Karshaw History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Karshaw is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in the area of Kirkshaw at Rochdale in the county of Lancashire. Karshaw is a topographic surname, which was given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, church, or type of tree. Habitation names form the other broad category of surnames that were derived from place-names. They were derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads. Other local names are derived from the names of houses, manors, estates, regions, and entire counties.

Early Origins of the Karshaw family

The surname Karshaw was first found in Lancashire where it is a local name 'of Kirkshaw,' in the parish of Rochdale. Literally the place name means "church-wood." Some of the earliest records of the name include: Matthew de Kyrkshagh, Lancashire in 1281; Geoffrey del Kyrkeshagh, of Rochdale parish in 1390; and John de Kyrkshagh, or Kershaw, of Townhouses, in Rochdale, 1424. 1

Early History of the Karshaw family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Karshaw research. Another 97 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1379, 1572, 1617 and 1630 are included under the topic Early Karshaw History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Karshaw 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 Karshaw family name include Kershaw, Kercher, Kershow, Kirshaw, Kirkshaw and others.

Early Notables of the Karshaw family

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

Migration of the Karshaw family

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 Karshaw surname or a spelling variation of the name include: Ralph Kershaw settled in Virginia in 1699; Edmund, Frederick, James, Jesse, John, Lees, Nelson, Napoleon, Robert, Samuel, Thomas and William Kershaw all arrived in Philadelphia between 1800 and 1870..

Citations +

Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)