Show ContentsParshall History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The name Parshall arrived in England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Parshall family lived in Staffordshire, at Pearsall, from whence they took their name. "The family are of Norman origin, having been founded, at the place referred to, by Robert, a follower of Robert of Stafford, early in the reign of the Conqueror. He was son of Gilbert, son of Richard, Count of Corbeil in Normandy." [1]

Early Origins of the Parshall family

The surname Parshall was first found in Staffordshire where they held an estate now known as Pearshall, Peshale or Pershall. [2]

Robert Fitz Gilbert de Corbeil, acquired the manor of Peshale, and his son Robert was the first to begin calling himself de Peshale after the name of this manor. [3]

Another early record was found in the "Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp. Henry III-Edward I." which listed Thomas de Peshale, Staffordshire. [4]

Early History of the Parshall family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Parshall research. Another 123 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1341, 1374, 1376, 1531, 1539, 1629, 1633, 1634, 1653, 1670, 1676, 1696, 1702, 1795 and 1856 are included under the topic Early Parshall History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Parshall Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names are characterized by a multitude of spelling variations. When the Normans became the ruling people of England in the 11th century, they introduced a new language into a society where the main languages of Old and later Middle English had no definite spelling rules. These languages were more often spoken than written, so they blended freely with one another. Contributing to this mixing of tongues was the fact that medieval scribes spelled words according to sound, ensuring that a person's name would appear differently in nearly every document in which it was recorded. The name has been spelled Pearsall, Pershall, Persall, Parsil, Parcell, Parcel and many more.

Early Notables of the Parshall family

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was John Persall (1633-1702), alias Harcourt, English Jesuit, born in Staffordshire in 1633, from of an ancient Catholic family there, vice-provincial of England in 1696. He entered the...
Another 35 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Parshall Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Parshall Ranking

In the United States, the name Parshall is the 18,519th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. [5]


United States Parshall migration to the United States +

For many English families, the political and religious disarray that plagued their homeland made the frontiers of the New World an attractive prospect. Thousands migrated, aboard cramped disease-ridden ships. They arrived sick, poor, and hungry, but were welcomed in many cases with far greater opportunity than at home in England. Many of these hardy settlers went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Among early immigrants bearing the name Parshall or a variant listed above were:

Parshall Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • Jonas Parshall, who arrived in Virginia in 1620 [6]

Contemporary Notables of the name Parshall (post 1700) +

  • Dr. Ralph Parshall, American scientist with the U.S. Soil Conservation Service who developed the Parshall flume
  • Ardis E. Parshall, American historian, freelance researcher specializing in Mormon history
  • Janet Parshall, American host of the Christian talk show In the Market with Janet Parshall
  • Karen Hunger Parshall (b. 1955), née Hunger, an American historian of mathematics, fellow of the American Mathematical Society in 2012
  • Horace Field Parshall (1865-1932), American electrical engineer for General Electric who later moving to the United Kingdom where he was director in the Central London Railway and The Lancashire Electric Power Company
  • George W. Parshall (b. 1929), American organometallic chemist, a senior scientist at E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company for many years, recipient of the American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal (1995)
  • David Parshall Mapes (1798-1890), early American businessman and politician from Coxsackie, New York
  • David Parshall Mapes (1798-1890), American politician, Member of New York State Assembly from Delaware County, 1831; Presidential Elector for Wisconsin, 1848 [7]


  1. Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
  2. Harrison, Henry, Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary Baltimore: Geneological Publishing Company, 2013. Print
  3. Cleveland, Dutchess of The Battle Abbey Roll with some Account of the Norman Lineages. London: John Murray, Abermarle Street, 1889. Print. Volume 2 of 3
  4. Testa de Nevill or "Liber Feodorum" or "Book of Fees," thought to have been written by Ralph de Nevill, for King John (1199–1216)
  5. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  6. 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)
  7. The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, November 16) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html


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