| Learmonth-Lermontov Family’s reunions. By Tatiana Molchanova |
| The idea to reunion families that belong to the Russian Lermontov surname appeared in 1991. Lermontovs knew from their genealogy that their ancestor George Leirmont came from Scotland in 1613. They all were proud of their relative - the Great Russian Poet Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841). In 1991 Lermontovs invited Josephine Learmonth from the Great Britain who already had her view at the origin of Learmonths and Lermontovs from the Scottish poet and prophet Thomas Rhymer Learmont. At this first meeting in the Serednokovo Manor, Moscow region, Russia, the association “Lermontov Heritage” was proclaimed and registered, and the Chairman – Mikhal Yurievich Lermontov, a businessperson and a great enthusiast of the history of the Lermontov families, was elected. Since those times the association “Lermontov Heritage” provided a much appreciated service for understanding the origin of the Learmonth-Lermontov surname and studying the history of families of Learmonths and Lermontovs. The first book “Learmonths-Lermontovs 1057-2007” in English and in Russian by Tatiana Molchanova and Rex Learmonth appeared in 2007 containing 460 pages and more than 300 illustrations. A book dedicated to the Reunion of the Learmonths and Lermontovs all over the world that is took place as a result of the efforts of the Chairman Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov. Please, see publication by clicking text below. The first international meeting of the representatives of both Scottish Learmonth and Russian Lermontov surnames, Russia, Serednikovo, August 2007. This meeting was devoted to the 950th Anniversary of the Learmonth - Lermontov surname and had a goal to attract the worldwide Learmonths and Lermontovs to their common ancestry; to introduce them to each other; to appeal to share their common values if life and their interests. This event was in essence the First International Reunion of the Learmonth-Lermontov families. After this meeting it would be reasonable to consider a new association - The Learmonth-Lermontov International Family Heritage Association (LLIFHA). There are now hundreds volunteers who are working in the close contacts all over the world collecting new data and new facts about our families. LLIFHA is a non-profit membership voluntary family association that functions exclusively with volunteer in the various administrative and clerical areas of organization. Mikhail Lermontov was invested with a Lermontov tartan by Brian Wilton who explained that this tartan was specially designed for the Lermontov family in recognition of their Scottish origins. Please, see publications by clicking texts below. “Lermontov Tartan” by Brian Wilton, August 2007. “Best Tartan: Lermontov” by Brian Wilton, Scotsman, 2007. Coming back to those days when Learmonths and Lermontovs for a first time met each other in Russia we obviously have a feeling that we met a family. We were able to realize and to share the great pride for our common relative the Great Russian poet Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov who unfortunately died so young. We heard his personal story; saw houses where he lived in Moscow, Petersburg, Serednikovo; we touched his personal thing; we heard many romances for his poems and as a result we touched the history of a Russian person of Scottish origin whose ancestor came from our surname Learmonth. We lived in the renewed Old Russian house in the Serednikovo so we can figure out how the Russian noble families lived in the XIX century and we like their style of life. We can chart with our Lermontov and Learmonth relatives asking about successes and faults; parents and children and other casual things. These all made the atmosphere of our reunion very causal and warm. That is why it not surprisingly that the new reunion was held in Australia in 2009. Please, see publication by clicking text below. The Learmonth Family Surname Reunion in Australia 2009 The activity of the Learmonth-Lermontov International Family Heritage Association (LLIFHA) attracted the attention of the famous British geneticist Prof. Bryan Sykes. Bryan Sykes did not probably know in details the genealogy and the history of the Russian Lermontov family, but read that Lermontovs originated from the Scot. In 2007 Prof. Sykes announced that he is going to proof using DNA testing that Lermontov had the Scottish roots. In 2009 Prof. Sykes’s studies in the collaboration with the Russian association “Lermontov Heritage”, had proofed that all Russian Lermontovs belonged to the genotype “Oisin” that highly distributed in Scotland. Few Learmonths who is currently living in the United Kingdom voluntarily participated in the Sykes’s Project. No one of these Learmonths belongs to the genotype “Oisin”. Their group divided in two different genotypes that are barely distributed in the United Kingdom. The recent genetic analysis of the history of the Scottish surnames had shown that surname always has multiple founders based on the modern genotyping of the members of the Scottish Clans. However, there is no Scottish Clan where a genotype “Oisin” was not found. The two reasons may explain Prof. Sykes results: a/ there was too small group of Learmonths had tested; b/ the Russian Lermontov family that originated from the Learmonth of Dairsie/Balcomy is the last offspring of one of those Learmonth as according to the respectable William Anderson (William Anderson “Scottish Nation”, London, 1877, page 641): “Learmonth Families of Dairsie and Balcomy, both families, here long been extinct: the name, however, is not uncommon in Scotland”. The Russian association “Lermontov Heritage” expresses great appreciations Prof. Bryan Sykes. We now have the genealogical, historical and genetic data that allows us to validate that the Russian Lermontovs have the Scottish founder and originated four hundreds years ago from a single Scottish predecessor George Leirmont/Learmlonth. As a result, the Russian Lermontov family became some sort of a unique Russian family whose genealogy decorated with all possible studies including the top modern. When the news reached the members of the Learmonth community, they accept them pragmatically. Rex Learmonth completely shares my opinion concerning the reason why Prof. Sykes did nod find the representatives of the “Oisin” genotype among the tested Learmonths. As concern of the absence of one genetically common founder for Learmonths and Lermontovs that were tested by Prof. Sykes so Rex Learmonth express a wise opinion and said: “that it was a disappointing but not a totally unexpected result, and I pointed out that these tests had also shown that the seven Learmonths who took part also belonged to two different clans. I went on to explain that in 1057 Malcolm 111 of Scotland regained his kingdom after defeating MacBeth and then awarded land grants to the principle soldiers who had actively supported him. One of these soldiers of fortune was an individual called Learmonth who then had to reward his own men in the only way he could by offering them a share in his land grant. It is therefore believed that there could have been 30 to 50 original men who settled on the Lands of Learmonth and then adopted the surname. I have no doubt that a number of discretions have taken place in the years since that time which may also complicate any future DNA tests but I believe that if further testing were to take place in the future we would find men with my surname or a similar variant who would have the same DNA as the Lermontovs”. Whatever Prof. Sykes have tested, the new curios results cannot disturb the goodwill, friendly family like relationships that established over years between Learmonths and Lermontovs. We share the surname history and we believe that our Reunions help to come better learning our family’s history and to come better understanding each other. Learmonths will be our dear guests at the coming 200-anniversary of the birthday of the Great Russian poet Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov in 2014. The regular Reunion Learmonth-Lermontov families took place in our motherland Scotland in June 2011. Please, see publication by clicking text below. Learmonth-Lermontov Reunion 2011. Some photos of this event presented below. |
