[Ancestor] Elkin

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Husband [Ancestor] Elkin

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Wife

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Children

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1 M Robert Elkin ¹

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         Spouse: Marjorie Woods (      -      ) 1

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General Notes: Husband - [Ancestor] Elkin

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The authorities on genealogy hold widely dissimilar views regarding the origin of the surname Elkin. In "The Domesday," generally regarded as authoritative in England, the name is said to be a combination of "Ella" and "kyn" and was used to designate the followers of Ella, the leader of a band of Saxon invaders who landed in south Britain about 514 A. D. He became king of the South Saxons, and with his three sons and followers ruled those people for a long term of years. He was universally conceded to be the head of all the subsequent settlers in Britain-the first Bretwalda. In the history of the Northmen we find that "Ella" and "Alla" were used interchangeably and had the same meaning. Frequently the words "Ellakind" and "Allakind" were used in the sense of being synonymous with "Englishman." According to a slightly different view the name Elkin, while used to designate an Englishman, is a modification or corruption of "Alchen," a Shropshire landholder in the reign of Edward the Confessor. There is little doubt that the name is of Saxon origin. According to Ferguson, a recognized authority on the origin of names, "Ella" is derived from the Gothic words alius and alja, meaning a person from another country, a foreigner, or a wanderer. In this connection there appear in the old German "alja," "Ello" and "Ella," these words in the later German taking the diminutive forms "Alikin" and "Elikin." In the Anglo-Saxon these words appear as "Alchen" and "Elkin." From these words and their derivatives we learn two facts: That the Saxon kings and their followers were inhabitants of the Continent before they became invaders of Britain, the name Elkin being therefore of Teutonic and not Celtic origin; and that the original name was Elkin and not Elkins, because in all of the derivatives and their roots there is no indication of the letter "s," which was probably added in England at a much later date. The two forms mean the same thing. Both branches of the family belong to the old Saxon stock.
The members of the Elkin family who settled in western Pennsylvania belong to the branch that emigrated from England to Ireland in the seventeenth century. The exact date of the settlement of the Elkins in Ireland is not known. The best authenticated tradition is that in the seventeenth century some members of the Graham, Ramsey and Elkin families went from England to County Tyrone, Ireland, and settled near Omagh. Among them was James Elkin, of whose subsequent history little is known. Robert Elkin was the head of the chief branch of the family in Ireland. He came from England about the middle of the eighteenth century and settled near Omagh. He married Marjorie Woods, of County Fermanagh, where some of his relatives still [1917] reside. There is no definite information concerning this Robert Elkin, but he had brothers and sisters and was undoubtedly closely related to the James Elkin mentioned above. It is also very probable that he was a member of the family of William Elkin mentioned in English history as an alderman of London, and also of John Elkin, one of the subscribers to the London Company's Colonies in America, 1609, and a merchant of London, where many members of the Elkin family in England lived.

That members of the Elkin family were engaged in various occupations and professions appears from the fact that in 1559 a certain George Elkins was graduated from Oxford and became a clergyman of the Established Church. In 1405 a William Elkin was made vicar of the parish at East Cloyden, Buckinghamshire. Another William Elkin had a daughter Ursula, who married Sir Roger Owen, a prominent member of Parliament from the County of Salop, and the widow of this William Elkin later married Thomas Owen, father of Sir Roger, and a judge of the court of Common Pleas during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The members of the original Elkin family lived in the south and east of England, especially near Cheltenham and in London. In the "Munimenta Gildhalae Londoniensis" there is a reference to Robert Ellkyn, thus retaining in part at least the early spelling; he was an officeholder during Sir Richard Whittington's mayoralty in the sixteenth century. In 1547 a coat of arms was granted to Richard Elkins, and in 1593 another coat of arms was granted to William Elkin, who was an alderman of Cripple Gate, London. About the same time the family coat of arms was authorized to be registered, and is still [1917] used by the English branch of the family. ¹

1 —, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People, Vol. II (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Company, 1917), Pg 163.