Pope to Painter Surname change
I recently heard a story that my family was forced to flee Scotland from the British. They were supposedly running from something to do with Prince Charlie. I researched this and found that Charlie (Young Pretender) tried to invade England during the Jacobitism movement and that once he was defeated his supporters were punished/killed. My current surname is Painter, and I am from Louisiana. I know that my great great great grand father, James Painter (born abt. 1820), may have been from Virginia but I heard that the Painters came from Texas. Possibly Landing in Virginia and migrating to Texas then on to Louisiana. Please help if you have anything. thanks. Was told that Pope changed to Painter b/c of this conflict.
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Re: Pope to Painter Surname change
Can I correct you on a couple of points? At the time of the 1745 rebellion, Scotland was part of the state of Britain, and had been since 1707, so they were not fleeing from the British. They themselves were British! The Pretender had a partially valid claim the the British throne, and simply used Scotland as his starting point for trying to win that throne.He had many supporters in England also. The surname Painter,if from Scotland,is a variant of PANTER, a very old Scottish surname. Nowhere do you mention the name POPE, apart from your header. The surname POPE is found in Northern Scotland and historically appears also as Pop/Pap/Paip/Pape. A James Paip from Aberdeenshire was transported in 1775.
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Re: Pope to Painter Surname change
I heard about 1 week ago from a very old distant relative which was told a story by her family. This is all that I got from her. Here goes. Our name was changed from Pope to Painter because of an assassination attempt related with Prince Charlie. They had to change the name in order to flee from the British by boat. I researched for a few minutes and found out about Prince Charlie. Does this make any sense? That was all that I had to go off of. She also mentioned that we got off of the boat in Texas but my research shows that my G-G-G grandfather & mother were born in Virginia, so they could have come over from Scotland/England to Virginia. Then jumped ship from Virginia to Texas. I have been stuck for over 12 years on James Painter which the G-G-G Grandfather to which I am referring. Can you possibly shed any light on anything? I am grabbing at anything in order to have something to research further. James is in Louisiana 1860-1870 then must die b/c I can't find him any where nor do I know where he came from except some references to Virginia.
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Re: Pope to Painter Surname change
If he is in the USA in 1879, then see what the USA Census records say (there was a census in 1870 in USA). There were some state censuses in the mid-decennial period (1865, 1875)which might help you. The census usually tells you at least which country he was born in, if it was not the USA. If he was born in the USA, then look for his parents in the census (goes back to 1790 in the U.S., as I recall). You could also make use of naturalisation records in the States: they can be quite informative. Unlike in the UK, American newspapers often have obituaries of local personalities: worth searching. These obituaries often tell of the deceased's origins. There is no obvious reason for someone to change their name from the uncommon one Pope to the equally uncommon Painter(Panter). If you want to hide, you assume a common surname instead; which is why I discount the fleeing story. Most Jacobite rebels fled to France if they wanted to get away. Remember, until the American Revolution (1775-1783) the States was still under British control. Hope that helps. Good luck.
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