Aut Pax Aut Bellum

Genealogy is fun, isn't it? I grew up with no clear idea of what my heritage is. There was some speculation by some members of my family that the name Maness was, at different times, Dutch, Greek, German, French, and various combinations of all of them and more. That part is probably true. Not knowing the origin of our name it is easy to see why we didn't marry our own kind, genealogically speaking.

With the invention of the internet (thanks Mr. Gore) and my access to it, I finally got the chance to do a little sleuthing to find the origin of the family surname. For free. What I found is:

I am Scottish!

This is how I arrived at that conclusion:

I entered my paternal grandfather's name at ancestry.com where I found his father's name, and his father's and so on, until I reached a dead end in the 1600's in North Carolina. Any more information, I could find, but I would have to pay for it, and I am too cheap to do that.

Scots are known for being "thrifty". Another validation of my heritage.

However, That was enough information for me to discover that my great-great-etc grandfather came over to America from Scotland. His name was John Manus. The spelling change was attributed to a census taker, who spelled the name "Maness" and I don't know why it was never changed back. I couldn't understand why the census taker chose that particular misspelling of the name, until I did further research at Scotclans.com where I discovered that both the name Manus and the name Maness are "septs" of the same clan, and are essentially the same family which is a fact that would have been commonly known in the large Scot population of the state of North Carolina at the time.

A sept is basically a cousin of the main clan or a family that more or less attached themselves to a bigger clan for protection and maybe a sense of identity. A hanger-on, you might say.

That clan is known as the clan Gunn. Here is the Gunn family crest.The Latin Phrase on it means, "Either peace or war"

Not very imaginative, I admit, but hey, we weren't a clan of poets.

There is a fascinating history about Scot clans and their septs that can be found in various places on the internet (Thanks, Al) and even links to modern day societies that celebrate the histories of the clans of Scotland. I found the Clan Gunn's tartan plaid there. (that's the pattern of the cloth that the kilts were made from. It is traditional that each clan have their own plaid.) This is it. The Gunn clan family plaid:

And here is part of a condensed history of the Gunn clan:

Helen, only daughter of Lachlan Gunn of Braemor, was celebrated for her great beauty and was due to marry her cousin Alexander. Dugald Keith, a retainer of Keith of Ackergill, had tried to woo her, been rejected, and responded jealously. On her wedding day, he paid a surprise visit to her father's house, surrounding it with armed members of his own family, who then began slaying the unsuspecting Gunns.

Keith took Helen and imprisoned her in Ackergill. Eventually, to escape his sexual abuse, she went to the top of the tower and jumped to her death. The feud that ensued was very long and bloody, with continuing attacks upon each clan. One costly but indecisive battle was at Harpsdale, near Thurso, in 1426.

Eventually, in 1464, the war-weary chiefs of the two clans agreed to meet at the Chapel of St Tears to lay their grievances to rest. The chief of the Gunns was George. He held the important office of crowner, and wore the magnificent brooch of the post. He arrived at the chapel on horseback with eleven other riders, as agreed.

The Keiths arrived on twelve horses also, but with two men to a horse, and slaughtered the Gunns. The brooch of the crowner was taken from dead Gunn's body. A century later, William MacKames, George's grandson, avenged his kinsmen with the life of George Keith of Akergill, his son and twelve others in a bloodbath at Drummoy in Sutherland.

In 1978, the two clans ended the feud.

1978!

Scots can be very stubborn. I have that trait, also.

OK. That's enough for today. Some might say too much.