Author Topic: Is "Meek" a nickname?  (Read 18393 times)

Offline chinakay

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Re: Is "Meek" a nickname?
« Reply #27 on: Friday 08 May 15 18:01 BST (UK) »
Well....just noticed this isn't James Soutar. It's James Soutar Pittendrich. Apparently none of the transcribers noticed either....?

No wonder I haven't been able to find Janet. Hiraethu, you have much more than solved a mystery for me! Back to the drawing board, but I'm in a much better position than before :-)

Cheers,
China
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Offline chinakay

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Re: Is "Meek" a nickname?
« Reply #28 on: Friday 08 May 15 18:04 BST (UK) »
built the stonework of the Forth Bridge & founded Halcrows the engineering company.


What odd turns this insignificant thread is taking....I have a link to the Halcrow firm in another branch. That branch and this one will eventually join up to produce my dad :-)

Cheers,
China
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Offline Skoosh

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Re: Is "Meek" a nickname?
« Reply #29 on: Sunday 10 May 15 11:48 BST (UK) »
China, I think Halcrow was an Orcadian that the Meik's took onto the books and ended up with the firm. I remember crossing the Blackwater dam above Kinlochleven and finding the Meik name on the construction tablet.
 
They still kept the old spelling, the Scots ei was Anglified to ee after the Union. It still survives in  names like Dalgleish, Veitch etc' & in placenames, Leith, Innerleithen etc'.  I suppose they couldn't have the Meik inheriting the earth.  ;D

Skoosh.

Offline Seoras

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Re: Is "Meek" a nickname?
« Reply #30 on: Sunday 10 May 15 12:17 BST (UK) »
One of my Stein lot did the same thing Skoosh, started spelling it Steen.

Linlithgow bunch, shoemakers, along with your Meeks I believe.
SCOTLAND: Wardlaw Steen/Stein Tweedie McBride McEwan Pate/Peat Brown Somerville Bishop Farier/Ferrier Wood  Torrance Gibb Ross Dunlop Downs Richardson Ramsey Story Snaddon/Sneddon Auld Allan McLean McInnes Mason Law Lawson Kerr Cockburn Christie Ballingall Wardrope Weir Wallace Scott.
IRELAND: Welsh Clifford Lee Allingham Keane Dale Robinson Greer McVey Bingham Skelton Carson Broomfield Clark McEwan/McKeown McCreary McLaughlan.
YORKSHIRE: Cudworth Smith Cope Coulton Hainsworth


Offline terry h

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Re: Is "Meek" a nickname?
« Reply #31 on: Sunday 10 May 15 13:36 BST (UK) »
China,    I think the Pittendri(e)ch is probably where James was living rather than part of his name. It was a small village/Estate/Farm ....(Kinloch) home of a Sir James Balfour.  I certainly know nearly all of mine are written like that    eg  William Hastie Butterdean and his wife   etc etc.  Butterdean was the farm where he worked.

Terry
g grandfather Thomas Borthwick 11/11/1882 - KIA 25/9/1915 aged 33 Kings Own Scottish Borderers

Brothers & cousins to Thomas (Both KIA same day)
Robert Johnstone Borthwick 1898 - KIA 24/3/1918 aged 21 North Staffordshire Regiment

George Lowden Borthwick 1899 - KIA 24/3/1918 aged 19 Royal Scots Fusiliers

gr Uncle Walter Combe b1893 - KIA 12/7/1915 aged 22  Kings Own Scottish Borderers

Census &  BMD information Crown Copyright  GROS - www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

Offline chinakay

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Re: Is "Meek" a nickname?
« Reply #32 on: Sunday 10 May 15 14:03 BST (UK) »
That's interesting, Terry...there is a family name Pittendr* (lots of variations) but not exactly in Lethendy. They're all over Perthshire though. I'll look into this more later, thanks for the suggestion.

Skoosh, my Halcrow was a ship captain who was a witness at my gggrandfather's wedding in Liverpool in 1836, and he married a Nova Scotia girl in 1844. So not really my "line" I guess, but a huge clue as to where my bunch came from  :)

Cheers,
China
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Offline MrMeek

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Re: Is "Meek" a nickname?
« Reply #33 on: Wednesday 11 November 15 14:37 GMT (UK) »
Hi I'm new to the site and enjoying reading some of the stories.

Nice to see a discussion regarding the Meek surname.  I've noted some other posts but thought i would start here if it's ok to resurrect an old thread.

I've just started looking in to my family tree and seem to find myself in the Whitburn / Fauldhouse / West Lothian areas.

Does anyone else have connections with the name?

I've attached my first (still needs scrutinised and discussed with older family members) draft family tree so far.  The George Meek at 1841 to 1914 needs to have his marriage certificates checked!  The problem with Ancestry.com seems to be it is very easy to go off on the wrong track and not get back.

Regards

A


Offline Forfarian

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Re: Is "Meek" a nickname?
« Reply #34 on: Wednesday 11 November 15 16:55 GMT (UK) »
the Ancestry transcription reads the same
Goodness, that's a turn-up for the books. Most unusual :)
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline Forfarian

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Re: Is "Meek" a nickname?
« Reply #35 on: Wednesday 11 November 15 17:02 GMT (UK) »
Well....just noticed this isn't James Soutar. It's James Soutar Pittendrich. Apparently none of the transcribers noticed either....?

Can you be sure that Pittendrich is not where they lived? It's not an unusual name for a farm, and there is one in the parish of Lethendy, which is where this baptism was recorded.

See http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=15&lat=56.5595&lon=-3.3897&layers=5 - look below the letter D of 'LETHENDY'.
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.