Re: Gen Arthur St. Clair

["John S. Quarterman" <jsq@matrix.net>]

Laurel,

If Gen. St. Clair grew up in Thurso, as you say, he probably
pronounced his name Sinkler, as that is the common pronunciation there.
That is, accent on the first syllable, not on the second as in the
U.S. and Canadian pronunciation of Sinclair.

John

>Dear Hal,
>   A fair and good question below.  I thought that I could walk directly to
>the book in which I read this information but so far no luck.  Usually in
>the middle of the night I will suddenly come up with a solution.  I remember
>being really interested in this bit of information because the story comes
>down through my line of Sinklers to St. Clairs that my ancestor spoke with
>Gen. St. Clair when he was in retirement in PA.  My St. Clair was in
>Crawford Co., PA at the time.  It is said that Joshua changed the name from
>Sinkler to St. Clair on the advice of the General who told him it was the
>original spelling.  I see on page 106 of Morrison's History of the Sinclair
>Family that this story describes the conversation that James St. Clair had
>with the General.  Whether my Joshua had the same conversation or else
>learned this from James or someone else, who knows but because of this
>family legend I reread the statement about the spelling and pronuncement of
>St. Clair wherever I found it.  Only our family pronounced it St. Clair.
>    It is possible that the General grew up with the name of Sinclair in
>Thurso but at some point wanted to change it back to the Norman spelling for
>accuracy or some other significant reason known now only to him but kept the
>Sinclair pronunciation.  Maybe someone else has come across this information
>but right now I can't think where I read it.
>Sorry,
>Laurel
>
>===========
>I would be very interested to know what your source is for the comment in
>> this article that Gen. Arthur St.Clair pronounced his name Sinclair?
>>
>> Thanks,  Hal St.Clair
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