Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 edition. Excerpt: ... "A life is not a dream to be forgotten, nor an old garment to be thrown aside at will. Life is an ever-present tiling, and all our past is as much a part and parcel of to-day as the marks we bear in our bodies are portions of ourselves, no matter how we came by them, nor when."--F. Marion Craixijurd. cs m TO MY WIFE Without whose encouragement and assistance this tvork would never have seen the light. I. BEAUFORT, BEAUFORD, BUFFORD, AND BUFORD. The name Beaufort--or, as it came to America, Beauford--is French, and as a family name extremely rare, being essentially a place name. Meaning "beautiful fort or castle," it grew into a family name during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, from the ownership of such places, the lords or masters being spoken of as "de Beaufort," of, or belonging to, the beautiful castle. The given names of both the English and American families--such as John, Thomas, William, Richard, and Robert--are Norman and came to England with the Northmen. By referring to the extracts given below from old English wills and deeds, it will be seen that the progenitors of the Bufords in America were in England long before John of Gaunt adopted the name of Beaufort for his children or the French Huguenots had emigrated. John of Gaunt came into possession of the castle of Beaufort, in the Province of Anjou, in France, at the close of the thirteenth century, and from it named his children, by Catherine Swinford "Beaufort," with the title of Duke of Somerset. This family became extinct with the John, who was exiled to France, and was killed in the Battle of Tewksbury, in 1471. An illegitimate branch of this family was given the name of "Somerset," and in 1682 the title Duke of Beaufort. There has been, from the earliest..."