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Pearsall Surname Project
Number of Pearsalls By Location
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Surname
History and Genealogy
of the Pearsall Family in England
and America:
Volume I
Front Cover
Inside Front Cover
The Motive
Thanks
Illustrations
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Appendix I
Volume II
Volume III
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competition when he uses
this motto, and as Robert Pearsall is a very successful man, it appeared
as a happy thought to use it in connection with this family history. The
truth would however seem to be that there is no recognized family motto
of the Peshale-Pearsall family and one is at
liberty both historically and of personal right to use whatever motto
strikes their own fancy.
The motto of
John Peshall who married Helena Harcourt was
Bien venu ce que ad viendra.
THE
NAME.
From what has
been said in connection with the arms it is quite evident that the real
name of the family is Wolf, changing from Rognvald,
the Wolf, in Norway to
the Latin, Lupus, in Normandy.
When the Normans went to Normandy they adopted the French
system of calling themselves de or of the place which they held in feudal
service to the Duke of Normandy. Here Rollo became duke and our family
name was changed to de Normandi. And, as we
have seen, our later ancestor came to be Count of Corbeil,
so that thereby we were de Corbeil. The Countship of Mortaigne does
not appear to have remained long enough in the family to have affected
our name. Then came the emigration to England.
Our ancestor had the Norman dislike of the barbarous English place names,
so the next generation called themselves son of, or Fitz; therefore in
our case the name was rendered as Robert Fitz-Gilbert de Corbeil. The next generation saw a marriage with a
daughter of the Northumbrian royal family and almost unconsciously the
son of Fitz-Gilbert became de Lumley and his father having acquired and
given him Peshale, he became likewise de Peshale. In those days men had as many de or of names
as they held manors. The name Peshale, as a
family name, had its beginning in Robert the son of Robert Fitz Gilbert
de Corbeil as he was the first to call himself
de Peshale. He was also de Lumley. It was not
until the second generation after, that the de Lumley was dropped as
Robert de Peshale de Lumley had a son John who
had the same surnames. Peshale always was a
divided manor; there was a part of it held of the Bishops of Chester and
John de Peshale de Lumley also acquired Swinnerton by marriage with the daughter and heir of
Fitz Alan. It happened that John de Peshale had
several sons. To his son Robert he gave Swinnerton
when he married the heiress of Suggenhulle and
Bishops Offley, so that Robert became de Suggenhulle de Swinnerton,
names which of course remained with his children, and they became the
ancestors of the Swinnertons and Sugnals. The Peshale manors
were divided by John as follows: to his son William he gave half of the
manor held of Robert de Toesni de Stafford; to his son Roger he gave the other half;
to his son John he gave the Bishops manor of Peshale.
In later generations part of the Bishops Manor came to John Swinnerton, grandson of Robert de Swinnerton
de Suggenhulle, by purchase from Dorothy Peshale, great-grand-daughter of John de Peshale, and her husband William de Fisher, de Suggenhulle, de Peshale.
Roger's descendants appear to have gone away from Staffordshire, but they
continued to call themselves de Peshale,
although they sold their interest in the Stafford
manor of Peshale to William or his descendants.
The part of the manors vested in William was divided between his sons
Stephen and Walter. Stephen's share was
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