My recent ancestral find

[t_challa]

Hi everybody. I just wanted to share this story with you all.

My surname is Rockhead, so I'm think it's safe to say that we definitely have no Scottish or Celtic heritage (as far as I'm aware). However, for years, ever since I was a wee bairn (hope I spelled that correctly) I've been wondering about the origin of my surname; when I meet new people and they hear my surname I always get asked where it's from and I have no answer. Some people think I'm joking at first, others love the name. I must confess, when I got teased a little at a school I didn't like it, but I really love it now. It's definitely unique and original.

Anyway, I recently started looking into my ancestral background, determined to find any indication as to where the surname came from. Through Facebook I found a number of relations around the world I never knew I had and funnily enough the same question has been plaguing them "Where does the surname Rockhead come from"?
ith:

Conducting some research with the help of the internet, the earliest documentation I could find was for a freed slave from a sugar plantation in Jamaica in 1746. He was owned by plantation owner James Dawkins (whose family is on wikipedia).

Interestingly enough though, I also found some birth records for some slaves with the Rockhead surname in Scotland in the late early 1800s in Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire and Midlothian.

I'm not sure if that counts as having Scottish roots, but it was an interesting discovery nonetheless.

Still no information on the origin of the surname though. One thing has become apparent though, my family are the only Rockheads in the world. I have only recently bought my first kilt (with my second due to be delivered tomorrow). In light of this discovery I'm quite tempted to create our own family tartan, either amending existing tartan from those areas mentioned or starting completely from scratch.

Anyway, that's the story and I hope you enjoyed reading it.

[Psynister]

I did a few quick searches to see if I could help you out, but I didn't find anything of particular value either.

[Lime]

Very interesting thank you and I think it is a cool surname; funny the things we are teased about at school we come to like about ourselves later on.

[tulloch]

Get a DNA test done. Like as not you've got some Scot blood in you. I think nearly everyone does. Then, again, who, of the ancient population of Scotland, qualifies as a Scot?

[rlh2]

I love your story! I would highly recommend ancestry.com (if I'm allowed to do so). I've recently, fallen in love with it. Good luck.

[t_challa]

I would highly recommend ancestry.com

that's what I used! lol

[Elizabeth]

Still no information on the origin of the surname though. One thing has become apparent though, my family are the only Rockheads in the world.

489 results on Ancestry... that's a lot of relatives. Are they all your greater family? They hail from quite a few different places.

[t_challa]

489 results on Ancestry... that's a lot of relatives. Are they all your greater family? They hail from quite a few different places.

From what my cousin in America and I can tell (we've both been doing research), all those mentions on ancestry.com are our family.
Earliest goes back to 1746 in Jamaica. Nothing earlier than that yet, but that's not uncommon for slaves in those days.

[Roderick Powell]

Look for a book "Slaves in the Family." American Origin. in Charlestown rice plantation area. written by journalist,decendant of plantation family: plantation sold to an oil company in 1920's this comes back to my theme of sea traders of Scottish origin in Southern England today.
Slave could be auctioned by slave transporter. to slave plantation master.

Could be Scottish slave master gives slave his sir name. ,Eg" Stone" . Son of "Stone".,sold by slave master to new master. Mr Smith., so son called after his father and given his own identification name ,his full name Smith Stone.
check out the Blues singers Mackinley Moreganfield. I trust I am correct, knickname Muddy Waters. Only a hunch. Now was Nick refering to "Old Knick" vis the Devil or Saten. ?
devils name, Not a christian name.
My cousin married a Johnstone, could have been a danish searaider , some claim, was Yhohanson or something similar.
Look at the name again. John Stone. Were the "Stones", stone workers in the Stuart Clan ?
If we go back to the famous negro blues singer Robert Johnstone;he sang about the sun going down and Old Nick being around to take his soul.

In the 1930's my Uncle left the family sheep farm in Scottish Lowlands to work on a harbour developement on the Gold Coast. He had a native house boy who was given his Scottish sir name. If one is looking for an engineer on a construction site, call his name and his house boy come running to report the visitor to his master.
The master had a son who had a Scottish sir name as a second christian name.
The son, my cousin, married a German wife and lived in Africa and England.
I like have two cousins who have Scottish names from our Gandmother 's maiden name,an Irish name from my grandmothers husband and to confuse the issue , I have a Welsh Sir Name from my fathers family.
I would say you are welcome to join the Clan , but the easiest answer may be to wear a regional kilt
Who can argue with you, if your geneology is as mixed as mine.
Perhaps one of our historians could please explain the names, Brown ,Black, White,Green,Smith,Cook, Miller, etc, as I understand the were all stewards to the king or the old clan Stuart, and had their problems from the time of William of Orange to Bonny Prince Charlie. Tried reading the Life and Times of Bonny Prince Charlie.

My guess is many of the seafarers and fishermen left Scotland in the 1600 S.
Did the miners end up in Wales and Cornwall ? Roderick.

[Nathan]

In a lot of instances, people who think they are of total African blood assume they were given their names by Slave owners. I know a gent who looks completely black but did the surname DNA test and since the paternal DNA changes so slowly, he has the same pateral DNA as the majority of his clan and is the product of an interracial union several generations ago. Not only is clan membership open to all holders of a particular name regardless of how they came to get the name, in many cases, people of colour are of the same paternal bloodline as the rest of their clan.