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surname Dodd, Dodds and Todd, the latter
probably being the original. Todd is the name given to a fox.
The
family has its roots in Tynedale, in Northumberland, in the north of
England.
It
is, of course, a Border name, but, being English, has no tartan.
They
were often associated with two formidable families, the Milburns and the
Charltons.
The people of Tynedale, together with the next valley, the valley of the
River
Rede, were very active reivers and were feared throughout the Borders.
Their
Scottish counterparts in reiving were the people of Liddesdale in
southwest
Scotland.
The
reivers of Tynedale usually conducted their activities in Scotland where
they
were
detested as might be imagined, but they were not averse to indulging in a
little
reiving closer to home, in England. Such was their notoriety that it is
said
that
business people of Tyneside and further south would not employ anyone who
came
from these valleys. Tradesmen were urged not to take on apprentices from
there.
However,
they were by no means the only active reivers nor was reiving confined
to
the lower classes. Many of the nobility were involved could not resist the
temptation
to increase their stock at the expense of their neighbours.
In
the first half of the 17th century when much of the lawlessness
which had been
going
on for some three hundred years was eradicated, the English reiving
families
faired better than their Scottish counterparts who were deprived of the
lands
and scattered.
If
you go to the site www.multimap.com/map
and, in Quicksearch, key in
Bellingham,
you will see the region where your ancestors lived. And many of
them still live there; the name is still quite common, as are the Charlton, Milburns and Robsons.
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The Dodds family were noted for being involved in feuding with the Elliots across the Border in Liddesdale.
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