The name Loe reached English shores for the first time with the ancestors of the Loe family as they migrated following the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Loe family lived in Worcestershire. The earliest instances of the name in England appear for the most part to be of local origin; that is, derived from the name of the place where an original bearer lived or where he once held land, the place in this instance being a hlaw, the Old English word for a hill. Any individual case may also be of nickname origin, deriving from loup, the Old French word for a wolf, or from one of the pet-names for Lawrence, such as Law or Low.
The surname Loe was first found in Worcestershire. Later, a branch of the family was found at Alderwasley in Derbyshire. " The Le Foune or Fawne family held lands here in the reign of Henry III., and their heiress intermarried with the Lowes, who obtained a grant of the manor from Henry VIII." [1]
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Loe research. Another 93 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1275, 1433, 1439, 1318, 1594, 1682, 1640, 1644, 1628, 1667, 1661, 1667, 1690, 1724, 1720 and are included under the topic Early Loe History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Lowe, Lowes, Lowis, Lowse, Low, McLoy and others.
Outstanding amongst the family at this time was Humphrey Lowe, High Sheriff of Shropshire; George Lowe (c. 1594-1682), an English politician, Member of Parliament for Calne (1640-1644), a Royalist supporter; John Lowe (1628-1667), an English politician who sat...
Another 38 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Loe Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Some of the Loe family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 87 words (6 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Because of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Loe name or one of its variants:
Some of the first settlers of this family name were: