Tarleton History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

Early Origins of the Tarleton family

The surname Tarleton was first found in Lancashire where the family were first found in the manor of Aigburth. Tarleton is a parish, in the union of Ormskirk, hundred of Leyland in Lancashire. "This place either gave its name to, or received its name from, an ancient family who had possessions here in the reign of Richard II." 1

"The mention of the Tarleton family is interesting; in one way or another they were connected with Aigburth until the beginning of the nineteenth century, but the succession and connexion of the various Tarletons is not quite clear during the period." 2

While there is no doubt of the origin of the name in this area, one of the first record of the name was Maien de Torleton who was listed in the Pipe Rolls of Gloucestershire in 1204. More than one hundred years later, Gilbert de Tarleton was listed in the Subsidy Rolls of Lancashire in 1332. 3

Early History of the Tarleton family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Tarleton research. Another 64 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1588 and 1600 are included under the topic Early Tarleton History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Tarleton Spelling Variations

Until quite recently, the English language has lacked a definite system of spelling rules. Consequently, Anglo-Saxon surnames are characterized by a multitude of spelling variations. Changes in Anglo-Saxon names were influenced by the evolution of the English language, as it incorporated elements of French, Latin, and other languages. Although Medieval scribes and church officials recorded names as they sounded, so it is common to find one person referred to by several different spellings of his surname, even the most literate people varied the spelling of their own names. Variations of the name Tarleton include Tarleton, Tarlton and others.

Early Notables of the Tarleton family

Notables of this surname at this time include:

Richard Tarlton or Tarleton (died 1588), an English actor of the Elizabethan era...

Tarleton Ranking

In the United States, the name Tarleton is the 13,150^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 4

Migration of the Tarleton family to Ireland

Some of the Tarleton family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 33 words (2 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Tarleton migration to the United States +

Searching for a better life, many English families migrated to British colonies. Unfortunately, the majority of them traveled under extremely harsh conditions: overcrowding on the ships caused the majority of the immigrants to arrive diseased, famished, and destitute from the long journey across the ocean. For those families that arrived safely, modest prosperity was attainable, and many went on to make invaluable contributions to the development of the cultures of the new colonies. Research into the origins of individual families in North America revealed records of the immigration of a number of people bearing the name Tarleton or a variant listed above:

Tarleton Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

James Tarleton, who landed in Maryland in 1671 5
Alice Tarleton, who arrived in Maryland in 1674 5
Richard Tarleton, who arrived in Portsmouth, NH in 1693 5
Roger Tarleton, who landed in Virginia in 1699 5

Tarleton Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

B. Tarleton, who arrived in San Francisco in 1852

Tarleton migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 6

Tarleton Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century

Elizabeth Tarleton and her husband settled in Barbados in 1679

Contemporary Notables of the name Tarleton (post 1700) +

John Tarleton (1808-1895), American settler and rancher who endowed John Tarleton Agricultural College, now known as Tarleton State University
Gael Tarleton (b. 1959), American politician, Member of the Washington House of Representatives (2013-)
Cullie M. Tarleton, American businessman and politician, Democratic Party candidate for North Carolina House of Representatives in 2012
James Madison Tarleton (1808-1880), American politician, U.S. Consul in Melbourne, 1852-58; U.S. Collector of Customs, 1868-69 7
Dudley Tarleton, American Democratic Party politician, Alternate Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Texas, 1940 7
Burnell Tarleton, American Democratic Party politician, Candidate in primary for Delegate to Michigan State Constitutional Convention from Wayne County 2nd District, 1961 7
Albert H. Tarleton, American politician, U.S. Collector of Internal Revenue for Hawaii, 1932 7
Sir Banastre Tarleton (1754-1833), British leader in the American Revolutionary War, third son of John Tarleton (1719–1773), merchant, of Liverpool, and mayor of that city in 1764
Nelson "Nel" Tarleton (1906-1956), English featherweight boxer, three-time British Featherweight Champion
John Tarleton (1755-1841), English ship-owner, slave-trader and politician, Member of Parliament for Seaford (1792-1796), son of John Tarleton
... (Another 3 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

The Tarleton Motto +

The motto was originally a war cry or slogan. Mottoes first began to be shown with arms in the 14th and 15th centuries, but were not in general use until the 17th century. Thus the oldest coats of arms generally do not include a motto. Mottoes seldom form part of the grant of arms: Under most heraldic authorities, a motto is an optional component of the coat of arms, and can be added to or changed at will; many families have chosen not to display a motto.

Motto: Post nubila phoebus
Motto Translation: After clouds, sunshine.

Citations +

Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
'Townships: Scarisbrick', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1907), pp. 265-276. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp265-276 [accessed 21 January 2017].
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2016, January 27) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html