Bodfish History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Early Origins of the Bodfish family

The surname Bodfish was first found in Leicestershire where they held a family seat as Lords of the Manor. The Saxon influence of English history diminished after the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The language of the courts was French for the next three centuries and the Norman ambience prevailed. But Saxon surnames survived and the family name was first referenced in the year 1445 when the family held estates at Whetstone.

Early History of the Bodfish family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Bodfish research. Another 81 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1455, 1487 and 1520 are included under the topic Early Bodfish History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bodfish 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 Bodfish family name include Bodfish, Bodfysh, Bodfych, Bodfich, Botfish, Botfych and many more.

Early Notables of the Bodfish family

Distinguished members of the family include

the Bodfish family of Leicestershire

Bodfish migration to the United States +

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 Bodfish surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Bodfish Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

E. A. Bodfish, who settled in San Francisco in 1851
E A Bodfish, who landed in San Francisco, California in 1851 1
Charles Bodfish, who settled in New York in 1854
Capt. Bodfish, who settled in San Francisco in 1860
Capt Bodfish, who arrived in San Francisco, California in 1860 1

Bodfish migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Bodfish Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century

George Bodfish, who arrived in Ontario in 1871

Citations +

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)