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Show Who Are You? 8 The Romance of Your Name By RUBY HASKINS ELLIS A Bell? THE origin of the name Bell dates back to the days of Druid-iSin Druid-iSin In ancient Briton, long before the Christian era In that country. The Druids were priests of the tribes of Cymrl which were about forty In number spread over the greater part of England and Scotland. Scot-land. The Cymrl were worshipers of oak trees, hills, rivers, sun and mistletoe. Upon the coming of the Romans into Great Britain they found that the Druids had great influence over the people so they set about to destroy de-stroy the objects of worship. The Druids then called a meeting and decided to form a clan for their mutual protection and called themselves them-selves Bell In honor of one of their gods. ) In later times the clan became divided. The Scottish people of this name retained their organization organiza-tion as a clan but the English branch became more Interested In literary and scientific pursuits. They spelled their name Beal or Beale, but the relationship between the families was still acknowledged. This is seen by the same devices used on the coats of arms of both houses. When King James of England In 1605 offered lands In northern Ireland Ire-land to peoples of England and Scotland, many Immigrants by the name of Bell accepted. Then came the great tidal wave of immigration i;iui:iimlBiliiiiiiiimiiiii!miiaiiiH!iiimi;n:n;iimiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiii::ii:iiniiiimiiiiiiiii inn iiikt mmiiimiiiii Mllllllllll llIlllllllMIIIIItllllllllllllllltllliminmil to America and by 1725 more than 500 settlers by the name of. Bell had come to America, either direct from England and Scotland or by the way of Ireland. In Virginia there were many early arrivals of this npme and a number num-ber of Bell families located in Maryland. Mary-land. Most of the Maryland families fami-lies spelled the name Beale or Beall. There were immigrants also by this name who settled in Massachusetts. Massa-chusetts. John Beale settled in Hlngham, Mass., coming from Norfolk, Nor-folk, England, in 1638. In Pennsylvania, Penn-sylvania, William Beale from Wiltshire, Wilt-shire, England, was a settler in Chester county. Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, Mary-land, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts Massachu-setts furnished a substantial army of Bells and Bealls in the war for America's independence, and bearers bear-ers of this name have answered the call to service in every crisis in the nation's history. A Monnet? THIS family took Its name from a town in France near the River Ain. In the latter Sixteenth century Pierre Monnet was massacred In Paris on St. Bartholomew'.; day for his adherence to the king of Navarre. Na-varre. Pierre was the ancestor of the Protestant Monnets of the Hugue- fimiiiifiiiimniiHtliriltltniiliiiiiiniinl!iiinMtiiiiiimiiiliii)ililll1ll!ll1MNIItinlin(IIHIllim uiiliuimiiiciiuiiiii-'ifluu'uiiuiiiuiiuiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiHtiHiiniiitii'imiiiiiiiikuB not province, and It was to him or his son that the coat of arms was granted In ldTO. His descendants, Isaac, Robert and I'ierre, who were Huguenot refugees, left France and went to London, where In 10S8 they were naturalized and became British subjects. sub-jects. They later came to America. Isaac settled In Calvert county, Maryland, about 1700 and married Elizabeth Williams. Robert made his home In Cecil county. Maryland, and married Margaret Darrell. I'ierre Joined the Huguenot colony col-ony on Staten island, where be lived and died. O) Public Leduer, Inc. WNU Borvlc. |