Origins
of the name Bellew
The
Bellew name itself comes from the Norman French "Bel ewe" meaning beautiful
water, presumably in the sense of good to drink. We take it for granted
today that everyone has a surname, but this was not the case in early medieval
times. People then often added some description to their first name to
distinguish themselves from others with the same first name. The first
Bellew probably adopted the name "**** from Bel ewe" and the name stuck.
Certainly from around 1200 the name has been used consistently, although
the spellings have varied wildly.
Because they were knights, the early Bellews had their own personal arms, an example of which can be seen in the shield at the top of the page. This simple design was used by successive Bellews for centuries, both in England and Ireland. In heraldic language this design is described as "sable fretty or". Above the shield the English Bellew families used a crest consisting of an arm pouring water out of a cup, a clear visual reference to the name. In Ireland the Bellews there used an arm holding a dagger. The family motto (usually shown beneath the shield) of "Tout en haut" translates from French as roughly "Everything on high" However, when spoken, the French words "haut"(high) and "eau"(water) sound the same and so the motto becomes a pun on the name. People enjoyed plays on words in medieval times and would have seen the joke.
To English speakers the name Bellew looks odd and a little foreign. In fact it is derived from the Norman French words "bel ewe", an old form of the modern French "bel eau". This translates literally as "beautiful water". In medieval documents, the name is often translated into Latin and appears as "de Bella Aqua". In English we would probably say "good water" rather than "beautiful water". Early English documents (ie. pre 1600) usually spell the name either Bellew or Belewe but there were many variations.
Surnames as we know them were not standard in the early medieval period and it was common for a person living away from their home town or village to be known as John of Nottingham, John of York, or wherever it was they came from. No-one knows the exact origin of the Bellew name but it is likely to refer to a place in Northern France where the family originated. Many place names are descriptive and in this case the settlement may have taken its name from its good water supply, perhaps a spring of pure drinking water.
The
Bellew arms
The
Bellew arms is a black shield covered with a simple gold lattice. In heraldic
terms this is described as "sable fretty or". The simplicity of the Bellew
shield design suggests an early date, as arms that were adopted at a late
date tended to be more elaborate than this. Its use by the Bellew family
is certainly recorded in the reign of King Edward III (1327-1377) and was
probably used much earlier.
The French motto beneath the shield, "Tout d’en haut", means roughly "everything from on high". However in French the words "haut" (high) and "eau"(water) are pronounced almost the same and so the motto when spoken can have two meanings. This is obviously a subtle pun on the name "bel ewe" ("bel eau" in modern French). On top of the helmet, the crest of an armoured arm pouring water out of a cup (held high) continues the joke. Clever puns and plays on words were very popular in medieval times and the joke would have been enjoyed by the high society people of the time.
The Irish branch of the Bellew family has a different crest, but the same shield. Their crest retains the armoured arm, but in common with many Irish arms, the hand holds a dagger. In Devonshire the English crest was used, but the arm was not clad in armour. From the sixteenth century the Devonshire Bellews sometimes quartered their arms with those of the families they married, a practice common at the time.
The
early Bellew families of England and Ireland
A
view from England by Geoff Martin
Some
excellent work is being done by US researchers on the spread of the Ballew/Bellew
names in the United States, but to date few definite links have been made
to Europe. The origins of the earliest settlers with these names are proving
to be particularly elusive. As someone with a background of English history
and research I have been asked to write this short piece to give a little
general information on the early Bellew families of England and Ireland
from whom some US Ballew/Bellew families are possibly descended.
The first Bellews in England were knights who probably arrived from France with the Norman Conquest of 1066-75. So few documents survive from that period that no-one can be sure exactly when they arrived in England. However, it is clear from their position in medieval feudal society that the Bellews were part of the Norman French establishment that held most of the land at that time and ran the country.
Over time the Bellew families spread. Some members of the main Bellew family based in Yorkshire were barons, whilst other branches were established in Cheshire and elsewhere. Around the time of the Conquest of Ireland in the late twelfth century another branch of the Bellew families was established in County Meath, Ireland, from where their descendants spread to County Louth and Galway in that country. A further branch of these Anglo-Irish Bellews moved to Devonshire, England around 1500. Since then branches have spread to several other parts of the UK and the name Bellew in all its spelling variations is to be found worldwide.
Much work still needs to be done on the history of the early Bellews, but the picture that emerges at this time is that they were a family of Norman knights who probably came to England during the Norman Conquest of 1066-70. The name is listed in the early copies of the "Battle Roll", a document that recorded the names of those who took part in the Battle of Hastings in 1066. However historians do not look on this as a reliable source as the original has been lost for centuries and some entries are later additions. Even so, by the early years of the next century the main English branch of the family were already barons in Yorkshire and the surviving records show that other branches had spread elsewhere.
Around 1170 one branch (probably from Yorkshire) took part in the Conquest of Ireland and their descendants have held land there ever since. They settled in County Meath, which was wholly ‘owned’ by one of the leading Anglo-Norman conquerors, Hugh de Lacy. (It is quite probable that the Bellews were closely associated with the de Lacy’s and may even have accompanied them from Normandy a century before.) Through marriage with other Anglo-Norman families the Bellews maintained and strengthened their position in Ireland. A later member of the main Irish branch acquired manors in Devonshire in 1470 as a result of a marriage to the neighbouring Fleming family (of Slane, Ireland) and they established a new branch of the Bellews in that part of south-west England from around 1500.
By the end of the medieval period (i.e. by the sixteenth century) the Bellews of Yorkshire had faded into obscurity, whilst the Irish Bellew family was gaining in importance. In Devonshire the main Bellews were country squires and wealthy landowners. The prestige enjoyed by the early Bellews in England was eventually to come to the main Irish branch, who in time became lords. Today the descendants of those first Bellews who came from Normandy more than 900 years ago are scattered throughout the English-speaking world.
The
medieval world of the Bellew knights
To
understand anything about people from the past it is necessary to look
at the world they lived in (There are many good books on the subject!).
From our perspective, some five hundred years after its passing, we tend
to view ‘Medieval Times’ as a static period. It is perhaps because we are
used to measuring progress by today’s rapid technological changes that
we fail to recognise the more subtle changes that occurred in much earlier
periods. In reality, throughout the centuries we call the Middle Ages,
society was constantly evolving and changing just as ours does today. Whilst
it is true that life could be hard and short for many individuals, taken
as a whole, Medieval society was complex, sophisticated and very different
to our own.
The social hierarchy of English medieval society is almost impossible to explain in just a few words, for the reasons I have just given. Put very simply, it was not structured like the pyramid arrangement of our western democratic societies, where money puts a few millionaires at the top with a gradual broadening through economic bands to the majority of people at the bottom who are less well off. Medieval society was more like the Manhattan skyline: mostly low rise punctuated by the soaring splendour of a few skyscrapers. It was a predominantly agricultural society, at the top of which was the king, followed by a very small number of great lords. Between them they owned most of the wealth and held most of the power. Beneath them came the lesser lords, the barons, the knights, merchants and so on down eventually to the poor man working in the field, who subsisted in what we today would regard as Third World conditions. Most people were at the bottom. The church was rich and powerful at this time, so in parallel to this secular hierarchy was another hierarchy of archbishops, bishops, abbots, priests, etc.
Over the centuries the money economy gradually gained more and more importance, but throughout the medieval period much revolved around land ownership and services owed in exchange for holding land. In theory the king owned all land: Everyone else only held it for a period. The king granted large areas to his lords and barons in exchange for military support and other services. These people in turn granted land to knights in return for services, they granted land to lesser men, etc, etc. The church too held a large share of the land. Most of the wealth and power was in the hands of a relatively few people and the majority of the population had neither. Today we call this feudalism, a society based upon the personal allegiance and obligations of a man to his social superior; his lord.
Socially and in terms of wealth and status, the principal medieval Bellew families were probably near the top of this society, amongst the barons and knights, but well below the great lords. (In studying such families one must always remember that in every generation the youngest children inherited least and their descendants might be far down the social order within just a few decades). The heads of these Bellew families typically owned several manors (i.e. they were ‘lords of the manor’) and they were generally wealthy landowners. In many cases they were knights and a number of them fought in wars. A few of them were barons, men who enjoyed an even higher place in society.
The word baron is a very loose term, but generally speaking, barons owned more land than a knight and in the feudal system of the times they were owed the service of lesser knights to whom they had granted land. One of the greatest of the Yorkshire Bellew barons, Sir John de Bellew (who died in 1300) served on the council of King Edward I (1272-1307). The records show that he accompanied the king on several expeditions when he went to war in France, Scotland and Wales. Typically, men like Sir John might provide a small private army of knights and men-at-arms in time of need and could hold their castles on the king’s behalf if necessary. Much of the time of course they lived in comfort. They didn’t really clank around in metal suits all day! Suits of armour were only for ceremony and war. I speak only of the men of course, as despite the important parts they undoubtedly played in the Bellew families, women were still centuries away from achieving equality and as a result they are little mentioned in the records.
Do
any US Ballews have English roots? A
view from England
Today
the name Bellew is found throughout the English speaking world. In the
USA not only does one find the name Bellew but also many similar names,
such as Ballew. Clearly some Bellews could have come from England as the
name is well established there, but what about Ballew and the other spellings:
Could any of those families be linked to the English Bellews?
It is tempting to think that names have always been spelt as they are today, but in fact spelling has only really become important in more recent times. Before say 1800 (and in many places long after that date) few people were educated to what we would recognise as a good standard and many couldn’t write at all. Spelling therefore tended to be used more casually, and names were frequently written as they sounded to the writer. Accents varied much more widely in the past too and this added to the variety of name spellings. Thus in Seventeenth century records, for instance, one should not regard different name spellings as being of great significance. It was only as time passed that name spellings became more fixed.
So it is quite possible, if not probable, that some very early US Ballews were descended from English Bellews. Having said that, it is highly unlikely that all present-day US Ballew/Bellew/Ballou families come from a common ancestor. It is far more likely, given the pattern of immigration into the USA, that several different families entered at different times and from different places. Indeed some of them no doubt arrived in fairly recent times and it should be remembered that some Bellews are likely to have come from Ireland rather than England.
One theory popular with some US researchers is that the Ballew/ Ballou names are of French Huguenot origin. Whether there is any truth in this I don’t know, as I have no special knowledge of US research. All I can say is that I have so far found no evidence of French Huguenots with these names in England. It is quite possible that some US names may be anglicisations of a similar sounding French names, only research will give the answer to these questions. Looking at this from a historian’s point of view I would simply say that one needs to proceed with caution. From "French sounding" to "Huguenot" is a big jump. The Huguenots were certainly a well-known refugee group, but they were not the only French people to settle in North America. For instance, looking back to 1700 and before, there were many French settlers in the French North American colonies to the north and west of New England and French trappers were also operating in many remote areas. Later migrants arrived from all over Europe, including France and other countries where French is spoken like Belgium and Switzerland. As with any theory, the Huguenot ancestry tradition may be true (for some families), but it can only be proved by hard evidence.
I have had correspondence with various US researchers who are trying to discover if a Lt. Col. William Ballew (from whom several US Ballew families are descended) came from England in the mid-Seventeenth century. So far no-one has succeeded in tracing his origins (although one person suggests a Ballowe family in Brampton, Oxfordshire as a strong possibility). From a historical point of view, someone of that military rank would probably have commanded a regiment of militia and would have been a gentleman (ie. a member of the gentry class, people from wealthy land-owning families). I would also expect him to inter-marry with families of the same class (US researchers have confirmed that he did). All this points to him coming from a similar background in England. Thus if a William of the right age is found in English records, his status will need to be checked out carefully. If he turns out to be the son of a farm worker he’s probably not the man. If on the other hand his family were landowners who had a coat-of-arms then he would be a strong contender. Social status was everything in those days.
Historical research is a bit like doing a jig-saw puzzle; carefully fit the right pieces and you build a picture, but try and knock in the wrong bits and you just end up with a confusing mess.
Researching
English roots: Some advice from England by Geoff Martin
On
looking for the origins of early Ballew/Bellew settlers in America, I will
leave the American history to those who know more about it than I do. Similarly
I leave the question of French Huguenot ancestry to others. However, on
the subjects of English history and research I can give a few general words
of advice.
If you are searching for a possible English link in say the seventeenth century, it helps if you piece together a profile of the person being studied and consider how a person of that type might have fitted into the English society of the time. The more background reading you can do for this the better.
In 1640 for instance, social status was everything. Money, power, position and influence were all concentrated in the hands of a small percentage of the population. This minority governed; they owned the land; they filled all the high positions; they gave jobs to their friends; and married their children to other families in their social group. In short, for most people at the time England was not a land of opportunity!
Whilst there is always the possibility that a person might suddenly have made their fortune, if a person being researched possessed these high status attributes on arrival in America, there is a very strong probability that he or she had a high status in England too. Conversely, if they possessed none of these status attributes, the chances are that they came from a similar lower status social group in England. Whatever their origins, usually a person would marry someone of similar status and a study of who their children married in America may be very useful. Clues as to their religious and political loyalties could also help you decide on their likely background.
From a research point of view, identifying the likely social group is a valuable exercise as it helps to narrow the search. Supposing for instance, that the evidence in US records indicates that a person was in a high social group when they arrived there. Depending on what they did in America, you might decide to start your research in England by looking for either a landed gentry family with a coat of arms, or perhaps a merchant family. In England high status families are usually far better documented than the general population and there is a much greater chance of finding published information about them. Also there are specific sources where one can look up references to particular groups. Over time, English society changed, but status remained important right through the eighteenth century too.
When planning research in England, another factor to bear in mind is how English records are organised. Before 1837 English records of births, marriages and deaths were kept locally in the parish church or chapel where the event occurred. Since then they have been kept nationally. Many other types of records were also organised by parish and most of these old records are commonly found today in county archives or libraries. Local histories are useful sources of information too, but their maximum area of coverage is usually a county at most and they may not be available outside their local area. Hence if you can find a clue as to which English county a person may have come from, your chances of tracing them in England are much improved.
If you haven’t tried research in England, but you are hoping to find an ancestor there, my advice for starting out is this:-
Extract as many clues from the American evidence as you can.
Read
some good books on what life in England was like at the time they may
have
left.
Try to figure what sort of family you need to look for and where they might have come from.
Find
out what records have survived for your chosen time and locality in
England.
Plan how you are going to do your research.
I won’t pretend that research from outside the UK is easy or cheap, but there is a wide range of books available on how to do research in England. There are English family history magazines you can subscribe to and many local family history groups that you can join as well. Usually these groups are organised on a county basis (many of them have web sites). Typically they do county-wide research and indexing (like recording tombstone inscriptions), which they publish for the benefit of other researchers, but normally they don’t do private research. A good internet starting point is the GENUKI site at http://midas.ac.uk/genuki/, which is a gateway to resources in the UK.