Snaith History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Early Origins of the Snaith family

The surname Snaith was first found in Yorkshire where they held a family seat in the West Riding in a village a few miles from Goole. 1

In 1191, Henry Snayth was a Freeman of York. The Saxon influence of English history diminished after the Battle of Hastings in 1066. The language of the courts was French for the next three centuries and the Norman ambience prevailed. But Saxon surnames survived and the family name was first referenced in the year Ithelard Snayth held estates in the year 1250. Later, William de Snayth was listed in the Feet of Fines for Yorkshire in 1338 and Henry Snayth was listed in Cheshire in 1381. 2

The Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 list: Ricardus de Snayth; Thomas de Snayth; and Alicia de Snayth. 3

Today Snaith is a market-town and parish, in the union of Goole, chiefly in the Lower division of the wapentake of Osgoldcross. "This place is of considerable antiquity, and at a very early period a priory for Benedictine monks was founded here as a cell to the abbey of Selby, to which establishment the church of Snaith had been given by Girard, Archbishop of York, in the year 1106. The priory flourished till the Dissolution, and was granted by Edward VI. to John, Earl of Warwick." 4

Early History of the Snaith family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Snaith research. Another 114 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1381, 1455, 1487, 1645, 1721, 1751 and 1798 are included under the topic Early Snaith History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Snaith Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Snaith, Snayth, Sneith, Snathe, Sneath and others.

Early Notables of the Snaith family

Another 32 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Snaith Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Snaith migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Snaith Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

William Snaith, who arrived in America in 1806 5
Frances Snaith, aged 28, who landed in Massachusetts in 1812 5
Frances Snaith, who settled in Boston in 1812
Anne Snaith, who arrived in New York, NY in 1839 5

Snaith migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Snaith Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

John Snaith, who arrived in Auckland, New Zealand aboard the ship "Persia" in 1860

Contemporary Notables of the name Snaith (post 1700) +

John Collis Snaith (1876-1936), English first-class cricketer who played for Nottinghamshire in 1900
J.C. Snaith, British novelist, writer of A Romance of Mayfair (1925)
Norman Henry Snaith (1898-1982), British Old Testament scholar and a Professor at Wesley College, Leeds
Nina Claire Snaith, British mathematician at the University of Bristol
Henry James Snaith FRS, British professor in physics in the Clarendon Laboratory at the University of Oxford
Daniel Victor "Dan" Snaith (b. 1978), Canadian composer, musician, and recording artist from Dundas, Ontario

Citations +

Harrison, Henry, Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary Baltimore: Geneological Publishing Company, 2013. Print
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)