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![Show Contents]() Prestwoit History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
- Origins Available:
 England
Prestwoit is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in or near the priest's wood, or in Prestwood, a place-name found in Buckinghamshire and in Sussex. The place-name and the surname are derived from the Old English words preost, which meant priest, and wudu, which meant wood or forest. The surname means "dweller by the priest's wood." Early Origins of the Prestwoit familyThe surname Prestwoit was first found in Worcestershire where they held a family seat as Lords of the Manor of Prestwood. Little is recorded of their early history before the 13th century but the senior representative of the family was Reginald Prestwood who lived about 1400. The family moved at this point south to Devon where the main stem resided. The family also gave their name to Prestwood in Shropshire and Buckinghamshire. They also branched to Staffordshire. Early History of the Prestwoit familyThis web page shows only a small excerpt of our Prestwoit research. Another 143 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1570, 1608, 1628, 1629, 1655, 1692 and 1707 are included under the topic Early Prestwoit History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Prestwoit Spelling VariationsSound 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 Prestwoit family name include Prestwood, Presswood, Prestwold, Presswold, Prestwald and many more. Early Notables of the Prestwoit familyAnother 37 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Prestwoit Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible. Migration of the Prestwoit familyFor 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 Prestwoit surname or a spelling variation of the name include: Roger Presswood who landed in North America in 1700; Joan Prestwood, who settled in Virginia in 1666; and Richard Prestwood, who was on record in Baltimore in 1749..
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