Chisholm
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Chisholm Surname Genealogy
The name Chisholm is said to be derived from a Norman French word "chese" meaning "to choose" and the Saxon word "holm" meaning "meadow.” The family became established initially at Roxburgh (near Kelso), once an important wool town in the Scottish borders.
Select Chisholm Resources on The Internet
Scotland. Through marriage, a Robert Chisholm inherited Erchless Castle near Inverness in the early fifteenth century. This was to be the Chisholm clan seat for the next five hundred years. The lands in their possession at this time were Strathglass and Ard and they later came into the estate of Comar, making them proprietors of a large part of Ross-shire.
These Chisholms were staunch Catholics and it might come as no surprise that Roderick Chisholm led his clan in support of the Catholic "Old Pretender" in 1715 and Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745. In this they were defeated and, although the Chisholms did continue as a landed family in their heartland until the end of the 19th century, it was the beginning of the end of the clan as a social force in Scotland. Waves of emigration followed, starting with these defeats and continuing with the Highland clearances in which the clan chiefs actively participated.
The Chisholms were not only to be found in the Highlands. A Lowland name continued from the early family roots in Roxburgh - often as Chisholme rather than Chisholm - in the Scottish border country. However, border life could be hard and, by the eighteenth century, many of these Chisholms had migrated north to Edinburgh and its environs. Some Lowland Chisholms settled in Ireland. Their name here became Chism. Others were to be found in the English border counties.
The Chisholm Exodus. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries saw a Chisholm exodus, for both voluntary and involuntary reasons. We remember most the Highland exodus, forced out after the clearances. These Chisholms were driven to places as far apart as Nova Scotia in Canada and South Island in New Zealand. Many would preserve in these new pastures their clan identity, clan music, and clan stories of romance and betrayal.
But we should not forget another exodus, more Lowland but some Highland, of those who left more willingly to seek out new opportunities abroad. Their ties were looser with the homeland. In fact, the name Chisholm became Chisolm in many parts of America. And many of these hardy emigrants were industrious and proved very successful in their new lands. There were Chisolm plantation owners in the sea islands of South Carolina in the years before the Civil War and Chisholm industrialists in Ontario and across the border in the northern United States in the later nineteenth century.
Select Chisholm Names
Alexander de Cheschelme was the earliest recorded Chisholm (from 1249).
Roderick Chisholm was the Chisholm clan chief who led his men in the doomed rebellions of 1715 and 1745, but survived with his life and his estates.
Caroline Chisholm, who had married Capt. Archibald Chisholm in 1838 and moved to Australia, sought housing and jobs for the young immigrant women who arrived there.
Jesse Chisholm, who was born in Tennessee and built trading posts in western Oklahoma in the 1850’s, gave his name to the Chisholm Trail, a cattle trail which stretched from southern Texas to Abilene in Kansas.
Brock Chisholm, from Oakville in Ontario, was the first Director of the World Health Organization in 1948.
Shirley Chisholm from Brooklyn (of Jamaican origin) was the first black woman to sit in the US House of Representatives.
Select Chisholms Today
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Map: Select NamesThe name Chisholm is said to be derived from a Norman French word "chese" meaning "to choose" and the Saxon word "holm" meaning "meadow.” The family became established initially at Roxburgh (near Kelso), once an important wool town in the Scottish borders.
Select Chisholm Resources on The Internet
- The Chisholm Name Website. Genealogy of the Chisholm name.
- International Clan Chisholm
Society. Chisholm clan history and clan events.
- The Life of Donald (Gobha) Chisholm.
Clans/minibiographies/C - Donald Chisholm.
- Chisholms in
Antigonish County.
J.D Rankin's history.
Scotland. Through marriage, a Robert Chisholm inherited Erchless Castle near Inverness in the early fifteenth century. This was to be the Chisholm clan seat for the next five hundred years. The lands in their possession at this time were Strathglass and Ard and they later came into the estate of Comar, making them proprietors of a large part of Ross-shire.
These Chisholms were staunch Catholics and it might come as no surprise that Roderick Chisholm led his clan in support of the Catholic "Old Pretender" in 1715 and Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745. In this they were defeated and, although the Chisholms did continue as a landed family in their heartland until the end of the 19th century, it was the beginning of the end of the clan as a social force in Scotland. Waves of emigration followed, starting with these defeats and continuing with the Highland clearances in which the clan chiefs actively participated.
The Chisholms were not only to be found in the Highlands. A Lowland name continued from the early family roots in Roxburgh - often as Chisholme rather than Chisholm - in the Scottish border country. However, border life could be hard and, by the eighteenth century, many of these Chisholms had migrated north to Edinburgh and its environs. Some Lowland Chisholms settled in Ireland. Their name here became Chism. Others were to be found in the English border counties.
The Chisholm Exodus. The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries saw a Chisholm exodus, for both voluntary and involuntary reasons. We remember most the Highland exodus, forced out after the clearances. These Chisholms were driven to places as far apart as Nova Scotia in Canada and South Island in New Zealand. Many would preserve in these new pastures their clan identity, clan music, and clan stories of romance and betrayal.
But we should not forget another exodus, more Lowland but some Highland, of those who left more willingly to seek out new opportunities abroad. Their ties were looser with the homeland. In fact, the name Chisholm became Chisolm in many parts of America. And many of these hardy emigrants were industrious and proved very successful in their new lands. There were Chisolm plantation owners in the sea islands of South Carolina in the years before the Civil War and Chisholm industrialists in Ontario and across the border in the northern United States in the later nineteenth century.
Select Chisholm Names
Alexander de Cheschelme was the earliest recorded Chisholm (from 1249).
Roderick Chisholm was the Chisholm clan chief who led his men in the doomed rebellions of 1715 and 1745, but survived with his life and his estates.
Caroline Chisholm, who had married Capt. Archibald Chisholm in 1838 and moved to Australia, sought housing and jobs for the young immigrant women who arrived there.
Jesse Chisholm, who was born in Tennessee and built trading posts in western Oklahoma in the 1850’s, gave his name to the Chisholm Trail, a cattle trail which stretched from southern Texas to Abilene in Kansas.
Brock Chisholm, from Oakville in Ontario, was the first Director of the World Health Organization in 1948.
Shirley Chisholm from Brooklyn (of Jamaican origin) was the first black woman to sit in the US House of Representatives.
Select Chisholms Today
- 6,500 in the UK (most numerous in Durham)
- 3,500 in America (most numerous in Florida).
- 10,000 elsewhere (most numerous in Canada)
The Origin/Spread of Surnames