Grumly History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

The name Grumly reached English shores for the first time with the ancestors of the Grumly family as they migrated following the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Grumly family lived in Worcestershire as Lords of the manor of Grimley.

Early Origins of the Grumly family

The surname Grumly was first found in Worcestershire at Grimley, a village and civil parish now in the Malvern Hills District, originally in the union of Martley, Lower division of the hundred of Oswaldslow. An ancient Saxon stronghold, the first listing of the place name was in the 9th century when it was listed as Grimanleage. By the Domesday Book of 1086, the place name had evolved to Grimanleh and consisted of a mill and one half of a fishery of eels. 1 The place name literally means "wood or glade haunted by a spectre or goblin," from the Old English words "grima" + "leah." 2

Early History of the Grumly family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Grumly research. Another 78 words (6 lines of text) covering the year 1890 is included under the topic Early Grumly History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Grumly Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Grimley, Grimly, Grimleigh, Grimlie, Grymley and many more.

Early Notables of the Grumly family

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

Migration of the Grumly family to Ireland

Some of the Grumly family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 57 words (4 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Grumly migration to the United States +

Because of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Grumly name or one of its variants:

Grumly Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

John Grumly, who landed in America in 1848 3

Citations +

Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
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)