Genealogy Place Names - F

F is for . . . Fécamp

A note to my family: This works out rather neatly. Our ancestor from Fécamp leads to my mother. Our ancestor from Fyndern leads to my father.  One is royal the other comes from a line of knights and ladies and then Quakers.  One is from France and the beaches of Normandy, and the other from a tiny place in Derbyshire, England.  Click on the links for more detail. Don’t be dismayed by different spellings – they abound and are further confused by the use of Latin. Until the majority of people could read spelling remained very fluid

Once again, this is a blog of mostly links like the one immediately below that has photos, maps, and a fascinating history on the origin of Fécamp. Be sure to follow the links.

Fécamp, Seine Inferieure, Normandy, France

Robert Antoine Pinchon, Le port de Fécamp, oil on canvas, Wikipedia

Link to photos of the village

Our ancestor: Gunnora Harldsdottir deCrepon 
936-1031     28^th great grandmother

F is for . . . Fyndern

Fyndern, Derbyshire, England

George Fyndern  1470-1540 is my 16^th great grandfather.
This family comes down through our Quaker lines to my father’s family. Findern/Fyndern is a small village that grew up around the Fyndern manor house.

The village of Fyndern and our Fyndern family have an interesting history. See what’s up in the following link. The Findern Flower was brought back to the village in England from the Crusades.

Fyndern on Wikipedia

The Findern Flower, Narcissus Poeticus Flore Pleno

The Fyndern Flower   By John Hawkins - Findern Historical Society - Take by Findern resident. Wikipedia Commons

Here’s a BBC page on a FyndernHistory Walk – helping you imagine being there! 

The Villages of Findern (Fyndern)and Willington

I hope you’ve enjoyed our visit to a couple of small villages in France and England. The lands of our forefathers.  A challenge to my blog readers – look-up an area your ancestors hailed from and learn its history. It could be 2 generations back in Ohio or 10 generations back in Italy, but wherever it is you will be fascinated with what you find!  

Genealogy Place Names - E

With the letter ‘E’ we visit Scotland and Iceland. This is an interesting pairing as our Viking ancestors who settled in Iceland came from the Orkney Islands off the northern coast of Scotland. 

E is for . . .

Eaglesham, Renfrewshire, Scotland and the Montgomery family.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eaglesham

John Alexander de Montgomery 1338-1401 (my 18th great grandfather)

There is a ton of information on geni.com about John de Montgomerie (Montgomery). 

https://www.geni.com/people/Sir-John-Montgomerie-10th-Baron-of-Eaglesham/6000000008517729892

Photo from http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/eaglesham/eaglesham/index.html

Montgomery Street

Montgomery Street was once known as South Street and commemorates the Montgomeries, the Earls of Eglinton and later Earls of Winton who owned Eaglesham Estate for seven centuries. ^{- Wikipedia}

Montgomery Moto: Watch Well and Tartan (lowland)

E is for . . .

Eyiafiord, Iceland

The last place name of ‘E’s is in Iceland. This is serendipitous as recently some of our family filled their days with wonder on a vacation to Iceland. There weren’t enough days on their vacation to travel to northern Iceland – so let’s take a look. (See blue area on map.)

https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Eyjafj%C3%B6r%C3%B0ur

The History of Iceland

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Iceland

It looks as if our ancestors are contained in the first sentence of the above article. They came from Orkney Island off the coast of northern Scotland.

Eyjafjörður  is the longest fjord in Iceland. It is located in the central northern coast of the country, near the second most populous place in Iceland (25,000).  Still a very small population.

Photo by Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason

Wikipedia Commons