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An excerpt from www.HouseOfNames.com archives copyright © 2000 - 2012
Where did the Irish Dowdall family come from? What is the Irish Dowdall family crest and coat of arms? When did the Dowdall family first arrive in the United States? Where did the various branches of the family go? What is the Dowdall family history? Ireland already had an established system of hereditary surnames when the Strongbownians arrived. Often the two traditions blended together quite well due to some of their basic similarities, but the incoming Anglo-Norman system brought in some forms that were uncommon amongst the Irish. One of these Anglo-Norman anomalies was the prevalence of local surnames, such as Dowdall. Local names were taken from the names of a place or a geographical feature where the person lived, held land, or was born. Originally, the place names were prefixed by de, which means from in French. This type of prefix was eventually either made a part of the surname if the place name began with a vowel or was eliminated entirely. The local surnames of these Strongbownian invaders referred to places in Normandy, or more typically England, but eventually for those Anglo- Normans that remained in Ireland, the nicknames referred to places or geographical features of the island: they became true local names. The Dowdall family appears to have originally lived in a place called Dovedale or Dowdale in Yorkshire. The surname Dowdall belongs to the large category of Anglo-Norman habitation names, which are derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads. The Gaelic form of the Dowdall surname is Dubhdal, this is one of the few instances where the element dubh is not derived from the adjective which means black. During an investigation of the origin of each name, it was found that church officials and medieval scribes spelled many surnames as they sounded. Therefore, during the lifetime of a single person, a name could be spelt numerous ways. Some of the spelling variations for the name Dowdall include Dowdall, Dovedale, Dowdale, Dowdell, Dowdle and others. First found in Yorkshire, where they held a family seat from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D. This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Dowdall research. Another 322 words(23 lines of text) covering the year 1172 is included under the topic Early Dowdall History in all our PDF Extended History products. Another 20 words(1 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Dowdall Notables in all our PDF Extended History products. A great number of Irish families left their homeland in the late 18th century and throughout the 19th century, migrating to such far away lands as Australia and North America. The early settlers left after much planning and deliberation. They were generally well off but they desired a tract of land that they could farm solely for themselves. The great mass of immigrants to arrive on North American shores in the 1840s differed greatly from their predecessors because many of them were utterly destitute, selling all they had to gain a passage on a ship or having their way paid by a philanthropic society. These Irish people were trying to escape the aftermath of the Great Potato Famine: poverty, starvation, disease, and, for many, ultimately death. Those that arrived on North American shores were not warmly welcomed by the established population, but they were vital to the rapid development of the industry, agriculture, and infrastructure of the infant nations of the United States and what would become Canada. Early passenger and immigration lists reveal many Irish settlers bearing the name Dowdall: Dowdall Settlers in the United States in the 18th Century
Dowdall Settlers in the United States in the 19th Century
The Dowdall Family Crest was acquired from the Houseofnames.com archives. The Dowdall Family Crest was drawn according to heraldic standards based on published blazons. We generally include the oldest published family crest once associated with each surname. This page was last modified on 18 December 2011 at 15:27. ©2000-2012 Swyrich Corporation. See Terms of Use for details. houseofnames.com is an internet property owned by Swyrich Corporation. Tools
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