Scot of French origin (ca 1680-1700) Balmain

[sandrine]

In a list of Wills and Testaments from the 18th century from a tiny village in the French Alps (from where the name Balmain actually originates) I have found a Michel Balmain who is said to have emigrated to Scotland. Normally I would not dream of finding anything about his life in Scotland with as little information as that but I was puzzled by the fact that there seems to be quite a lot of Balmain in Scottish records and that name is definitely French so maybe...
Does anyone have any hints on how to proceed ? I'd be grateful for any suggestion or hint.

Thank you


Sandrine

[Russell]

Hello Sandrine, and welcome to TalkingScot.

This sounds like a particularly interesting challenge for some of our members and I'm glad you brought it to us.
I would be very interested to find out what this immigrant/emigrant's occupation was as that might give some clues to where he might end up in Scotland.

Historically there was a great deal of travel as well as trade between Scotland and the continent in the 1500's and 1600's and some links are still maintained particularly in the wine and spirits trades.
Scottish university students often completed their first degree in Glasgow, Edinburgh or St Andrews then travelled to a continental university to complete a second, more specialised degree.
French fishing fleets would use Scottish harbours.
Specialist weavers were sometimes brought over to introduce new skills and techniques.
There are lots of other avenues to explore. Any snippets of information will help focus a search.
Lovely to have you join us.

Russell

[DavidWW]

Black's "The Surnames of Scotland has an entry for BALMAIN stating that the surname is territorial from the lands of Balmain in the parish of Fettercairn in the County of Kincardine; the place name thought to derive from the Gaelic Baile meadon, "middle town", with occurences back to the 16th century.

It's always possible, of course, that the pre-16th C Scottish origin linked into the strong historical connections with France, - "The Auld Alliance" !!

Black notes that the English origin of BALMAIN is of quite different origin.

David

[sandrine]

Thanks a lot for the quick answers, quite full of information both of them (even if I'm quite ashamed having lived in Dublin for a while and knowing by heart its Gaelic name, Baile Atah Cliath, not to have thought that Balmain could come from Baile...).

So far all I know is that a Michel Balmain left Saint Sorlin d'Arves for Scotland and drew up a testament before doing so in the early 1700's.
In my experience all the "emigrants" of that village were traders but that's all I know.

I need to pick the brains of the local historian and genealogist who gave me tons of information about my ancestors and the village itself including the fact that one of the inhabitants emigrated to Scotland...

Thanks again for all your help so far.


Sandrine

[RChristopher]

Hi Sandrine

This probably isn't very relevant, but interesting none the less.

Another Scottish Balmain, Dr William Balmain (born around 1803 I think) was partly responsible for founding New South Wales in Australia. The Sydney suburb of Balmain is named after him. He was from Perthshire.

On a point of history and geography (and knowing the French Alps quite well), Saint Sorlin d'Arves is, I think, in the old province of Maurienne which was part of the Dukedom of Savoy. Savoy was an independent state (and many think it still should be) until annexed by France in 1860, so Michel would have been a Savoyard, not a Frenchman. The French did not hold the mountain folk in very high regard, until that is, tourism to the Alps became popular...in around 1860.

Cheers all
Richard

[Rab]

I find this thread really interesting and realise I've been a little narroe minded in my own search. There was a story in our family that we were orignally of Spanish descent which I thought I had disproved by tracing back to c1800 Scotland. Though there probably is no truth in it I can't now totally dismiss it from reading this thread.