In the first Chifflet example, the serpent holding its tail in its mouth is the ancient symbol for eternity. The “X” is the St. Andrews Cross, a Christian emblem used by many early protestants.
In the second Chifflet example, quartered to include another branch of the family, notice the superscript (Cte). This is an abbreviation for the word Comtes, or Count, in French which, according to Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, means “one of the imperial court: a European nobleman whose rank corresponds to that of a British earl.” Regarding the quartering of armory, the commonest reason for quartering is to indicate descent from heiresses who have married into the family. In the case of a single quartering, the paternal arms are shown in the first and fourth quarters, and the maternal arms in the second and third.25 Note that in the Chifflet example, the maternal quarters seem to have been quartered a second time to include another family affiliation.
In the Chifflot example, the design includes a chevron surrounded by three roses and three roses aligned across the top. Items in groups of three were indicative of Christian families, symbolizing the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Also a motto accompanies the Chifflot coat-of-arms, FLOS SEMPER VIRENS VIRTUS, which means “Virtue Always Flourishes”.
Notice that below each example is the city or region in France where the family it was created for resided. The cities of Besançon and Bourg can be located on the map of France in the eastern portion of the country, and the province of Franche-Comte is the piedmont area of the mountains across the border from Geneva, Switzerland. This is one of the old provinces, not shown on a modern map of France.
With regard to the meaning of the name Chifflet, a dictionary on French surnames shows the name as follows:
Chifflet, Chifflot, représente deux var. regionales (attestées en anc. français) de sifflet, au figuré (moquerie); surnom d'un homme qui sifflait, ou d'un railleur.26
In translation, the name is from two different regions of France, from the old French word sifflet, to mimic; the surname of a man who banters, jests, or makes good-natured ridicule of others.
My conclusion then is that Shiflets were not rough, ill-tempered and uneducated in their native France, but rather were persons of rank. Consider that if descendants of these armigerous families did arrive in America as religious refugees, they came with little more than what they could carry. When you also consider that the Powell, Ballard, Beasley, Gentry, Mayo and Railey families that the early Shifletts married into were fairly well to do, then something about their character must have made them acceptable to these families.
III. Why is the name spelled so many different ways?
You have only to look at the variations in the spelling of your name on the mail arriving at your home daily to answer this question. How many ways can you spell Shiflet? As many ways as you can think of, that's how many. My own birth certificate says that I am Catherine Lynn Shifflett, but my parents spelled their last name Shiflett. A mere slip of the pen by the family doctor. My father's birth certificate issued at Mentone, Alabama in 1917 had to be amended because he was listed as female and the last name was spelled Chiflet! He was born very late on a cold rainy January night and the weary doctor who made out the certificate did not care nor ask the exact spelling of my grandparents' last name - he just wrote down what he thought he heard.
Among our Colonial ancestors the name was spelled by clerks, ministers and family members as best they knew how. When you consider how many languages and accents were spoken by immigrants to Colonial Virginia, then it is easy to understand how the name Shiflett could wind up spelled many ways. Consider just one portion of the Shiflet family that included the Stowers, McMullans and Powells, for example. It is a fact that John McMullan was born in Ireland and came to America in the 1760's. His heavy Irish brogue must certainly have given an interesting turn to the pronunciation of Shiflet. Mix in a little German, the King's English of that day, the strong French influence, and it becomes much easier to understand how the name could come out in variations. Also, as the family moved farther and farther into the wilderness, they had less and less formal schooling. This also makes the variations in spelling the name understandable.
As most any of the dedicated Shiflet researchers will tell you, the Shiflets of Virginia and the greater U.S. of today certainly sprang from the few men and women whom we find in the records of Virginia in the early 1700's, and therefore are all related. Whether you spell your name Shiflet, Shiplet, Shiflett, Shifflet, Shifflett or Shiffalette, and you can trace your family to Virginia - you are one of us!
IV. Why are there so many Shiflets, Shifletts, Shiffletts in Charlottesville and surrounding area?
In John Hammond Moore's Jefferson's Albemarle County: 1727-1976, on page 61, the author states :
“It is most difficult to say how many Hessians, if any, remained within Albemarle. Apparently no prisoner lists exist today, and early state census records of the 1780s do not reveal substantial evidence of German households in the county. The widely held belief that the very prolific Shiflett family (also spelled Shifflet, Shifflett, Shifflette, and perhaps Shiplett as well) is of Hessian origin may be true; however, Thomas Shifflett, 5 feet 10 inches tall, a twenty-one-year old Louisa County planter, served in the Virginia militia during the French and Indian War long before any mercenaries appeared on American soil. In 1785 only one Shiflett family resided in Albemarle, although there were five such households in nearby Orange County. A quarter of a century later seven families by that name lived in Albemarle (one in St. Anne's Parish, six in Fredericksville). By 1930 over 270 Shiflett children were enrolled in county schools, sometimes filling nearly all of the seats in some of the little one-room schoolhouses scattered along the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains.” [emphasis added]
As you can see, there are several misstatement in this quote, based on the preceding answers to questions I, II and III. In addition, when Moore stated that in 1785 there were six Shiflett households in Virginia, one in Albemarle and five in Orange County, he was wrong again because he did not look beyond the census to the tax records. Those records show that in 1787 there were 9 Shiflett households in Virginia - 5 in Orange County and 4 in Albemarle County, as shown below.
1787 Tax List
- Orange County, List of Francis Cowherd, Tax List B
- Shiftlett, Wm., one white male (over 16, under 21), 3 horses, 6 cattle
- Shiftlett, Bland, 1 horse, 2 cattle
- Shiftlett, Billy, 2 horses, 3 cattle (not tithable)
- Shiftlett, John, one white male (over 16, under 21), 2 horses, 2 cattle
- Shiflett, Thos., 1 horse
- Albemarle County, District of Thomas Garth, Tax List A
- Shiflett, Richard, 1 white male (over 16, under 21), 2 horses, 6 cattle
- Shiflett, John, 6 blacks, 2 horses, 5 cattle
- Shiflett, Lewis, 1 horse, 3 cattle
- Shiflett, Joel, 1 horse
Considering that most couples raised large families during the 1700's and 1800's, it is not surprising then that, as Moore stated, by 1930 the schools in the area were filled with Shiflett children. Further, it is not surprising that a large number are currently listed in the Charlottesville phone book. Don't forget that those telephone listings, for the most part, represent the male Shiflett inhabitants of the area, so imagine how many thousands of Shifletts must be living and working in the Charlottesville area when you add in the females!
Conclusion
When I began to look into the background of my own family, I was working from the perspective of someone who thought the Shiflet name was rare. I am descended from Powell Shiflet who, along with other family members, left Virginia in 1797 and moved to Georgia. Only a few Shiflets lived in the northwest portion of Georgia near Cedartown and Rome where my father grew up, so we always thought the family was quite limited in number. Betty Shiflett Randolph of Clinton, Mississippi, and I made a trip to Virginia in 1993 to visit her cousin and do some research, and to our great surprise discovered that the Shiflet name was far from unusual in and around Charlottesville.
It has been a thrill for me to realize that the Shiflet family is indeed large and interesting, to make the acquaintance of other family members across the country who are researching the family, and to share bits and pieces of information which we enthusiastically ferret out and carefully analyze.
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22 John E. Manahan, “Coats of Arms at Manakintowne”, The Huguenot, Pub. 19, p. 124.
23 J. B. Reitstap, Illustrations to the Armorial General, (Baltimore, 1967), Vol. I & II (A-F) C-Pl. LXXVIII
24 J. B. Rietstap, Armorial General, I, (Baltimore, 1965), Vol. I (A-K), p. 418.
25 Helmut Nickel in “Heraldry”, Encarta, 1993.
26 Albert Dauzat, Dictionnaire Etymologique Des Noms De Famille et Prenoms De France, (Paris, 1898), p. 126.
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