This issue: Lincoln

The history of Lincoln and the American Civil War is well documented, but how did the name originate and where did the various branches of the family go? What

are the coat of arms and the family history?

There appear to be two schools of thought. Firstly, early records suggest that the name was of Norman origin, being one of the surnames that the Normans brought with them when they conquered England in

1066. The Normans were commonly believed to have been from French origins, but more accurately they were of Viking roots. Viking leader Rollo invaded France in 911 A.D. and the French King, Charles the Simple, fi-nally conceded defeat following the siege of Paris. Rollo became the first Duke of Normandy and was the ances-tor of William, Duke of Normandy (the Conqueror) who defeated England in 1066.

Secondly, it may have been that the Lincoln fam-ily lived in the city of Lincoln, this name being derived from the British name Lindo, which means lake, and the Latin word Colonia, meaning settlement or colony. Dur-ing the Roman occupation of England, the town was an important administrative centre, developing further into cloth manufacturing during the Middle Ages, now famous for the ‘Lincoln Green’. Hence, the history of the name Lincoln is interwoven into the colourful fabric of the history of Britain.

Professional analysts have conducted careful research into the Lincoln name using such ancient manuscripts as the Domesday Book (compiled by William the Con-queror in 1086), the Wace Poem, the Honour Roll of the Battel Abbey, tax records, baptisms and a whole host of other documents. This research determined that the name Lincoln was first found in Lincolnshire where they were seated from early times and were granted lands by William, Duke of Normandy for their distinguished assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The Duke took a census in 1086 and recorded it in the Domesday Book. Indeed, during the Middle Ages, a family name capable of being traced back to this document was a mark of honour for most families, as it is today.

Many alternate spellings of the name were found, such as Lincolne and Lincorne. They were typically linked to a common root, usually one of the Norman nobles at the Battle of Hastings. They deviate from one another because scribes tended to spell words as they sounded. Sometimes a person would be born with one surname spelling, married with another and buried with yet another, making research somewhat prob-lematic! Sometimes, spelling preferences and variation

occurred because of family divisions or for religious or patriotic reasons.

Eventually, Lincoln emerged as a notable English family name and it branched to Dorset, Somerset and Norfolk and in the latter county settled in Norwich. It was from this branch of the family that Samuel Lincoln was descended. He settled in Boston, Massachusetts in 1637 and is the ancestor of Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States.

In recent history, other notable bearers of the Lincoln surname in America include: Benjamin Lincoln (1733-1810), American Revolutionary and soldier and Levi Lincoln (1749-1820), American politician, U.S. Attorney General and Governor of Massachusetts. In Britain, Henry Soskin (b. 1930) adopted the Lincoln name as a pseudonym. He is the English writer and actor who often co-wrote Dr. Who in the 1960s, and co-wrote a book that became the inspiration for Dan Brown’s best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code. Similarly, Andrew Lincoln (born Clutterbuck, 1973) is well known in the television industry, as an actor in TV series such as This Life and Teachers. It would seem about time for an origi-nal Lincoln family member in Britain to make his or her mark on public life!

www.hallofnames.org.uk

Article by Jo Laver for Hall Of NamesPhoto from The Library of Congress

SKIRMISH - LIVING HISTORY 27

LIVING HISTORY

What’s in a name?

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