Ayshirst History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• England

Ayshirst is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in Ashurst in the county of Lancashire. The name derives from the Old English words, ash, meaning ash tree, and hyrst, meaning hill, and indicates that the town was named for a hill on which ash trees grew.

Early Origins of the Ayshirst family

The surname Ayshirst was first found in the counties of Lancashire, Cheshire, and the north west of England. The Lancashire family seems to be the oldest as noted "A Lancashire family of good antiquity, and until the middle of the last century [1700] lords of Ashurst in that county, where they appear to have been seated not long after the Conquest." ^[1] In the north transept of the church of Leigh, Staffordshire are monuments to the Ashenhurst family. ^[2] "The family of Ashhurst had lands [in Skelmersdale, Lancashire] in 1346 and frequently occur later." ^[3]

Important Dates for the Ayshirst family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Ayshirst research. Another 104 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1614, 1680, 1647, 1720, 1679, 1662, 1645, 1711, 1681, 1695, 1715 and 1722 are included under the topic Early Ayshirst History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Ayshirst Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Ayshirst family name include Ashhurst, Ashurst, Ashirst, Ashairst, Ashenhurst and others.

Early Notables of the Ayshirst family (pre 1700)

Notables of the family at this time include Henry Ashurst (c. 1614-1680), a wealthy and benevolent merchant of London, "noted for his gifts of money to pious or charitable purposes, the founder of the family of Ashurst or Ashhurst of Waterstock, Oxfordshire, was descended from an old Lancashire family, seated at Ashurst, in the township of Dalton and parish of Wigan. " ^[4] His son, Sir William...
Another 66 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Ayshirst Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Ayshirst family

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Ayshirst surname or a spelling variation of the name include: Richard Ashurst arrived in Philadelphia in 1813; and many more.

Citations

1. ^ Shirley, Evelyn Philip, The Noble and Gentle Men of England; The Arms and Descents. Westminster: John Bower Nichols and Sons, 1866, Print.
2. ^ Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
3. ^ 'Townships: Scarisbrick', in A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3, ed. William Farrer and J Brownbill (London, 1907), pp. 265-276. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol3/pp265-276 [accessed 21 January 2017].
4. ^ Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print