Clerks to the Monks.....

[Scozzie]

I've traced the Clark branch of my family back to the mid 1600s in Orkney (via Caithness) - with a load of help from a family member. I'm told the surname came about because the men were clerks to the monks on Orkney. The clerks were not monks, so they were free to marry (or I wouldn't be here!). I've Googled everything I can think of, but have no idea what to try next. Does anyone have any idea where I can find information on the clerks of the monks of Orkney? [-o<
This explains why my great-granny sang songs in Gaelic!

[AndrewP]

This explains why my great-granny sang songs in Gaelic!

Your great-granny must have learned her Gaelic elsewhere. Gaelic was not a language used in Orkney (or Shetland). Most of their non-English words are of Scandinavian origin.

This webpage may be of interest to you.

http://www.sspx.co.uk/place.php?placeid=31

All the best,

Andrew Paterson

[Andy]

Hi there, I'd be doing some careful checking of your family member's facts. Gaelic was never spoken on Orkney and by the mid 1600's there wouldn't be any Monks on the Island.

Indeed, to a large extent Monks, everywhere in the dim and distant past, were the Clerks since so few folk could read or write.

[Scozzie]

Thanks for the info - I'll go look. I don't think my relations in 1600 were clerks to the monks - I only believe the surname originated because they were clerks to the Monks many years before. I didn't say my great-granny was from Orkney! My great-great granny was from Wick. I never heard my great-granny sing - my mum said her granny used to sing songs in a funny language - and mum was only a child when she heard her granny. It could have been any language - maybe even a nonsense song that granny liked. Mum just assumed it was Gaelic.

[breakish]

i believe the clarks are a sept of the clan macpherson , the name macpherson means son of the parson, there are believed four different septs of the clan, badenoch the main clan, sleat on skye , argyllshire and the outer hebrides, barra, south uist etc

[Scozzie]

Thanks Breakish, I'll have a look at McPherson.