The name Molslay is of
Anglo-Saxon origin and came from when a family lived in one of the places called Moseley in
Staffordshire and
Worcestershire (both in the West Midlands region), in Moseley in West Dean in
Gloucestershire, or in Mowsley in
Leicestershire. There is also a Mossley in Greater Manchester.
Early Origins of the Molslay family
The surname Molslay was first found in Moseley, now a suburb of Birmingham in the West Midlands or in Moseley in
Herefordshire and
Worcestershire or in Mowsley, a small village in
Lancashire. All four locations are listed in the
Domesday Book.
[1]CITATION[CLOSE]
Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8) The West Midlands village was originally called Moleshi and literally meant "woodland clearing of a man called Moll," from the Old English
personal name + leah. The latter three locations were listed as Museleie and in these cases, the place names literally meant "woodland clearing infested with mice."
[2]CITATION[CLOSE]
Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4) Mossely, a small town and civil parish in Greater Manchester was first listed as Moselegh in 1319 and literally meant "woodland clearing by a swamp or bog."
[2]CITATION[CLOSE]
Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Early History of the Molslay family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Molslay research.
Another 225 words (16 lines of text) covering the years 1200, 1527, 1612, 1599, 1609, 1610, 1661, 1647, 1639, 1665, 1660, 1661, 1720, 1674, 1751, 1705, 1757 and 1779 are included under the topic Early Molslay History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Molslay 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 Molslay family name include Moseley, Mosely, Mosley, Mossley and others.
Early Notables of the Molslay family (pre 1700)
Notables of the family at this time include Sir Nicholas Moseley; Humphrey Moseley (died 1661), a prominent London publisher and bookseller, best known for the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647; Sir Edward Mosley, 1st
Baronet of Rolleston; and Sir Edward Mosley, 2nd
Baronet (1639-1665), an English politician, Sheriff of...
Another 63 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Molslay Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Migration of the Molslay family to the New World and Oceana
For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for
Ireland, the Canadas, 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 Molslay surname or a spelling variation of the name include : Anne Moseley, who settled in Virginia in 1652; along with Elizabeth, Francis, Joseph, Richard, Samuel and William; George Mosely settled in Virginia in 1635.