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| Origins Available: |
| | England |
The name Keesee is an old Anglo-Saxon name. It comes from when a family lived in the settlement of Kearsley in Lancashire. The surname Keesee belongs to the large category of Anglo-Saxon habitation names, which are derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads.
The surname Keesee was first found in Lancashire at Kearsley, now part of Greater Manchester. The first records of the place were found in 1187 when it was spelt Cherselawe and a few years later as Kereleie (c. 1220. ) The name literally means "clearing where cress grows" having derived from the Old English words caerse + leah. 1 There is another Kearsley, a township in the parish of Stamfordham, in Northumberland, but this township has remained rather small in comparison as a census in the late 1800s listed only 11 inhabitants, while the former township in Lancashire had 3,436 inhabitants in the same census.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Keesee research. Another 87 words (6 lines of text) covering the year 1210 is included under the topic Early Keesee History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Before the last few hundred years, the English language had no fast system of spelling rules. For that reason, spelling variations are commonly found in early Anglo-Saxon surnames. Over the years, many variations of the name Keesee were recorded, including Kearsley, Kearsey, Keasley, Kersley and others.
More information is included under the topic Early Keesee Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
In the United States, the name Keesee is the 8,638th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 2
To escape oppression and starvation at that time, many English families left for the "open frontiers" of the New World with all its perceived opportunities. In droves people migrated to the many British colonies, those in North America in particular, paying high rates for passages in cramped, unsafe ships. Although many of the settlers did not make the long passage alive, those who did see the shores of North America perceived great opportunities before them. Many of the families that came from England went on to make essential contributions to the emerging nations of Canada and the United States. Research into various historical records revealed some of first members of the Keesee family emigrate to North America: James Kearsley settled in Philadelphia in 1859.