SURNAMES.



DID you ever notice how few surnames there are in the Bible? That is because they had not come into fashion then. Until the eleventh century after Christ, surnames were not used in England. Some of them originated on this wise: They first had the single names, John, Andrew, James, etc. By and by, to distinguish Andrew, the son of John, they said, Andrew, John's son, and then made the last two words one; so in process of time we have Andrew Johnson, John Anderson, and Andrew Jameson.

Others were named from their occupations. There were Matthew the baker, and Timothy the barber, and Tom the smith, and James the butler, and John the carpenter. 

In due time the names of their occupations became their surnames, and while the given name changed with each generation, the children have brought down the surnames derived from the pursuit of some remote ancestor.