Matthias and Mary Farr Farnsworth

Matthias Farnsworth

born: July 20, 1612

in Eccls, Lancashire, England

died: January 21, 1688

in Groton, Middlesex, MA

married: 1630 in Lynn, Essex, MA

to

Mary Farr

born: January 6, 1644

in Lynn, Essex, MA

died: January 7, 1717

in Groton, Middlesex, MA

Matthias Farnworth (his name was first written and pronounced "Farnoth") first
appeared at Lynn, Mass., where he was a resident in 1657. (This is the earliest date his name appears in the Lynn records.) When he came to America and how or with what families is unknown. But, that he resided there as a farmer near what is now Federal Street in very certain. He lived until 1660 or 1661. According to the records, his son Joseph was born there 17 November 1657. As far as we can learn from the records, Matthias Farnsworth had only one wife, Mary Farr. If Mary Farr was the mother of all of Matthias' children, she must have borne them during a period extending over thirty-one years. (Mary Farr was the daughter of George Farr of Lynn, Mass.). There is a probability that Matthias Farnsworth had married and lost one wife before he married Mary Farr and that his first three children were by his first wife. Mary Farr writes "To my well beloved son, Benjamin", her first bequest to her son who probably was her first born living son at that time.

The birth place of Matthias Farnsworth (born in 1612) was probably in or near Farnworth, Lancastershire, England. He likely was related to Joseph of Dorchester, as he named two sons Joseph. He was interested in that name and there was a possibility that Joseph was his younger brother. The record spells his name as Matthias Farmouth. He was the member of the church and no doubt, brought up his children in the fear of the Lord. His children all became communicants of the church (at least all of his dons did and probably all of his daughters). Matthias Farnsworth brought none of the titles of rank from England that are so attractive to vanity. He came to America with a sturdy independence, a rugged integrity and a due regard for morality and a simple faith. He was respected and honored by those with whom his lot was cast. He was honored for the brave, true and manly qualities he possessed. It was such as he that made the Puritan stock the peer. Matthias and his wife Mary brought nine children to the age of maturity. As far as can be discerned from the records, only two children died.

Matthias probably moved to Groton in 1660, though it is uncertain when the settlement of Groton was made. The records of the town commenced in a very brief way in 1662, but likely some of the settlers had moved there two or three years before. They lived far from the sea coast and far away from markets. All the clothing and food for the family was the product of the land they had cleared and was a result of their continued labor. The clothes they wore were spun woven and made by the women. Sheep furnished the wool and flax and was made into linen. These materials came from the farm. Matthias was admitted as a free man of the colony, May 16, 1670. He was a weaver by occupation.

In the year 1675, King Phillip's War broke out between the Indians and the New England settlers. These were frightening, disheartening times. The Indians hit Groton with all their savage furry when the inhabitants were on their way to Concord. The only possessions save were the clothes on their backs and what things could be loaded in carts. The Indians were all around them. Their houses were burned. The product of fifteen years of hard labor in the wilderness had to be abandoned. At this time his wife, Mary, his daughter Sarah (about fourteen years old), his son Samuel (six years old), his daughter Abigail (nearly five) and his son Jonathan (an infant under a year) were with Matthias. Also with him were three of his sons who were in the armed guard. His daughter, Mary had been sent to her mother's relation because of the danger in Lynn and they feared for her safety. His son, Joseph, had been sent there for the same reason, but he died there. What hardships and suffering Matthias and his family endured in that forced emigration! They and all the rest of the Groton settlers stayed at Concord for two years.

How they lived during that time we can only conjecture. It is not recorded. However, many heart aches and disappointments were evident. The loss of their baby boy, Jonathan, to the thieving savages was one great experience they had to bare. Jonathan grew up among the Indians. Because of his knowledge of their ways and because he was known by the Indians, he was able to make peace between the Indian people and the white people before he left to rejoin his family. This must have been a happy day for Matthias and his wife Mary. There were other hard times in store for the family as there was a droughtand Jonathan's undecided mind was difficult to contend with.

In the spring of 1678 the danger from the Indian rifles and the tomahawks was over. The inhabitants of Gorton thought they could try their fortunes in the wilderness again. Some of the original settlers had given up their interest in the settlement, but Matthias and his family and his three adult sons went back to the old clearing where the ashes of their old homestead were still visible. They commenced anew the work of life with the few household things they had, the farm tools and stock they were able to save and their hands. They were able to save and rebuild their home. They carried on their work under constant fear of the merciless Indians. (Who some sixteen years later again fell upon the exposed settlement and murdered many of the settlers.)

Matthias filled many offices in the town. The most important position being Constable and Selectman. The office of Constable seems to have been singularly different in its duties form the office at present. The principal duty was the collection of taxes for the settlement. The last time he held the office was in 1689 when he was 72 years old. He lived far from the center part of town, therefore, duties of the town office must have been very difficult for him. He seemed to have been one of those men who naturally drew others to him. This is our ancestor and there are many of his descendants scattered throughout the United States.

Matthias was not a learned man, None of the pioneers of Groton were, but he had as much education as the people of his time and of the middle class usually had. It is shown that he signed his will with a mark. His will was evidently made only a short time before his death when his eyes were disabled by sickness.

There are records and returns still in existence made and signed by him, as he filled the office of Constable for several years and was tax collector. By virtue of his office he must necessarily have been able to write sufficiently to keep the accounts. On January 12, 1688-9, feeling his days were drawing to a close, he dictated his will. His wife survived him many years. She died between the years 1716-1717. In her will she mentioned her great bible which she gave to her son as her blessing. This gives a view of her simple faith that should be appreciated by her descendants.

Source: http://www.shaweb.net/GenWeb/WebHist/Pedigree/6320.htm

How we're related:
Jessica B Brown --> Virginia Sorenson (living) --> Hazel June Butterfield (living) --> Thomas Solomon Butterfield (1882 -1964) --> Thomas Jefferson Butterfield II (1853 - 1926) --> Thomas Jefferson Butterfield I (1853 - 1926) --> Zachariah Butterfield (1782 - 1866) --> Abel Butterfield (1742 - 1836) --> Hannah Farnsworth (1716 - ?) --> Johnathan Farnsworth (1675 - 1748) --> Matthias Farnsworth (1612 - 1688) & Mary Farr (1644 - 1717)

Nicholas and Wilmot Randall Edgecombe

Nicholas Edgecombe
born: 1592 Plymouth, Devon, England
died: March 1681 Saco, York, Maine
married: May 1, 1643 Black Point, Scarborough Maine
to
Wilmot Randall
born: between 1620 - 1626 in ? (LDS familyseach.com lists her as being born in "Blue" Point Maine. Several other, more reliable records -including the ship's manifest- show her traveling to Black Point Maine from England, via the ship "The Samuel" in 1638. Which would mean she was most likely born in England. Also, the birth and marriage place listed "Blue Point" on familysearch.com is also an error. It should be Black Point.)
died: June 1685 Scarborough, Cumberland County, Maine

Nicholas Edgecombe was one of 114 passengers who traveled to Maine in 1637. He traveled aboard the ship, "The Hercules". Most of the passangers, including Nicholas, were men (only 5 were women) who were coming to America to earn money as fisherman. Of the 114 people who came to Maine that year, only 65 stayed and settled in Maine. Nicholas worked as a fisherman for John White on Richmond Island from 1638 - 1641.

Wilmot Randall traveled to Maine from England in 1938 aboard the ship, "The Samuel". She became a servant for John White's family apon her arrival.

Nicholas was very enamored with the young Wilmot and asked John White to release Wilmot as a servant before the end of her contract. John White refused, so Nicholas purchased her unexpired time so that they could marry.

The following reference to Wilmot Randall and Nicholas Edgecombe is taken from the book: Maine Pioneer Settlements by Herbert Milton Sylvester

About the time of Robert Jordan's coming there was in the family of Winter a maid whose charms were not less seductive than those of the lissome Sarah, the fair-haired Wilmot Randall, in whose mischievous eyes was the purple of the English violet and upon whose cheeks was the bloom of the English rose, and in whose rounded lines were concealed the suggestive and delicious mystery of girlhood merging into the perfections of a youthful and lovely womanhood. This English flower came over in Winter's little ship, and in Robert Jordan's company, and it is somewhat singular that Jordan should have escaped the glamour of her beauty. It is evident that Cupid had otherwise decreed. Once at Richmond's Island she bound herself out to Winter as a maid servant for a term, which was later to be summarily terminated.
***
Among these was young Nicholas Edgecomb, of kinship with the famous English family of the name. It was this young Edgecomb who was to tinge the cheeks of the lovely Wilmot Randall with a ruddier hue. Cupid sent his shaft to its mark at the
first bend of his bow. What a delicious bit of romance, could one get at even its ravellings to pull out here and there a thread! Winter promptly frowned upon
the advances of the amorously inclined Edgecomb, and in this he was promptly abetted by his resourceful spouse, who possibly had left her own romance back in Old England in the garret, as one of the "worn outs" to be discarded. Mrs. Winter
was, evidently, of a shrewish disposition, and one can imagine the espionage, the jealous, duenna-like predacity that fell to the lot of this, to young Edgecomb, charming girl. Plead as he would, Edgecomb was unable to obtain a release of the bond-maid, so he purchased her freedom outright, after which the course of
their wooing undoubtedly went with that smoothness that he carried off his
treasure triumphantly; and, once at the Saco settlement, between them
they laid the foundation of a numerous Edgecomb family, with here and
there another Nicholas and a fairer and sweeter Wilmot, if such were possible.

http://www.archive.org/stream/mainepioneersett03sylvuoft/mainepioneersett03sylvuoft_djvu.txt

How we're related:

Jessica B Brown --> Virginia Sorenson (living) --> Hazel June Butterfield (living) --> Thomas Solomon Butterfield (1882 -1964) --> Thomas Jefferson Butterfield II (1853 - 1926) --> Mary Jane Parker (1817 - 1901) --> Hannah Edgecomb (1784 - 1818) --> Thomas Edgecomb II (1758 - 1842) --> James Edgecomb (1734 - 1776) --> Thomas Edgecomb I (1698 - 1778) --> Robert Edgecomb (1656/57 - 1730) --> Nicholas Edgecombe (1592 - 1681) & Wilmot (Willmott) Randall (1620/1626 - 1685)

Nicholas and Bertha Cadwalla Frost

Nicholas Frost
born: April 25, 1585 in Tiverton, Devonshire, England

died: July 20, 1663 in Kittery, York, Maine

married: January 1, 1630 in Devonshire, England to

Bertha Cadwalla

born: Feburary 14, 1610 in Tavistock, Devon, England

died: July 4, 1650 in Sturgeon Creek, Kittery, York, Maine

The founder of Robert Frost's line in America was the Puritan, Nicholas Frost, who may have been on the lower coast of Maine as early as 1632, but who certainly landed with his Devonshire wife, Bertha Cadwalla Frost (b. 1610) and his two sons, John and Charles [ancestor of Robert Frost] -- from "ye Shipp Wulfrana. Alwin Wellborn, Master from Plimouth, Devon" -- in June, 1634, at Little Harbor, now Rye, New Hampshire. After his daughter, Anna, was born there in April, 1636, Nicholas pushed up to the head of Sturgeon Creek, acquired a goodly acreage of land, and settled for life in what is now Eliot, Maine. Despite the fact that he was illiterate -- he signed a petition to Oliver Cromwell with his mark, a combination of N and F -- he served as one of old Kittery's first selectmen.

On July 4, 1650, his wife and daughter were captured by Indians according to Norman S. Frost, whose Frost Genealogy in Five Families, together with Everett A. Stackpole's Old Kittery and Her Families, is the authoritative work on the genealogy of the Frosts on this side of the Atlantic -- "and taken to a camp at the mouth of Sturgeon Creek. Nicholas and his son, Charles, were at York at the time, and on their return, attempted to rescue them, but were unsuccessful. Charles, however, killed a chief and a brave. The next day Charles, his father, and some of the neighbors went back to the camp but were too late. The camp was deserted, only the bodies of Bertha and Anna were found there."

Nicholas died a natural death in 1663 . . .

- excerpt from Newdick's Season of Frost: an interrupted biography of Robert Frost

http://books.google.com/books?id=etKdO-IL1EQC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=bertha+cadwalla+frost+and+nicholas+frost+ME&source=bl&ots=inyeRKLB-K&sig=uF9doxiGjnbDIhTlnse1quimOV0&hl=en&ei=TWRBS93eKYOSsgOzlq2IBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CBgQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=bertha%20cadwalla%20frost%20and%20nicholas%20frost%20ME&f=false

How we're related:

Jessica B Brown --> Virginia Sorenson (living) --> Hazel June Butterfield (living) --> Thomas Solomon Butterfield (1882 - 1964) --> Thomas Jefferson Butterfield II (1853 - 1926) --> Mary Jane Parker (1817 - 1901) --> Samuel Parker (1790 - 1846) --> Huldah Emery (1755 - unknown) --> Zachariah Emery II (1734 - 1820) --> Zachariah Emery I (1704 - 1789) --> Margaret Gowen (1678 - 1751) --> Elizabeth Frost (1640 - 1733) --> Nicholas Frost (1585 - 1663) & Bertha Cadwalla (1610 - 1650)

Benjamin and Ann Jundon Butterfield

BENJAMIN BUTTERFIELD

Born: between 1600 - 1610 in Ovendon Parish, Halifax, Yorkshire, England

Died 2 March 1687/88 in Chelmsford, Middlesex County, MA

married: ANNE JUNDON

26 October 1632 in Yorkshire, England.

She was born Bet. 1605 - 1616 in Yorkshire, Eng8, and died 19 May 1661 in Chelmsford, Middlesex County, MA.

After Anne's death in 1661 Benjamin married HANNAH CHAWKLEY June 1663 in Chelmsford, Middlesex County, MA. She was born ~ 1612 in England, and died 19 May 1677 in Chelmsford, Middlesex County, MA.


Personal History:
Benjamin Butterfield from whom the American family chiefly derives issue was the son of Benjamin I, born abt 1600 Ovenden, York, England, and baptized at St. John The Baptist Church in Halifax, England. He married Ann Jundon of Moldon, England and they already had two small children when Benjamin and his family joined with Benjamin's young half-brother Samuel, and his older sister Susanna (aka Susan Wood), with her husband, the Reverend Matthew Mitchell and their children for the trip to America in 1635.

He was known to be in Charlestown in the Bay Colony in 1638, then, removing to Woburn, his name appears among the first town orders of Woburn and, in 1643, he was made a Freeman. (in early Colonial life a Freeman was one who was entitled to vote and was considered a "gentleman." To qualify, a man must not be indentured and must be a property owner and a member of the Church). In 1645 we find Benjamin's name on the Woburn tax list. In 1652 the inhabitants of Woburn petitioned for leave to explore the West side of the Concord River. The report was, "a very comfortable place to accomodate a company of God's people." In 1658, Benjamin headed a petition of twenty-nine names from Woburn and Concord for a tract of land six miles square, "to begin at the Merrimack River, as the neck of land six miles square, "to begin at the Merrimack River, at the neck of land next to the Concord River," to run southerly on the Concord River and westerly into the wild country. This spot was known to the indians as Naamkeek. The six mile tract was occupied in 1654 by Benjamin and his associates, including the family names of Learned, Chamberlin, Fletcher, Adams, Proctor, Hildreth, Blodgett and Parker.

In 1655 the town was incorporated under the name of Chelmsford, MA. The land adjoining was occupied by the Rev. John Eliot with a reservation for Christianized Indians called "Wamesit." The line between the Indians and the English was run "on the east side of Butterfield's highway" and marked by a ditch. On this highway Benjamin pitched his farm and built his house, somewhere within what is now Ward 4, Lowell, MA. Also in 1655, Benjamin was one of the signers of letters requesting the Minister of Wenham, MA, the Rev John Fiske, to come to Chelmsford, MA to start the Church at Chelmsford which is now Unitarian and known as the First Congregational Society. They gave the Rev. Fiske 30 acres of meadow and 30 acres of plowable land plus a house 20' x 38' with 3 fine rooms and brick or stone chimneys as well as 50 pounds the first year, and maintenance therafter. In 1656, Benjamin is named as one of the citizens of Chelmsford, MA to whom the Governor Dudley farm of 1500 acres in Billerica was conveyed.

On 1 Dec 1656, a minister in Chelmsford (probably Rev. Fiske) recorded the fact that he had baptized the following sons of Benjamin Butterfield that day: Benjamin III, age about 20 years; Jonathan, age about 15 years; Nathaniel, age about 11 1/2 years; Samuel, age about 8 years. In view of the birthdates recorded by the New England Historical and Genealogical Register for Joseph, Samuel & Nathaniel, it seems that the good minister was estimating the ages of the boys at from one to three years younger than they actually were. He also did not record a baptism for Benjamin's daughter, Mary. Therefore, as near as it can be discovered, it seems that Benjamin's and Ann's children were:

Benjamin (AKA Berabin), b Eng ~1633; d Chelmsford, MA 1 Feb 1663

Mary b Eng abt 1635, m 1653, Daniel Blodgett, Chelmsford, MA; d 5 Sept 1666

Jonathan b 1641; m Mary Dixon of Cambridge, MA; d 3 April 1673

Nathaniel b Woburn, MA 14 Feb 1642

Samuel b Woburn, MA 17 May 1647

Joseph b Woburn, MA 15 Aug 1649

Benjamin II's wife Ann (Jundon) Butterfield, d Chelmsford, 9 May 1661 (VR); he m.2 3 Jun 1663 (VR) Hannah, widow of Thomas Wittemore of Cambridge; Hannah d 19 Mar 1677, Chelmsford, MA (VR)

In 1666, Newfields, a tract of 241 acres of Intervale, across Stony Brook and extending up the Merrimack was granted to Chelmsford, MA. Of this, perhaps the best land in the growing town, Benjamin obtained 42 acres; the largest share of any one person. In 1686 the Indian reservation, "Wamesit" was purchased by the whites. The story of the imprisonment, neglect, starvation, and even selling into slavery of these Indians because the whites felt they could not be trusted during King Philip's War is a shameful one. The remnant of the "praying Indians", upon release, unable to trust the whites, moved north under the leadership of Wanalancit to join other "wild" tribes, and sold their land in "Wamesit." Three of Benjamin's sons were among the grantees. The surviving sons: Nathaniel, Samuel and Joseph. (Middlesex Deeds X19). This territory, which had been occupied by Wanalancit and his tribe as a cornfield and fishing station, is now occupied by the factories of Lowell, MA. The purchase included also 500 acres upon the north and east side of the Merrimack of "wilderness land", a general term for the unsettled country outside the incorporated limits. Nathaniel and Samuel Butterfield settled on the Wamesit lands, and Joseph in the wilderness between Tyng's Pond and the river.

Benjamin served the town of Chelmsford, MA as a Selectman or "Trustee" in the years 1656, 1657, 1660, and 1661. He died in Chelmsford, MA 2 March 1688.

Sources: History of Boston; Savage's Genealogical Dictionary; 400 Years Of Progress, G. A. Gordon, NEHGS Register, 44:33, Boston Transcript Files; Linares Chapter DAR and Records belonging to Charles Butterfield; Water, History Of Chelmsford; Vital Statistics of towns.

More About BENJAMIN BUTTERFIELD:

Burial: Chelmsford, Middlesex Co, MA
Christening: St. John the Baptist Church, Halifax, Yorkshire, Eng
Immigration: ~ 1635, Eng to MA w/family on the "James"
Life/Times Event: 10 May 1643, Took Freeman's Oath/MA
Occupation: Husbandman (Farmer); Proprietor
Public Ofc/Service: Bet. 1656 - 1657, 1660-1661 Selectman/Chelmsford, Middlesex Co, MA
Religion: First Congregational Society
Residence: 1635, Charlestown; 1638 Woburn; 1653 Chelmsford, Middlesex Co, MA
Will: 8 May 1677, Will Date; 7 June 1688 Will Probated/Boston, Suffolk Co, MA

More About ANNE JUNDON:

Date born 2: Bet. 1605 - 1616, Devonshire, Eng
Parentage/Ancestry: Could she be a Jourdan/Jurdayne of Dorsetshire & Devonshire, Eng
Religion: First Congregational Society
Residence: Molten, Devonshire, Eng

Halifax, Yorkshire, England


"The James"

St. John the Baptist Church where Benjamin Butterfield was Christened

Inside the St. John the Baptist Church

BOWN Surname Origin and Meaning:

This unusual and interesting surname has two possible origins, the first of which is Norman, French, and derives from a nickname for a "good" person, from the Old French "bon", good, from the Latin "bonus". The name was introduced into England after the Norman Conquest of 1066, and may have been bestowed in a complimentary or ironic sense on a "good" person. The second possible source is also from a nickname, of Anglo-Saxon origin, which is found recorded mainly in the north of England, as "Bain", and was given to an exceptionally tall, lean person. The derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th century "ban", bone, in northern dialects the long "a" was preserved, whereas in the southern dialect it was charged to an "o" sound. The modern variants of the surname from both sources include Bone, Bunn, Bonn, Boon(e), and Ba(yne). One Roger Bone is recorded in the 1273 Hundred Rolls of Kent. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Edward le Bon, which was dated 1204, The Oxfordshire Curia Rolls, during the reign of King John, known as 'Lackland', 1199 - 1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

SORENSON Surname Origin and Meaning:

This interesting name is of Scandinavian origin, specifically Danish and Norwegian, and is one of the patronymic forms from the personal name "Soren, Sohren". The given name is ultimately derived from the Latin "Severinus", a variant form of "Severus", from the vocabulary word meaning "harsh, austere". Severin(us) was the name borne by several early Christian saints, and became a popular personal name in most European countries, subsequently generating a wide variety of surnames. Examples include: Severin and S(e)urin (France); Severino (Italy); Severn (England); Seffrin(g) and Severing (Germany); and Sewerin (Sweden). However, although the practice of adopting surnames spread to Denmark and thence to Norway from North Germany during the late Middle Ages, until the 19th Century they were neither firmly fixed nor universal. They were almost invariably patronymic, and so not true hereditary surnames: the son of Soren Andersen would be christened, perhaps, Jan, and his surname would be Sorensen; his own son would take Jansen as his surname. It can thus be seen that Scandinavian surnames do not, generally speaking, have early fixed examples. In Norway, the marriage of Niels Sorensen and Anna Tonnesdatter was recorded in Bergen, on October 31st 1734. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Birgithe Sorensen, which was dated 1613, born in Karstenskov, Hellum, Hjorring, Denmark, during the reign of King Christian 1V of Denmark, 1588 - 1648. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

BUTTERFIELD Surname Origin and Meaning:

This very interesting surname is locational and derives from a 'lost' hamlet which was originally on the border of the West Riding of Yorkshire and Lancashire, near Todmorden. The modern surname is almost equally recorded in both counties, although almost all very early recordings are from Yorkshire, except oddly the very first as shown below. The development is the from the Olde English pre 7th century 'butor' meaning a bittern, a bird of the heron family renowned for its call at mating time, whilst the ancient 'feld' originally described an open area, one which had been cleared for agriculture. Paradoxically the later middle English 12th century 'field' actually describes a 'fenced area'. The early registers for the original 1379 Poll Tax include those of Willelmus de Bottesfeld and Isabella Botterfeld, both of the county of York, whilst in 1423 William de Butterfield (also recorded as Boterfeld) appears in the Wills List deposited at Chester, which suggests that he was from Lancashire or Cheshire. The Coat of Arms granted to the family has the blazon of a red field charged with a gold griffin segreant. The modern spelling forms also included Butterfint and Butterfill, whilst amongst the famous name holders are Swithun Butterfield of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, who is believed to have influenced Oliver Cromwell towards puritanism, and Robert Butterfield, also of Cambridge at the same time. The name has a long association with Universities as two hundred and fifty years later William Butterfield was, in 1876, the architect of Keble College, Oxford. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Hugh de Buteresfeld, which was dated 1199, in the pipe rolls of Buckinghamshire, during the reign of King John, known as 'Lackland', 1199 - 1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

ROBERTS Surname Origin & Meaning:

Recorded in over seventy spellings forms including Robert, Robart, Robb, and Rupert, which is from the same root, to Luparti of Italy, Rubke and Ruppertz of Germany, Rops and Rubbens of Flanders, Roberts and Robertson of England and Scotland, this is a surname of pre 7th century Germanic origins. It derives from the male given name "Hrodbeorht", a compound consisting of the elements "hrod", meaning renown, and "beorht", bright or famous. This type of (originally) baptismal name, was very popular throughout Europe for many centuries, and has remained so today. Like the name Ro(d)ger with which it shares a similar ancestry, it was 'adopted' by the Norsemen as they swept through Northern Europe on their march of conquest which took them to Normandy (the home of the North men), in the 10th century. The final joining of the circle was to introduce the name into Britain after The Conquest of 1066. As Rodbertus, Rotbert and Robert, the name is recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086. It was adopted as a surname in Europe in the latter half of the 13th Century, and early recordings include: John Roberd, in the Hundred Rolls of Berkshire, dated 1279, Counrad Ruprecht of Eblingen, Germany, in 1282, and William Robert, in the Fines Court Rolls of the county of Essex, England, in 1292. Other recordings of the medieval period include Richard Roberdes, which was dated 1327, in the Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire, England, Neyneke Robeken of Hannover, Germany, in 1359, and Eberlin Rubbart, of Stuttgart, Bavaria, in 1445. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Roberts is the 45th most popular surname in the United States and the 6th most common surname in Wales.

HOWARD Surname Origin & Meaning:

When the final definitive history of famous English surnames is written, the surname of Howard will surely be near the head of the list. It appears no less than seventy-five times in the British National Biography, whilst thirty-seven coats of arms have been granted to the name holders. The highest heraldic rank in England is that of Earl Marshall, responsible for all events in which the monarch takes a ceremonial role. This title is held by the Duke of Norfolk, whose family descend from Sir William Howard who died in 1308. Lord Howard of Effingham was the victor over the Spanish Armada in 1588, not Sir Francis Drake as is popularly recorded. There are two possible originations for the surname. It may derive from the Norman-French personal names Huard and Heward, introduced into England after the Conquest of 1066. These were originally adapted forms of the pre 7th century Germanic personal name "Hughard", composed of the elements "hug", meaning heart or spirit, and "hard", hardy and brave. Alternatively it may derive from the Anglo-Scandinavian personal name "Haward", composed of the elements "ha", meaning high and "varthr", a guardian. The names Huardus, Huart and Houardus, all appear as land owners in the famous Domesday Book of 1086, which predated most surnames by at least two hundred years. In the modern idiom the surname has several spellings including Howard, Howerd, Heward and Huard. The first recorded spelling of the family name is probably that of Robert Howarde. This was dated 1221, in the rolls of Ely Abbey, Cambridgeshire, during the reign of King Henry 111rd, 1216 - 1272. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop," often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Howard is the 70th most popular surname in the United States.

BROWN Surname Meaning & Origin:

Brown is generally a descriptive surname (nickname) referring to the color of the individual's complexion, color of hair, or garments, from the Middle English br(o)un, from Old English or Old French brun, meaning "brown." As a Scottish or Irish name, Brown may also be a translation of the Gaelic donn for "brown."
Brown is the 6th most popular surname in the United States and the 5th most common in England. The variant surname, Browne, is also common in England and Ireland.