Somerled?

[Mintchip]

Does anyone know anything about this historic IOM figure named Somerled? A new friend of mine is currently writing about this ancestor of her's who was from the island, and asked me if I'd heard of him. Wanted to tell her "no, I only know about Summerland...." but she wouldn't get it. Anyway, if any of you lovely people know what I'm talking about, please share. I would love to be able to give her some information. Thanks in advance.

[Jools]

Its not a name I've heard before, but I cant sleep tonight so I did some searching around for you. There's a page on wikipedia about him, and I also found a couple of other pages that might be of use: Facts, and more info.

 

You can probably find lots more on google, hope this helps

[Frances]

plug name into search engine on http://www.manxnotebook.com - name derives from old norse 'summer traveller' but gave name to powerful dynasty in Galloway

[Tempus Fugit]

that's different to King David

[Vulgarian]

I'd be very interested to know how your friend traced her ancestry back to Somerled, who lived in the 12th century. It would be quite difficult to do given the scarcity of records from the area in that period, and it would probably require her to be able to read Latin and Middle Irish. Some notable Scottish families kept genealogies going back a long way but they're are not always reliable.

[Mintchip]

I'd be very interested to know how your friend traced her ancestry back to Somerled, who lived in the 12th century. It would be quite difficult to do given the scarcity of records from the area in that period, and it would probably require her to be able to read Latin and Middle Irish. Some notable Scottish families kept genealogies going back a long way but they're are not always reliable.

 

Good point, Vulgarian. I will need to ask her that. She just sent me a very brief description of this fellow, but did not mention the connection other than that he was an ancestor. Admittedly, I first assumed he was someone from more recent history. Was just impressed that she even knew the Isle of Man at all, as I'm finding most Americans don't have a clue about the place. Don't know what they are missing really.

[Frances]

I'd be very interested to know how your friend traced her ancestry back to Somerled, who lived in the 12th century. It would be quite difficult to do given the scarcity of records from the area in that period, and it would probably require her to be able to read Latin and Middle Irish. Some notable Scottish families kept genealogies going back a long way but they're are not always reliable.

I'm afraid there is a vast amount of junk out on the net - most are based on misunderstandings/misreadings of texts as none who post such rubbish are capable of the original research - we had the visitation of one such here on these boards a few months back.

 

You can trace some Norwegian families back but there are no reliable Manx records prior to 16th century - thus the gap to be bridged is several centuries

[Mintchip]

I'd be very interested to know how your friend traced her ancestry back to Somerled, who lived in the 12th century. It would be quite difficult to do given the scarcity of records from the area in that period, and it would probably require her to be able to read Latin and Middle Irish. Some notable Scottish families kept genealogies going back a long way but they're are not always reliable.

I'm afraid there is a vast amount of junk out on the net - most are based on misunderstandings/misreadings of texts as none who post such rubbish are capable of the original research - we had the visitation of one such here on these boards a few months back.

 

You can trace some Norwegian families back but there are no reliable Manx records prior to 16th century - thus the gap to be bridged is several centuries

 

Thanks Frances, and the rest for your insight.

[Mintchip]

Was just impressed that she even knew the Isle of Man at all, as I'm finding most Americans don't have a clue about the place.

 

Is that just the Isle of Man, or like me do you find that frankly they are often amazed that any other countries exist at all?

 

You sound just like my husband . We're not that insular, but if you look at how vast the country is, it's enough to keep the average person fairly occupied. Dom Jolly did a program a couple of years ago and said something like, no wonder Americans rarely travel outside their own country....there's so much to see right here (he was touring the US at the time). However, I will add that experiencing other parts of the world certainly has enriched my life.