The Family Tree

For years I have been fascinated with my family heritage and I always wanted to research my lineage. It began when I found the origins of my family names Slade and Johnson some years back while I was at college. I was born in Liverpool in the UK and my research has the British Isles in mind as far as conquests and immigration is concerned. Slade being an Anglo-Saxon name that came over with the Germanic Vikings and Johnson a Norman name which possibly came over around the time of the battle of 1066, the names included in this blog mainly concern families that are from or that have settled here in the UK and names created through settlement and conquest.

In recent days I have begun building a family tree on the web site, Myheritage, My search has come up with some interesting family names, some of which I have been able to trace back to the late 1700's, including some names such as Ormsby, Williams, Kearns, Lawie, Dwyer, Metcalf,and Hood.

The one name I have had trouble researching is the name Bellis, which as far as I know, originates with two of my ancestors, Jacob and Issac Bellis, who were of Jewish Sicilian/Italian decent, hence the biblical given/first names. As the names of some immigrants are usually altered or shortened on arrival at their destination, tracing our particular family name Bellis back to Sicily, has proven problematic to say the least. I am still researching. I have posted some of the family names here for posterity. On the Slade side of the family, which is my fathers side, I have managed to trace the family name Dwyer to a John O'Dwyer 1795 and on the Johnson side of my family, which is my Mothers side, to Jacob Bellis, born in 1821 and James Kearns 1799.

One name I am particularly fascinated with is the Scottish name Ormsby, which originates from a Viking named Orm, who whilst in battle with the Scotts, had his leg severed off with a broad sword. Orm threw his severed leg on to the Scottish land being fought over, in order to claim it as his own. A severed leg appears on the Ormsby coat of arms. Here I have posted some research of a number of the names found and a lengthy description of the Ormsby story. I have also posted a family history and the Genealogy of my family. I will continue to update each post as I research further.

Family Genealogy

Beginning with the Slade side of my family, the furthest i have managed to go back is to a John O'Dwyer 1795 and Mary Rosebud 1796, who were Great, great, great Grand parents of Margaret Anne Dwyer, who married a John Slade, my Great Grandfather. Margaret Dwyer's father was a Thomas Dwyer Jr. 1899. John and Margaret had two sons, William Slade Sr. 1923-1981, my Grandfather and James Slade 1927. William Slade married Lillian Hood 1924-2011, my Grandmother and they had a son, William Slade Jr., my father and a daughter Norma Slade.

The Dwyer family goes all the way back to a John O'Dwyer 1795, he married a Mary Rosebud 1796. They had a son Edward Dwyer 1820. Edward married a Mary Ryan 1820. They had a Son Stephen Dwyer 1846 and he married a Elizabeth Coonan 1850. Stephen and Elizabeth had a son Thomas Dwyer 1877. Thoams married Mary Moran- Fazakerley. Mary's parents were a Martin Moran and Mary Fazakerley. Thomas and Mary Fazakerley had a Son Thomas Dwyer Jr. and Thomas Jr. was Margaret Slades (Dwyer,) Father, which takes us back to the name Slade.

My Grandmother Lillian's father was named George Hood and his wife was Lillian Metcalfe. Lillian Metcalf had four sisters, Louise, Mary, Margaret and Ada Metcalfe and two brothers, Richard and Lawrence Metcalfe.

On my Mothers side of the family Johnson, the furthest I have gone back so far is to a Henry and Elizabeth Williams on my Grandfathers side and to an Issac Bellis 1855 who was married to Anne Kearns 1855, ( her father was a James Kearns 1799), on my Grandmothers side. Henry and Elizabeth Williams had a daughter Jessica Williams, my Grandfather Ronald Johnson's Mother. As of yet i have not been able to trace his Father. My Grandfather Ronald 1923, married Mary Bellis. This is another side of the family I have had some trouble tracing but this is what I have so far. My Great Great Grandfather was Issac Bellis 1855. He had two brothers named Jacob and Edward Bellis, and three sisters, Mary, Anne and Teresa. Their father was Jacob Bellis 1821 and he was married to an Elizabeth Lawie 1816, who are my Great, Great, Great Grandparents. Issac had a son, Steven Bellis 1886 who is my Great Grandfather.

Steven Bellis married a Catherine Ormsby 1886, and they had four daughters, Catherine, Margaret, Anne and Mary. Mary is my Grandmother, who married Ronald Johnson. Steven and Catherine Bellis also had two sons, John and Thomas. Mary Bellis and Ronald Johnson had five daughters, Lynda, Anne Marie my Mother, Valerie, Carole and Debbie. From here on in, the Family tree gets quite complicated with my children and all my sisters and cousins and their children, but I am mainly interested here in tracing retro-actively in the genealogy, so this is the closest I have come to tracing the family heritage. I will post more as I research further.

Ryan

Ryan is a common Irish surname, as well as being a common given name. There are several possible origins for the surname. In certain cases it can be a simplified form of Mulryan. In some cases the surname may be derived from the Irish Gaelic Ó Riagháin (modern Irish Ó Riain), meaning "descendant of Rían"; or Ó Maoilriain "descendant of Maoilriaghain", or Ó Ruaidhín "descendant of the little red one".[1] The old Gaelic personal name Rían is of uncertain origin. It may be derived from the Gaelic rí, meaning "king".[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_(surname)

Moran

Moran (Irish: Ó Móráin) is a modern Irish surname and derived from membership of a medieval dynastic sept. The name means a descendent of Mórán, translated as Big One. Morans were a respected sept of the Uí Fiachrach dynasty in the western counties of Mayo and Sligo. In Ireland, where the name descended from the Gaelic, it is generally pronounced (phonetically) "more-in", an anglicized approximate of the Irish pronunciation. Elsewhere, pronunciation follows the French surname, Morant, anglicized to (phonetically) "more-anne".[1] There are many different crests of Moran, all bearing 3 stars and the motto Lucent in tenebris, Latin for "They shine in darkness" ".[2] The majority bearers of this surname in Co. Mayo are descended from the Ó Móráin sept whose ancient kingdom was in north Mayo, surrounding the modern town of Ballina. Following the Norman invasion their territory was usurped by the Barretts and Burkes and the sept lost its central organisation. The modern distribution of the surname within Mayo suggests that the Morans spread southwards and today are chiefly found in the central area of the county, particularly in the barony of Carra. There is also a small village in Monaghan named "Moran" meaning abode of "The Great One" the leader of the Celts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moran_(surname)

Fazakerley

This interesting name is a locational surname derived from a small place in the parish of Walton on the hill near Liverpool. The word is of Anglo-Saxon origin from the old pre 7th Century English 'faes' a border or fringe plus 'accer', a field plus 'leah', a wood or clearing. The surname had already clearly emerged by the latter part of the thirteenth Century, (see below) and many of its namebearers trace their ancestry back to the same Henry Fasakerlegh. Under the influence of classical learning the surname was sometimes given an initial spelling imitation of the Greek, hence Phizackerl(e)y, a variant chiefly associated with the furness district of North Lancashire. An early registration in Lancashire was for Edward, son of Edward Fazackerley who was christened at Altcar on June 1st 1677. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Henry de Fasakerlegh, which was dated 1276, in the "Assize Rolls for Lancashire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307.

Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Fazakerley#ixzz2L4icpEP6

http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Fazakerley

Coonan

This name, with variant spellings Conan, (O) Cooney, Counihan, Coonihan etc., is an Anglicized form of the old Gaelic O'Cuana or O'Cuanain. The Gaelic prefix "O" indicates "male descendant of", plus the personal byname Cuana(in) from "Cuan", elegant. This great sept originated in the Ulster county of Tyrone, but at an early date migrated westwards to north Connacht and established themselves in county Sligo. Some branches of the sept subsequently moved to the bordering counties of Tipperary and Offaly where the name is found on record i the mid 12th Century, (see below). One, Diarmid O'Cuana, noted in "The Annals of the Four Masters" circa 1248 was described as "The great priests of Elphin". The diocese of Elphin lies in the Connacht counties of Sligo, Roscommon and Galway. In Offaly and other midland counties Conan is frequently found as a variant of Coonan. On April 25th 1846 Martin Coonan, "a laborer", aged 21 yrs., embarked from Liverpool on the "Patrick-Henry" bound for New York. He was a famine immigrant to that city. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Isaac O' Cuanain, Bishop of Roscrea, which was dated 1161 - 1168, "Ecclesiastical Records of County Tipperary", during the reign of King Rory O' Connor, High King of Ireland, 1166 - 1198. 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.

Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Coonan#ixzz2L4gvc2Mk

http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Coonan

Lawie

Hard name to research but it was first settled in Lorraine in France. The family were well established in the region of Nancy and were rewarded lands and titles of nobility. They held estates in Lorraine and Brittany. A variation on this name is Louis and Lewie.

Kearns

Recorded in the spellings of Kearn, Kern, Kerne,Kerner, Kernes, and Kearns, this is a surname of multiple national origins. Confusingly it can be German, or English-Cornish, and sometimes Irish. Equally it has multiple meanings and derivations. If German and hence Anglo-Saxon (English) it probably derives from the pre 7th century word "gern" meaning desire, and usually found in the early personal names "Gernwin and Kernwin". However the surname can also be locational from the town of Kern in Germany. If Irish and possibly Cornish, the derivation is from the pre 10th century Gaelic personal name "Ceirin" which translates as "The little black one". As such it was a name given to the first chief of the clan, who was presumably dark haired or of dark complexion. Early examples of the surname recording taken from authentic charters of the medieval period include: Hainrich Kerne of Runstall near Villingen, Germany, in 1255, and Johannes Kerner of Markdorf, in 1276. A family called Kerne have been recorded in Truro, Cornwall, since at least the 16th century, whilst in Ireland the clan were in about the year 1420, in possession of the greater part of the present barony of Costello in County Mayo. An inquisition of 1609 describes them as erenaghs or hereditary holders of church property, of Killaghtee in the diocese of Raphoe, and in the census of 1659 they are also located in County Sligo.

https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Kearns

Bellis

The family name Bellis has proved difficult to research but I have traced its origins back to Sicily. A lot of immigrants from this area moved to Wales in the UK, creating a Welsh variant of the name. The origins of the name can be traced to Messina, formally Pelorum, the capitol of the province Messina in Scicily. Bellis translates from the Italian as beautiful. Some of the earliest settlers with this name were Edward Bellis who came to St. Christopher in 1635. William Bellis who settled in America in 1730. John Bellis settled in America in 1774 and Manuel Bellis who settled in Philladelphia in 1770.

http://www.houseofnames.com/bellis-coat-of-arms/Italian

Johnson

Johnson is an English, Scottish and Irish name of Norman origin. The name itself is a patronym of the given name John, literally meaning "son of John". The name John derives from Latin Johannes, which is derived through Greek Ἰωάννης Iōannēs from Hebrew יוחנן Yohanan, meaning "Yahweh has favoured". The name has been extremely popular in Europe since the Christian era as a result of it being given to St John the Baptist, St John the Evangelist and nearly one thousand other Christian saints. Johnson is the tenth most common surname in the United Kingdom, and second most common in the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson

Slade

Slade is a surname of Saxon origin, meaning, variously at different times in different dialects, "a valley, dell, or dingle; an open space between banks or woods; a forest glade; a strip of greensward or of boggy land; the side or slope of a hill." Earliest known references in England as a surname are found in the south west, especially in Devon. Slade is an English name that ultimately derives from the Proto Indo European rootlei or slei, meaning “slide”. Lei/slei is also the ancestor of words such as slippery,slick, loam, and oblivion. In Proto Germanic, slei became the verb slidanan(ancestor of English slide), as well as the noun slido, from which is derived sled,slede, and sleigh. In Old English, this root was probably also the source of slade, which was used to refer both to the sole of a plow and a steep-walled valley (i.e. a valley with “slippery” sides). This latter meaning (“valley, glade”) gradually extended to someone who lived in, or was from, such a place. There are a number of towns in Great Britain and elsewhere called Slade, and it is a surname as well.

http://sladeroberson.com/language/slade-meaning-of-the-name-slade.html

Williams

Williams is a patronymic form of the name William that originated in medieval England and later came to be extremely popular in Wales. The meaning is derived from son or descendant of Williame, the Northern French form that also gave the English name William. Derived from an Old French given name with Germanic elements; will = desire, will; and helm = helmet, protection. It is the second most common surname in Wales and the third most common surname in the whole of the United Kingdom, the third most common in the United States of America and Australia and the fifth most common in New Zealand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams_(surname)

Ormsby

An old tradition, dating back before the year 1050, says that the first original ancestor of Ormesby-Ormsby-Ormsbee was Orm, so called because he came from a Place of Elms (Etymology Dictionary by William Arthur, M.D.). Orm was the old Scandinavian word for Elm or Elm Tree, or Elm Trees. Bey, By, Bye were places, any places where people resided. The original Orm lived in the Scandinavian Peninsula. He was a Lord. (Lord meant, not nobility but a person who owned or who controlled large tracts of land) Orm did. In that section, and during those times a rich man might have as many wives as his possessions might support. Orm had several and raised a large family of boys. As the boys grew to manhood, Orm followed the custom of those times and gave each of his male offspring a portion of the land he owned. When the youngest and last son reached manhood there was no more land, so this latest son required to seek and forge for himself. He joined a Viking crew under the leadership of an old experienced Viking, who during about the middle of the eighth century plundered the coast of Scotland in one of those Long Ships of Rowing Galleries popular at that time among Vikings and Pirate Sea Kings.

On one of his excursions to Scotland, the Scots were better prepared and came out upon the sea to give battle. The Scots were getting the best of the fight when the old Viking called his crew together, together, asked them to fight harder, and promised to make that particular one the ruler of captured territory who should be the first to set foot on Scottish soil. During the fight which ensued Young Orm had his leg severed just above the knee by the broad sword of the Scots. He tied it up. The Viking won, and as they neared the Scottish soil Young Orm suddenly arose, picked up his severed leg and threw it overboard onto the land and claimed the reward as being the first to put his foot on Scottish soil. He finally recovered from his wound and the Viking kept his word making Young Orm the ruler of the captured territory.

The termination bye meaning a place or settlement was added later, undoubtedly from the colony over which Orm was made ruler. Many generations passed during which there was continual conflict between the Ormesbys and the King of England. The King's troops could not subdue the Ormesbys and the Ormesbys could not conquer England. At the time of the conflict with England which terminated in the complete subjection of Scotland, the Ormesbys had become a powerful clan and England offered a baronage to the then Ormesby leader if he would renounce his allegiance to Scotland and to his Clan and move himself and his personal family to Lincolnshire.

Ormesby did so renounce his Clan and Allegiance to Scotland and moved to Lincolnshire. Those who remained in Scotland fought until they could carry on the war no longer. A part of them submitted to English rule and remained in Scotland where the family still exists in large numbers. The greater part, however, refused to submit and emigrated to Ireland (northeast) where they are still a numerous people. Others moved to various sections, probably changing names according to the customs of the time. The Ormesbys of Lincolnshire eventually became a massive family, and in the middle of the eleventh century, in a war with France, in which William the Conqueror played such an important part, the then, Baron Ormesby captured the daughter of a French Nobleman and held her for high ransom. The Baron's son, whose name was William, in defiance to his father's project fell in love with the supposedly beautiful girl; helped her to escape, and went with her back to the Northerly part of France known as Normandy. Here, because of his heroic act, he became a hero to the Norman people. William the Conqueror then took him into the army, and after the subjection of England in 1050 dispelled the leading Baron of the Ormesbys and in his place established Young William, giving him the title of William de Ormesby, Knight. Many of the Ormesbys, byes, bys, bees of today claim descent from this character, meaning, or should mean no doubt, to the clan of people whom he headed.

The story of Orm and the Viking expedition has come down from the time recording began, and is supposed to account for the tradition regarding the severed leg used in the Ormsby Coat-of-Arms. More of the story accounts for the way the historic William de Ormesby, Knight, of whom so many descendants are proud, come into being.

http://www.ormsby.org/genie/Surname.html

Metcalfe

English (Yorkshire): of uncertain origin, probably from Middle English metecalf ‘food calf’, i.e. a calf being fattened up for eating at the end of the summer. It is thus either an occupational name for a herdsman or slaughterer, or a nickname for a sleek and plump individual, from the same word in a transferred sense. The variants in med- appear early, and suggest that the first element was associated by folk etymology with Middle English mead ‘meadow’, ‘pasture’. The surname “Metcalf” belongs essentially to the north of England, and has its origin in Yorkshire. They were most plentiful in the district of Wensleydale. The history of the surname commences with a man who was called “Arkefrith”. He was a noble Danish warrior and commander who came over to England with King Canute in the year 1016 A D. In reward for his valuable services, King Canute granted him vast tracts of land and estates in northern Yorkshire. He was styled “Lord of Dent” and his name appeared as such in the DoomsdayBook. He was succeeded in the ownership of his lands by his son Arkyll. Arkyl was succeeded by his son William, who in turn left left the estates to his eldest son Richard. Richard, however, seems to have ceded to his son Adam only a portion of the lands and estate of Dent, namely the lands extending to the top of the mountain known as “Calffe Fell”, on the borders of Westmorland ( the “Lake District” ).

http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=metcalf

http://www.metcalfhistory.com/History.aspx

Dwyer

Dwyer is an Irish surname from the Gaelic patronymic "O'Duibhuidhir", composed of "duibh", meaning dark or black, and "odhar", sallow or tawny. The Dwyer clan lived primarily in southern Ireland and resisted British rule for some time, spreading to Australia because of that. O'Dwyer is an Irish surname from the Gaelic ó Dubhuir, meaning "black". O'Dwyer in Irish is "O'Duibhir" (pronounced O Dweer), meaning grandson of Duibhir, an ancestor who, by tradition, lived sometime around the tenth century. The exact meaning of the ancestor's name is unknown, though 'black skirt' is one possibility, but the common modern consensus is that it means 'black and dun-coloured' which is thought to refer to Duibhir's hair colouring. The O'Dwyer clan was based in the Barony of Kilnamanagh Lower in South Tipperary. The name has variants including Dwyer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O'Dwyer_(surname)

Hood

English and Scottish: metonymic occupational name for a maker of hoods or a nickname for someone who wore a distinctive hood, from Middle English hod(de), hood, hud ‘hood’. Some early examples with prepositions seem to be topographic names, referring to a place where there was a hood-shaped hill or a natural shelter or overhang, providing protection from the elements. In some cases the name may be habitational, from places called Hood, in Devon (possibly ‘hood-shaped hill’) and North Yorkshire (possibly ‘shelter’ or ‘fortification’). Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hUid ‘descendant of Ud’, a personal name of uncertain derivation. This was the name of an Ulster family who were bards to the O’Neills of Clandeboy. It was later altered to Mac hUid. Compare Mahood.

http://www.ancestry.co.uk/name-origin?surname=hood