The surname Chocklay was first found in Staffordshire at Checkley, a village and civil parish in the district of Staffordshire Moorlands. There are actually two other Checkley villages: one in Cheshire and another in Herefordshire. Both of the latter are dated after the Domesday Book while the former was originally listed there as Cedla and later in 1196 as Chekeleg. All of the place names literally meant "wood or clearing of a man called Ceaddica or Ceacca." 1 Conjecturally, the surname is descended from the tenant of the lands of Checkley, held by Otto from the King, a Norman noble who was recorded in the Domesday Book census of 1086.
Checkley Hall is a small country house in the parish of Checkley cum Wrinehill, Cheshire. It was built in 1694 by the Delves family of Doddington.
Loading...
Early History of the Chocklay family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Chocklay research. Another 84 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1190, 1281 and 1447 are included under the topic Early Chocklay History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Loading...
Chocklay Spelling Variations
It is only in the last few hundred years that the English language has been standardized. For that reason, Anglo-Norman surnames like Chocklay are characterized by many spelling variations. Scribes and monks in the Middle Ages spelled names they sounded, so it is common to find several variations that refer to a single person. As the English language changed and incorporated elements of other European languages such as Norman French and Latin, even literate people regularly changed the spelling of their names. The variations of the name Chocklay include Checkley, Checkleigh, Checklee, Checkly, Chackley, Chackly and many more.
Loading...
Early Notables of the Chocklay family
More information is included under the topic Early Chocklay Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Loading...
Migration of the Chocklay family
Faced with the chaos present in England at that time, many English families looked towards the open frontiers of the New World with its opportunities to escape oppression and starvation. People migrated to North America, as well as Australia and Ireland in droves, paying exorbitant rates for passages in cramped, unsafe ships. Many of the settlers did not make the long passage alive, but those who did see the shores of North America were welcomed with great opportunity. Many of the families that came from England went on to make essential contributions to the emerging nations of Canada and the United States. Some of the first immigrants to cross the Atlantic and come to North America carried the name Chocklay, or a variant listed above: the name represented in many forms and recorded from the mid 17th century in the great migration from Europe. Migrants settled in the eastern seaboard from Newfoundland, to Maine, to Virginia, the Carolinas, and to the islands..
England
