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Origins Available: |
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The present generation of the Fieldan family is only the most recent to bear a name that dates back to the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture of Britain. Their name comes from having lived in the fields having derived from the Old English word feld, which meant field. This is a "well-known Lancashire surname." 1
The surname Fieldan was first found in Lancashire at Witton, a township, in the parish, union, and Lower division of the hundred, of Blackburn. "Witton House, an elegant stone edifice, is the seat of Joseph Feilden, Esq.; it is picturesquely situated, and surrounded by a finely-wooded park of 500 acres." 2
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Fieldan research. Another 166 words (12 lines of text) covering the years 1510, 1567, 1574, 1592, 1594, 1620, 1784, 1811, 1849, 1875 and 1884 are included under the topic Early Fieldan History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Until the dictionary, an invention of only the last few hundred years, the English language lacked any comprehensive system of spelling rules. Consequently, spelling variations in names are frequently found in early Anglo-Saxon and later Anglo-Norman documents. One person's name was often spelled several different ways over a lifetime. The recorded variations of Fieldan include Fielden, Feilden, Fieldon, Feildon, Feelden, Feeldon, Pheldon, Phelden and many more.
Distinguished members of the family include Randle Feldon or Fielden who died in 1594. John Fielden (1784-1849), M.P. for Oldham, was born 17 Jan. 1784 at Lane Side, Todmorden, where his father, originally a yeoman, had about the time of his birth begun cotton-spinning on a very limited scale. As a boy he worked in his father's factory, and in after years often referred to the exhaustion caused by his daily toil. He was educated sufficiently to become at seventeen a teacher in a Sunday school. His father was a Quaker and a Tory, but Fielden...
Another 95 words (7 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Fieldan Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Thousands of English families boarded ships sailing to the New World in the hope of escaping the unrest found in England at this time. Although the search for opportunity and freedom from persecution abroad took the lives of many because of the cramped conditions and unsanitary nature of the vessels, the opportunity perceived in the growing colonies of North America beckoned. Many of the settlers who survived the journey went on to make important contributions to the transplanted cultures of their adopted countries. The Fieldan were among these contributors, for they have been located in early North American records: Thomas Fielden settled in New York in 1764; William Fielden arrived in Pennsylvania in 1860.