Contents [hide]

Pinson History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

Contemporary Notables Related Stories Citations

Pinson History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The history of the Pinson family name begins after the Norman Conquest of 1066. They lived in Devon. Their name, however, is a reference to Mont-Pincon, in Calvados, in the arrondissement of Lisieieux, Normandy, the family's place of residence prior to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.

Early Origins of the Pinson family

The surname Pinson was first found in Devon where they held a family seat anciently as Lords of the Manor. The name originally was the Norman Mont-pincon or pincun from the barony and castle in Normandy.

Ralf de Montpincon was the Norman noble dapifer who was granted lands in Devon for his assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D. Meanwhile in Normandy, the head of the family, Hugh de Monte Pincon held the service of three knights from Montpincon Castle in 1172.

Migration of the family from Normandy to England continued for centuries as seen by Richard Pynson (died 1530) who was a Norman by birth, but was naturalized on 26 July 1513. He became a printer in London. "From his method of working it is clear that he learnt the art in Normandy, probably in the office of Guillaume le Talleur." 1

Burton Pynsent House is a historic country-house in the parish of Curry Rivel, Somerset. It was built in 1765 for William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, after he inherited the estate from Sir William Pynsent (1642-1719.) "It was the property of Sir William Pynsent, Bart., and, with other estates, was left by him to the great Earl of Chatham, in testimony of respect for his character." 2 Pynsent Column stands on Troy Hill, a spur of high ground about 700 m north-east of the house.

Early History of the Pinson family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Pinson research. Another 99 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1094, 1642, 1679, 1689, 1719, 1765, 1790, 1818, 1850, 1859 and 1864 are included under the topic Early Pinson History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Pinson Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names are characterized by a multitude of spelling variations. When the Normans became the ruling people of England in the 11th century, they introduced a new language into a society where the main languages of Old and later Middle English had no definite spelling rules. These languages were more often spoken than written, so they blended freely with one another. Contributing to this mixing of tongues was the fact that medieval scribes spelled words according to sound, ensuring that a person's name would appear differently in nearly every document in which it was recorded. The name has been spelled Pinson, Pincon, Pinsent, Pensent, Pensons, Pinsons, Pinser, Pincer, Poinson, Poincon, Pynson, MontPinson, Montpinson, Mountpinzo, Mompesson, Pinsun, Montepinson, Montepesson, Montepinsun and many more.

Early Notables of the Pinson family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was Sir William Pynsent or Pinsent, 1st Baronet (1642-1719), of Urchfont, Wiltshire, an English politician, Member of the Parliament for Devizes in 1689; and his son, Sir William Pynsent, 2nd Baronet (c.1679-1765), an English politician, Member of the Parliament for Taunton, unfortunately the title...
Another 50 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Pinson Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Pinson Ranking

In the United States, the name Pinson is the 2,618^th most popular surname with an estimated 12,435 people with that name. 3 However, in France, the name Pinson is ranked the 737^th most popular surname with an estimated 6,638 people with that name. 4

Pinson migration to the United States +

For many English families, the political and religious disarray that plagued their homeland made the frontiers of the New World an attractive prospect. Thousands migrated, aboard cramped disease-ridden ships. They arrived sick, poor, and hungry, but were welcomed in many cases with far greater opportunity than at home in England. Many of these hardy settlers went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Among early immigrants bearing the name Pinson or a variant listed above were:

Pinson Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Joseph Pinson who settled in Virginia in 1663

Pinson Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Jean Joseph Pinson, who landed in New York in 1824 5

Pinson migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Pinson Settlers in Canada in the 17th Century

Marie Marthe Pinson, who arrived in Montreal in 1653

Pinson Settlers in Canada in the 18th Century

Andrew Pinson, who settled in St. George's Increase, St. John's, Newfoundland in 1736 6

Pinson 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. 7

Pinson Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century

Roger Pinson, who settled in Jamaica in 1665
Samuel Pinson, who settled in Barbados in 1685

Contemporary Notables of the name Pinson (post 1700) +

Koppel Shub Pinson (1904-1961), Russian-born, American historian who specialized in the origins of German nationalism
Julie Pinson (b. 1967), American Daytime Emmy Award winning soap opera actress
Bobby Olen Pinson (b. 1970), American country music artist
Vada Edward Pinson Jr. (1938-1995), American center fielder and coach in Major League Baseball
Matthew S. Pinson, American Republican politician, Delegate to Republican National Convention from West Virginia, 2008, 2012 (alternate) 8
Harley Pinson, American Democratic Party politician, Alternate Delegate to Democratic National Convention from California, 1972 8
George Pinson, American Democratic Party politician, Member of West Virginia Democratic State Executive Committee, 1961 8
Eugene Pinson, American Democratic Party politician, Postmaster at New York City, New York, 1966 (acting, 1966) 8
Clyde L. Pinson, American Republican politician, Candidate for West Virginia State House of Delegates from Wayne County, 1942 8
Clyde B. Pinson, American Republican politician, Candidate for West Virginia State Senate 5th District, 1944, 1952; Chair of Cabell County Republican Party, 1969, 1975 8
... (Another 1 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Citations +

Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/
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)
Seary E.R., Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland, Montreal: McGill's-Queen's Universtity Press 1998 ISBN 0-7735-1782-0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, October 21) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html