Beares History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• England

The roots of the Anglo-Saxon name Beares come from when the family resided in Devon, where they took their name from one of the many places named Bear, Beare, Beara, etc., found in that county. The surname is likely to be derived from the Old English word bearu, which means grove. Several early instances of that name are in the form le beare, or the bear, from the Old English bera.

Early Origins of the Beares family

The surname Beares was first found in Devon where there are two places on the banks of Tamar called Beer-Alston and Beer-Ferris. In Dorset, place names include Beer- Hacket and Beer-Regis. ^[1] The earliest reference of the name was in Devon where it was listed as Bera in the Domesday Book ^[2]

Important Dates for the Beares family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Beares research. Another 120 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1207, 1684, 1354, 1355, 1524 and 1493 are included under the topic Early Beares History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Beares Spelling Variations

The English language only became standardized in the last few centuries; therefore, spelling variations are common among early Anglo-Saxon names. As the form of the English language changed, even the spelling of literate people's names evolved. Beares has been recorded under many different variations, including Beare, Bear, Beer, Bere, Beares, Bears, Beers and many more.

Early Notables of the Beares family (pre 1700)

Distinguished members of the family include Richard de la Bere, High Sheriff of Herefordshire in 1354 and 1355. Richard Bere (d. 1524), was Abbot of Glastonbury and was installed in 1493 as the election of Thomas Wasyn having been quashed by the Bishop of Bath and Wells. "He was a great builder. Leland tells us that...
Another 55 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Beares Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Beares migration to the United States

For many English families, the political and religious disarray that shrouded England made the far away New World an attractive prospect. On cramped disease-ridden ships, thousands migrated to those British colonies that would eventually become Canada and the United States. Those hardy settlers that survived the journey often went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Analysis of immigration records indicates that some of the first North American immigrants bore the name Beares or a variant listed above:

Beares Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

• Richard Beares, who arrived in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1637 ^[3]

Citations

1. ^ Lowe, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
2. ^ Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
3. ^ Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)