Ottowell History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The name Ottowell came to England with the ancestors of the Ottowell family in the Norman Conquest of 1066. It comes from the Norman given name of Ottiwell.

Early Origins of the Ottowell family

The surname Ottowell was first found in Cheshire where they held a family seat after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 A.D.

Early History of the Ottowell family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Ottowell research. Another 126 words (9 lines of text) covering the year 1120 is included under the topic Early Ottowell History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Ottowell Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Ottiwell, Ottewell, Ottawell, Ottowell, Ottiwill, Ottwell and many more.

Early Notables of the Ottowell family

More information is included under the topic Early Ottowell Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Ottowell migration to the United States +

Because of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Ottowell name or one of its variants:

Ottowell Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Thomas Ottowell, aged 40, who arrived in Virginia in 1619 aboard the ship "Bona Nova" 1

Citations +

Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)