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Like Scots of many other Surnames, I have an odd affection
for my family name. It is difficult to justify this affection;
after all, a Surname is an abstract badge of identity which tells
us relatively little about the person so named. It is virtually
meaningless in a genetic sense - I carry a miniscule part of the
genes of any of my Gilchrist progenitors, fractioned as they are
by all the other families that became a part of me: Hunter,
MacKenzie, Killam, Gray, McIntosh, Sharp, and dozens more fanning
out collaterally from those lineages... Had fate decreed that I
would be born into a matrilinear society, my curiosity would be
focussed on some other name altogether.
And yet, the fascination remains. A surname is so much a
part of one's life, and automatically assigns one to a distinct
"club" of people who wear the same badge. My curiosity bloomed as
I began to experience historical dates and movements as a
tangible, memorable loom upon which was woven the lives of my own
ancestors.
A disclaimer is in order: I am a good researcher, and spent
many dozens of hours on this project, but I am not a professional
historian or genealogist. The trail zigged and zagged, and my
hypothesis shifted several times. A professional historian who is
experienced in the region and time period I was working in would
have recognized absurdities in the source material that I could
only identify as such after considerable further reading. I was
misled by the notions of several early writers, and I am keenly
aware that my final conclusions are probably not the last word.
There are always more clues, more pieces of the puzzle that exist
in books I did not come across. If you know of any, please let me
know, and I will incorporate them into a future edition of this
brochure.
In the second part of this booklet I have included notes on
my own family in the hope that someday a distant Cousin will
recognize his or her relationship to me, and make contact.
Finally, I have included notes on several other Gilchrist
families in Canada, particularly in the Toronto area. I still
enjoy adding to this list, so please don't hesitate to send me
your family tree. I guarantee that it will be included in any
future edition.
Stephen S. Gilchrist
166 McIntosh Street,
Scarborough. Ontario
Canada M1N 3Z1
Out of the Gaelic Mists...
In the fourth century A.D., a young man left the northern
shores of the Solway Firth to travel to Rome. The Romans named
him St. Ninian, and he was both a product and an agent of the
culture that flourished in his part of the world. He visited St.
Martin of Tours, and when he returned home, he established an
area church and monastery which he called St. Martin's, at
Whithorn (= "white house") in Galloway. Whithorn was also known
as Candida Casa, and was a landmark tourist attraction in those
days. Irish captives were sent there to be educated, and
subsequently returned to Ireland as missionaries and monks - the
first Gilla Criosd, or "slaves of Christ", we may presume.
In the fifth century, the Romans were driven out of Britain
by an alliance of Picts (from what we now call Scotland), Scots
(from what we now call Ireland - they were named Scotti by the
Romans, but they called themselves the Alba) and other cultural
groups. There was a danger of being overrun by European tribes,
and over the centuries that did happen several times in varying
degrees; but in the meantime they were thrilled with their
victory, and one of the ways they consolidated their emergence as
a unified native population was by granting the peninsula of
Kintyre to the Irish "Scots" in gratitude and recognition for
their support. This was the ancient kingdom of Dalriada.
In time, this would be the undoing of the Picts, but the
"Scots" had been crossing the 12 mile passage for as long as
anyone could remember anyway; one source claims that the word
"scot", originally meant "raider", and was also used to refer to
the Vikings later on. Indeed, the "Scots" had a unique technology
in the form of "currachs", which were large hide boats. These
could carry 20 men and provisions over long voyages under sail as
well as by oar. Tim Severin and his crew travelled all the way
from Ireland to North America in one of these in 1977. Irish
hermit monks used currachs to settle in the Faroes around 700
A.D.; visits to the coast of Norway would have been no great
challenge; and early Icelandic historians knew that Irish monks
had lived in Iceland before the arrival of the first Viking
settlers there. Ari the Learned (1068 - 1148) wrote that they
left when the Norsemen arrived because they "did not want to
associate with pagan people; they left Irish books and bells and
croziers, from which one could tell that they were Irishmen."
It takes only a second's reflection to realize that they
would not have willingly left these precious things behind - in
those days, a single book could have the value of an entire farm
- so they were more likely driven away by the Viking settlers.
That leads to the recognition that there had to be a reason why
Ari the Learned felt it diplomatic to bend the truth; and indeed
there was, for he lived right in the middle of several centuries
of cultural, religious, political and geographic conflict and
diplomacy between the Vikings and the Irish Celts.
St. Columba was perhaps the most famous early Christian of
the British Isles. He was also a "Scot" from Ireland, where
Christianity had become deeply rooted in the form of monasteries;
but he was a particularly aggressive, political and some even say
"secular" church leader who engaged in empire-building to extend
the power and the influence of the church. He established the
famous church at Iona in 563 or 565 A.D., as an aside, it is
worth noting that the Gaelic spoken by the "Picts" in Scotland at
this time, which is now a lost tongue, was so different from that
of the Irish Gaels that Columba required an interpreter to
converse with the Pictish king during his negotiations to obtain
the land for the monastery.
Over the centuries since, many ancient kings were buried
at Iona, each in his own national section, including one devoted
to "the kings of Norway". Why weren't they buried in Norway?
Because Norway in their time consisted of the western islands of,
Scotland as well as what we think of as modern day Norway.
One of the last acts St. Columba performed in his lifetime
was to transfer the remains of St. Martin, a fore-runner he
admired, to Iona. (St. Martin was revered throughout the Gallic
world at that time, and St. Columba's own teachers had studied at
St. Ninian's church named after St. Martin.) Legend has it that
the local people of Tours had somehow lost the location of St.
Martin's grave over the two centuries since his death; they
begged St. Columba to locate it for them, which he agreed to do
only on condition that he be permitted to transfer the remains to
Iona. This was a shrewd move, since it would increase the
sanctity and importance of the Ionian monastery.
Sometime after St. Columba's death, a great many crosses and
monuments were constructed at Iona; at one time there may have
been 360 crosses in different parts of the island. The Synod of
Argyll ordered sixty of them to be thrown into the sea
(subsequent to the condemnation of the Culdeas, the "Celtic
Heresy", no doubt). No-one knows how the rest were destroyed, but
many pieces appear to have ended up as tombstones. However, four
remain standing, and one of them is especially significant to us.
It stands in front of the Cathedral, fourteen feet high, eighteen
inches wide and six inches thick; it is carved of a very hard
rock that was brought from somewhere off the island, and sits in
a three foot high pedestal of red granite. It is St. Martin's
Cross, and there is an Irish inscription at the bottom of the
shaft on the west side which reads: OROIT DO GILLACRIST DORINGNE
T CHROS SA, which translates, "A prayer for Gillacrist who made
this cross".
When was it made? Some historians believe these crosses were
constructed during the time of St. Columba's successor, in the
seventh century; certainly Kenneth MacAlpine was responsible for
removing relics from the Ionian monastery to Dunkeld in 949 A.D.
(after Iona had been sacked for the final time by Viking raiders,
I seem to recall), so they should not have been built after that.
In fact, the spelling of the name matches that of Gilchrists
of a later period, but anachronisms do occur.
In 843 A.D., Kenneth Mac Alpin led the Irish "Scots" to
victory over the Picts, and all of the northern British Isles
became "Scotland". It wasn't much of a contest, he had a claim on
the Pictish throne through his mother, and a unification was
needed to stand up to Scandinavian and European encroachment. In
fact, the Danes and other European groups established
"beachheads" and territorial possessions in many parts of
England; but it was the Norwegians who's influence was felt all
through the Western Isles, the Isle of Man, large chunks of
Ireland and the southwest of present day Scotland. In fact, one
may almost suppose that Kenneth himself was fleeing from a wave
of Vikings, for as he was consolidating his realm in Scotland, it
was the Norwegians who founded the first four great cities of
Ireland; Dublin (in 853 A.D.), Belfast, and Limerick.
In those days surnames were not used at all except by people
of ancient and high descent, but many men began to identify
themselves by expressing their allegiances to a leader, saint or
God. Gille (also Gilli in Norse; Gilla in Irish, from earlier
giulla, giolla, giullan) was a common method of forming such a
designation, since in old Gaelic it meant "man of", and could
indicate a follower in military or political sense, a hunting
servant, ploughboy, slave or disciple. One source claims that it
comes from a much earlier Norse word "gildr".
Many names were formed using "gille" and used by the ancient
Celtic monks who were the first flower of learning and culture in
the British Isles: Gillespie = the Bishop's man; Gillepatric and
Gilpatrick = followers of St. Patrick; Gilchomedy = follower of
"the Lord"; Gilfillan = follower of St. Fillan; Gillebrede =
follower of St. Bride; Gillecollum = follower of St. Columba.
Similar names have come from other roots, mind you: a gil is
also a Norse and thence a Gaelic word for narrow glen or mountain
watercourse, from which we get our word "gully"; and the name
Gilcambon came thus from "Kamban's glen". Norse examples of this
kind of name, however, use their typical construction which
places the adjective in front of the noun (the opposite of the
Gaelic formation), such as Vidigill (wide valley), Galtrigill
(galti = pig) and Urigill (Orri - black cock). As an aside, the
origin of the word Viking itself results in a similar English
construction; a vik was smaller than a fjord, but the
affectionately-named Vikinn was Norway's "great Vik", the whole
of the Oslo Fjord. From here the Vikings brought their name, and
"vik" survives in Britain to this day in towns ending in "-wick".
Another gill originates in the Norse word for jaws,
"gjolnar", from which we got the Middle English word "gile" and
Our modern word for the "gill" of a fish; yet others are "pale-
white" and the "the moon", which are related, but I don't know of
any names which were formed from these words.
The earliest, Old Gaelic form of our name was in two parts:
Gilla Criosd. There are at least two ancient bards who's first
two names are Giolla Chriost (a particularly Irish spelling). In
Middle Gaelic, around the year 1000 A.D., it suddenly begins to
appear in records in its joined, compound form, usually as
Gillacrist. It was a name used, in various forms, by Vikings and
Celts alike, and appears almost exclusively in areas which were
Norse provinces. This bald fact begs an explanation, but I have
researched in vain for a simple answer. The best I can do is to
reconstruct the history of the areas where the name appears in
the old records.
The Viking Settlers
As the Population of Norway grew, the meagre arable land in
the narrow fjords could not Support it. Fishing became
increasingly important, and this led to the development of Viking
ship technology, the best of its time. With these boats, some
Vikings raided vulnerable communities on the Scottish coasts, and
others gradually began to emigrate to the western Scottish
islands. This was the first, gradual wave of Norse invasion.
When Harald Fairhair united all Norway, c. 890, many
defeated and recalcitrant chieftains, independent-minded magnates
and sea-kings fled the country to the lands in the Orkneys,
Shetland, Iceland, Scotland and Ireland. Harald pursued them, and
in the process placed his own loyal supporters at the head of
Norwegian provinces thus created. This was the second great wave
of Norse invasion. The lords of these provinces were called
"jarls", and became known as "earls" in Scotland.
Viking gravesites have been found all up the coast of
Scotland, but in Galloway they contained grave-goods, indicating
permanent settlement prior to the end of the 9th Century, when
Christianity imposed itself with sufficient strength to compel
them to discontinue the custom. Some historians feel that the
Scandinavians of Galloway moved there from an even earlier
settlement in the north-west of England; and indeed, while there
are no early Irish Gilchrists on record, there are a couple of
"Gilchrist Bretnach", or Welsh Gilchrists, who could have
originated in that earlier Norse settlement.
Early in the 10th century the Irish captured Dublin from the
Norse, and the Scandinavian settlers in northern Ireland were
forced en masse to western Scotland and north-west England. These
people were known as the Gall-Gaidhil, or "foreign Gaels". They
were half-breeds of Irish/Norse extraction, and their name
survives today in the region they settled, where it has
transmuted over the centuries to its present form, Galloway. One
old Source calls these people "renegade Irish associates of the
pagan Norseman".
Of the vocabulary and place-names of the region, it is, said,
"There is perhaps no district of Scotland where the intermixture
of language is as perplexing as in the southern part of
Strathclyde". Many parts of western Scotland, for example, have
places beginning with the Gaelic "Kil-", which comes from Latin
"Cill" and means "church". In the Galloway area, however, "Kil-"
has been replaced by the Norse "Kirk", about 60 times in a tight
radius. This is an "inversion name" for the Norse. who would
normally have placed the noun at the end of the compound word; in
at least one instance, the intentional replacement was recorded
in writing. But it occurred nowhere else in Scotland, except for
one town in the region of Forfarshire, and another in the
Orkneys.
By the end of the century, the Norwegians, based in Ireland
recovered from defeat, and a powerful Scandinavian dynasty re-
established itself in Dublin, abetted by the Gall-gaidhil. Scots,
Strathclyde Welsh, and other kinsmen. According to linguists,
Ulster dialects abound in Scandinavianisms to this day.
Shortly thereafter, the Gall-gaidhil themselves were bound
together as a distinct kingdom by Godfrey Crovan, from a base in
the Isle of Man. It lasted from 1075 until 1265, and spread like
a cumberbund from the Solway north to Ayr and across the southern
uplands to places like Borthwick, Gilchriston and Kirkmuirhill,
which are all distinctly Norse-Gael names. It encompassed Lanark,
Dalserf and Lesmahagow, where my own ancestors have lived for
perhaps a thousand years until just a century and a half ago.
Robert Burns used dozens of Scandinavian words and expressions in
his poetry, out of his native Ayrshire dialect.
Olaf was the king of York and Dublin. Godfrey Crovan was the
"King of the Innse Gall", the "isles of the strangers". The
dynasty he and his successors founded included Colonsay, Islay
and the Hebridest in fact, any island which has a name ending in
"-ay" is Norse, since that was the Norse word for island. Godfrey
Crovan himself died in Islay in 1095. but Norse continued to be
spoken in the Hebrides and the Isle of Man right into the 1400's.
At least one of the Gilchrist families living in Ontario
today originated in the Hebrides, and several families came from
Islay. Isabelle Gilchrist of Lindsay notes that a cousin of hers
visited Islay in 1972 and found rows of Gilchrists in the
Killnaughton cemetery, in the older part, near the ruins of an
old church wall; and the inscriptions on the monuments employed
Norse spelling. Her own ancestors owned a farm which is the
site of the present day airport on Islay (and carries the Norse
name of the original farm), however, she believes that her first
Islay ancestor moved there from "Bute, Kintyre" around 1770 - it
must be one or the other, because they are separate places,, but
close together. She also mentions Rothesay, which is the largest
town on the island of Bute (a Norse name, originally for the
whole island.) My great-qreat-great-grandmother originated there
also. On the other hand, Malcolm Gilchrist Sr. came to America
from Campbeltown. "Cantyre" (as it was then spelled) in 1770.
An odd possibility for why Gillacrist survived as a name in
these Norse regions but not in Irish ones (more about that later)
crystallizes from an error in the New York Public Library
reference, "The Surnames of Scotland". It states that the name
MacGill comes from Gaelic "Mac an ghoill", meaning "son of the
Lowlander or stranger", and was an early Surname in Galloway.
Well, although the Lowlanders were indeed Gall-gaidhil or
"ghoill-gaidhil" of hybrid Scandinavian-Irish origin, we also
know that the first MacGille (or M'Gill) on record was so named
because he was the son of an early Norse magnate in Galloway, the
Earl Gille, who was a protector to the King Sigurd c. 1014 A.D.
'The interesting point here is that if modern researchers
could make an erroneous assumption because of the - similarity
between "gille" and "ghoill", the largely illiterate population
of the day might be forgiven for feeling that the name Gillacrist
bore the phonetic connotation of a "ghoill" or "foreinn" origin.
The suggested meaning to Gaelic speakers might even be,
"Christian, but an outsider"; whereas in Norse it would only have
indicated a "servant " in a positive sense.
Further, it is conceivable that the words were once related
in Gaelic, since slaves and servants (note that indentured
slavery existed in Scotland until only two centuries ago) would
originally have been acquired from war and raiding on
populations of "strangers". The word "slave" has had a similar
evolution from "Slav" in English, as has the slang word "nigger".
To expand on this point, the name Gilchrist existed and
survived in areas where Norse intermarried with Baels, and in
areas where they did not; but where the Norse never lived, the
name does not occur, in spite of the overwhelming evidence which
insists that it is a Gaelic name.
King James I of England was actually James VI of Scotland -
he was the first monarch to unite England and Scotland. He was a
Protestant king who sponsored the King James translation of the
Bible. In 1608 he began putting the rebellious Irish Catholics of
northern Ireland off their land, and installed large numbers of
loyal "Scots-Irish" (as they became known) in Ulster, Antrim, and
throughout the northern provinces. A Gilchrist coat of arms was
granted in Ulster in 1657. From there, many of these hardy and
adaptable people also made the Atlantic hop to North America, in
such numbers that Benjamin Franklin estimated they comprised a
third of Philadelphia in his day. (The English and the Germans
were each of the other two thirds).
My impression is that the name was pushed out of Ireland
completely when the Irish Gaels Captured Dublin and the Gallgaidhil
were forced to migrate. and returned only with the return
of the Gall-gaidhil in their 17th century incarnation as
Protestant Scottish settlers. It does not appear in Irish land
records or family name histories prior to that time.
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