First found in Hertfordshire, where they were seated from ancient times.

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, 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 Banfield surname or a spelling variation of the name include : John Bampfield, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1798.

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