Vellis History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Scotland

Early Origins of the Vellis family

The surname Vellis was first found in Kent, where they arrived soon after the Norman Conquest, and were descended from Roger Vallance.

The surname traces back to "a place on the confines of Poitou, in France, [which] gave name to William de Valance, who was son of Hugh le Brun, Earl of March, and Isabel, widow of King John. He came to England in 1247, by invitation of his uterine brother, King Henry III., and was father of the renowned Aylmer de Valance, temp. Edward I." 1

Another source claims the family came from "Valence, Normandy. William and Richard de Valence, and the fief of Valence, occur in 1180-1195. Alan de Valence was a Baron in Bucks 1165. This was a Norman family, different from that of Valence Earl of Pembroke; and appears in Battle Abbey Roll." 2

"The family was prominent in Scotland at an early period. Macfarlane calls them Valouns, Wallouns, or Walloun, 'now commonly called Vollum and long ago Valence'. Roger, youngest son of Roger of England, came to Scotland and received the lands of Kilbride, which by his daughter and heiress was carried to the Cumins. Philip de Valoniis, the fifth son of Roger of England, also came to Scotland in the time of Malcolm IV, and had from William the Lion a grant of the baronies of Panmure and Bervie. In 1174 he was one of the hostages for the observance by William the Lion of the Convention of Falaise, and was witness to many charters of that king to the abbeys of Kelso, Neubotle, Arbroath, etc. He also held the high office of Camerarius Regis, and died in November, 1215. " 3

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a 1962 American dramatic western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne and James Stewart based on a 1953 short story written by Dorothy M. Johnson with the same title.

Early History of the Vellis family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Vellis research. Another 263 words (19 lines of text) covering the years 1174, 1269, 1296, 1357, 1392, 1393, 1395, 1451, 1511, 1533, 1578, 1590, 1689 and 1718 are included under the topic Early Vellis History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Vellis Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Vallance, Vallancey, Valance, Valancey, Valens, Valomes, Valeignes, Vallant and many more.

Early Notables of the Vellis family

Notable among the family at this time was William Vallans (fl. 1578-1590), English poet, son of John Vallans, born near Ware in Hertfordshire, and afterwards carried on business as a salter. " He was a friend of Camden and other antiquaries, and himself took an interest in antiquarian matters. In 1590 he published a poem in unrhymed hexameters entitled ‘A Tale of Two Swannes,’ printed by Roger Ward for John...
Another 69 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Vellis Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Vellis migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Vellis Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

John Vellis, who arrived in Texas in 1912 4

Citations +

Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
The Norman People and Their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States Of America. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1975. Print. (ISBN 0-8063-0636-X)
Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
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)