Foulsham Surname, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

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The ancient name Foulsham is a Norman name that would have been developed in England after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. This name was a name given to a person who had a limp, or a malformed leg. The name was originally derived from the Old French fol, which means foolish, and jambe, which means leg. Such names are often attributed to people in jest. A broad and miscellaneous class of surnames, nicknames often referred or alluded to a physical feature. Unfortunately, on some occasions the tradition emphasized a physical deformity or injury in a way that would be considered cruel today, however, at the time this practice was meant only to identify a person by a distinguishing characteristic.

Foulsham Early Origins

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The surname Foulsham was first found in Derbyshire where by the early 11th and 12th centuries the name was already well established in the Peak District and was one of the marauding families of the East Cheshire and Derbyshire forests which were controlled by Sir George Vernon, known as the 'King of the Peak'. In the 13th century Sir Thomas Foljambe was Bailiff of the High Peak. These Cheshire and Derbyshire families provided the core of Knights and fighting men for the wars in France during that time. Foulsham is a village and civil parish in Norfolk that dates back to the Domesday Book where it was listed as Folsham and literally meant "farmstead of a man called Fugol" from the Old English personal name + ham. The village gave its name to a family of Puritan dissidents who fled England to America to settle in Hingham, Massachusetts, where they frequently changed their name to Folsom.

Foulsham Spelling Variations

Norman surnames are characterized by a multitude of spelling variations. The frequent changes in surnames are largely due to the fact that the Old and Middle English languages lacked definite spelling rules. The introduction of Norman French to England, as well as the official court languages of Latin and French, also had pronounced influences on the spelling of surnames. Since medieval scribes and church officials recorded names as they sounded, rather than adhering to any specific spelling rules, it was common to find the same individual referred to with different spellings. The name has been spelled Foljambe, Foljambes, Folgambe, Folgambes, Folyambe, Folyambes, Fuljame, Fuljames, Fulgambe, Fulgambes, Fulljames, Fullgames, Folljames, Foliambe, Fuliambe, Foliam, Fuliam, Foliams and many more.

Foulsham Early History

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Foulsham research. Another 171 words (12 lines of text) covering the years 162 and 1622 are included under the topic Early Foulsham History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Foulsham Early Notables (pre 1700)

More information is included under the topic Early Foulsham Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

The Great Migration

Many English families emigrated to North American colonies in order to escape the political chaos in Britain at this time. Unfortunately, many English families made the trip to the New World under extremely harsh conditions. Overcrowding on the ships caused the majority of the immigrants to arrive diseased, famished, and destitute from the long journey across the stormy Atlantic. Despite these hardships, many of the families prospered and went on to make invaluable contributions to the development of the cultures of the United States and Canada. Early North American immigration records have revealed a number of people bearing the name Foulsham or a variant listed above:

Foulsham Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

John Foulsham, who arrived in Hingham, Massachusetts in 1638 ^[2]CITATION[CLOSE]
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)
Adam Foulsham, who arrived in Hingham, Massachusetts in 1639 ^[2]CITATION[CLOSE]
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)
Jon Foulsham, who arrived in Virginia in 1653 ^[2]CITATION[CLOSE]
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)

Contemporary Notables of the name Foulsham (post 1700)

William Foulsham, English founder of publishing company W. Foulsham & Company Limited in 1819

Foulsham Family Crest Products

Citations

^ Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
^ 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)

Other References

Ingram, Rev. James. Translator Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 1823. Print.
Chadwick, Nora Kershaw and J.X.W.P Corcoran. The Celts. London: Penguin, 1790. Print. (ISBN 0140212116).
Hitching, F.K and S. Hitching. References to English Surnames in 1601-1602. Walton On Thames: 1910. Print. (ISBN 0-8063-0181-3).
Shaw, William A. Knights of England A Complete Record from the Earliest Time to the Present Day of the Knights of all the Orders of Chivalry in England, Scotland, Ireland and Knights Bachelors 2 Volumes. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing. Print. (ISBN 080630443X).
Egle, William Henry. Pennsylvania Genealogies Scotch-Irish and German. Harrisburg: L.S. Hart, 1886. Print.
Fairbairn. Fairbain's book of Crests of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland, 4th Edition 2 volumes in one. Baltimore: Heraldic Book Company, 1968. Print.
Colletta, John P. They Came In Ships. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1993. Print.
Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Galveston Texas 1896-1951. National Archives Washington DC. Print.
Thirsk, Joan. The Agrarian History of England and Wales. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 7 Volumes. Print.
Library of Congress. American and English Genealogies in the Library of Congress. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1967. Print.
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The Foulsham Family Crest was acquired from the Houseofnames.com archives. The Foulsham Family Crest was drawn according to heraldic standards based on published blazons. We generally include the oldest published family crest once associated with each surname.

This page was last modified on 28 June 2015 at 14:02.