete strangers ask me if I am Irish, I can truthfully answer…….

“I am!”

Stay tuned to take a look at the English side of the family…..