Gaselee History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Early Origins of the Gaselee family

The surname Gaselee was first found in Suffolk at Gazeley, a village and civil parish in the Forest Heath district that dates back to 1219. It was originally listed as Gaysleand which literally meant "woodland clearing of a man called Gaegi," having derived from the Old English personal name + "leah." 1

One of the first records of the surname was in the 13th century when Alexander de Gaseley was listed in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1275. The same source lists Andrew de Gasele in Norfolk. 2

Early History of the Gaselee family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Gaselee research. Another 50 words (4 lines of text) covering the years 1326, 1630, 1669, 1762, 1824 and 1839 are included under the topic Early Gaselee History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Gaselee 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 Gaselee family name include Gazeley, Gazely, Gaselee, Gaselea, Gaysley, Geysley, Gesley, Gezley, Gayslee, Gazelee and many more.

Early Notables of the Gaselee family

Distinguished members of the family include

Sir Stephen Gaselee (1762-1839), Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, the son of Stephen Gaselee, an eminent surgeon at Portsmouth...

Migration of the Gaselee family

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 Gaselee surname or a spelling variation of the name include: the name represented in many forms and recorded from the mid 17th century in the great migration from Europe. Migrants settled in the eastern seaboard from Newfoundland, to Maine, to Virginia, the Carolinas, and to the islands. G.H. and G.W. Gazley arrived in San Francisco in 1851..

Contemporary Notables of the name Gaselee (post 1700) +

Stephen Gaselee (1807-1883), Serjeant-at-Law, eldest son of Sir Stephen Gaselee, born at 77 Upper Guildford Street, Russell Square, London, on 1 Sept. 1807

Citations +

Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)