Coals History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland
Scotland

The ancient Anglo-Saxon culture once found in Britain is the soil from which the many generations of the Coals family have grown. The name Coals was given to a member of the family who was a person with a dark complexion. Further research revealed that the name is derived from the Old English word col, which meant dark.

Early Origins of the Coals family

The surname Coals was first found in Somerset or Wiltshire at Cole. The Somerset hamlet is in the parish of Pitcomb, union of Wincanton, hundred of Bruto; while the Wiltshire parish is in the union, and hundred of Malmesbury, Malmesbury and Kingswood. 1

"Essentially south of England names, especially in the south - west, rarely occurring north of a line drawn west from the Wash. Cole is best distributed and has its principal homes in Devon and Wiltshire. Coles is most numerous in Somerset. Both names, strangely enough, are rare in Cornwall. Cole was a very ancient Teutonic name; there are places of the name in Somerset and Wiltshire, a circumstance that may perhaps explain the frequency of both names in Somerset and of Cole in Wiltshire." 2

Much farther to the north in Scotland, the name was "one of the many forms assumed by the name Macdowall." 3

Early History of the Coals family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Coals research. Another 43 words (3 lines of text) covering the years 1608, 1616, 1617, 1640, 1650, 1659, 1660, 1676, 1680, 1688, 1697, 1773 and 1843 are included under the topic Early Coals History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Coals 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 Coals family name include Coles, Coals and others.

Early Notables of the Coals family

Distinguished members of the family include Elisha Coles (ca 1608-1688), an English lexicographer and stenographer, chorister of Magdalen College, Oxford His nephew Elisha Coles (1640?-1680), was a lexicographer and stenographer, son of John Coles, schoolmaster of Wolverhampton. 4 Gilbert Coles (1617-1676), was an English divine, son of Edmund Coles, priest...
Another 47 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Coals Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Coals family to Ireland

Some of the Coals family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 47 words (3 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Coals family

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, 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 Coals surname or a spelling variation of the name include : Robert Coles who settled in Warwick, coming with Winthrop's fleet to Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1630. He was made a freeman in 1631. He was one of the original purchasers of Warwick, and the Providence Plantations in Rhode Island..

Citations +

Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print