A few days ago I was chatting with Euphemia Gaskins Ennis. She told me that her father, George Gaskins (1887-1967), told her that the Gaskins (Gascone) family was originally from France [further research suggests they moved to County Offaly, Ireland], that they then settled on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, then moved to Craven County, North Carolina, and eventually to Ocracoke.
I have discovered that a Thomas Gascoyne was living on the Eastern Shore of Virginia in 1623. Gaskins Point is still recognized as a landmark on the Occohannock Creek.
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| Chart Showing Gaskins Point, Occohannock Creek, VA |
Ellen Marie Fulcher Cloud, in her book, From Whence We Came, confirms Euphemia's information, writing that "The Gaskins seem to have been most thickly populated in Craven Co. in the 1700 and 1800s."
I found the following information on The Internet Surname Database:
"This interesting and unusual surname [Gascone] is of early medieval English origin, and is from a regional name for someone from the province of Gascony [a Basque-speaking area of southwest France], from the Old French 'Gascogne'....The surname was first recorded in the early 13th Century.... The modern surname can be found recorded as Gascoigne, Gascogne, Gascoyne, Gascone, Gasken, Gaskin and Gasking."
Our Ocracoke Newsletter for this month is an article by Philip Howard, My Ocracoke, Living amidst 250 years of Howard family history. You can read it here: http://www.villagecraftsmen.com/news082116.htm.
My grandmother's maiden name was Gasquoine -- close enough!!!!
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