The Anglo-Saxon name Erewood comes from when the family resided in Lincolnshire. The name is derived from the Old English word har which means "grey" and the word wudu which means "wood." [1]
"Prior to the latter half of the XIV. cent. the name was written Harward and Hereward, and tradition derives the family from the celebrated Hereward, the patriot Saxon, who a few years after the Conquest headed his oppressed countrymen against the forces of William. He was the younger son of Leofric, earl of Mercia." [2]
Another source provides more about Hereward. His history "fills a larger place in legend than in authentic history. A few references to him in the chronicles and an account of his possessions in Domesday are all that we really know of him. But his exploits in defending Ely from the Normans caused the generation succeeding his own to regard him as the popular hero of the English resistance to their French conquerors. Popular songs commemorated his wonderful deeds, and were the sources of many mythical histories which disagree with each other, and with known history. They are written with obvious exaggeration, though some of them are not sixty years subsequent in date to the time when Hereward in all probability was still alive." [3]
The surname Erewood was first found in Lancashire at either Great Harwood or Little Harwood; and or in West Yorkshire at Harewood, all villages. [4]
An early record of the family was found in Cheshire in the twelfth century: Hubert de Harewda was listed there in 1176. Bernard de Harewode was listed in 1242 Fees and Alice Harewode was listed in the Subsidy Rolls of Somerset in 1327. [5]
Up in Scotland, the name was likely from a local origin, "probably from Harwood near West Calder, Midlothian. Roger de Hauewod held land of Gouyrton near Edinburgh, 1317, and Ada, daughter of Roger de Harewood or Hauwod, is mentioned in Aberdeen in same year. The lands of Trowere in the earldom of Carrick were resigned by Janet de Hawod, 1430." [6]
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Erewood research. Another 256 words (18 lines of text) covering the years 1071, 1600, 1464, 1565, 1563, 1568, 1618, 1674, 1564, 1648, 1634, 1647, 1648, 1647, 1648, 1572, 1614, 1572, 1574, 1575, 1577, 1578, 1632 and 1586 are included under the topic Early Erewood History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
The English language only became standardized in the last few centuries; therefore,spelling variations are common among early Anglo-Saxon names. As the form of the English language changed, even the spelling of literate people's names evolved. Erewood has been recorded under many different variations, including Harwood, Harewood, Horwood, Whorwood, Herwood, Hereward, Harward and many more.
Notables of this surname at this time include: Jane Whorwood (fl. 1648), English Royalist, daughter of one Ryder or Ryther of Kingston, Surrey, sometime surveyor of the stables to James I. "In September 1634, at the age of nineteen, she married Brome Whorwood, eldest son of Sir Thomas Whorwood of Holton, Oxfordshire. In 1647 and 1648, when the king was in captivity, Mrs. Whorwood signalised herself by her efforts to communicate with him and to arrange his escape. She conveyed money to him from loyalists in London when he was at Hampton Court in the autumn of 1647, and consulted William...
Another 158 words (11 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Erewood Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Migration of the Erewood family to IrelandSome of the Erewood 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 many English families, the political and religious disarray that shrouded England made the far away New World an attractive prospect. On cramped disease-ridden ships, thousands migrated to those British colonies that would eventually become Canada and the United States. Those hardy settlers that survived the journey often went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Analysis of immigration records indicates that some of the first North American immigrants bore the name Erewood or a variant listed above: Robert and Thomas Harwood who settled in Virginia in 1635; followed later by George Harwood in 1643.
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