Gafer History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Early Origins of the Gafer family

The surname Gafer was first found in Yorkshire where they held a family seat as Lords of the Manor. The Saxon influence of English history diminished after the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The language of the courts was French for the next three centuries and the Norman ambience prevailed. But Saxon surnames survived and the family name was first referenced in the year 1379 when Jacobus Gaffer held lands.

Early History of the Gafer family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Gafer research. Another 77 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1379, 1455 and 1487 are included under the topic Early Gafer History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Gafer 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 Gafer family name include Gaff, Gaffer, Gafer, Gafare and others.

Early Notables of the Gafer family

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

Gafer migration to the United States +

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 Gafer surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Gafer Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

John Gafer, who arrived in Virginia in 1663 1

Sources +

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)