Show ContentsSmallwood History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Smallwood is a name whose history is connected to the ancient Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name is derived from when the Smallwood family once lived in the township of Smallwood in the parish of Astbury in the county of Cheshire. Habitation names form a broad category of surnames that were derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads.

Early Origins of the Smallwood family

The surname Smallwood was first found in Cheshire where they held a family seat, at Smallwood, in the parish of Astbury, some say before the Norman Conquest in 1066.

Early History of the Smallwood family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Smallwood research. Another 61 words (4 lines of text) covering the years 1465, 1489, 1519, 1557 and 1601 are included under the topic Early Smallwood History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Smallwood Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Smallwood family name include Smallwood, Smalwood, Smalewood and others.

Early Notables of the Smallwood family

Notables of this surname at this time include:

  • John Smallwood (1465-1519), English father of John Smallwood (1489-1557), who changed his name to John Winchcombe II and had the nickname Jack O'Newbury
  • he was one of the richest and most influential English cloth merchants of the 16 century residing in Newbury Berkshire. John Winchcombe (died 1557), alias John Smallwood, son of Jack O'Newbury was Mem...

Smallwood Ranking

In the United States, the name Smallwood is the 1,665th most popular surname with an estimated 17,409 people with that name. [1]


United States Smallwood migration to the United States +

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Smallwood surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Smallwood Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • Randall Smallwood, who settled in Virginia in 1623
  • Rendall Smallwood, who landed in Virginia in 1623 [2]
  • John Smallwood, who landed in Virginia in 1637 [2]
  • Hester Smallwood, who arrived in Maryland in 1650 [2]
  • Mathew Smallwood, who settled in Virginia in 1652
  • ... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)
Smallwood Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
  • Joseph Smallwood, who arrived in Virginia in 1713 [2]
Smallwood Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • William Smallwood, who arrived in New York in 1834 [2]
  • Henry Smallwood, who landed in Mississippi in 1858 [2]

Canada Smallwood migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Smallwood Settlers in Canada in the 18th Century
  • Joseph Smallwood, ancestor of Joey Smallwood settled at Prince Edward Island in 1783
  • Mr. William Smallwood U.E. who arrived at Port Roseway, [Shelbourne], Nova Scotia on October 26, 1783 was passenger number 165 aboard the ship "HMS Clinton", picked up on September 28, 1783 at Staten Island, New York, USA [3]
Smallwood Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century
  • Charles S Smallwood, who arrived in Esquimalt, British Columbia in 1862
  • David Smallwood was a trader at Ship Island, BonaVista Bay, Newfoundland, in 1871 [4]

Australia Smallwood migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Smallwood Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century
  • Mr. William Smallwood, (Stevenson), (b. 1821), aged 21, English blacksmith who was convicted in Stafford, Staffordshire, England for 7 years for stealing, transported aboard the "Duchess of Northumberland" on 1st October 1842, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land), he died in 1907 [5]
  • William Smallwood, English convict from Staffordshire, who was transported aboard the "Anna Maria" on March 6, 1848, settling in Van Diemen's Land, Australia [6]
  • Thomas Smallwood, aged 41, who arrived in South Australia in 1858 aboard the ship "Utopia"
  • George Smallwood, aged 14, who arrived in South Australia in 1858 aboard the ship "Utopia"
  • John Smallwood, aged 12, who arrived in South Australia in 1858 aboard the ship "Utopia"

New Zealand Smallwood migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Smallwood Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century
  • Edward Smallwood, who landed in Wellington, New Zealand in 1843

Contemporary Notables of the name Smallwood (post 1700) +

  • Thomas Smallwood (b. 1977), American PBA ten-pin bowler
  • Walter Clayton Smallwood (1893-1967), American Major League Baseball pitcher who played 192 games from 1913 to 1931
  • Norma Descygne Smallwood (1909-1966), American model, Miss America 1926
  • Richard Smallwood (b. 1948), American Gospel music artist, founder of The Richard Smallwood Singers in 1977
  • Tucker Smallwood (b. 1944), American actor, author and vocalist
  • William Smallwood (1732-1792), American planter, soldier and politician, Major General in the Continental Army and Governor of Maryland (1785-1788)
  • Walter Smallwood, American Republican politician, Postmaster at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1868-69 [7]
  • Samuel N. Smallwood, American politician, Mayor of Washington, District of Columbia, 1819-22, 1824 [7]
  • John C. Smallwood, American politician, Member of New Jersey State Senate from Gloucester County, 1845-48 [7]
  • James L. Smallwood, American politician, Mayor of Wabash, Indiana, 1952-55 [7]
  • ... (Another 12 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)


Suggested Readings for the name Smallwood +

  • The Smallwood Family of Maryland and Virginia by Mildred A. McDonnell.

  1. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  2. 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)
  3. Rubincam, Milton. The Old United Empire Loyalists List. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc, 1976. (Originally published as; United Empire Loyalists. The Centennial of the Settlement of Upper Canada. Rose Publishing Company, 1885.) ISBN 0-8063-0331-X
  4. Seary E.R., Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland, Montreal: McGill's-Queen's Universtity Press 1998 ISBN 0-7735-1782-0
  5. Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 20th July 2021). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/duchess-of-northumberland
  6. State Library of Queensland. (Retrieved 2015, January 8) Anna Maria voyage to Van Diemen's Land or Port Phillip, Australia in 1848 with 190 passengers. Retrieved from http://www.convictrecords.com.au/ships/anna-maria/1848
  7. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, October 20) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html


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