The lineage of the name Mousley begins with the
Anglo-Saxon tribes in Britain. It is a result of when they 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 Mousley family
The surname Mousley 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 Mousley family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Mousley 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 Mousley History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Mousley Spelling Variations
Only recently has spelling become standardized in the English language. As the English language evolved in the Middle Ages, the spelling of names changed also. The name Mousley has undergone many
spelling variations, including Moseley, Mosely, Mosley, Mossley and others.
Early Notables of the Mousley 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 Mousley Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Migration of the Mousley family to the New World and Oceana
To escape the unstable social climate in
England of this time, many families boarded ships for the New World with the hope of finding land, opportunity, and greater religious and political freedom. Although the voyages were expensive, crowded, and difficult, those families that arrived often found greater opportunities and freedoms than they could have experienced at home. Many of those families went on to make significant contributions to the rapidly developing colonies in which they settled. Early North American records indicate many people bearing the name Mousley were among those contributors: Anne Moseley, who settled in Virginia in 1652; along with Elizabeth, Francis, Joseph, Richard, Samuel and William; George Mosely settled in Virginia in 1635.