The family name Snodgrass is said to originate from lands in the parish of Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, known as Snodgrasse, or Snodgers, at a bend in the River Garnock at 55°38' north, 4°42' west, which were rented out in plots. Both forms are recorded in Ayrshire and in Glasgow between the 13th and 16th centuries. The name means "smooth grass" (Juncus), i.e. grass without nodes, in Middle English.[1] In 1528 a charter from the King lists the lands of "Snotgerss" as being one of the confirmed possessions of Hugh, third Earl of Eglinton;[2] the next record seen of the name is in the late 17th century.

Snodgrass in America

The first records of the Snodgrass family in the new world are in the early 18th century in Virginia. The Virginia town of Hedgesville (now West Virginia) was founded by William Snodgrass, who arrived in the American colonies in 1700. William Snodgrass is buried in the cemetery of Tuscarora Presbyterian Church in Berkeley County, West Virginia. Closer examination reveals a wave of immigrants from Scotland during the Highland Clearances, Highland Potato Famine (1846–1857), and Lowland Clearances; increasing family sizes probably prompted many Snodgrasses to leave when the land could no longer support all of them.

From Pennsylvania and other ports-of-entry, they have spread across the North American continent and today there are in excess of 6,000 Snodgrass families in the United States and Canada.

Ogden Nash divided humanity into Snodgrasses and Swozzlers in his poem "Are you a Snodgrass?"[3]

Snodgrass Clan

In April 1979, a Certificate of Incorporation was granted to the Snodgrass Clan, Inc. by the state of Indiana. This was brought about by Scott F. Hosier, Jr. and Laurence E. Snodgrass. Through Hosier's efforts a "grant of arms" was granted to the Clan on March 15, 1984 by the Chief Herald of Ireland; however, the petition to be granted a "grant of arms" by Scotland was never finalized.

In 1979, Hosier ordered and received the first order of the official Snodgrass tartan. The weave code for the Snodgrass tartan is K6 R2 Y2 B22 G26 B10 R2 Y2, which was sourced to Dgn. T. S. Davidson.

People named Snodgrass

Snodgrass, as a surname, may refer to these notable people:

Fictional characters

  • Miss Snodgrass, the archetypal punctilious English teacher
  • Amanda Snodgrass, the English teacher at North Jackson High in the HBO-series Vice Principals, played by Georgia King
  • Augustus Snodgrass, a major character in the novel The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
  • Homer Snodgrass, a character in The Mad Scientists' Club stories by Bertrand R. Brinley
  • Samuel J. Snodgrass, supposed to have declared "Make 'Em Laugh" on his way to the guillotine as explained in the 1952 movie Singin' in the Rain.
  • Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass, pen name used by Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) for a sequence of travel letters now known as "The Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass Letters"
  • the title character of "The Deadly Mission of Phineas Snodgrass", a short story in the collection Day Million by Frederik Pohl
  • Pongo Snodgrass, of the titular comic strip in the British comics magazine Whizzer and Chips
  • "Snodgrass", a story in Snodgrass and Other Illusions, a collection of short stories by Ian MacLeod in which John Lennon lives in an alternate history

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Snodgrass Family History from Ancestry.co.uk, accessed 14 August 2016.
  2. ↑ Metcalfe, page 88.
  3. ↑ "Witty verse, often terse". The Irish Times. December 17, 2005.

Sources

See also

  • Carrie Snodgress, (1946–2004), American actress, nominated for an Academy Award
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