Wordsworth Surname History

Origins Available:
England

The name Wordsworth reached English shores for the first time with the ancestors of the Wordsworth family as they migrated following the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Wordsworth family lived in Yorkshire, at Wadsuuorde or Wadsworth.

Early Origins of the Wordsworth family

The surname Wordsworth was first found in the West Riding of Yorkshire at Wadsuuorde or Wadsworth. This place was recorded in the Domesday Book taken in 1086 as 'King's Land', a Moorland with two churches and scattered houses. An isolated building within the village is said to be the setting for Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights'.

The village was granted by King William, to Roger de Bully, believed to be the ancestor of the Wadsworths, for his assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. 1

Years later, records show Adam de Waddeswrth listed in the Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield in 1275. In the parish church of Silkstone, the name was recorded as Waddysworth (1556), Wardsworth (1656), Wadsworth (1666) and finally as Wordsworth (1668). 2 Longfellow's middle name was Wadsworth.

Early History of the Wordsworth family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Wordsworth research. Another 51 words (4 lines of text) covering the years 1572, 1594, 1604, 1622, 1623, 1656, 1675, 1730, 1777 and 1817 are included under the topic Early Wordsworth History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Wordsworth Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Wadsworth, Wadworth, Wadesworth, Wordsworth and others.

Early Notables of the Wordsworth family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was James Wadworth (1572?-1623), English divine and Jesuit, elected scholar at Emmanuel College, Cambridge; William Wadsworth (1594-1675), English-born early pioneer of New England, founder of Hartford, Connecticut and the patriarch of numerous and prominent Wadsworth descendants of North America; James Wadsworth (1604-c.1656), an English man who on a sea voyage to Spain (1622) was captured by Moorish pirates and sold...
Another 66 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Wordsworth Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Wordsworth migration to the United States +

Because of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Wordsworth name or one of its variants:

Wordsworth Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Richard Wordsworth, who arrived in Maryland or Virginia in 1657 3

Contemporary Notables of the name Wordsworth (post 1700) +

William Brocklesby Wordsworth (1908-1988), English composer
Dorothy Wordsworth (1771-1855), English writer
Christopher Wordsworth (1807-1885), English bishop and man of letters
Christopher Wordsworth (1774-1846), English divine and scholar
Charles Wordsworth (1806-1892), English Episcopal clergyman
William Wordsworth (1770-1850), one of the most famous English romantic poets
Wordsworth McAndrew (1936-2008), Guyanese folklorist, poet, and creative artist, eponym of the Wordsworth McAndrew Award

Historic Events for the Wordsworth family +

RMS Lusitania

Miss Ruth Mary Wordsworth, English 2nd Class passenger residing in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who sailed aboard the RMS Lusitania (1915) and survived the sinking 4
Mr. Osmund Bartle Wordsworth, English 2nd Class passenger residing in Toronto, Ontario, Canada returning to England to enlist, who sailed aboard the RMS Lusitania (1915) and survived the sinking by escaping in an overturned boat 5

Citations +

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)
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)
Lusitania Passenger List - The Lusitania Resource. (Retrieved 2014, March 7) . Retrieved from http://www.rmslusitania.info/lusitania-passenger-list/
Lusitania Passenger List - The Lusitania Resource. (Retrieved 2014, March 6) . Retrieved from http://www.rmslusitania.info/lusitania-passenger-list/