Gladwill History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The Gladwill name has descended through the generations from the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture. Their name comes from having lived in the region of Gledhill in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The name is a habitational name from the Old English gleoda which means "kite" and hyll which means "hill." 1

Early Origins of the Gladwill family

The surname Gladwill was first found in Yorkshire near Halifax where they held a family seat as Lords of the manor of Gledhill from very ancient times.

Barkisland in the West Riding of Yorkshire was home to another branch of the family but has since been lost. "Barkisland Hall, the ancient seat of the Gledhill family, is a stately mansion in the old English style of domestic architecture, and has long been the property of the Bolds of Bold Hall, Lancashire. The grammar school here, an ancient structure, was endowed in 1657 with £200 by Mrs. Sarah Gledhill" 2

Early History of the Gladwill family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Gladwill research. Another 127 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1300, 1600, 1638, 1677, 1702, 1707, 1719, 1730 and 1735 are included under the topic Early Gladwill History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Gladwill Spelling Variations

Only recently has spelling become standardized in the English language. As the English language evolved in the Middle Ages, the spelling of names changed also. The name Gladwill has undergone many spelling variations, including Gledall, Gledhill, Gladhill, Gladhall, Glanville and others.

Early Notables of the Gladwill family

Distinguished members of the family include Samuel Gledhill (1677-1735), lieutenant-governor of Placentia, Newfoundland from 1719-c.1730. Born at Horbury, near Wakefieid, Yorkshire, he was the youngest of the 13 children of Robert Gledhill, a cloth-dresser and educated at Wakefield Grammar School. He joined the navy but was kidnapped in Spain to be sold as a slave in the West Indies. After gaining his freedom he made his way to Spain and was commissioned a...
Another 73 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Gladwill Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Gladwill migration to the United States +

To escape the unstable social climate in England of this time, many families boarded ships for the New World with the hope of finding land, opportunity, and greater religious and political freedom. Although the voyages were expensive, crowded, and difficult, those families that arrived often found greater opportunities and freedoms than they could have experienced at home. Many of those families went on to make significant contributions to the rapidly developing colonies in which they settled. Early North American records indicate many people bearing the name Gladwill were among those contributors:

Gladwill Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

Jessie Arthur Sidney Gladwill, aged 40, who settled in America from Caffin, England, in 1909

Citations +

Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.