Question Home

Position:Home>Genealogy> Help with family tree...Where does the name Radford come from?


Question: Help with family tree!.!.!.Where does the name Radford come from!?
also where could I find death records from the first deaths of the first families to America!? Like Elswick, Wright, Radford, Prince!.

I really want to do a family tree but don't know where to begin!. I asked a question about my Elswick and Wright name!. Well I changed my name to Mike Zion in Jan!. 06 so the name Zion doesn't have any thing to do with Zionism or anything!.

So how expensive is it for blood test to find DNA like they did to this guy on the History Channel to tell him all the places his ancestors are from!? By the way I don't know who my true father is!.

Birth name Dale Kim Wright Elkhart IN
Name changed to Henry Elswick Jr!. After I was brought to West Virginia by my (father!?) Bill Elswick!.
Mother's birth name Barbra Wright How can I learn about my grandfather who was in the Navy and my grandmother!?
Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
UK answer!.
I found this information for you on this site, but there was nothing on there for the name Elswick http://www!.surnamedb!.com/
Surname: Wright
Recorded in several spellings including the popular Wright, as well as the much rarer forms of Wrighte, Wraight, Wraighte, Wreight, Wrate, and patronymics Wrightson and Wrixon, this is an early English surname!. It is occupational and was used to describe a maker of machinery or objects, mostly in wood!. The derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th century word 'wyrhta' meaning a craftsman, itself from the verb 'wyrcan', meaning to work or construct as in wheelwright, cartwright, millwright and wainwright!. When 'wyrhta' was used on its own, it often referred to a builder of windmills or watermills!. Perhaps not surprisingly this is one of the first occupational surnames to be recorded, and early examples include Robert Wricht of Shropshire in 1274 and Thomas le Wrighte of Derbyshire in 1327!. Later examples of the surname recording include Joan Wright and Richard Trevesse who were married on May 29th 1552, at the church of St!. Lawrence Jewry, in the city of London, whilst one of the earliest settlers in the New England colonies of America was Jeffery Wright, aged 18 years!. He left from the Port of London aboard the ship "Truelove" bound for the Bermuda Island in June 1635!. Probably the best known bearers of the name are the Wright brothers, Wilbur (1867 - 1912), and his brother Orville (1871 - 1948), the U!.S!. aviation pioneers, who designed and flew the first powered aircraft (1903)!. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Patere le Writh!. This was dated 1214, in the tax rolls known as the "Feet of Fines" for the county of Sussex!. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling!.

Surname: Radford
This long-established surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from any of the various places throughout England named with the Olde English pre 7th Century "read", red, and "ford", ford!. These places include: Radford in Plymstock, Devonshire, appearing as "Reddeford" in the 1249 Assize Court Rolls of that county; Redford near Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, recorded as "Redeford" in the Domesday Book of 1086; also Redford in Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and Oxfordshire!. The last mentioned place, noted as "Rodeford" in the 1316 Feudal Aids of Oxfordshire, appears to have as its first element a derivative of the Olde English verb "ridan", to ride; hence, "ford that can be crossed on horseback", as distinct from "ford in or near which the soil is red"!. Locational surnames, such as this, were originally given to local landowners, and the lord of the manor, and especially as a means of identification to those who left their birthplace to settle elsewhere!. Early examples of the surname include: Watter de Redford (Berkshire, 1230) and Nicholas atte Rydeford (Sussex, 1296)!. In 1595, one Ralph Radford, of Chester, tanner, was entered in the Wills Records held at Chester!. A Coat of Arms granted to the Radford family is an azure shield with a gold fretty, on a red chief three bells of the second!. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John de Radeford, which was dated 1209, in the "Pipe Rolls of Nottinghamshire", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216!. 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!.

Surname: Prince
This noble name, with variant spelling Prins, and the French cognate Leprince, derives from the Old French, (Middle English) "Prince", ultimately from the Latin "Princeps", from "primus", first, and "capere", to take, and was originally given as a distinguishing nickname to someone who behaved in a regal fashion, or to one who had played the part of a prince in a medieval pageant!. The surname was first recorded in the latter part of the 12th Century (see below), and other early recordings include: Robert le Prins, recorded in the 1327 Subsidy Rolls of Sussex, and Willelmus Prynce, in the 1379 Poll Tax Returns of Yorkshire!. In 1418, John Prince, a priest in St!. Michael's Church, Norwich, was noted in the Norfolk County Records!. A Coat of Arms granted to the Prince family of Shrewsbury and Abbey Foregate, Shropshire in 1584, depicts a gold saltire, surmounted by a cross engrailed in ermine, on a red shield!. On the Crest is a cubit arm, clothed in red garment trimmed with an ermine cuff, and holding in the hand three gold pine apples with green stalk and leaves, emerges from a ducal coronet!. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Prince, which was dated 1177, in the "Pipe Rolls of Cumberland", during the reign of King Hen

And this information came from www!.ancestry!.com
Elswick Name Meaning and History
English: habitational name from a place in Lancashire, so named from the Old English personal name ?{dh}elsige (see Elston) + wic ‘dairy farm’!.
Hope this helps!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

All those names sound English!. To do a DNA blood test to track your family members you'd have find a family group that's doing the test, and even then it can only be done through the male lines!. The test costs about $150!.Www@QuestionHome@Com