First found in Oxford where they were seated from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.

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 Downen surname or a spelling variation of the name include : Francis Downing, who came to Virginia in 1624; James Downing and Eman UEL Downing who both settled in Salem in 1630; Richard Downing, who settled in Virginia in 1653.

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