Surname Saturday - Maitland

Helen "Nellie" Maitland is one of my direct line ancestors, and was married to John Henry Percival, whom everyone called Henry. Don't you just love nicknames? Nellie was my great grandmother, and she died in 1947 a few years before I was born.

There are all kinds of stories about the surname - one being de Mautelant and rumors they came up from Italy. I love fairy tales. I've not been able to prove or disprove it, but keep it in the family history.

Nellie's grandfather, Alexander Maitland (one of a long line of Alexander Maitlands) emigrated from Scotland circa 1834 to Canada, where he ended up in Toronto, met and married his wife Ellen Skirving, moved in and out of the US and ended up in Lafayette County, Missouri.  Alexander and Ellen Maitland were the parents of Alexander Maitland who married Mary Grieves Oliphant and they produced Nellie.

This is one of my favorite photos of Nellie, taken probably circa 1900 possibly with a Brownie camera?



Copyright 2010, ACK for Gene Notes