lost their estate in Scotland. The de Ridales, who do not appear prominently of that era, though they were near the Border, retained their lands until they sold them at a comparatively recent date. The name of Sir Hugh Ridel stands on the Ragman's Roll," but none of the other families appear there.

The Ridels of England were chiefly connected with Northamptonshire and Essex. In the "Pipe Roll" (1184) Hugh Ridel is found in possession of the land of Wittering, in the former county, and in the year 1192 Richard Ridel owned the same estate. A century later (1315) a Hugh Ridel petitions Edward II that the lands of Wittering, which had been taken from him by Edward I (because at the request of Simon Frizel, he stayed in Scotland with John de Balliol), and had been given to the petitioner's son, Geoffry Ridel, during the king's pleasure, might be restored to him. Thirty years afterwards (1348) another Hugh Ridell, son and heir of "Mons. Geffrei Ridell," petitions Edward III, for restoration of his lands of Craneston in Loudion" (Cranstown-Riddell, Mid-Lothian, Scotland), out of which his father had been expelled by the Scots for his allegiance to the English crown, styling this property the "heritage of his ancestors." According to Bridges, they held Wittering till the reign of Edward IV, when the family ended in an heiress.

At the same time the Ridels of Wittering and Cranstown appear in the "Pipe Rolls" of Henry II, and Richard I, the de Ridales of Roxburghshire, Scotland, are conspicuous in the "Chartulary of Melrose." One deed in that record gives remarkable evidence of four generations of this family co-existent in the twelfth century. Patrick de Ridale; Walter, his son and heir; William, the son and heir of Walter; and William, son of William and grandson of Walter, all appear in this grant to Melrose. The deed that follows the one before mentioned is a confirmation by Eustace de Vesci, their overlord, of the de Ridales grant. Singularly enough, one of the witnesses to this document was Gaufridus Ridel, who is not styled consanguineus, as he would have been had he been a relative. Hugh Ridel (before mentioned) also attests a confirmation by William the Lyon, of a grant by Patrick de Ridale to Melrose. At the same period the "Pipe Rolls" show that a Patrick and Roger de Ridale flourished in the County of York. Chalmers claims that the first of the Scotch de Ridales came from Yorkshire, and the Christian name Patrick favors that origin. Jordan Ridell of Tilmouth, in Northumberland, in 1230, had in his arms "three bars wavy" the same as the Ridels of Wittering, while the de Ridales had the "chevron between three ears of rye." Another authority claims the surname of the family of Riddell of Sunart, in its original orthography to have been personal and not territorial; that its true form appears to be Rudellus or Rudel, though frequently spelled Ridel at an early date, but in no instance as de Ridel. He believes in three original branches, or distinct families, of the name, but his quotations do not sustain the arguments of others as to the identity between the English Riddells, and those of Argyleshire and Cranstown in Scotland.

In Berwick-on-Tweed and Newcastle-on-Tyne the name has a continuous history. In "Historical Documents, Scotland, 1286-1306," under date Dec. 10, A. D. 1293, letters of safe conduct for “Phillipus de Ridall, burginsis et mercator de Berewyk," trading within the kingdom of England, were granted. In the "Wills and Inventories," edited by the Surtees Society, there is the name of a de Ridell continuing the tradition of Philip de Rydale as a burgess of Berwick-on-Tweed. Thomas de Ridell, who was a burgess of Berwick, in his will, 1615, names among his legatees, his nephew, Alexander de Ridell, together with William, a son, and Agnes, daughter of Alexander; and it may be worth

mention as a probable indication of consanguinity with the Ridales of that ilk, that among his bequests occurs "five pounds to the building of the stone bridge of Tweed, at Rokisburgh," together with "lxxx bordar" and "e bordar" to the chapel of the B. V. M. at Rokisburgh, besides a "donation to the Abbot and Convent of Kelkow." (Kelso.)

In the "Correspondence, Inventories, etc.," of the Priory of Coldingham, the rental shows (1298) "Johannas Rydell" holding two curucates "in domonico" in Flemington. William de Hylton, the nuns of Berwick, and Matthew de Redman are severally recorded as holding lands of the said J. Rydell. Under Lamberton, in the same rental, "Alicia quæ fuit uxor Johannis Rydell," is mentioned as having her dower of the third part of Flemington forfeited, "ut dicitur." Among the witnesses to the solemn excommunication pronounced at Norham, after the gospel at high mass of the feast of the translation of St. Cuthbert, 1467, against Patrick Home, Protonotary of our Lord, the Pope, and John Home, "assertus canonicus" in the collegiate church of Durham, Johannis Ridell is named among the "well-known friends and kinsmen" of the said Patrick and John, who were present on the occasion. In another of the same series of documents may be found evidence that seems to point to the descent of the Ridells of Flemington. It is taken "Ex Institutus, Thomæ Prioris Dunelmensis, A. D. MCCXXXV," and mentions among those who owed service to the Priory of Durham, from Coldinghamshire, "hæredes Galfrid Ridel, et orum hæredes de Flemington." It is in evidence that Galfridus Ridel was the name of the contemporary Lord of Blaye, in Aquitaine, whose letters to Henry III, are in "Royal Letters, Roll Series," under date 1247. The form of the name then given, and which is the prevailing form in "Gascon Rolls," Galfridus Rudelli" is suggestive of an eponymous hero, Ruddellus, or Rudel, and not of a territory the name of which had been taken by its owners. Nigellus Ridulli was one of the barons of Gascony, perverted to the king of France by the court of La Marche. Helias Ridell was one of Henry III's faithful barons and men, of whom Geoffrey Neville, Seneschal of Poitou and Gascony, makes supplication in April, 1219. "Galfridus Rydel," "Galfridus Ridelli," and "Gaufridus Rudelli," such are the forms under which appear the Lords of Blaye (in France), senior and junior, who bore that Christian name during the reign of Henry III and Edward II, whose names are found in many public documents in England and Gascony.

At what date the Roxburghshire family gave their name to their lands is not precisely known. Walter de Ridale got his lands from David I, between 1124 and 1153, by charter, and these were subsequently denominated the "Baronies of Riddell and Whitton." Quintin Ridale is the first of this house styled "of that ilk"; he died in 1471. It will be seen that the family at Berwick-on-Tweed and others at Flemington, evidently derived from the family of Blaye, used the prefix "de" with their surname, proving that their possessions in Scotland and England were called Ridell or Rydale. The several branches of the family seem to have followed out their early custom of bestowing their own names upon their lands whenever and wherever acquired, and we have "Cranstown-Riddell,” "Glen-Riddell," 66 Mount-Riddell," "Minto-Riddell," in Scotland; and "GlenRiddle," "Riddle's Banks," "Riddle's Station," "Riddleton," and "Riddle's Cross-roads," in the United States.

The Norman ancestors held their earldoms for several generations as a distinct family, before a surname was assumed by them, each successor being known by his Christian name; but there are abundant evidences to prove that the sur

name used by the Roxburghshire and Northumberland families was originally derived from a place known as Ryedale, and the ears of rye and sheaves of grain, almost universally found in their coats-of-arms from their earliest history, should be a sufficient proof, supplemented by the orthography of the name, without looking any further. In early times there was no established form of spelling surnames, and those of the same individual are frequently found in old records in a variety of forms, written undoubtedly according to the fancy of the recorder, and not by authority of the one who bore the name.

Nearly all branches of the Scottish families have spelt the name "Riddell," but there are many old documents on which it is spelled "Riddle" in the Scotch and English houses; and there have been, and are now, many small branches in Scotland and England, claiming descent from the Ryedales, who spell their own names "Riddle"; among them the "Riddles of Troughend," of which the late Edward Riddle, Master of the Greenwich Naval School, was one.

Many branches settled in the north of Ireland; some from the Roxburgh family, some from the Glen-Riddell branch of the same tree; and others evidently descended from the Riddells of Argyleshire, and many of them spell the name Riddle, Riddel, Riddall, and Ruddell.

An early offshoot of the Norman Ridels settled in Germany; and their numerous descendants, now scattered over the wide world, spell their names Ridel, Riedel, Reidel, and Riedell.

One family in the Southern States are descended from emigrants from France, and in the first generations spelt their names Riddelle. Many of the ScotchIrish families came to the United States, and a majority of them now spell their names Riddle; some Riddile.

A family early settled in Kentucky spelled their surname Ruddle. And descendants of one Virginian branch still spell the name Ruddell, nearly identical with the Latin forms.

The early New Jersey families were Scottish, and uniformly used the orthography Riddell for several generations. But their names on the Colonial records are frequently spelt Riddle, a name now used by their descendants.

The surname Ridley, or de Ridleigh, like others in this book, has been under much discussion, and authors of great antiquarian information disagree as to its derivation. Some look to their ancient coat-of-arms as proof for their claims that Ridleigh, as the name was spelt in early times, was derived from a place in Cheshire owned by the ancestors of the family, where reeds grew. The shield in a coat-of-arms is sometimes called a "field," and as this had an ox passing through reeds in the arms of Ridleigh, it is said the original form was Reedfield, "leigh" in the old language meaning a field or meadow. This would seem reasonable enough if we could find the name spelled Reedfield, or Reedleigh, in any old document. Does any such proof appear? Another writer gives the same derivation for the terminal part of the surname, but ascribes another meaning to the prefix "Rid," which, being sometimes spelled "Red" in old English, signifies to clear away or make clean; hence, combined with "leigh," would represent a clean field or cleared land. Nearly all writers have assigned a territorial origin to the surname, but trace it to a source far removed from Ridley Hall in Cheshire, England. In a biographical notice of Bishop Nicholas Ridley, in the Parker edition of his writings, it is stated, "the origin of the name Ridley may be traced more satisfactorily than that of many others now equally illustrious. It appears to have been Scottish, and originally Ridel or Ryedale,

of which Riddle is a corruption; and the Riddells of Glen-Riddell might have traced their descent to a common stock with the Ridleys of Willimoteswick." John Ridley, a brother-in-law of Bishop Ridley, was buried in the Haltwhistle Church, Northumberland, England; and his name in the inscription on his tomb is spelled "Redle" or "Ridle," exactly the same as the name of one of the Norman ancestors of the Riddells, as found in the Domesday Book. One ancient author calls Ridley a "gentile name,” and another, writing in 1649, mentions Ridley among thirty-seven families of Northumberland "dating back to the Conquest." I have not found any mention of the name dating prior to the settlement of the Norman Ridels and de Ridales in England and Scotland, but the appearance of the surname de Ridleigh or Ridley, in the north, is contemporary with that of Ridale on the border, across the Tyne. In ancient documents, now extant, in the College of Arms, London, and in the British Museum, the surname is spelled Riddley and Ridlea.

The Ridlers of England and America descended from a family in Gloucestershire, are an offshoot of the Ridleys of Willimoteswick, and assumed the same arms and crest.

The Ridlands and Ridlons are descended from an ancient Norman, Robert de Rhuddlan, or de Ryddland, who settled in Wales, and was resident at Rhuddlan Castle on the river Clwyd, in the County of Flint. (See "Rhuddlans and Ridlands," in this book.) The Ridlands descended from one Adam Ridland from the Orkney Islands, were early settled in Shetland, and seem to have spelt their surname uniformly.

Magnus Ridland, or Readlan, came from Shetland to New England in 1718, and after changing his name from Ridland to Readlan and Redlan, finally adopted the form Redlon, and continued it through life. His seven sons spelt their own names Redlon, and so did nearly all of the third generation, although town-clerks and Justices of the Peace frequently wrote their names Ridlon, Redlone, and Ridley. The Buxton branch and the Damariscotta branch of Maine, have always retained their ancestors name of Redlon. The Hollis branch changed to Ridlon first, but the families at Saco, and in other towns, soon adopted the same form. Families in the west, originally from Maine, spell the surname Ridlen, Ridlin, and Redley. Some of the fathers changed the spelling at the request of an old Scotch school-master, under whose instruction they were early placed.

The descendants of Matthias Redlon, who went to Kennebec County, from Saco, Me., nearly all changed their names to Ridley, a very unwise action, that has resulted in great confusion and embarrassment ever since. There were families named Ridley, descended from the Cape Cod branch, early settled in eastern Maine, and almost every one addressed the Redlons by that name; they became weary of correcting the mistake, and supposing these Ridleys to be a branch of the same family, adopted their name. Samuel Ridlon and his descendants of Hollis, Me., however, and John his brother, who settled in Vermont, continued to spell their surname Ridlon, while their brothers in the east changed to Ridley.

It is a matter of surprise to many who are unacquainted with family history, that any surname should be changed; but the causes are numerous and traceable. It is well known by all antiquarians, that in early times there was no established rule for spelling in the Old World, and surnames are found in a variety of forms on ancient documents and monumental inscriptions. Few sur

names of families whose ancestors were early settled in New England, are now spelled as they were when introduced into the colonies; and if such families could trace their names to an early period in English history, they would undoubtedly find that their ancestors were known by names quite unlike those borne by the early American generations. In the "old English" all surnames now spelt with the letter i were originally written with a y, as in Chamberlayne and Rydleigh or Rydley.

In the early New England Colonies representatives of several nationalities, English, Scotch, Irish, French, and Scandinavians, were constantly associated, and each, having a pronunciation peculiar to himself, found it necessary to accommodate his language to the understanding of others; in consequence of this modification, constantly carried on, names of men and things in a short time were pronounced quite differently from what they were originally written. As the early settlers had few advantages for acquiring even a primary education, and but few occasions to write their names, justices, clerks, and clergy, who used the pen, wrote surnames as they heard them spoken, following each pronunciation in their spelling as closely as they could: The rising generations, who had a better education, by consulting the records of towns and churches, learned to spell their names as they found those of their ancestors written, and in a few years families were known by surnames very dissimilar to those borne by their progenitors.

With all the mutations through which the surnames used by the various branches of our clan have passed, it is interesting to observe that a marked resemblance has been preserved in the orthography and the significance of them all. The original form seems to have been derived from a dale or dell where rye was cultivated, and properly written would be Ryedale or Ryedell. Dale and dell are synonamous names, as

"In dales and dells concealed from mortal sight."

- as the name is always pro

The change from Ryedale and Riddell to Riddle, nounced by Scotchmen, — has not caused a loss of the full meaning of the original, as a riddle was an instrument by which rye and other grains were winnowed and cleansed; and the change to Ridler and Riddler, makes that form denote one who winnows grain with a riddle or seive. The old English word Red or Rid, signifies to cleanse or drive out, as, "I will rid my fields of evil beasts." The ancient word, leigh and ley, represented a field or meadow, a low piece of ground, and connected with rid would, in its proper spelling, be Cleared field or Cleanland. If the surname Ridleigh or Ridley was derived from this source, the meaning resembles that of the original Norman name of Ryedale. But if what has been called reeds in the ancient arms of the Ridleys of Willimoteswick, should prove to be rye instead, — which seems quite probable, — then the full name Ridleigh would be Ryefield or Ryeland, which is the exact equivalent of Ryedale or Ryedell. The same is true of the surname Ridland, as now used by the branch of the family in Sandsting, Shetland Isles. The territorial or local and agricultural significance of the surname has never been lost by the many changes in spelling during thirty generations of the family.

In one ancient coat-of-arms borne by a branch of the Ryedale family from Normandy, there was a plough, and some heralds represent the ox in the ancient arms of Ridley, as drawing a plough through reeds in a field; this fact strengthens the claim to relationship between the two families.