I'm a Barron, from Morayshire. AFAIK my (and possibly your) ancestors lived around Nairn and along the Moray Firth. My G-Grandfather owned a bank in ..arg.. a small town somewhere in Morayshire. Forgot the name. Close links to Rose clan.
It is hard. A book has been published on my mother's side (guernsey/garnsey)
On my father's side - my gramma was from australia and we are running into a dead end with her father. he wzs from London, but there are no records we can find about him going to Australia.
I wish I could trace my roots back further. Here's all I can tell you. First, my mother's side: my grandmother was born in western Pennsylvania to Polish immigrants who later moved to Gary, Indiana. She died about eight years ago. My grandfather was an immigrant from what today is Slovakia. He died of black lung disease when my mom was in high school (he worked in the coal mines).
Now, my father's side: both of my grandparents were born in Omaha, Nebraska. My grandfather was third generation German-American, my grandmother first generation Irish-American. They both died when my sister and I were very little. My last name originally had two N's, as I have seen a picture of some ancestor out in front of his grocery store. The name was in plain view. I claim I am Scottish because of my grandmother's maiden name, Maxwell. Her father (my great-grandfather) was an orphan, so we have no way of knowing either his true name or birthplace.
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Mike F.
May the Irish hills caress you. May her lakes and rivers bless you. May the luck of the Irish enfold you. May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.
Name changes can't always be blamed on immigration. Try going from Calder to Cattell in about 100 yrs. without ever moving more than 30 miles. Also in the same area are Caddell, caudal, Cattle. In many cases these folks were illiterate and didn't know how to spell there own names and when they were written down by church or government officials, they were written as they sounded to that official. In my wifes family in one generation a family living along the English Welsh boarder went from Irwin (English) to Idwyn (Welsh) to Iddings upon immigrating to the American Colonies. Often spellings of surnames don't mean squat in genealogy.