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ADDENDUM
VOLUMN
II
1000 Years
of
Barrs Family History
1000
AD to 2000 AD
By
Al Barrs, Jr.
32443-1839
©
Copyrighted by Al
Barrs, Jr. 1999 - 2005 All Rights Reserved.
Revised
Fourth Edition
“Your Name”
You got it
from your father, it was all he had to give, so
it's yours to keep and cherish for as long as you shall live, It was
clean the
day he got it, and a worthy name to bear, When he got it from his
father, there
was no dishonor there, So protect and guard it safely, for when all is
said and
done, You'll be proud the name is spotless when you give it to your
son.
Author
unknown
WORDS
OF WISDOM
I've
learned....
that the best
classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.
I've
learned....
that when
you're in love, it shows.
I've
learned....
that just one
person saying to me, "You've made my day!" makes my day.
I've
learned....
that having a
child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in
the
world.
I've
learned....
that being kind
is more important than being right.
I've
learned....
that you should
never say no to a gift from a child.
I've
learned....
that I can
always pray for someone when I don't have the strength to help him in
some
other way.
I've
learned....
that no matter
how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to
act goofy
with.
I've
learned....
that sometimes
all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to understand.
I've
learned....
that simple
walks with my father around the block on summer nights when I was a
child did
wonders for me as an adult.
I've
learned....
that life is
like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster
it goes.
I've
learned....
that we should
be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for.
I've
learned....
that money
doesn't buy class.
I've
learned....
that it's those
small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.
I've
learned....
that under
everyone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.
I've
learned....
that the Lord
didn't do it all in one day. What makes me think I can?
I've
learned....
that to ignore
the facts does not change the facts.
I've
learned....
that when you
plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person
continue to
hurt you.
I've
learned....
that love, not
time, heals all wounds.
I've
learned....
that the
easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with
people
smarter than I am.
I've
learned....
that everyone
you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile
I've
learned....
that there's
nothing sweeter than sleeping with your babies and feeling their breath
on your
cheeks.
I've
learned....
that no one is
perfect until you fall in love with them.
I've learned....
that life is
tough, but I'm tougher.
I've
learned....
that
opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you miss.
I've
learned....
that when you
harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.
I've
learned....
that I wish I
could have told my Mom that I love her one more time before she passed
away.
I've
learned....
that one should
keep his words both soft and tender, because tomorrow he may have to
eat them.
I've
learned....
that a smile is
an inexpensive way to improve your looks.
I've
learned....
that I can't
choose how I feel, but I can choose what I do about it.
I've
learned....
that when your
newly born grandchild holds your little finger in his little fist, that
you're
hooked for life.
I've
learned....
that everyone
wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth
occurs
while you're climbing it.
I've
learned....
that it is best
to give advice in only two circumstances; when it is requested and when
it is a
life-threatening situation.
I've learned....
that the less
time I have to work with, the more things I get done.
Andy Rooney,
Author
Contributed
by my and Priscilla Lee Jones/Barrs' middle daughter Susan
Elaine
1999...Al Barrs
|
Your full maiden/family name:
Date/Place of Birth:
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Your residence:
Telephone/E-mail Address: |
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Father’s name:
Date/Place
of Birth: |
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Mother’s maiden/family name:
Date/Place of Birth: |
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Date and place of parent’s:
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YOUR CHILDREN
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# Sex
(M/F) Full Name Date Born Where Born When
Married Where Married to: |
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1. |
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2. |
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3. |
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4. |
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5. |
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6. |
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What do you know about the BARRS
family surname? |
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Do you know; |
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The names of any of your
ancestors?
Names: |
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What country they came from? |
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When and how they got to the
USA? |
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What their occupation(s)
were? |
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Which served in the military? |
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If there is a family
cemetery? |
|
Anyone in your family
researching BARRS genealogy? |
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Anyone with a BARRS
family bible, old photos, letters, etc? |
ADDITIONAL RELATED
BARRS INFORMATION
|
|
SHORT
HISTORY OF THE VIKING ERA
The Vikings
(Norsemen
or Northmen) were Germanic people from
Between 800
and 1000
AD the Vikings raided villages from Ireland to Russia. The long,
light
ships of the Vikings enabled them to attack, plunder, and disappear
before the
Europeans could organize resistance.
During the
900's the
Vikings began to replace raiding with trading. When the Vikings
were at
home they were farmers. The Vikings began to settle in Normandy
and
England. They converted to Christianity and began to led more peaceful
lives. A warming trend in Europe allowed them to settle and
prosper in
Iceland and Greenland. This reduced their need to find new lands
for
conquest.
Viking
poets called skalds
recorded their heroic deeds of
their warrior leaders.
Viking Age
Timeline:
• In 793 AD the
Viking era started with the plundering of the English convent
"Lindisfarne".
• Around 850 AD
Lothar, son of Louis the Pionus, gave the island Walcheren to Harald
&
Rorik for protection against his brothers (Charles the Bald and Louis
the
German) and other Vikings.
• In 878 AD
Vikings were "given" Danelagen [Danelaw, also a law] in the Northern
most parts of England.
• In 911 AD
the Viking
"Ganga-Hrolf/Rollo" (Norwegian working for Danes) was
"given" Normandie in France,
which is named after the Vikings, "men from the north." For
protection,
• About 1000 AD,
Leif Eriksson discovered Vinland, many years after the Native Americans
had
settled there.
• In 1003 AD
Skandinavian Vikings joined "Svein Forkbeard" and in 1013 AD they
conquered England.
• 1012 AD Thorkel
"The Tall" worked for king Aethelred (protecting
• 1014 AD Svein
died and his son Knut had to leave for Denmark when Aethelred returned.
• During 1017 AD
England was ruled by "Knut the Great," son of "Svein
Forkbeard" and then by his son "Harde-Knut" until 1042 AD, when
"Harde-Knut" died. (Then the English royals took over with Edward the
Confessor)
• On September
26, 1066 AD King Harold II (Last of the Anglo-Saxon Kings) of England
beat the
invading Norwegian king "Harald Hardradi" at Stamford Bridge.
• On October 14,
1066 AD King Harold II was beaten by "William the Conqueror" in the
famous battle of Hastings (A gigantic family feud). William was a
Normandic
Duke and a descendant of "Rollo".
In Norse, Víking
means piracy ever since Viking raiders savagely attacked England's
Lindisfarne
monastery in 793 AD. The Vikings have seemed to have been little more
than
blue-eyed barbarians in horned helmets. But archeological
investigations of
Viking sites stretching from Russia to Newfoundland have revealed a
more human
(if not altogether humane) side to the Viking character.
In an
interview with
NOVA TV producer Julia Cort, William Fitzhugh, curator of a new exhibit
on
Vikings at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, offers
compelling
insight into this new image of the Norsemen and what he perceives as
their
catalytic role in Europe's transformation from a feudal society to an
integrated group of modern nation-states.
NOVA: What must it have been like for the monks at Lindisfarne
to be
suddenly attacked out of the blue?
Fitzhugh:
For them, the attack represented the vengeance of Satan on the
Christian
outposts of Europe. It was a terrible event, because the monks and the
church
centers had set themselves up in small, fortress-like places where they
could
pursue their studies and writings in peace, and it was an invasion of
the
sanctities of Christ and their religion. This was totally unlike
anything that
had happened before. There had been outlaws, but to have shiploads of
brawny
characters show up at your isolated, supposedly sacred center, this was
the
ultimate horror.
NOVA:
What did the Vikings actually do in these attacks?
Fitzhugh:
Well, the attacks were very diverse. I mean, one misconception we have
is that
swarms of Vikings raided constantly all over the place, and it really
wasn't
that way. For the most part, the raids were totally independent. They
were not
the result of national armies or navies moving down into Europe, but
rather the
actions of individual Viking chieftains who grouped together followers
and had
one or maybe several boats.
Occasionally,
as in
some of the invasions of Normandy, they organized whole flotillas and
made a
purposeful kind of attack, but generally they were much more
individualistic.
They had to find food, and they couldn't carry their food with them.
They had to
live off
the land, so they drove people out and took whatever money and other
valuables
people had. And, of course, the church centers and monasteries like
Lindisfarne
constituted the major sources of wealth at that time.
NOVA:
Did they kill a lot of people in these raids?
Fitzhugh:
In many cases they did. I think they were relatively ruthless, but
remember,
this was a ruthless age with far more than just peaceful farmers living
peaceful lives. All sorts of things were going on in the British Isles
and
mainland Europe, including constant battles between rival princes vying
for
kingship and control of local regions. The Vikings were just another
crowd,
though a crowd that was non-Christian and had no compunction about
killing
churchmen or women or children.
That said,
in general
I think the victims were men, because the Vikings were great at
absorbing
people. They needed slaves. They needed people to row their boats. They
needed
people to help maintain their lifestyle. They regularly set up small
villages
and centers where they could over-winter or stay for months at a time,
and they
needed people to help run these establishments. So
I think if
you were
able to put yourself back into the camp of a raiding Viking group, you
probably
would find Italians and Spaniards and Portuguese and French and
Russians -- a
very diverse group built around a core of Vikings from a particular
region,
say, southern Denmark or an Oslo fjord. It wouldn't be just be blond,
blue-eyed
Norsemen.
NOVA:
So what are the main challenges in finding the truth about the Vikings?
Fitzhugh:
Well, one of the major problems in Viking studies is that we're biased
towards
the historical accounts -- early chronicles that all came from the
church
centers or official reports to the kings or regional authorities. It's
always
been that way. Only in the past 20 years or so have archeological and
other
studies begun to provide information that fleshes out and in some cases
contradicts or even replaces the historical record. These findings are
giving
us a totally different view of the Vikings.
We see them
archeologically not as raiders and pillagers but as entrepreneurs,
traders,
people opening up new avenues of commerce, bringing new materials into
Scandinavia, spreading Scandinavian ideas into Europe. For instance, we
see
silk that originated in Asia appearing in archeological sites such as
that at
York (see The Viking Diaspora). This view
contrasts
sharply with the early accounts, which were all from Europe, were
inevitably
based on victims' reports, and were extremely one-sided.
Who Were the Vikings?
NOVA:
Are the Icelandic sagas as unreliable?
Fitzhugh:
The Icelandic sagas are phenomenal documents that for hundreds of years
provided everything we knew about the Vikings. If we were interested in
Vinland
[the Viking name for a far-off land they visited, which scholars now
believe is
eastern Canada in and around Newfoundland. But then, beginning with the
discovery of Viking burial ships a century ago, archeology started to
poke its
nose into Viking affairs, and today, excavations have become an
invaluable new
source of information. Scholars have gone back to the sagas and asked,
"How much of this is history? How much fabrication? How much, just the
elaboration of family storytelling?"
Current
saga
scholarship is wonderful, because it's giving us a lot of insights as
to why
the sagas are the way they are. The sagas were compiled in the 13th
century and
later based on stories that originated as early as 400 or 500 years
before
that. This is a long time for an oral tradition to be handed down. Even
the
Vinland sagas, which chronicle events around A.D. 1000, were not
recorded for a
couple of hundred years after that. Some now believe the sagas are
basically
family stories relating the ancestry, say, of Erik or of Gudrid and her
family.
But archeology is actually proving that a lot of these stories have a
good
basis in fact, so much so that Helge Ingstad could use them to find the
L'Anse
aux Meadows site [an archeological site in Newfoundland believed to
have been a
Viking settlement established hundreds of years before Columbus
"discovered" America].
NOVA:
Why did they abandon L'Anse aux Meadows?
Fitzhugh:
Well, I think after a few years of using L'Anse aux Meadows as a
staging area,
the Vikings simply found it untenable in terms of supporting a sizeable
group
in that new environment. Too far from home and too many dangers. We
know from
the sagas that they lost people, and they probably lost ships.
L'Anse aux
Meadows
reached a point where it had to move beyond the exploration phase to
the
settlement phase, and that was not possible.
We have to
remember
that this was in the early days of the Greenland colony, which had only
a small
number of settlers itself, and to have so much of its resources
directed toward
a perilous new enterprise was not sensible. So I think the sagas are
probably
correct when they say, "It's a beautiful, rich land, but we can't
defend
ourselves in it."
NOVA:
But this wasn't the end of the Norse in North America, right?
Fitzhugh:
No. We've seen as a result of archaeological research large amounts of
Viking
material turning up in Native sites in the Arctic regions of North
America.
This
material dates to
perhaps as much as 300 years after the initial Vinland voyages. We seem
to have
a time period that began with the Vinland contact episode, explorations
and so
forth, and then after the society in Greenland got rolling and people
were
settled, walrus-ivory trade with Europe started to be really important.
Probably more than any other factor, this stimulated the continuous
Western
orientation of the Greenland Norse, not only up into the Greenland
walrus-hunting territories but across the Davis Strait to Ellesmere and
Baffin
islands and south into Labrador. These are areas where the Vikings were
exploring and trading, and where native populations were trading Viking
materials through their own trade networks. Of course, the continuing
need for
wood in treeless Greenland prompted return visits to Markland, which we
know to
have been today's Labrador.
NOVA:
And what happened to the Greenland colonies?
Fitzhugh:
There are lots of different theories. This is a wonderful area of
exploration
in terms of archeological and historical theory, because we have
environmental
changes, we have growing human population. We have an important
economic and
climactic downturn. You see a society that is reaching a peak and then
just
maintaining itself, but all the forces are going against it after 1300
or so.
The western colony disappears around 1350. The eastern settlement
continues for
another century, but it seems not to be doing too well, and then it
just drops
off the line. The last historic record is from 1408, a church wedding
of
Hvalsey.
There are
also
theories of pirates and other kinds of trauma that may have occurred in
these
settlements. All in all, I think we have here a real human experience.
This is not
the wrath
of God coming down and it's not an Ice Age descending. When pondering
this
extinction story, one has to consider a multiplicity of factors.
NOVA:
What contributed to the end of the Viking age itself?
Fitzhugh:
The end probably came about as a result of tired Vikings who had become
citizens of many places in Europe. They had become Christians back in
their
homelands, kings had evolved and were instituting taxes, and the
economy had
become such that you could get along much better as a trader rather
than as a
raider. The force of Viking onslaughts had caused European kingdoms to
become
centralized and focused. They had basically gotten their act together,
learning
how to defend themselves and to gain by trading and negotiating with
the
Vikings rather than just trying to fight them.
NOVA:
What was it about the Vikings or what they did that made it so easy for
them to
assimilate into foreign cultures?
Fitzhugh:
I think the Vikings were very adaptive. They learned to take advantage
of
whatever situation they found themselves in. When they settled in
Europe, they
took farmlands, yes, but they also met new people; they took slaves,
but the
slaves became part of their families. Their languages were not that
different;
they were all Germanic-based languages. (Many of the place-names in the
British
Isles, in fact, date from Viking times.) And the Vikings were not on a
special
crusade. They weren't trying to bring paganism to Europe. Quite the
opposite,
in fact: They were receiving influences from a Europe that they saw as
somehow
technologically and maybe in some ways politically superior. They
weren't out
to kill everyone in the countryside but rather to find a way to live,
to set up
shop, and I think they just readily mixed in.
NOVA:
In the end, what do you feel was the Vikings' greatest impact on the
world?
Fitzhugh:
I think that without question it was reconnecting humanity, making the
world a
smaller place by traveling huge distances, connecting peoples from
Baghdad to
Scandinavia to southern Europe to the north Atlantic to the mainland of
North
America.
From a
social or
economic or religious point of view, no matter what you think of it,
the Viking
period was a kind of hinge in European history. It was the time from
which you
went from early history and classical civilization into what we know as
modern
Europe and a modern world, in which people are exchanging ideas and
moving
around rapidly and exploring new frontiers, looking for new resources
and new
connections. -
15 -
When we
look into the
future now, I think we implicitly look back to the Vikings as the
origin of
this kind of human endeavor to find new horizons, go new places, use
new
technology, meet new people, think new thoughts.
In a
millennium era as
we're in now, this is the inspiration of the Vikings: It's not only the
historical impact that they had on Europe and in discovering the North
American
continent for the first time. These things are interesting and
important, but I
think that we should look at the Vikings in a broader sense, as a kind
of a
human myth come true that we can draw on -- that is, we can look to
space, to
the oceans, to explorations among our own peoples, finding new ways of
getting
along, mixing, and sharing.
Secrets
of Norse Ships
by Evan
Hadingham
For three
turbulent
centuries, the glimpse of a square sail and dragon-headed prow on the
horizon
struck terror into the hearts of medieval Europeans. Indeed, the Viking
Age,
from A.D. 800-1100, was the age of the sleek, speedy longship.
Without
this crucial
advance in ship technology, the Vikings would never have become a
dominant
force in medieval warfare, politics, and trade.
The drekar,
or
dragon-headed longships, were stealthy troop carriers. They could cross
the
open oceans under sail and then switch to oars for lightning-fast
hit-and-run
attacks on undefended towns and monasteries. Far surpassing
contemporary
English or Frankish vessels in lightness and efficiency, longships
carried
Viking raiders from northern England to North Africa.
Viking
expertise in
naval craftsmanship soon led to the evolution of other types of ship.
Among
these were the knarr, or ocean-going cargo vessel, which
facilitated
far-flung trade networks and the colonization of Iceland, Greenland,
and
America. The knarr drew on similar design principles as the
longship but
was higher and wider in relation to its length and had only limited
numbers of
oars to assist with maneuvers in narrow channels. Cargo decks were
installed
fore and aft.
Proof in
the planking
The secret of
the Viking ship lay in its unique construction. Using a broad ax rather
than a
saw, expert woodworkers would first split oak tree trunks into long,
thin
planks. They then fastened the boards with iron nails to a single
sturdy keel
and then to each other, one plank overlapping the next. The Vikings
gave shape to
the hull using this "clinker" technique rather than the more
conventional method of first building an inner skeleton for the hull.
Next, the
boat
builders affixed evenly spaced floor timbers to the keel and not to the
hull;
this insured resilience and flexibility. They then added crossbeams to
provide
a deck and rowing benches, and secured a massive beam along the keel to
support
the mast.
The
longships' light,
economic construction was a major factor behind their success. Modern
replicas
have achieved speeds of up to 14 knots. In marked contrast to modern
sailboats,
the ships' lack of a big, vertical keel meant that they were highly
maneuverable and could easily penetrate shallow surf and river
estuaries.
Seafarers steered using a single side rudder on the right, the
'starboard' or
"steering board" side.
(The term
'starboard'
is thought to have originated in the Viking era.) They could also reef
the
square sails in strong winds and adjust them to permit rapid tacking.
Preserved
to the present
Famous
discoveries of Viking ships at Gokstad and Oseberg, Norway, in 1880 and
1906,
respectively, established the classic image of the dragon-headed
warship.
Longships from both sites were preserved almost intact, with lavish
carved
decoration, in the waterlogged clay of royal burial mounds. Built
around A.D.
890, three quarters of a century after the Oseberg ship, the Gokstad
vessel
shows great improvements in design, particularly in the sturdiness of
the mast
supports. Not surprisingly, this era, during which the Norse perfected
longship
design, coincides with the eruption of seaborn Viking raids on the
monasteries
and towns of Europe.
The modern
phase of
Viking ship investigation began with the recovery of five vessels at
Skuldelev
in Roskilde fjord, Denmark, between 1957 and 1962. The excavation
involved
building a cofferdam around the ships, which Norsemen deliberately sunk
in a
desperate bid to barricade the fjord against invaders.
The major
revelation
at Skuldelev was the variety of the vessels, which ranged from a stocky
cargo
ship with a capacity of 24 tons to two sleek longships. The larger of
the
longships, measuring 95 feet in length, had made at least one
successful
crossing of the North Sea, for tree-ring analysis of its oak timbers
revealed
that they had been cut down around A.D. 1060-70 near Dublin, suggesting
the
presence of a major shipyard at this key Viking stronghold in Ireland.
Even more
remarkable
discoveries were to follow in 1996, when contractors began expanding
Roskilde's
waterfront museum, originally built to house the finds from Skuldelev.
As
astonishing as it sounds, no fewer than nine wrecked medieval ships
eventually
turned up in different spots around the building site, including one
under the
museum's car park.
The Viking Diaspora
From the eighth to the eleventh centuries, the Vikings, comprising
mainly Danes
and Norwegians, shot around the Northern Hemisphere, plundering vast
swaths of
territory with the rapacity of a Genghis Khan. The Norsemen raided
throughout
the British Isles and the Frankish empire, and even attacked North
Africa. They
headed west to Iceland, Greenland, and what is now Canada, becoming the
first
Europeans to set foot in the Americas.
And
they
traveled east into what is now northern Russia, ultimately lending
their own
name Rus, the Slavs' name for them, to that great country.
Physical
and social
traces of the Vikings' lightning-like passing remain in sites
stretching from
Newfoundland to north Russia. On the map at left, click on Norse sites
and get
a feel for the sheer breadth of the Viking diaspora.
Viking capital of the
Danelaw or Scandinavian territory, first occupied in 866 AD.
Excavations have
revealed dozens of Viking Age houses and workshops.
Early
Germanic tribes
of northern Europe were first to develop runes, but the Scandinavians
soon
adopted the symbols for their own use. When the seafaring Vikings
traveled to
faraway lands, they brought their system of writing with them, leaving
runic
inscriptions in places as distant as Greenland.
Wherever
they went,
Vikings turned to runes to express both the poetic ("Listen,
ring-bearers,
while I speak/Of the glories in war of Harald, most wealthy") and the
prosaic ("Rannvieg owns this box"), inscribing them on everything
from great stone monuments to common household items.
Learn your
F-U-TH's
The runic
alphabet, or Futhark, gets its name from its first six sounds (f, u,
th, a, r,
k), much like the word 'alphabet' derives from the first two letters of
the
Greek alphabet, alpha and beta. Each rune not only represents a
phonetic sound
but also has its own distinct meaning often connected with Norse
mythology.
Scholars believe that early peoples used the runes originally as a
means of
communication and only later for magical purposes.
Historians
disagree on
when runes first came into use. Since the first objects inscribed with
runes
date to the second and third centuries A.D., some surmise that the
runic
alphabet arose during the first century A.D. Scholars concur that runes
grew
out of an earlier alphabet, but which one is unclear. A likely
candidate is the
Etruscan alphabet. Many argue that the geographic proximity of the
Etruscans,
who lived in northern Italy, to the Germanic tribes of northern Europe
makes it
likely that these two groups had some form of cultural exchange. Also,
similarities exist in some letterforms of the Etruscan and runic
alphabets.
Another possibility for a source alphabet is Latin. Those who subscribe
to this
theory believe that the numerous commercial contacts between the
Germanic
tribes and the Roman Empire during the first century A.D. exposed the
former to
the Latin alphabet. The Northerners may have simply borrowed the Roman
letters
and adapted them to their needs.
The
Scandinavians had
their own explanation for the appearance of the runes. According to
legend,
Odin, chief of the Norse gods, speared himself to a tree in a
self-sacrificial
attempt to receive occult knowledge. As he hung suspended for nine
windy
nights, he learned the mysteries of the runes, which he then passed on
to his
people. Since Nordic peoples believed the runic script to be a gift
from Odin,
they treated it with great reverence. Belief in the divine origin of
the runes
also contributed to the idea that runes possessed magical powers.
Meet the
Rune Master
Those who used
them for magic took the supernatural powers of the runes seriously. As
one
Viking poet put it, "Let no man carve runes to cast a spell, save first
he
learns to read them well."
While many in
the upper classes could read and write runes, the Vikings called in a
specialist when dealing with the talismanic properties of their
alphabet.
These experts,
called Rune Masters, were specially trained to bring runes into play
for
divination and sorcery.
Judging
from the many
poems and legends chronicling their feats, the Rune Masters held
positions of
great importance in the Viking world. In one tale, a woman becomes
deathly ill
due to the bungling of an amateur Rune Master. The sorcerer carves a
runic
formula into a whale's bone, which the woman then hangs over her bed.
The
inscription is meant to protect her, but because it bears the wrong
runes, it
makes her sick. Another Rune Master corrects the runes, and the woman
immediately recovers. In another story, a Rune Master inscribes
protective
runic symbols on his drinking horn. When a rival attempts to poison his
drink,
the drinking horn breaks in two. Thanks to his knowledge of the runes,
the Rune
Master saves his own life.
Rune
Masters were also
skilled in the art of rune casting, a method of divination. In one
common
rune-casting technique, the diviner carved runes on pieces of bark,
then flung
the pieces on the ground, picked three at random, and used the symbols
inscribed on them to answer his client's question. Alternatively, the
Rune
Master painted runes on flat pebbles. He then placed the pebbles in a
leather
bag, shook the bag, and cast the pebbles onto the ground. Runes that
landed
face up served for the divination.
Viking
warriors
harnessed the arcane powers of the runes even in war. Runic
inscriptions on
swords entreated the gods either to protect the sword's owner or bring
pain and
misery to his enemy. The berserkers, whose reckless behavior on the
battlefield
gave rise to the word 'beserk,' may owe their reputation in part to the
runes.
These warriors customarily carved the runic symbol for Tyr, the god of
war,
onto their shields. They would then charge fearlessly into battle, in
the
belief that nothing could overcome the power of the runes.
Raise a
runestone
The magical met
the mundane in the runestones -- large, freestanding rocks or boulders
inscribed with runes. Runestones which served as memorials to the dead
often
bore thaumaturgical formulas meant to ease the dead person's passage
into the
next world. But these monuments had a pragmatic purpose as well:
documenting
how much land the deceased had owned and listing relatives who would
likely
inherit that person's estate.
One such
dual-purpose runestone was put up by "Kaufi and Autir, they erected
this
stone in memory of Tumi, their brother who owned Gusnava [a Swedish
village]."
Kaufi and Autir erected their runestone both to honor their brother and
to make
perfectly clear who owned Gusnava after his death.
Although
most
runestones honor men, some commemorated Viking women. One runestone
found in
Norway honors "Gunnvor, Thryrik's daughter, [who] built a bridge in
memory
of her daughter Astrid. She was the handiest girl in Hadeland." Some
runestones also celebrated the achievements of the living. In one
example,
Jarlabanki, builder of the famous Jarlabanki causeway in 11th-century
Sweden,
erected a group of runestones to aggrandize himself for his
contributions to
the community.
Even with
the advent
of Christianity in the north, runes continued to appear on coffins,
gravestones, and monuments, often side-by-side with more traditional
Christian
symbols. Like many of their contemporaries, the Norsemen Sven and
Thorgot, who
raised a runestone "in memory of Manni and Sveni; may God help their
souls," had no problem using pagan symbols to replace the usual "may
Thor hallow these Runes" with an appeal to the Christian God.
The
Norsemen continued
the practice of mixing runes with Christian symbols until the 17th
century,
when the medieval church banned runes in an attempt to drive out all
vestiges
of superstition, paganism, and magic. Runes fell out of widespread use
but did
not disappear altogether, and in recent times the Vikings' enigmatic
alphabet
has had a resurgence at the hands of everyone from Nazis to New Agers.
During the
Viking Age,
from 750-1050 AD Viking influence covered a huge expanse, reaching from
the
Caspian Sea in the east and the Mediterranean in the south, throughout
Northern
Europe, across the Atlantic, and touched the homelands of diverse
native groups
in Eastern North America.
In addition
to being
the fierce warriors of popular stereotype, Vikings were master
craftsman,
shrewd businessman, and fearless explorers. Their activities stimulated
political changes in Europe and Russia; created lasting new societies
in
Iceland and Greenland; and led to the discovery of North America 500
years
before Columbus. Now, at the turn of the new millennium, we invite you
to
follow in their wake!
http://www.yorklibraries.org/services/Virtual%20Voyages/Vikings.htm
11th
Cavalry Georgia State Guard
In service to Georgia and
the
Confederate States of
America (CSA)
A Partial Regimental History
NOTE:
For the entire history go to http://members.xoom.com/jagriffin/JAG.htm
NOTE: James C. Barrs
and his oldest son, James
Henry L. Barrs
and
brother William W. Barrs enlisted in the 11th
NOTE: In
Sikafis Compendium of Confederate Armies-South Carolina and Georgia, this regiment is listed as
#185 11th
Georgia Infantry-State
Guard.
This is probably
because Captain MacIntyre was in command of a State Guard Infantry
Battalion
(69th Georgia Militia) and in the summer of 1863 because of
a man
power shortage, it was changed to a Cavalry regiment. To further expand
on the
origins of this unit these notes on their officers prior assignments
are given:
Maclntyre's Battalion, Georgia State Guards, A. T. MacIntyre, Maj.,
Decatur
Squadron, Georgia State Guards: Patrick A. McGriff, Capt., and a
company
appears to have served in an independent company of infantry and rolls
have
been so filed. It is believed the regiment was mustered out by spring
of 1864.
*James C. , James Henry L.
and
William W. Barrs' commanding officers are in bold print
Field and
Staff
Colonel:
Archibald Thompson MacIntyre
Lieutenant
Colonel: William Godfrey
Major: Patrick
A. McGriff
Companies
and Officers
Officers of
Company D-Brooks' Cavalry
Captain: Wiley W.
Groover *
1st Lieutenant: Asa
Kemp
2nd Lieutenant: C. E.
Groover
2nd Lieutenant: L. R.
Edmondson
August 4,
1863: Company muster-in roll of Captain Wiley W.
Groover's Company, in the Battalion Regiment commanded by Major
MacIntyre, called into the service of the Confederate States for
local
defense under the provisions of the Act of Congress on requisition of
the
President by Joseph E. Brown, Governor of Georgia, from August 4,
1863
(date of this muster) for the term of six months, unless sooner
discharged, and
to serve in the southwestern quarter of the state of Georgia, and west
of the
Altamaha River. (This is when, where and the unit James C. Barrs, his
son and brother enlisted after returning from the Wakulla
County,
Florida Salt Works.) The 3 Barrs served in the same company,
company “D”.
I certify, on
honor, that I have carefully examined the men whose names are borne on
this
roll, their horses and equipments, and have accepted them into the
service of
the Confederate States for the term of six months from
Again adding to the
confusion in researching this regiment, the 11th of Colonel
McIntyre
is referred to as Infantry. We researching this unit, it is advised to
look at
all information that can be found on any regiment bearing the 11th
designation for State Guard or Militia regardless if it states infantry
or
cavalry.
General
Information on
the
The need
for Governor
Brown to call up a State Guard, Militia,
The only
way to find
out about such service is often through family oral histories, county
histories, obituaries, and newspaper accounts of the time. It is
estimated that
about 5000 of these men fought in the trenches around Atlanta for a
couple of
months, then saw extended field service against Sherman's march of
devastation
and destruction across Georgia. Some were captured when
A large
proportion of
the officers and men in all the reserve regiments and battalions were
exempts
from the regular Confederate service, many of them having been
honorably
discharged on account of wounds or failing health; many others were
employees
in government workshops, and some were State and county officers, while
still
others were either too old or too young for the regular service or had
occupation beneficial to the CSA.
And, some
like James
C. Barrs were
exempt because of their operating of the
valued Salt Works of the
Fortunately Confederate
Military History has been preserved in the following information on the
Georgia
State Guard and Reserves.
More on the
11th
The 11th
Georgia State Guard is only a month old when the need for a strong
defensive
posture in
The
headquarters of
the Georgia State Guard in the autumn of 1863 was near
CONFEDERATE
CORRESPONDENCE, ORDERS, AND RETURNS RELATING TO OPERATIONS IN SOUTH
CAROLINA
AND FLORIDA, AND ON THE GEORGIA COAST, FROM JANUARY 1 TO FEBRUARY 29,
1864 - # GEORGIA STATE TROOPS at Savannah
Brig.
Gen. HENRY R. JACKSON 11th
Georgia State Guard, Col. A. T. McIntyre.
Governor
Brown made
his appeal to the remaining men in
Confederate
Correspondence, Orders, And Returns Relating To Operations In
Southwestern
Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, West Florida, And
Northern
Georgia.- #27 HEADQUARTERS GEORGIA MILITIA, Atlanta, GA, May 28, 1864.
TO THE
PEOPLE OF
Your State is invaded and a
portion of its most valuable territory
overrun by a vindictive enemy of great strength, who is lying waste and
devastating
the country behind him. Unless this force is checked speedily, the
property and
homes of thousands must be destroyed, and they driven out as wanderers
in
destitution and beggary.
Our noble army needs further re-enforcements until the
emergency
has passed. I have summoned the civil and military officers of the
State to
arms, and they are promptly and nobly responding. If any of those who
are
subject to militia duty are remaining at home, who are able to do
service, I
desire the old men to report the facts to me immediately, that
courts-martial
may be ordered, or other proper steps taken to compel them to do their
duty, or
suffer the penalties. When all the officers shall have responded, more
men will
still be needed.
I do not order out the
reserve militia except at the most exposed
points, because some must be left at home to make bread; and the old
men from
fifty to sixty and the boys under seventeen are not able, as a general
rule, to
endure hard service in the military field. But I do call upon all who
are able
for service, and can possibly be spared from home, to hasten to the
field till
the great battle is fought. Many have Confederate contracts, details,
and
exemptions who are stout and able to do military duty, and can go to
the field
for a time without serious detriment to the public interest. All such,
with all
others able for duty, are earnestly requested to fly to arms as the
State
officers have done. Let each report to General Wayne, at
Georgians, we are now in the
crisis of our fate. The destiny of
our posterity for ages to come may hang upon the results of the next
few days.
He who remains at his home now will soon occupy it as a slave, or be
driven
from it.
Rally to the rescue, and till the danger is past let the
watchword
of every patriot be, "To arms, and to the front;" and the vandal
hordes will soon be driven back. JOSEPH E. BROWN.
General
Sherman
prepares to further push his invasion into
UNION
CORRESPONDENCE,
ORDERS, AND RETURNS RELATING TO OPERATIONS IN THE ATLANTA CAMPAIGN,
FROM JULY
1, 1864, TO SEPTEMBER 8, 1864: #5 HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE
MISSISSIPPI,
In the Field, near Chattahoochee River, July 12, 1864.
Lieutenant-General
GRANT, Near