Monday, 19 September 2016
The Genealogist's Problem: Was the Common Ancestor Mauri or Mäyrä?
A personal research puzzle: tracing the paternal line back to Juho Laurinpoika Mäyränen (1606) and investigating whether the name Meuronen of Lapee and Mäyränen of Ruovesi are the same — and what the ancestor's first name really was.
In the latter part of last summer I investigated the origin of my own paternal line. Using archival sources I arrived at Juho Laurinpoika Mäyränen, who settled the previously abandoned Mäyränen farm at Kolkinlahti in 1606. Kolkinlahti then belonged to Ruovesi parish and is now part of Mänttä-Vilppula. I had done a quick initial study interspersed with other work in 2011–12; this summer I decided to make it a proper investigation. The task, even though the direction had been established in the preliminary research, turned out to be exceptionally laborious. The results would provide material for one or two articles — but they are likely to remain in the drawer for lack of a publication outlet. Several puzzling details emerged, which can be summarised in the title’s words: Mauri or Mäyrä? Here follows the story, sparing the reader excessively precise source citations.
The surname that Juho Laurinpoika brought with him — an animal-based name with the -nen suffix — sounds very Savo-Karelian. DNA research on the paternal line confirmed a Savo-Karelian root. But, for instance, the Savo regional history explicitly states that Mäyränen is a non-Savonian family. The only related surname that Kauko Pirinen could connect to it was found in Northern Ostrobothnia. No Lauri Mäyränen suitable as Juho’s father can be found there. Moreover, a migration route from Northern Ostrobothnia to the old Ruovesi area is extremely improbable. Armas Luukko, who wrote the history of Northern Ostrobothnia, points — cautiously — in the direction of Lapee. The caution was probably due to differing views among place-name scholars.
The Lapee direction is plausible given the general settlement history. Among the surnames of settlers in old Ruovesi towards the end of the 16th century one finds “Lappvetinen” and “Lappveteläinen” — names indicating origin from Lapee. But the regional histories (Aulikki Ylönen’s Lappeen kihlakunnan historia I and the more recent Lappeen historia I) do not know the surname Mäyränen at all. Browsing their indexes, the only name in that direction was Meuronen. Anyone who has read old texts knows that the alternation of ä and e is very familiar.
I naturally also consulted the name researchers’ writings (Mikkonen & Paikkala, Sukunimet). Instead of helping, they increased the confusion. Under the entry for Meuronen the name is suggested to derive from Mauritius — i.e., it would be a name derived from a first name. Having done the research, I must emphasise that this is pure conjecture. Not a single “Mauri” can be found in the sources from the Lapee direction. Furthermore, the alternation from a to e would be unusual — is it even linguistically justified?
The published literature provided little information about the Meuronens of Lapee. I had to go through almost all the Lapee county accounts (voudintilit) myself. I noticed something that neither of the Lapee histories mentioned: from 1544 there are two land books, and one has nearly half again as many names as the other! In the one with more names, village names were also recorded — and in that one, the Meuronen surname appeared for the first time. The Meuronens had a full-tax holding (täysvero) with four hearths. A full-tax holding is typically interpreted as the ancestral farm, with the hearths being the individual households divided from it. From that point, family lines can be traced that include the first names Juho and Lauri (Lassi). A possible paternal line to Kolkinlahti’s Juho Laurinpoika can be found there.
I compared the 1543 and 1544 data (two books) taxpayer by taxpayer to assess continuity. My probable conclusion: the Meuronens and Mäyräsens all originate from the Lapee area. The name Meuro must derive from the word mäyrä (badger), and the family ancestor to whom the name was first attached probably lived sometime in the 15th century. Was the transformation from ä to e made by a clerk, or did people in Lapee have a dialectal pronunciation that suited it? The family’s heartland lies in Lapee.
The hypothesis that the name derives from Mauritius (or Mauri) is contradicted by the evidence: no Mauri can be found in the right place and time. The name Mäyrä/Meuro is a native Finnish animal name used as a personal nickname, and the family is of Karelian (Lapee district) origin.