Isel History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Scotland

Isel is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived on an island. The surname Isel is derived from the Old French word isle, which means island and has become the modern French word île. The surname Isel belongs to the class of topographic surnames, which were given to people who resided near physical features such as hills, streams, churches, or types of trees. However, the name Isel may also be a patronymic surname derived from the Anglo-Saxon personal names Æl or Æthel.

Early Origins of the Isel family

The surname Isel was first found in Somerset where they held a family seat from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.

Early History of the Isel family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Isel research. Another 220 words (16 lines of text) covering the years 1320, 1338, 1679, 1683, 1688, 1703, 1713, 1715, 1716, 1721, 1727, 1734, 1735 and 1745 are included under the topic Early Isel History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Isel 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 Isel family name include Eyles, Eeles, Eels, Eylers and others.

Early Notables of the Isel family

Notables of the family at this time include Sir John Eyles, Lord Mayor of London; John Eyles (died 1703), of Great St. Helens, London and Southbroom, near Devizes, Wiltshire, an English politician, Member of the Parliament for Devizes in 1679; Sir Francis Eyles, 1st Baronet (died 1716), Governor of the Bank of England; and his son, Sir John Eyles, 2nd Baronet (1683-1745) of Gidea Hall, Essex, a British financier. He served as a director of the Bank of...
Another 77 words (6 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Isel Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Isel 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 Isel surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Isel Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Georg Isel, aged 21, who arrived in New York, NY in 1876 1

Citations +

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)