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![Show Contents]() Macclesfield History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
- Origins Available:
England
Early Origins of the Macclesfield familyThe surname Macclesfield was first found in Cheshire East at Macclesfield, a market town in the parish of Prestbury, and hundred of Macclesfield. Prior to the Norman Conquest, this place constituted a portion of the demesne of the earls of Mercia, who held a court here for the ancient hundred of Hamestan; thus, in the record of Domesday, it is represented to have been one of the seats of Earl Edwin. 1 The Domesday Book records the place name as Maclesfeld 2 and probably meant "open country of a man called Maccel," and Old English personal name + "feld." 3 An ecclesiastical council was held at Macclesfield in 1332, and another in 1362, by the Archbishop of Canterbury. 1 Early History of the Macclesfield familyThis web page shows only a small excerpt of our Macclesfield research. Another 113 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1535, 1590, 1616 and 1929 are included under the topic Early Macclesfield History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Macclesfield Spelling VariationsA multitude of spelling variations characterize Norman surnames. Many variations occurred because Old and Middle English lacked any definite spelling rules. The introduction of Norman French to England also had a pronounced effect, as did the court languages of Latin and French. Therefore, one person was often referred to by several different spellings in a single lifetime. The various spellings include Macclesfield, Macksfield, Maxfield, Mexfield, Mixfield and many more. Early Notables of the Macclesfield familyOutstanding amongst the family at this time was - Thomas Maxfield (Macclesfield) (c.1590-1616), born in Stafford goal (jail), an English Roman Catholic priest and Catholic martyr, beatified in 1929
Migration of the Macclesfield familyMany English families left England, to avoid the chaos of their homeland and migrated to the many British colonies abroad. Although the conditions on the ships were extremely cramped, and some travelers arrived diseased, starving, and destitute, once in the colonies, many of the families prospered and made valuable contributions to the cultures of what would become the United States and Canada. Research into the origins of individual families in North America has revealed records of the immigration of a number of people bearing the name Macclesfield or a variant listed above: the name represented in many forms and recorded from the mid 17th century in the great migration from Europe. Migrants settled in the eastern seaboard from Newfoundland, to Maine, to Virginia, the Carolinas, and to the islands..
| Contemporary Notables of the name Macclesfield (post 1700) | + |
- Lieutenant-General Sir Lewis Macclesfield Heath KBE, CB, CIE, DSO, MC (1885-1954), British and Indian Army officer during World War I and World War II
- Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
- Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
- Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
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