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The lineage of the name Edgecomb begins with the Anglo-Saxon tribes in Britain. It is a result of when they lived at the edge of the valley. The surname Edgecomb originally derived from the Old English word Eggcombe. The surname Edgecomb is a topographic surname, which was given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, church, or type of tree. Habitation names form the other broad category of surnames that were derived from place-names. They were derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads. Other local names are derived from the names of houses, manors, estates, regions, and entire counties. As a general rule, the greater the distance between an individual and their homeland, the larger the territory they were named after. For example, a person who only moved to another parish would be known by the name of their original village, while people who migrated to a different country were often known by the name of a region or country from which they came.
The surname Edgecomb was first found in Devon where the original ancestor Richard Edgcumbe was Lord of Edgecumbe in 1292. 1 "In the reign of Edward III, William Edgcumbe, second son of the house of Edgcumbe, having married the heiress of Cotehele, in the parish of Calstock, removed into Cornwall, and was the ancestor of the Edgcumbes of Cotehele and Mount Edgcumbe, Earls of Mount Edgcumbe (1789)" 1
"Milton Abbot contains the lovely Devonshire seat of the Dukes of Bedford Endsleigh. Edgcumbe, here, is the original home of the family of Edgcumbe, and has continued in the possession of the elder branch from the reign of Edward III. The younger branch is ennobled as Earls Mount Edgcumbe. " 2
"Mount-Edgcumbe House, [in Maker, south-east Cornwall] the noble seat of the Edgcumbe family, and from which its representative derives the title of Earl, was originally built in the reign of Mary, and, with the exception only of Salcombe, was the last garrison that held out for Charles I.; it occupies an elevated site, commanding an extensive prospect, and its domain presents a variety of beautiful scenery." 3 It was built by Sir Richard Edgcumbe between 1547 and 1553 and later destroyed during World War II but was restored in the late 1950s.
Calstock in Cornwall was another ancient home of the family. "This singular mansion is delightfully situated on the banks of the Tamar, which winds along the vale, the sides of which are covered with luxuriant fertility. This place gave name to a very ancient family, that became extinct in the male line so early as the reign of Edward III. The heiress of this family was afterwards married to "William de Eggecombe," who fixed his residence at Cotehele. The present house was built by Sir Richard Edgcumbe in the reign of Henry VII. ; and from its high state of preservation, it exhibits to the curious a fine specimen of a mansion house of that age." 4
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Edgecomb research. Another 264 words (19 lines of text) covering the years 1489, 1493, 1494, 1497, 1499, 1513, 1536, 1540, 1562, 1563, 1570, 1586, 1587, 1608, 1609, 1629, 1639, 1640, 1661, 1667, 1679, 1681, 1688 and 1696 are included under the topic Early Edgecomb History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Only recently has spelling become standardized in the English language. As the English language evolved in the Middle Ages, the spelling of names changed also. The name Edgecomb has undergone many spelling variations, including Edgecombe, Edgecomb, Edgecumb, Edgecumbe and others.
Notables of this surname at this time include:
To escape the unstable social climate in England of this time, many families boarded ships for the New World with the hope of finding land, opportunity, and greater religious and political freedom. Although the voyages were expensive, crowded, and difficult, those families that arrived often found greater opportunities and freedoms than they could have experienced at home. Many of those families went on to make significant contributions to the rapidly developing colonies in which they settled. Early North American records indicate many people bearing the name Edgecomb were among those contributors: