Kelsham History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• England

Early Origins of the Kelsham family

Early History of the Kelsham family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Kelsham research. Another 135 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1455, 1487, 1510 and 1600 are included under the topic Early Kelsham History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Kelsham 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 Kelsham family name include Kelsham, Kilsham, Kelshaw, Kilshaw, Kellsham and many more.

Early Notables of the Kelsham family

Distinguished members of the family include

• the Kelsham family of Kent

Migration of the Kelsham family

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 Kelsham surname or a spelling variation of the name include: the name represented in many forms and recorded from the mid 17th century in the great migration from Europe. Migrants settled in the eastern seaboard from Newfoundland, to Maine, to Virginia, the Carolinas, and to the islands..