A Mau Pas Bon Pas   ---   Bumpas, Bonpas, Bompus, Bumpasse, Bumpus, Bompasse, Bump

TRADITIONS   ---   by Rev. Robah Bumpas

I traced the Bumpas name back to the land of its origin in Southern France, in Provence, the  land of sunny vineyards, of music and song, of poetry and romance; the home of the troubadours.   Aix as its capital: sleepy old Aix, as it appeared on a warm mid-summer's day, with its uncommonly  lovely fountain, set in a large grove of old trees in the very heart of the city; its fine old  cathedral, holding the pure, white marble statutes of its heroes of by-gone days, looking so  virile and lifelike.

Living years before the time of Martin Luther and John Huss, there were many believers in  France, who did not accept the teaching of the Roman church and drew up articles of faith far more  drastic and stringent than those subsequently formulated by the sixteenth century reformers.   There were two political parties in France, the Protestant and the Catholic.  Sometimes one party  was in the ascendant and sometimes the other.  In those early wars our ancestors adhered to the  Protestant cause, and fought on that side.  Frequently were they subjected to severe persecution,  and when the Catholic party came into power, the more pronounced Protestants were forced by fire  and sword to seek refuge in the Netherlands, whence they came to Wales, England and America.

Tradition says that in January, 1240, in the wars of Raymond VII, Count of Toulouse, a youth  was handed a very important dispatch to convey from one commander to another.  To deliver this, it  became necessary that he pass thru the enemies' line.  It was a difficult and delicate errand,  demanding not courage alone, but astuteness and tact.  When, at length, he dashed into camp and  laid the dispatch at the feet of his commander, the General clapped his hands and shouted " Bon  pas ! "  " Bon Pas ! " (a brave pass).  His comrades caught up the expression, and shouted back "  Bon pas ! "  " Bon pas ! ".  So on that day he received a new name, a title of honor, conferred  for valiant services rendered.  The name clung to him until he came to be known as Bon Pas, and  was father of the race Bon Pas.  In French the name is sometimes spelled as pronounced, Bon Par.   The name was Anglicized, the two words composing it run into one, and it became Bonpas, Bompas,  Bumpas, Bumpus.  In New England records of Edward and his family, I find it written Bonpas,  Bompas, Bompasse, Bompus, Bumpasse, Bumpus.

The name still occurs in its original orthography in its native land.  Some eight miles from  Avignon, on the road to Aix, is a bridge spanning the river Durance, known as the Point de Bon  Pas, and near by a silk factory of the same name.  This was formerly a religious house built by  the hermit, Silbert, In 1076,  In 1320 it became the home of the Knights Hospitaliers.  Here also  is the magnificent church erected by Simon Langham, Archbishop of Canterbury.

There is a reference to this bridge in the " Historic Des Contes De Toulouse " by M. De  Saint-You, Vol. IV, page 344; (translation) " They stormed the Pont de Bonpas, and left a corps of  troops sufficient to hold it and secure the passage of the river. "  This was January, 1240, wars  of Raymond VII, Count of Toulouse.
                                           ROBAH P. BUMPAS
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Variations of McBRIDE to be Mac Bride, St. Bridget, McBrides, Mac Brides, Mc Bryde, Bride, Brides,  Bridget, Bridgets, Bryget, Bryde and Brydes are from Dictionaries of Surnames indicate probable  spellings.

mac - - a son, Irish mac, Old Irish macc, Welsh mab, Old Welsh map, Cornish mab, Brenton map, mab,  Ogam grn, maqvi: *makko-s, *mavko-s, root mak, rear, nutrice, Welsh magu, rear nurse, Brenton  maguet: Indo-European mak, ability, production; Greek @Gmakr'os, long, @Gm'akar; blessed; Zend  macanh, greatness; Lettic ma'zu, can, be able, Kluge compares Gothic magaths, maid, Anglo-Saxon  magb, English maid, further Gothic magus, boy, Norse mo'gr, which, however, is allied to Old Irish  mug (pl, mogi), skave.  The teutonic words also orignally come from a root denoting "might  increase:, Greek @nhos, means, Sanakrit mahas, great, Hence macanta, mild: filial". Gill - is an English patronymic name from a shortened form of the given names Giles, Julian or  William - - modern pronunciation of these names bnotwithstanding.  When of North English origin,  it is derived as a place name for the man who live by a ravine or deep glen, from the Middle  English term gil = used in a transferred sense from the thin-slit gill of a fish.  When of  Scottish or Irish origin, it is derived from an Anglicized version of the Gaelic Mac Gille (the  Scottish version) or Mac Giolla (Irish), as an occupational bame for the servent, or a shortened  form of any of the several names which were attached to the names of saints to mean "devotee of  (insert Saint's name here), " or it is derived from Mac An Ghoill, where ghoill was a Highland  reference to the English-speaking lowlander.
 MACBRIDE - - MacBride comes from the Irish Mac Giolla Bhride 'son of the follower of (St)  Bridget'; St Bridget was a famous abbess of Kildare, who died in 523.  Also derived from the same  Irish orignal are the surnames Kilbride, Gillbride, MacIlvreed, MacGilbride, and others.  The  principal Irish family of the name were based in the north of Co. Donegal in Raymunterdoney, where  they were very prominenet in the church, a number of the family becoming bishops.  A branch  migrated in Co. Down in early times, where the surname remains quite numerous.  In Ulster also,  the name may have a Scottish origin, from the descendants of Gillebride, progenitor of one branch  of the Clan Donald.  The best known contempory bearer of the surname was Sean MacBride (1904- 1988), active on the Repulican side in the War of Independence and after, Minister for External  Affairs from 1948 to 1951, founder-member of the Amnesty International, winner of the Nobel Peace  Prize in 1974, the Lenin Peace Prize in 1977 and the American Medal for Justice in 1978.