? FAIREIS

  General Notes:

The name Fara originally meant a traveller, and the termination "is" or "ish", was a designative suffix meaning "of the nature of", or "Belonging to". The whole name, etymologically, meant "The Traveller who belonged to, or lived hard by, the water." The word, "Traveller" in ancient days when surnames where adopted, meant soething differnt from our present ideas associated with that word. Travel then was hard to undertake and rarely undertaken except by the knigts and Retainers who went to war, and by the Pilgrims who made journeys to the holy Land. The term "travelleer" was, therfore, eally a title of honor, as means of transportation were few and the danger of travelling great. The grant of Coats-of-armour to the family is registeed under the name of "Fariseau", in Flanders, and was issued 13 August 1698. The family was ennobled and raides to the rank of Chevaliers 23 August 1699. On the translation of the family to England, which took place just prior to 1700, the final "h" for the sake of euphony in English pronunciation. Thus the pesent spelling Farish. Almost every British surname has undergone similar evolution. Such changes in spelling and pronunciation, made by different branches of the family where not identenical, hence the forms of Faris, Farris, Farish, and similar spellings.

Birth: in Kerse of Kendill, Dumfries, Scotland

Note: The holdings of this family was in Dumfries in what is commonly called the Kerse of Kendill (Kerse later called Carse) and is located in the southern portion of Scotland on the border with England. The name was spelled in many different ways: Fayrish, Fairis, Fareis, Faris, Fairess, and others. The family were cattle and sheep raisers and from many accounts, the word "Raider" might have been more appropriate than raiser.