Soemerfield is a name of ancient
Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in the small English town of
Somerford found in the county of Wiltshire.
Early Origins of the Soemerfield family
The surname Soemerfield was first found in
Wiltshire where there is a Great Somerford and Little Somerford. Both date back to 937 when they were listed simply as Sumerford. By the time of the
Domesday Book in 1086, the village was listed as Sumreford. The placename literally means "ford usable in the summer," from the Old English sumor + ford.
[1]CITATION[CLOSE]
Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4) Somerford Keynes is located in
Gloucestershire and that locale dates back further to 685 when it was listed as Sumerford.
Early History of the Soemerfield family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Soemerfield research.
Another 141 words (10 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Soemerfield History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Soemerfield 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 Soemerfield family name include Somerford, Somerfield and others.
Early Notables of the Soemerfield family (pre 1700)
More information is included under the topic Early Soemerfield Notables in all our
PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Migration of the Soemerfield family to the New World and Oceana
For 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 Soemerfield surname or a spelling variation of the name include: Geoffrey Somerford who settled in Virginia in 1654.