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Re: Eardley as a first name

Posted By: peterdzik
Date: Saturday, 17 January 2009, at 8:51 a.m.

In Response To: Eardley as a first name (Keith Thornton)

Hi keith,
your query throws up several interesting lines of enquiry. The only Eardley I find in Somerset is Mary , a 22 year old servant to 60 year old George THORN in Wells , Somerset in the 1871 census. She was born in Marston ,outside the county town of Stafford, to James and Francis Eardley, with at least two sisters. She marries in 1871 in Somerset, but the records won't show me her husband. As there are many Morgans and Maggs in the area I don't know of a link, but the Thorn name seems odd considering your surname.
What is new to me is the prevalence of Eardleys in the village of Standon, outside Stafford, where James Eardley's family came from. His parents were Nathaniel Eardley and Jane Potts, and the earliest eardley entry I find there is 1624. I do remember seeing Yardley entries in old tax records of the 1600's nearby, before most areas modified it to Eardley.
This use of a surname applied as a forename appears elsewhere in Eardley history. This is the Wilmot name from Derbyshire, where it was hyphenated with Eardley on the marriage of Elizabeth Eardley in 1665, taking the Eardley Hall inheritance with her . However the family used it for generations as a christian name - perhaps the cachet goes back to the Eardley bloodline from the brother of King Richard Lionheart (king 1189 - 1199). It then appears in the Bearstone Eardleys in Mucklestone parish. Sue Parker must have the Somerset male name on the 1871 marriage documents, in her very useful lists in the genealogy section.
bye pete
Hope this gives you food for thought.
bye pete

Messages In This Thread

Eardley as a first name
Keith Thornton -- Friday, 23 July 2004, at 1:24 p.m.

Re: Eardley as a first name
elaine clayton -- Wednesday, 28 July 2004, at 4:52 p.m.

Re: Eardley as a first name
peterdzik -- Saturday, 17 January 2009, at 8:51 a.m.

Re: Eardley as a first name
mike -- Saturday, 24 January 2009, at 6:10 a.m.

Re: Eardley as a first name
peterdzik -- Friday, 13 February 2009, at 6:13 a.m.