Keasler History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Etymology of Keasler

What does the name Keasler mean?

Keasler is a name whose history is connected to the ancient Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name is derived from when the Keasler family once lived in the settlement of Kearsley in Lancashire. 1 The surname Keasler belongs to the large category of Anglo-Saxon habitation names, which are derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads.

Early Origins of the Keasler family

The surname Keasler was first found in Lancashire at Kearsley, now part of Greater Manchester. The first records of the place were found in 1187 when it was spelt Cherselawe and a few years later as Kereleie (c. 1220. ) The name literally means "clearing where cress grows" having derived from the Old English words caerse + leah. 2 There is another Kearsley, a township in the parish of Stamfordham, in Northumberland, but this township has remained rather small in comparison as a census in the late 1800s listed only 11 inhabitants, while the former township in Lancashire had 3,436 inhabitants in the same census. 3

A search through early rolls revealed Simon de Caresle in the Curia Regis Rolls for Worcestershire in 1206. 4

Early History of the Keasler family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Keasler research. Another 87 words (6 lines of text) covering the year 1210 is included under the topic Early Keasler History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Keasler 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 Keasler family name include Kearsley, Kearsey, Keasley, Kersley and others.

Early Notables of the Keasler family

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

Keasler Ranking

the United States, the name Keasler is the 15,165^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 5

Migration of the Keasler 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 Keasler surname or a spelling variation of the name include: James Kearsley settled in Philadelphia in 1859.

Contemporary Notables of the name Keasler (post 1700) +

Bobby Keasler (b. 1945), American tenth head football coach for the University of Louisiana (1999-2002)
John Keasler, American former newspaper columnist for The Miami News
Michael E. Keasler, American Republican politician, Judge of Texas Court of Criminal Appeals 6
Hiram Keasler, American politician, Member of New Jersey State House of Assembly from Passaic County, 1901-03 7
Fern L. Keasler, American politician, Independent Candidate for U.S. Senator from Tennessee, 1978 7

Sources +

Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, October 6) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html