Ecklestomb is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in a region named Eccleston in Lancashire and Chester. The surname Ecklestomb is a topographic surname, which was given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, church, or type of tree. Habitation names form the other broad category of surnames that were derived from place-names. They were derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads. Other local names are derived from the names of houses, manors, estates, regions, and entire counties. As a general rule, the greater the distance between an individual and their homeland, the larger the territory they were named after. For example, a person who only moved to another parish would be known by the name of their original village, while people who migrated to a different country were often known by the name of a region or country from which they came.
The surname Ecklestomb was first found in Lancashire at Eccleston, a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley. This place gave name to a family as early as the reign of Richard I. Alan de Eccleston was listed as a tenant of Edward III and his pedigree ascends to the time of Henry III. This township is probably the Eglestun of Domesday Book of 1086. [1]
Another early record of the surname was Thomas of Eccleston (fl. 1250), a thirteenth century English Franciscan chronicler, best known for his "De Adventu Fratrum Minorum in Angliam." It tells the story of when Franciscan friars first came to England in 1224 to about 1258. He was known as "Brother Thomas" and was later given the title "of Eccleston." [2]
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Ecklestomb research. Another 116 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1094, 1659, 1743, 1688, 1697, 1712, 1610, 1623, 1605, 1610 and 1611 are included under the topic Early Ecklestomb History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
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 Ecklestomb family name include Eccleston, Ecclestone, Eccleton and others.
Notables of this surname at this time include: Thomas Eccleston (1659-1743), an English Jesuit of Eccleston Hall, Lancashire. He was the only son of Henry Eccleston, esq., of Eccleston Hall, Lancashire. "During the wars in Ireland, after the revolution of 1688, he held a captain's commission in King James's army. Being engaged in a duel which proved fatal to his antagonist, he was seized with remorse and determined to enter the religious state. Accordingly he returned to Rome, entered the jesuit novitiate of Sant' Andrea...
Another 84 words (6 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Ecklestomb Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Some of the Ecklestomb family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt. More information about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
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 Ecklestomb surname or a spelling variation of the name include: Elizabeth Eccleston who settled in New England in 1706; E. Eccleston arrived in New York in 1823; James and Henry Eccleston arrived in Philadelphia in 1860..