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The Priestlay name has descended through the generations from the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture. Their name comes from having lived in or near a clearing in a wood owned by priests. Further research showed the name was derived from the Old English elements preost, which means priest, and leah, which means forest clearing. The name as a whole therefore means "dweller in or near the forest clearing owned by priests." 1 There are several places that have this name; they are found in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and the West Riding of Yorkshire.
The surname Priestlay was first found in the West Riding of Yorkshire where the "surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'of Priestley' (i.e the priest's meadow), some small estate in the near neighbourhood of Bradford." 2
However, we must look to the Pipe Rolls of Bedfordshire to find the first record of the family. For it is there that Samson de Presteleia was listed in 1198. From this Latin version, the name had evolved to Richard de Presteley who was listed in Yorkshire in 1297. 1
Kirby's Quest lists Walter Prestlegh in Somerset, 1 Edward III (during the first year of Edward III's reign.) 3 Later, the following two entries were found at Hipperholme, near Bradford, Yorkshire during the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379: Elena de Presteley; and Johannes de Presteley. 2
Another source agrees with the Yorkshire origin, but notes "the ancient seat and inheritance of the family was in Soyland and Sowerby, in the parish of Halifax." 4
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Priestlay research. Another 69 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1250, 1661, 1700, 1733, 1734, 1739, 1742, 1745, 1760, 1764, 1777, 1779, 1804 and 1814 are included under the topic Early Priestlay 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 Priestlay has undergone many spelling variations, including Priestley, Priestly, Preistley,Pressley and others.
Distinguished members of the family include Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), English theologian and man of science, eldest of six children of Jonas Priestley (1700-1779), a cloth-dresser, by his first wife, Mary (d. 1739), only child of Joseph Swift of Shafton, near Wakefield, was born at Fieldhead, a wayside farmhouse in the parish of Birstall, West Eiding of Yorkshire, on 13 March 1733. His father became bankrupt in 1777. Timothy Priestley [q. v.] was a younger brother. His parents were members of the congregational church at Upper Chapel, Heckmondwike; but his grandfather, Joseph Priestley (1661-1745), a woollen manufacturer, attended the parish church at...
Another 147 words (10 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Priestlay Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
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 Priestlay were among those contributors: Abraham, Henry, James, John, Joseph, Patrick and Samuel Priestley all arrived in Philadelphia between 1840 and 1870; Richard Priestly settled in Virginia in 1663.