This interesting surname is the Scottish form of the name "Leachman" or "Leechman", from the Old English "laece", leech, and "mann", servant of the physician, hence, someone who used leeches in helping a physisian, to cure somebody. The name is widespread around Falkirk, "where the name occurs with a frequency bewildering to the record searcher", and was not uncommon among the Border clergy in pre-reformation days. The name is found early in the Curia Rolls of Yorkshire when an Adam Lacheman was recorded in 1210. The name itself first appears in Scottish records in the mid 15th Century, (see below). William Leischman or Leisman was prior of Fogo, 1465-1466, and John Leishman "was bailie and custumar" of stirling, 1559-1560. Duncan Leishman of Hiltoun and Middlethird, Stirling and others were fined in 1622, for destroying wood in Torwood Forest. James Leischmanis who a "dochter" in Lanarkshire in 1644, while six of the name are recorded in the commissariot Record of Dunblane from 1554. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Lescheman or Leisman was burgess of Glasgow, which was dated circa 1435 - 1443, in the "Liber Collegii Nostre Domine registrum ecclesie", during the reign of King James 1, known as "The Ruler of Scotland", 1406 - 1437. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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