Goldsburgh History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The name Goldsburgh is from the ancient Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name was given to a person who was a goldsmith, or jeweller refiner or gilder. The surname Goldsburgh was also a nickname for someone with bright yellow hair which referred to gold.

Early Origins of the Goldsburgh family

The surname Goldsburgh was first found in Yorkshire at Goldsborough, a parish, in the Upper division of the wapentake of Claro, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Goldsborough Hall, built in the reign of James I., is the property of the Earl of Harewood. 1

The parish dates back to at least the Domesday Book of 1086 where it was recorded as Godenesburg. By 1170, it was known as Godelesburc and literally meant "stronghold of a man called Godel." 2 Today this stately home has been fully restored to its finest glory. In the Church of St. Mary, there are memorials to Richard de Goldsburgh (d.1308) and his son (d.1333), both are effigies of an armoured knight.

Early History of the Goldsburgh family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Goldsburgh research. Another 80 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1548, 1568, 1584, 1598, 1604, 1606, 1618, 1626, 1691, 1693 and 1702 are included under the topic Early Goldsburgh History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Goldsburgh 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 Goldsburgh family name include Goldesborough, Goldsbrough, Goldisbrough, Goldsborough and many more.

Early Notables of the Goldsburgh family

Notables of the family at this time include

John Goldsburgh, of Godmanchester, Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire in 1626

Migration of the Goldsburgh family

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, 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. Investigation of the origins of family names on the North American continent has revealed that early immigrants bearing the name Goldsburgh or a variant listed above: Thomas Goldsborough who settled in Jamaica in 1686; John Goldsborough settled in Maryland in 1774.

Citations +

Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)