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The name Dewees reached English shores for the first time with the ancestors of the Dewees family as they migrated following the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Dewees family lived in Devon. This family was originally from Douai, near Lille, Normandy, and it is from this location that their surname derives.
The surname Dewees was first found in Devon where they held a family seat from very early times and were granted lands by Duke William of Normandy, their liege Lord, for their distinguished assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 A.D.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Dewees research. Another 87 words (6 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Dewees History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
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 Dewey, Dewy, Dewye and others.
More information is included under the topic Early Dewees Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
In the United States, the name Dewees is the 13,810th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 1
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 Dewees name or one of its variants: