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![Show Contents]() Mitchelay History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
- Origins Available:
 England
Mitchelay is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in the settlement of Migley in Durham, or in the place named Midgley in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The surname Mitchelay belongs to the large category of Anglo-Saxon habitation names, which are derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads. Early Origins of the Mitchelay familyThe surname Mitchelay was first found in West Riding of Yorkshire at Midgley, a hill-top village in Calderdale in the chapelry of Luddenden, parish and union of Halifax, wapentake of Morley. The village dates back to at least the Domesday Book when it was listed as Micleie and literally meant "wood or clearing infested with midges," from the Old English mycg + leah. 1 One branch was later found at Thornton, again in the West Riding of Yorkshire. "Leventhorpe Hall, also in the township, was the seat of a distinguished family; and at Headley is an old mansion in the Elizabethan style, in former times occupied by a branch of the Midgleys." 2 Early History of the Mitchelay familyThis web page shows only a small excerpt of our Mitchelay research. Another 100 words (7 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Mitchelay History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Mitchelay Spelling VariationsSound 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 Mitchelay family name include Midgley, Midgeley, Midgely, Medgley, Medgely, Medgeley and many more. Early Notables of the Mitchelay familyMore information is included under the topic Early Mitchelay Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Migration of the Mitchelay familyFor 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 Mitchelay surname or a spelling variation of the name include: Robert and John Medley, who came to Virginia in 1635; Roger Medley settled in Barbados in 1672; John and Benjamin Midgley settled in New York in 1820.
- 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.
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