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Trumbull History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

Contemporary Notables Historic Events Related Stories Citations

Trumbull History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Scotland
Ireland

The ancestors of the bearers of the Trumbull surname lived among the Boernicians, an ancient Scottish tribe. It is a name for a man named Rule (sometimes Ruel) who saved King Robert the Bruce at Stirling Park from a charging bull by turning the bull's head.

According to tradition, the King rewarded Rule with lands in Bedrule, and instructed him to change his name to Turnbull. This same man, Rule, is said to have served at the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333, against the English. Rule preceded the Scottish Army into battle with a huge black dog, and challenged any Englishman to fight him. Sir Robert Venal of Norfolk accepted his challenge and killed both Rule and his dog. 1 While the account of the fight is most certainly true and well documented, the legend behind the name Turnbull is questionable.

Early Origins of the Trumbull family

The surname Trumbull was first found in Roxburghshire. Referring to the aforementioned Rule reference, there was a noble family of Rule, which derived its name from the Water of Rule, an affluent of the Teviot.

This family dates back to 1214 when King William the Lion of Scotland granted lands to Alan de Rule. If the bull episode is true, then the bearer was either Adam de Rule or Thomas de Rule, the two Rule chieftains who appeared on the Ragman Rolls in 1296, just after the Stirling Park affair.

Later, King Robert the Bruce did in fact grant lands in the west of Fulhophalche to William Turnbull in 1315. King David II also granted the lands of Humdallwalschop (now Hundleshop) to John Turnbull. 1

The source "The History of Liddesdale and the Debatable Land" includes the following entries for the family: David Trumbull or Turnbull, 1494; George Trumbull or Turnbull, 1404-5; Jock Trumble, 1544; and Wat Trombull, 1562. 2

Early History of the Trumbull family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Trumbull research. Another 389 words (28 lines of text) covering the years 1214, 1296, 1315, 1329, 1333, 1400, 1447, 1450, 1454, 1545, 1562, 1591, 1633 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Trumbull History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Trumbull Spelling Variations

Before the first dictionaries and printing presses went into use in the last few hundred years, spelling, particularly of names, was a largely intuitive matter. Consequently, many spelling variations occur in even the simplest names from the Middle Ages. Trumbull has been spelled Turnbull, Turnball, Trimble, Trimbell, Trumbell, Trumbill, Turnbul and many more.

Early Notables of the Trumbull family

Notable amongst bearers of this family name during their early history was William Turnbull (d. 1454), Bishop of Glasgow, who procured from the pope a charter to establish a university in the city...
Another 32 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Trumbull Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Trumbull Ranking

In the United States, the name Trumbull is the 14,451^st most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 3

Migration of the Trumbull family to Ireland

Some of the Trumbull family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 50 words (4 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Trumbull migration to the United States +

The east coasts of the United States and Canada are still populated by many of the descendents of the Boernician-Scottish families who made that great crossing. They distributed themselves evenly when they first arrived, but at the time of the War of Independence those who remained loyal to England went north to Canada as United Empire Loyalists. This century, many of their ancestors have recovered their past heritage through highland games and other Scottish functions in North America. Many of these hardy settlers went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Investigation of the origins of family names on the North American continent has revealed that many immigrants bearing the name Trumbull or a variant listed above:

Trumbull Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

John Trumbull, who arrived in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1636 4
Daniel Trumbull, who landed in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1647 4

Contemporary Notables of the name Trumbull (post 1700) +

Douglas Hunt Trumbull (1942-2022), American two-time Academy Award winning film director, special effects supervisor, and inventor, known for the special photographic effects of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Blade Runner and The Tree of Life
Lyman Trumbull (1813-1896), American jurist and politician
James Hammond Trumbull (1821-1897), American philologist
Henry Clay Trumbull (1830-1903), American clergyman and author
Johnathan Trumbull (1710-1785), American patriot
John Trumbull (1756-1843), American historical painter
John Trumbull (1750-1831), American lawyer
James H. Trumbull, American politician, U.S. Consul in Talcahuano, 1861-68 5
Horace Trumbull, American Republican politician, Alternate Delegate to Republican National Convention from Connecticut, 1888 5
Herbert E. Trumbull, American Republican politician, Candidate in primary for Michigan State Senate 10th District, 1942 5
... (Another 12 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Historic Events for the Trumbull family +

RMS Lusitania

Mr. Isaac B. Trumbull, American 1st Class Passenger from Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA, who sailed aboard the RMS Lusitania (1915) and died in the sinking and was recovered 6

SS Atlantic

Thos Trumbull, who was traveling aboard the ship "SS Atlantic" when it struck rocks off Nova Scotia in 1873, died in the sinking

Citations +

Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
"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)
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 10) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html
Lusitania Passenger List - The Lusitania Resource. (Retrieved 2014, March 6) . Retrieved from http://www.rmslusitania.info/lusitania-passenger-list/