The surname Kalmady was first found in Devon where they held a family seat as Lords of the Manor. The Saxon influence of English history diminished after the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The language of the courts was French for the next three centuries and the Norman ambience prevailed. But Saxon surnames survived and the family name was first referenced in the 13th century when they held the estates of Wembury in that shire. "The church [of Membury] contains a monument to the memory of Sir S. Calmady, who was mortally wounded at the siege of Ford House, during the great civil war." [1]
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Kalmady research. Another 141 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1510, 1600, 1080, 1142, 1149, 1162, 1163, 1455, 1487, 1645, 1619, 1683, 1660, 1600, 1666, 1600, 1635, 1685, 1642, 1686, 1671, 1732, 1671, 1697 and 1755 are included under the topic Early Kalmady History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Until the dictionary, an invention of only the last few hundred years, the English language lacked any comprehensive system of spelling rules. Consequently, spelling variations in names are frequently found in early Anglo-Saxon and later Anglo-Norman documents. One person's name was often spelled several different ways over a lifetime. The recorded variations of Kalmady include Calmady, Kalmady, Galmady, Callmady, Calmadie, Calmadee, Calmadey, Callamadee and many more.
Distinguished members of the family include Sir Shilston Calmady (died 1645), English soldier in the English Civil War, killed in action; and his son, Josias Calmady (1619-1683), an English politician who sat in the House of Commons, Member of Parliament for Okehampton (1660.)
Edmund Calamy the Elder (1600-1666), one of the authors of ‘Smectymnuus,’ was born in February 1600, the only son of a tradesman in Walbrook. His father came from Guernsey, and the family tradition is that he was an exiled Huguenot from the coast...
Another 85 words (6 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Kalmady Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Thousands of English families boarded ships sailing to the New World in the hope of escaping the unrest found in England at this time. Although the search for opportunity and freedom from persecution abroad took the lives of many because of the cramped conditions and unsanitary nature of the vessels, the opportunity perceived in the growing colonies of North America beckoned. Many of the settlers who survived the journey went on to make important contributions to the transplanted cultures of their adopted countries. The Kalmady were among these contributors, for they have been located in early North American records: 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..