Bridgewater History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
Bridgewater is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived at Bridgewater, a seaport in Somerset.
Early Origins of the Bridgewater family
The surname Bridgewater was first found in Somerset where they held a family seat from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.
Early History of the Bridgewater family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Bridgewater research. Another 64 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1532, 1556, 1563 and 1596 are included under the topic Early Bridgewater History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Bridgewater Spelling Variations
Sound 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 Bridgewater family name include Bridgewater, Bridgwater, Bridgewatter and others.
Early Notables of the Bridgewater family
Notables of the family at this time include
- John Bridgewater (1532?-1596?), an English Catholic divine, the Latinized form of whose name is Aquepontanus...
Bridgewater Ranking
In the United States, the name Bridgewater is the 9,362nd most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1
Bridgewater migration to the United States +
For 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 Bridgewater surname or a spelling variation of the name include:
Bridgewater Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
- Richard Bridgewater, who landed in Virginia in 1620 aboard the ship "London Merchant" 2
- Christopher Bridgewater, who arrived in Maryland in 1670 2
Bridgewater Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
- Robert Bridgewater, who settled in Virginia in 1730
Bridgewater Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
- Elisha Bridgewater, aged 41, who immigrated to the United States from Dudley, in 1899
Bridgewater Settlers in United States in the 20th Century
- Harry Hubert Bridgewater, aged 36, who immigrated to America from Birmingham, in 1903
- Mary C. Bridgewater, aged 48, who settled in America from Nassau, in 1903
- Marie Bridgewater, aged 2, who landed in America from Dudley, England, in 1909
- George W. Bridgewater, aged 23, who landed in America from Leicester, England, in 1909
- Herbert W. Bridgewater, aged 57, who landed in America from Drighton, England, in 1911
- ... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)
Bridgewater migration to Australia +
Emigration to
Australia followed the
First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:
Bridgewater Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century
- Mr. John Bridgewater, English convict who was convicted in Surrey, England for 14 years, transported aboard the "Dromedary" on 11th September 1819, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) 3
Contemporary Notables of the name Bridgewater (post 1700) +
- Pamela E. Bridgewater (b. 1947), American career diplomat, U.S. Ambassador to Ghana
- Dee Dee Bridgewater (b. 1950), American two-time Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony award winning stage actress
- Brad Michael Bridgewater (b. 1973), American swimmer, who won the gold medal in men's 200 meter backstroke at the 1996 Olympics
- Cecil Bridgewater (b. 1942), American jazz trumpeter
- Ann Bridgewater (b. 1965), sometimes also known as Paak On Lei, a former Hong Kong actress
- George Bridgewater MNZM (b. 1983), New Zealand rower
- Bentley Bridgewater, British historian, Curator of the British Museum
Historic Events for the Bridgewater family +
- Mr. Walter Bridgewater, British Seaman Able Bodied, who sailed into battle on the HMS Repulse (1941) and survived the sinking 4
Citations +
- "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
- 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)
- Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 16th July 2021). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/dromedary
- HMS Repulse Crew members. (Retrieved 2014, April 9) . Retrieved from http://www.forcez-survivors.org.uk/biographies/listrepulsecrew.html