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Archiver > BLACKADAR > 1999-11 > 0941730037


From: "David C. Blackadar" <>
Subject: Falkirk Blackadders #8
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1999 08:40:37 -0700


-----Original Message-----
From: Alfred K. Blackadar <>
To: Stephen Karner <>
Cc: <>; <>;
David C. Blackadar <>
Date: November 2, 1999 8:04 PM
Subject: Re: Falkirk Blackadders


Hi Steve:

1. My aunt, who furnished me with much of my information about the origins
of the family, wrote all the names of the old B's "Blackadder." She noted
that the Sr. Branch spelled their names with 2 ds., and that the Junior
Branch (Tulliallan gang) got to spelling theirs with one. The more I look
at the old charters and other sources, the more I am coming to the
conclusion that the original spelling was with only one -- mostly "d", but
sometimes "t" and "th." The vowels could be almost anything. So there is
chaos that we all accept, but I maintain, without much support, that there
is a pattern.

Just when the two ds began to be used I cannot surely say. I am planning to
look into this more critically. The earliest B I know of (b. abt 1240), who
was actually a Nesbit, styled himself "Blakadar," after the river that
flowed through his property. The "adder" may have originated with the
crest, which was awarded following the Battle of Bosworth (1485) for
bravery of Cuthbert and his kids. (See attachment.) The curious thing is
that adders do not occur in the British Isles (I am told). I presume that
this "Black Adder" crest was fashioned by King Henry VII who awarded the
crest to the family following the battle. He was exiled in France for many
years before his return to England and may have become familiar with adders
there. My own observation is that the name was generally spelled Blackader
or Blackater, with many variations, but not Blackadder by everyone until
about the middle of the 16th Century. Stephen Blackader had four sons. The
oldest was Robert, Tenant in Blackadder, all of whose descendants used 2
ds. The other three, all rogues, pirates, or soldiers, all beheaded for
their deeds, were described in the records as "Blackader." From then on, my
observation is that the Berwick crowd generally used two ds, while the
Tulliallan crowd kept on using only one. This is the reason I tend to
support the view that the Falkirk branch were East Lothians, rather than
from nearby Tulliallan or somewhere else. (I have not looked at the
percentages, but my impression is that that the Blackadders we know of in
Stirlingshire far outnumber those with other spellings.)

You have looked at many more records of the Edrom bunch than I have, and I
wonder if your observations agree with this. All of the tombstone spellings
there that I know of have two ds. But Archbishop Robert of Glasgow, d.
1508, who is buried in Edrom, always spelled his name Blackater or
Blackader, and he should have known how to spell his own name if anyone did.

Sorry for the discourse. I'm happy to find someone who is interested.

2. Feel free to broadcast the translation if you wish. I will also be
pleased to get other charters to work on. There is a good chance I will
already have it in my files. We have 17 volumes of the "Great Seal of the
Kingdom of the Scots" in our library here, and I get lots of fun reading
through them.

Al

05:53 PM 11/2/99 -0500, you wrote:
Hi Al,

> I made a tally of the 267 "Blackadders" in my data bank (out of the total
> 965 of all different spellings, plus uncounted unlinked people that I keep
> in a different db). I sorted these according to their location of origin
>
Cool stuff!! Any idea about the percentage of double-D's for the total
number of entries within each area?? My suspicion is that Berwickshire
and Falkirk/Larbert will be the regions with the greater percentage (eg about
90% of the entries in Berwickshire will be 'BLACKADDER'). Hmmm, I'm really
curious now. I'll check it out when I get home (and have some time).

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