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![Show Contents]() Mitchlaw History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
- Origins Available:
 England
The name Mitchlaw is of Anglo-Saxon origin and came from when a family lived in the settlement of Migley in Durham, or in the place named Midgley in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The surname Mitchlaw 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 Mitchlaw familyThe surname Mitchlaw 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 Mitchlaw familyThis web page shows only a small excerpt of our Mitchlaw research. Another 100 words (7 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Mitchlaw History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Mitchlaw 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 Mitchlaw family name include Midgley, Midgeley, Midgely, Medgley, Medgely, Medgeley and many more. Early Notables of the Mitchlaw familyMore information is included under the topic Early Mitchlaw Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Migration of the Mitchlaw familyFor 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 Mitchlaw 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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