First found in Staffordshire, where they held a family seat from ancient times, long before the Norman Conquest of 1066.

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 Beresford surname or a spelling variation of the name include : Thomas Beresford who settled in Barbados in 1654 with his servants; William Beresford arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1855; Adam Beresford arrived in Philadelphia in 1860.

Motto Translated: Nothing unless by the cross.

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