Garland K Childress
4105 Riveroak Lane
Louisville KY 40241
Garland K. Childress wrote an article he entitled "A Brief History of The Surname Chlldress," for the April, 1987 issue of the Childress Chatter Newsletter, which reads:
"The name Childers, also spelled Childers, Childress, Childres, and Childrey, is an ancient English-Anglo-Saxon name that probably has its origin in the old German language, one of the forerunners of our standard American English of today. The first hint of a name similar to our present spelling is to be found in the Frankish name of Childeric 1, leader of the Germanic tribe of Franks of A. D. 458 - 481."
The Lives of The Kings and Queens of France by Rene de La Croix duc de Castries, written in 1908, provides an excellent account of the Childerics, and their Frankish descendants from A. D. 450 - 751. As I read this fascinating history, I contemplated the I possibility that these ancient Gauls may have made up an ancestor pool, from which our modern version of the Childress
name evolved.
The question, then, comes to mind: What's in a name?, When a search through the dusty pages of history turns one up with such a familiar ring, the importance of a name becomes clear. It is like a steady handle for the researcher, on his 'road back through history. - That Rufus Green Childress ever pondered the possibility that his Civil War skirmishes related, in some remote way, to
' the tribal battles that the Childerics waged, is doubtful. It is not out of place, however, to review the history of these little kings, Childeric 1, Childeric 11, and Childeric 111, with the spirit of kinship for all warriors, who risked their lives in battle.
