Bears History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• England

Bears is a name whose history is connected to the ancient Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name is derived from when the Bears family once lived 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 Bears family

The surname Bears 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]

In nearby Cornwall, another early listing of the family was found in the parish of St. Ervan. "Treravel, an ancient gentleman's seat, belonged in the days of Hals to George Bere or Beare, gentleman, who married Lanyon. This is now a farm house, the property of John Hicks, Esq." ^[3]

Important Dates for the Bears family

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

Bears 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 Bears family name include Beare, Bear, Beer, Bere, Beares, Bears, Beers and many more.

Early Notables of the Bears 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 Bears Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Bears 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 Bears surname or a spelling variation of the name include: Christopher and Mary Bere, who settled on the eastern seaboard at a very early time with their two daughters Mary and Elizabeth. They settled in Georgia in the 17th century. Walter and Ann Beare settled in Virginia in 1620.

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. ^ Hutchins, Fortescue, The History of Cornwall, from the Earliest Records and Traditions to the Present Time. London: William Penaluna, 1824. Print