Appendix 20 - emails from and to Jänis Polis in June 2021.

30 Sep 2021.
Dear Ian Robert Kërncros,
I am a cultural historian from the region of Latvia (Latvia) where the Baltic branch of Kërncrosu lived in the 17th - 18th centuries. The manors of Ape and Karva were located here. But in the Opekalns cemetery there are several monuments, under which lie the descendants of Cairns - Nothelfer and Rautenfeld. It is a very interesting history! I think I will include the story of this family in my next book. They will be dedicated to the past of Alienne (Marienburg) region.
Yours sincerely, Jänis (Ian !!!) Polis

My reply, 30 Sep 2021.
Hello Janis,
We have a big problem here as I do not speak Serbian. I put your text into a translation site, so I have some idea what your message says. If you do not understand English, you will not have a clue what I have just said.
Regards, Ian Cairncross.

30 Sep 2021.
Hey, Ian! I also use an internet translator. So I understand very well what you've written to me.
The language I wrote to you is Latvian, not Serbian. I'm a cultural historian. I lived in a place that was Swedish Livland in the 17th century. Now the southern part of its land is Latvia. But the northern part is Estonia.
The Baltic branch of the Cairncros lived in the Ape (Hoppenhof) and Karva (Korwenhof) manors. They're near my house. But memorial stones and crosses have still been preserved in Opekalns Cemetery for several descendants of the Cairncross, Nothelfers and Rautenfelds.
I am writing one book about the history of Alüdsne (Marienburg) again. I think one story will also be about Sonnenberg - Cairncross - Nothelfer - Rautenfeld family. It's a very interesting history. Nothing significant has yet been published in Latvian and German on this topic.
Greetings from Latvia - Jänis Polis

My reply, 1 Oct 2021.
Hi Janis,
Yes, sorry about that. The translation site I used suggested four languages, and asked for more text. When I added more, it settled on Serbian, but Latvian was also hinted at.
I recently had an Ancestry DNA test done and my ethnicity is 39% Scottish, but 53% England and north western Europe. There is no apparent family links to Latvia. I am interested in learning from you that there is a Baltic branch of the Cairncross family, and of the memorial stones that you mention. Have you any photos?
One correspondent did send me details of Cairncross links in Sweden and Livonia. It is all in the Cairncross website.
I am guessing you found my name via the Cairncross Family Website. Am I right?
I do not understand the reference to Alüdsne (Marienburg). Are these place names? I could find neither in Google maps.
Regards, Ian Cairncross.

1 Oct 2021.
Hello, Ian!
I've made a little mistake in the text in mentioning the center of our county. That city is Alüksne. German - Marienburg. Alüksne was the centre of pilsnovads (municipality) in ancient times. The Germans also built a large fortress here in the 14th century. All the time had to defend themselves against the eastern neighbors, now called the Russians.
Both manor houses, where the Baltic branch of Cairncross lived, were located in the western part of the full pipeline of ALÜKSNE. APE (Hoppenhof) is now a small town. It has now been added to SMILTENE municipality.
Your family name has disappeared in the Baltics. The first "our" Scot, John Cairncross, had many children and grandchildren. But most men died as a child and youth. Your Peter Manteuffel rightly writes that John Cairncross' grandson, Johan Kristian, was the last in the Baltics with this surname. But the Cairncross women married into several natives here.
It is very interesting that Karva (Korwenhof) is historically also associated with the family of Peter Manteuffel. And these Manteuffels are actually also associated with Cairncross! The thing is, the daughter of Johan Kristian Cairncross, LUISA GERTRUT, was married by FRANZ GUSTAV NOTHELFER in 1766, while his brother CARL ALBERT NOTHELFER married GOTTLIEBE MAGDALENA MANTEUFFEL - SZOEGE. But MANTEUFFEL - SZOEGE's distant predecessor Karl Soye was for some time the owner of KORWENHOF in the early 17th century.
I got to the interest in the CAIRNCROSS family so - I knew about its descendants (with the surnames NOTHELFER and RAUTENFELD). They have those monuments in OPEKALNS CEMETERY. The idea arose to study history even more deeply. And so I came to CAIRNCROSS, SONNENBERG and MANTEUFFEL - SZOGE.
Then I found first PETER MANTEIFFEL - SZOGE and then your CAIRNCROSS website on the Internet.
I do not yet have quality photos of those burials, but you can view them on the Internet.
On Google, enter OPEKALNS CEMETY. When it opens, click MEKLËT KARTË (SEARCH ON THE MAP). Then enter the surname RAUTENFELD in the text box. There will be a place where the descendants of the 6 CAIRNCROSS family RAUTENFELD and NOTHELFER will sleep. Many CAIRNCROSS have also been buried there, but their monuments have not survived anymore.
Greetings from ALÜKSNE - Jänis Polis

My reply, 4 Oct 2021.
Hey, Ian!
You're right - some files have problems with Opekalns CEMETY. Better to type the address of this cemetery in the GOOGLE box - https://cemety.lv/public/cemeteries/480
Then opens the file with the number 480 in the name. Next, do as I wrote to you in the previous letter. Nothelfer and Rautenfeld cemeteries are numbered 301 to 309. In Latvian, those surnames are the same as in German. Only in Latvian do the surnames have endings. Usually men have an ending - S, but women - A. (It is an ancient tradition of BALTIC peoples, but nowadays it is written only by us Latvians, as well as Lithuanians and some so-called SLAVIC PEOPLES.)
I'm already writing to you about the same thing Peter Manteuffel wrote to you about.
But - he calls that story this way: Cairncross in Sweden and Livonia. This is a little inaccurate from two points of view. The first was Livonia was a German-conquered land inhabited by LIVS, LATVIANS and ESTONIANS. In practice, it coincided precisely with the territory of modern Latvia and Estonia.
In the 17th century, livonia was no longer such a country. By the way, the Germans were the first to conquer the lands of the Livu people, which is why this colony was also called LIVONIA. But in fact, the other two nations - LATVIANS and ESTONIANS - were much bigger.
In the 17th century, livus were no longer there at all. They were assimilated - they became Germans, Latvians or Estonians. Livland (not LIVONIA) was now called land conquered by Swedes (now Latvian VIDZEME and southern Estonia). But northern Estonia was called just as the whole Estonian state is now called - ESTLAND (ESTONIA).
The other inaccuracy in Peter Manteuffel's story is that CAIRNCROSS had nothing to do with the real SWEDEN. Also, the troops where JOHN CAIRNCROSS and his sons fought were the BALTIC regiments fighting on the Swedish side. Only JOHN's father-in-law, BERNHARD SONNTAG (SONNENBERG), had lived in Sweden for some time.
I got your photo. Thank you!
I send you some photos.
The first - Opekalns. Memorial event at the tomb of walker Ädolfs Liepaskalns. The graves of your relatives are some 50 yards behind the building in the middle of the picture. Photo.
The second is that it's me at a conference. Photo.
The third is a shot from the film, where I tell the story of the Latvian bible translator ERNST GLÜK. (My wife is the head of the Museum of the Bible). Photo.
The fourth is that I and my wife SOVEIGA KRISTÏNE SELGA and my colleague VILNIS BLÜMS. It is a presentation for our film about SOLVEIGA's father - painter JÄNIS SELGA. Photo.
Greetings - Jänis

My reply, 5 Oct 2021.
Hello Janis,
Thank you for your reply, and also for the photos. I enjoyed looking at them. Photo have become more useful in my work on all the Cairncross family trees.
I got on much better using the link you sent with /480 at the end. I even found 4 graves for the family RAUTENFELD. I also tried NOTHELFER and CAIRNCROSS in the search windows but got no results.
I am impressed by your level of detail contained in your emails. All about an area of the world I have virtually no knowledge of. However, reading your content does help put things in perspective, especially in respect to the messages I got from Peter Manteuffel back in May 2019. I was shocked when I saw that Peter had sadly died. I wrote to Peter’s widow, and had a nice reply from her.
Regards, Ian Cairncross

5 Oct 2021.
Hey, Ian!
I realized the problem with Opekelns Cemety. Nothelfer does not appear there because in Latvian this surname is entered incorrectly there. There should be Nothelfer (with the ending - RE, but recorded is - NE). So only the woman who was born NOTHELFER but died as RAUTENFELD opened up to you. Her brother Reinhold Nothelfer is also buried there, which did not open because it was recorded incorrectly in Latvian - like Reingold Rothhelfer.
You can see them all by a different way. When a map appears on the desktop, zoom in on the cemetery's 4 sector. In the middle of the upper part of the sector (second row from above), the descendants of your Baltic relatives sleep all six in one row. At one end - Major Nothelfer, at the other end - Major Rautenfeld.
I know very well, of course, who these people were korwenhof and Hoppenhof Cairncross. But I can't write it in one paragraph. The thing is, the people of the Cairncross and Nothelfer families married each other 4 times!
After a while, I'll describe it all accurately. As I told you, I am writing a book about little-known problems in the history of Alüksne. There will also be a story about the Sonnenberg - Cairncross - Nothelfer - Rautenfeld families. There will be two other stories about Karva Manor (Korwenhof). In one of them I will write about the lindheim brothers' parish centre, for which the land was sold by Karl Johan Nothelfer. The FREITAG family from Germany worked in the centre for two generations. Their graves are right next to Rautenfeld and Nothelfer (down on the map). The cross has survived only for one of them - a little boy, Johan Freitag. But on the other side of your relatives under a massive granite cross rests Georg Semel. He was a Germanized Latvian with links to both Nothelfer and Freitag.
By the way, Alüksne municipality and your Baltic Cairncross still have a connection with an outstanding family in Sweden - VIRGIN... They became noblemen right here!
I'm sending you another photo. It has been photographed at the memorial exhibition of his wife's father Jänis Selga. My wife Solveiga Kristïne Selga is 66 years old and my daughter Esther is 32. My wife and I live in a country house near Aluksne. Her daughter lives and works more in Riga.
Greetings from TERRA INCOGNITA - Jänis

My reply, 6 Oct 2021.
Hi Janis,
With the information you provided I was able to get further with the cemetery. As you suggested, I zoomed in to sector 4 and I could see blocks that appear to represent individual graves. Clicking on these blocks brings up a photo, which you can enlarge by clicking on the photo. Also in the block appears the names of those buried there. I clicked on about 50% of the graves in sector 4, but failed to find a recognisable name. However, I was impressed with the way the site worked. We do not have a similar system here in the UK for our local graveyards.
Thanks for the extra photo, which has come out very clear, and shows a nice family.
It sounds like the book you are writing will be a decent piece of history, and could be of interest to Cairncrosses around the world.
As mentioned in my previous email, the details in your messages are of areas of the world of which I know little. I had no idea there were Cairncrosses in Latvia.
Good stuff.
Regards, Ian.

6 Oct 2021.
Hey, Ian!
So that you can still see the memorial sites of your relatives in Opekalns Cemetery! Do so - type in the Nothelfene search box (with the ending - not, as it was incorrectly typed in Latvian) and Rothhelfer (with the starting letter R, which is also simply an error). Then not only the Rautenfeld you've already found, but the rest will open.
The second option is to increase the image of the cemetery to such a format that the sector number 4 is still visible and separate rows of graves appear. Just above the number 4 go 4 rows up. There, all 6 of your relatives are resting next to each other. Right below them is Freitag, but above them Semel. I will also describe them in my book.
We Latvians can take a look at the digitization of those cemeteries. This process has started directly with us, and not only in the UK, but in all the other countries, little is known about it.
The Germans have written the surname of Cairncross in some 12 variants. But there are no more memorial signs in Opekalns cemetery where this surname is mentioned. By the way, I was pleasantly surprised to find in Opekalns from the 19th century those monuments that I am telling you about. Why is that? Well, only those people who have "enjoyed" the russian occupation can understand this...
Is the surname CAIRNCROSS translatable? I know Cross means a cross. But the first part cairn? Latvians have all sorts of crosses from an ancient past - the Cross of Fire (the same one that the Nazis misappropriated as their symbol). But turning the same cross to the other side is the Thunder Cross for Latvians. Maybe Cairn-cross means something ancient, too?
I'm also interested in your name! The automatic translator turns it into IAN in Latvian, which can be pronounced about as IÄNS (IAANS). Sounds very similar to my name JÄNIS (JAANIS) or Estonian JAAN. This J can be pronounced not as English, but as in German. By the way, BALTIC LANGUAGES are the oldest living languages, at least on a European scale. The very beginning of this word was the combination of the concepts JANTA and ÏTIS (IITIS), ÏŠA (ISCHA). It makes sense - the most important person (landlord, mistress). That's what the whole ancient baltic world called that thing - at least from Ireland, Scotland and Iceland to India. And all european Jan, John, Johan, Joan (from which the Russian Ivan originated) have this ancient white origin. The same applies to the English, the French, the Italians, the Spaniards, who now pronounce the word differently. By the way, if you want to hear what language our common ancestors spoke, then you have to go to Latvia or Lithuania. But the ancient white appearance has been preserved even better than us by icelanders. That's because there's the least anyone tried to carry their "culture" from outside - "with a cross, fire and sword".
Jänis

My reply, 8 Oct 2021.
Hi Janis,
more success this time. By typing Nothelfene in the search window, I did get good results, and had a good look at these. I also got good results by zooming in more than previously, and found you could see the names of the graves. Before I had been looking in the wrong area, as I was distracted by the white footpath, thinking is was the top of the 4th sector. I have bookmarked the link now, for future reference.
The 12 different variants for the name Cairncross is not a surprise, although this is more common outside English speaking places. There is also a family of Carncross - minus the first 'r' - sent to me from a correspondent some years ago.
You ask about the name CAIRNCROSS and it's derivation. In most of the historical content I have collected, this is the theory. A CAIRN is a pile of stones usually placed on a summit such as a hill or mountain, mostly in Scotland. I have seen plenty of these. The CROSS is simply a cross made from wood usually and placed into the CAIRN.
The name IAN from what I understand, is the Scottish version of John. There is another spelling, namely IAIN, but this name is less common. Coincidentally, my father's name was John, although most of his English friends and colleagues called him JOCK, regarded as a common nickname for Scotsmen. My father was born in a town called Newbugh in Fife, Scotland, and came south to Letchworth to do his National Service in the Air Force. There he clearly met my mother, and then got married. Me and my two sisters were the result. I was born in Letchworth, and currently live less than 5 miles from there.
Ian.

9 Oct 2021
Hello, Ian!
I also looked into the meaning of the word CAIRN. It turns out that the word has had an even broader meaning. The Scots have called stone piles (pyramids) that way. But still today the Irish call the pillars of buildings and bridges - PILES (Latvian - PÄLIS). In Latvian, however, this word has a different meaning. THE CATCHER (latvian KËRNE with softened K) is a threshing in which the butter was made. The second meaning is a wooden or ceramic container for storing butter or cream. Cairn (writing by KERN) is of very historical importance in Lithuania. Their ancient capital was KERNUVÈ. It was built on the tops of several steep hills. Comparing the meaning of this word in Scottish, Irish and Lithuanian, it can be understood that CAIRN (KERN) for our ancestors denotes EVERYTHING THAT STANDS UP. The second part of the word KERNUVÈ - UVÈ is a transformation from the Baltic ancient word AVA, which means valley.
The official history of Europe was created by the great powers. The Baltic nations have been given a small place in this history. But - in my opinion, whites and Celts in antiquity were close relatives. It is noteworthy that there is an explanation in Latvian for the two historical names of your ancestors - CELTIC and GALLI.
The Romans called this nation CELTIC (in Latvian - KELTI) because they shouted - SPLIT! (in Latvian - ŠKELT!)
But your other ancient name, GALLI, might have come from the white word GALS. It is noteworthy that this name still exists as a part of two names of Latvian ethnographic regions - ZEMGALE and LATGALE.
I hope to finish my book by spring. Of course, I will translate the part related to your family into English and send it to you.
By the way, the name of the MANTEUFFEL family also appears in the history of KORWENHOF. The first Manteuffel - Szoge rich was made married to MARGARETHA HILLEBOLT. Or is the surname HILLEBOLT not originated from the UK?
Greetings from Latvia - Jänis

My reply, 12 Oct 2021.
Hello Janis,
Sorry for the delay; it has been a busy couple of days for me - lots of appointments.
Thanks again for the additional information regarding the word Cairn. I did not know about the second meaning of the word, or the Lithuanian link.
I will be delighted to receive the relevant detail of the book you have referred to. I'm sure it will make very interesting reading.
You come across as a historian very good at researching and presenting the information you find. Thorough also comes to mind.
Warm regards, Ian.

13 Jul 2021.
Hey, Ian!
I am currently studying the origins of Indo-European languages a little bit. I remember you writing that you couldn't find on the Internet German professor Wolfgang Schmidt's thoughts on the case. The best is an article read on Google called PROFESSOR WOLFGANG P. SCHMID AND HIS TROJAN HORSE. Here is the article referred to. It is represented here in a Word document.
But Annex 2 contains the scheme in which Smith placed ancient Baltic languages in the center of all Indo-European languages. The inscriptions there are in German.
I understand that it may seem incredible to today's great nations that the root of all our languages is a Baltic ancient language. I remind you that now only two nations - Latvians and Lithuanians - speak Baltic.
But on a very ancient monument in Ecuador (South America) there is an inscription in a very complex form, the text of which is understood only in Baltic languages. The same letters can be found on a stone near Glozel, France. Its age is judged by scientists at about 15 - 17 thousand years.
Here is a list of special characters relevant. Click to see.
It should also be noted here that the characters of the USURY ARE officially recognized as the world's oldest. But they are only 6 thousand years old. Even more recent are greek and Latin characters!!!
It is very, very interesting that a person was able to explain these ancient baltic characters (the whole alphabet) to the pastor and scholar of ancient history Andrejs Kavacis in the middle of the last century. This has happened in the north-east of Latvia. It's where I live, and your relatives, the Baltic branch of the Cairncrosses, used to live.
Respect - John (Jänis)

21 Feb 2022.
Hey, Ian!
Now I'm compiling materials for a video film about ancient cemeteries in my home county - Old Piebalga. I also study two families of Swedish nobility - Strandmann and Starenskeld. The distant ancestors of these families "along the women's line" were Old Piebalga Latvians from the same region, where my ancestors lived for many centuries.
Three kinship links lead to the UK.
1) Hartmut Pooge von Strandman was a professor at Oxford for many years.
2) Strandman's family also had relatives from the descendants of the Baltic branch of Cairncros - Rautenfeld.
3) Also - from the Lowis of Menar family, the beginning of which can be found in Menar manor in Ireland.
Then you see how 'small' Europe is!
Respect - John

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