Stormont
The name STORMONT appears to be Norman from its ending "-mont", meaning "Mountain". The prefix "Stor-", since the name is an ancient one, must come from the Scandinavian "sture", meaning "mighty" or "great", and evident in the word "strong", although Middle English "stor" derives from the Old French "estor" from "estorer" from which is derived our English word "restore" or "build".
It appears from these derivations that the name is not Celtic nor Scottish, except as being an ancient Scottish name, and not a clan name.
The long-elapsed, hereditary jurisdiction of Stormont lay in Perthshire (per British Museum Library, London)
"Perthshire may be considered as lying in the very centre of proper Scotland, having the counties of Inverness and Aberdeen, on the north, Forfar and Fife on the east, Stirling, Clackmannan, Kinross, a part of the Forth, in the south, and Dumbarton and Argyle, on the west.
"The names of the ancient or Celtic divisions of Perthshire are Breadalbane, Athol, Glenshee, Strathardle, Gowrie, Strathearn, Monteith, Rannoch, Stormont, and Balquhidder, and Perth proper. Since the epoch of 1743 those divisions, whatever jurisdiction they may have possessed, are but now little regarded.
"Stormont is that part of Perthshire which lyes betwixt the Rivers Tay, Yla & Erich and hath upon the North and North East, Athol and Strath Erich. It is a mixed Countrey, over the part being Hills and that towards the Rivers plain. It aboundeth in Corn and is well planted."
The description continues, describing the "castle and dwelling of King Robert the Second", on the Cairny Locks, "things remarkable are Circles of great stones, ordinarily twelve in number", "monuments and remarkable things in this Countrey are the stones at Meigle cut with several Figures and Hieroglyphicks said to be the burial place of Queen Vandora", and various other ruins of castles.
It was in St. John's Church in Perth, in 1559, that John Knox preached his sermon that called forth the Reformation in Scotland, and following the Union of Scotland and England, by 1618, the well-embedded doctrines of Knox reinforced the Scottish followers to refuse what, to them, were "the superstitious Romish practices of the Church of England " brought into Scotland with the Union.
The attendant persecutions of these Presbyterian-Covenanters drove them "into the hills", whence they worked their way to the west and southwest around Paisley and Galloway (the Robert Burns country), and then across to Ulster, in Ireland, where sanctuary awaited them Such history might place this particular branch of Stormonts as leaving Scotland around 1618-19.
Interestingly enough, we note that one David Murray, Lord of Scone, loyal to James VI, and persecutor of the Covenanters, was elevated to the titles and lands of Stormont by 1621.
The name Stormont surfaces again in Ulster (Belfast, Northern Ireland) in this information provided by the Government of Northern Ireland Information Service to Rachel married Stormont (regarding Stormont Castle, housingthe Parliament of Northern Ireland)
"John Cleland's monogram can still be seen on the shields held by the snarling gryphons that guard the doors of Stormont Castle. The Castle is excellently preserved, since the lofty reception rooms are used by the Prime Minister and by the Cabinet, but the monogram and the ornate memorial to Samuel Jackson Cleland that nearly overshadows Dundonald Church are almost all that remind us of the family around whom legends of misdeeds have grown.
" About four years before his death in 1834, John Cleland, Rector of Newtownards, tutor to the young Lord Castlereagh and sometimes agent for Lord Londonderry, built a large house on the Stormont estate he had acquired."
The monograph continues, describing Cleland as a "fierce and persistent magistrate" (and moneychanger), "hounding most cruelly those against whom even the breath of suspicion blew", who "thus amassed a large amount of money, and with it he purchased, field by field, farm by farm, the wide estate of Stormont".
The monograph continues "Samuel Jackson Cleland, who succeed to the estate, enjoyed his father's ill-gotten gains for a short time only. In 1842, whilst he was abusing some workmen who were not proceeding sufficiently speedily with the demolition of a wall that obscured his view, he was killed when the wall in question collapsed on him”.
"The memorial that stands hard by Dundonald Church was erected to Samuel's memory by his wife, and it was she who later added towers and turrets to the large plain house that John Cleland built at Stormont."
Stormonts in America
Samuel Stormont, his wife Martha, and all of his sons and daughters, together with their spouses (Boyd, Faris, McClure and Maybin), emigrated from Ireland to Charleston, South Carolina, in late 1772 on the ship "Lord Dunluce", as part of a group of 180 Covenanters (on 5 ships) under the leadership of Rev. William Martin. Together with Rev. Martin, Samuel and Martha settled in Camden District (now Chester Co), at Little Rocky Creek, although the land grant was only in the name of William Stormont.
Various of the Stormonts (and their respective families), then immigrated to various parts of the United States in the early 1800's (as shown in deed recordings of Chester Co., SC), with our branch moving to the Ohio/Indiana area in approximately 1833.
The tracing of all Stormont migrations and migration dates from Europe is an elusive one, with many transits through 1852, so it cannot be certain as to the origins of many of the other branches of the Stormont name, since some remained in Scotland and some may have immigrated to Canada.
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