The ancient roots of the Hartop family name are in the Anglo-Saxon culture. The name Hartop comes from when the family lived in Hartop, a place which is no longer known. The place-name is derived from the Old English word har, which meant hoar or gray, and also meant boundary, and the Old Scandinavian word topt, which meant cottage or homestead. The name as a whole means "gray cottage," or "cottage in the gray lands," or perhaps "homestead on the border."
The surname Hartop was first found in Leicestershire at Freeby, a chapelry, in the parish and union of Melton-Mowbray, hundred of Framland. "The whole of the lordship belongs to Sir E. C. Hartopp, Bart. " [1]
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Hartop research. Another 56 words (4 lines of text) covering the years 1377, 1637, 1722 and 1637 are included under the topic Early Hartop History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
One relatively recent invention that did much to standardize English spelling was the printing press. However, before its invention even the most literate people recorded their names according to sound rather than spelling. The spelling variations under which the name Hartop has appeared include Hartopp, Hartop and others.
Notables of the family at this time include Sir William Hartopp of Rotherby; and Job Hartop, an English adventurer, chief gunner on John Hawkins' third voyage to the Caribbean but became stranded and was captured by the Spanish. He was used...
Another 41 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Hartop Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
At this time, the shores of the New World beckoned many English families that felt that the social climate in England was oppressive and lacked opportunity for change. Thousands left England at great expense in ships that were overcrowded and full of disease. A great portion of these settlers never survived the journey and even a greater number arrived sick, starving, and without a penny. The survivors, however, were often greeted with greater opportunity than they could have experienced back home. These English settlers made significant contributions to those colonies that would eventually become the United States and Canada. An examination of early immigration records and passenger ship lists revealed that people bearing the name Hartop arrived in North America very early: