Hi Patti
I have Shivases (Ellon and previous to that Old Deer) in my line and have some background to the name.
It is supposed to come from Chievre in Belgium, and started off as 'De Shevez'. The spellings vary: Chevez; Chivas; Schives; and every permutation you can think of! Most settled on 'Shivas'.
The old Barony of Shivas is in Tarves - the House of Shivas is still there. They were, originally, Anglo-Norman barons. In 1360 in the Parish of Tarves, John Shivas, proprietor of lands there, had a son, John. In 1393 John was granted safe conduct to travel to Oxford to study. This John de Schevez was Clerk to King James 1 (1406-1437).
In 1478, John de Shevez's younger son William Schevez became Archbishop of St Andrews. He was a brilliant scholar who was educated at Louvain under Spricus the Astrologer.He studied Theology, Astrology and Medicine.
The Shivas family also had lands in Fife.
In 1450 the House of Shivas was built by Gilbert Gray and the Barony passed out of Shivas hands, till eventually, in 1467, it was resigned to the Gordons of Huntly.
Aberdeenshire Shivases are all supposed to descend from these Shivases. Three distinct groups settled in Carngall, Longside; Dudwick, Ellon and Stuartfield, Old Deer.
Your challenge, Patti, should you wish to accept it, is to find a link from your Peterhead Shiveses to the information above! Do that and you will never be stuck for something to say when people ask you how far back you have got!
I have a lot more info which I got from a lady in New Zealand (so may have become like 'Chinese Whispers', because I can't remember where she said she got it from.) Having said that, it has all the hallmarks of someone doing a thorough bit of research.
It runs to a couple of sides of A4, so am reluctant to type it out again unless it is of interest. One bit which might be relevant is that a Thomas Shivas was a tenant in Middleton of Rora, Longide, in 1535. A wee bittie nearer to Peterhead!
