Methven Castle or Meffen or Meffan castle

[skyguy69]

Did you know that on the side of one of the turrets of Methven Castle is a coat of arms that is not the arms of Methven but I believe is the arms of Meffen? It shows 2 bushels ofwheat angled away from each other. Not the Methven coat of arms of a heart on top of a black/white chevron with Marte et Clypeo ( by war and the shield) as its motto. I believe before the times of war centuries before it was Meffen Castle. Meffen stems from an earlier word meaning "Agriable land" hence the coat of arms on the side of Methven Castle. Methven and Meffen /Meffan are synonymous with each other. So if you are at a brick wall with our Methven lineage  you may want to try paralleling  families with a Meffen or Meffan spelling.

[trystan]

Here is an interesting article on the background on Methven Castle, and the changes in the way it is spelt and pronounced:

http://www.tmethvin.com/methvin/pdf/methvencowners.pdf

Trystan

[JosephineElsieMay]

I am relatively new to this and would appreciate any help or advice on offer! I am tracing the surname Meffen (my maternal grandmother's maiden name) and after finding the general stuff dating back to early 1800s, my research literally leap-frogged me back to Henry Steward as Lord Methven etc. I understand the issue of ambiguity in regard to spelling and translation, but Meffen is not that common ... is it? How can I link up with a possible 'relative' who has done more research than I or is it a case of me slowly tracing back my line to see if there is a link? I'm thoroughly enjoying this project so I am not looking for the work to be handed to me on a plate as it were, but I just don't know where to start.

[hallmark]

Just use Google??


https://archive.org/stream/historyoflifedea1818scot#page/22/search/Methven

[JosephineElsieMay]

Thank you for the Google advice  - I have already done this hence my leap back to 1537 but will definitely try the link you sent.

[JosephineElsieMay]

Probably didn't explain myself very well; I don't know how to research my specific family in relation to the 16th C.

[hallmark]

Just Googled 

methven pedigree

https://fabpedigree.com/s038/f622820.htm

[rosie99]

You really need to track your family back one step at a time.  If you are needing help going backwards then start a new post giving information on the family you are trying to research in the 1800's

[hallmark]

https://fabpedigree.com/s056/f019728.htm  goes right up to late 1900's

so move between pages to see if yours slots in or not.  As Rosie says.... track your family back one step at a time.