The earliest known record of the BATIE surname occurs in the England-Scotland border region of Northumberland County, England in the late 1600's. Our recorded history begins here at the Falstone Presbyterian Chapel in the area known as "North Tynedale" in the valley along the North Tyne River. The geographical areas shown in Figure 1 for the English East and Middle Marches (the Liberties and Marches are discussed later) comprise the current area of Northumberland County, England. This area was also home to the ROBSON and TELFER families. Early TELFER records also appear under several spelling variations in the records of Falstone Presbyterian chapel, as well as Jedburgh, Scotland. Civil and church records show also that the area on both sides of the border had been home to the ROBSONs for several centuries.
Have you heard that our ancestors were robbers who terrorized the border between England and Scotland?
"Reiver" plunderer and robber) comes from the Scots dialect of the Scottish Lowlands and borders. From the 14th to the 17th centuries, the border was a turbulent place. Raiders stole cattle and women, burned homes and farms and killed rivals without mercy. The Reivers were thieves, but warriors as well, and without allegiance to anyone outside their clan. Any English or Scottish king going to war here needed the Reivers on his side. Eventually, the Reivers were repressed, deported, killed or compelled to emigrate under threat of imprisonment. See "The BATIE Family Mstory" for a detailed description of the Reivers' activities.
All the family names of the Border Reivers are on a list kept in Carlisle, on the English side of the border. Reiver "clan" surnames which figure prominently in our own family tree include CHARLTON, ELLIOT, FENWICK, OLIVER, ROBSON, and SCOTT. During this period, BATIEs were primarily associated with the ROBSONs as hired hands or farmers, and could well have fought alongside the ROBSONS.
[Excerpted from the London Free Press, London, ON, April 20, 1996, sent