Sotbey Surname, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

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The name Sotbey reached English shores for the first time with the ancestors of the Sotbey family as they migrated following the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Sotbey family lived in Lincolnshire, at Sotebi, from which their name is derived. The surname Sotbey is thus, a local name, which means it derived from the name of a place where members of the family once owned land or where they may have resided.

Sotbey Early Origins

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The surname Sotbey was first found in Lincolnshire where Ralph of Sotby held the village and church of Sotebi from the Bishop of Bayeux. This village church is still famous for its Norman chancel arch.

Sotbey Spelling Variations

Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Sotheby, Sothaby, Sotherby, Southerby, Southby, Southey and many more.

Sotbey Early History

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Sotbey research. Another 145 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1500, 1450, 1594, 1683, 1654, 1656, 1623, 1704 and 1659 are included under the topic Early Sotbey History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Sotbey Early Notables (pre 1700)

Another 35 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Sotbey Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

The Great Migration

Because of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Sotbey name or one of its variants: Henry and Elizabeth Southey who settled in Virginia with their children Mary and Thomas in 1623; Dan Southerby settled in Virginia in 1653; Mary Southerby settled in New England in 1755..

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Citations

Other References

MacAulay, Thomas Babington. History of England from the Accession of James the Second 4 volumes. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1879. Print.
Colletta, John P. They Came In Ships. Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1993. Print.
Matthews, John. Matthews' American Armoury and Blue Book. London: John Matthews, 1911. Print.
Burke, Sir Bernard. General Armory Of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Ramsbury: Heraldry Today. Print.
Best, Hugh. Debrett's Texas Peerage. New York: Coward-McCann, 1983. Print. (ISBN 069811244X).
Bullock, L.G. Historical Map of England and Wales. Edinburgh: Bartholomew and Son, 1971. Print.
Crispin, M. Jackson and Leonce Mary. Falaise Roll Recording Prominent Companions of William Duke of Normandy at the Conquest of England. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing. Print.
Lennard, Reginald. Rural England 1086-1135 A Study of Social and Agrarian Conditions. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959. Print.
Reaney P.H and R.M. Wilson. A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X).
Thirsk, Joan. The Agrarian History of England and Wales. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 7 Volumes. Print.
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The Sotbey Family Crest was acquired from the Houseofnames.com archives. The Sotbey Family Crest was drawn according to heraldic standards based on published blazons. We generally include the oldest published family crest once associated with each surname.

This page was last modified on 5 September 2013 at 14:40.