Ancestry/Genealogy

grasswire

(50,130 posts)

4. yes, this all is interesting

Sun Feb 3, 2013, 12:14 AM

Feb 2013

This line went from knights, VIPs and landed gentry in Britain all the way forward to the late 1400s, then the name changed to the common name and as you say, family status appeared to change as the world changed in the 1500s and 1600s. No more landed gentry in this line, and the name changed to Smith. A couple more centuries past that, my grandfather was homesteading on the prairie of Saskatchewan. Can't be much more humble than that!

Fascinating.

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question: why would a surname totally change in the middle of a long line? [View all] grasswire Feb 2013 OP

I don't know all reaons, but slavery and immigration are two. nt ZombieHorde Feb 2013 #1

From what I know Hayabusa Feb 2013 #2

Hapsburg to Windsor. TheMadMonk Feb 2013 #3

yes, this all is interesting grasswire Feb 2013 #4

Ah, the other direction socioeconomically. TheMadMonk Feb 2013 #5

Look into historical tension of the era in which the name changes. sybylla Mar 2013 #12

Weird, isn't it... pipi_k Feb 2013 #6

Not sure but I heard a great story from a friend. Her ancestor was coming in from Ireland and had jwirr Feb 2013 #7

For one thing, spelling means nothing HeiressofBickworth Feb 2013 #8

Something like that happened pipi_k Feb 2013 #9

The adoption of the surname of a relative to get an inheritance, possibly Spider Jerusalem Feb 2013 #10

My first thought is that SheilaT Feb 2013 #11

It doesn't seem like the 1400's was a very nice century to be alive. PADemD Jul 2013 #13