Brick Wall: Who were Thomas J. Lapish's parents and what part of England did he emigrate from?

Question

Hoping for some help in overcoming this brick wall.

My 3xgreat grandfather was Thomas J. Lapish. I can't seem to find his marriage record in a digital format or any information on where in England he may have come from. I'm hoping for some help or at least some direction as to where would be the best place to look next.

 

Current Facts I Know:

- Name: Thomas J. Lapish (I think the J is either Joseph or Josiah based on certain transcriptions of records, but I am not sure.)

- Born April 1809 in England. Died in 1873 in Sombra, Ontario, Canada.

- Immigrated at some unknown point from England to Wolfe Island, Frontenac County, Ontario, Canada (earliest Census I've found him in is 1851 Canada Census.)

- Married Abigail Hitchcock (sometimes transcribed as Hickock.)

- First children seemed to be born in early 1840s, so may have married in the 1830s to 1840s.

- A good majority of people with the surname Lapish back in England seem to be from Yorkshire, so that seems to be my only clue currently as to potential location in England.

 

Here are all the documents/records I've found him in:

* "Canada Census, 1851," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWTS-MGQ : 10 November 2014), Thomas Lapish, Wolfe Island, Frontenac County, Canada West (Ontario), Canada; citing p. 25, line 27; Library and Archives Canada film number C_11721, Public Archives, Ontario.
* "Ontario Census, 1861," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQ7Z-M6J : 8 November 2014), Thomas Lapish, Wolfe Island, Frontenac, Ontario, Canada; citing p. 27, line 35; Library and Archives Canada film number C-1023-1024, Public Archives, Toronto; FHL microfilm 2,435,847.
* "Ontario Deaths, 1869-1937 and Overseas Deaths, 1939-1947," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JJ7C-4G7 : 11 December 2014), Thos Josiah Lapish in entry for Alonzo Lapish, 12 Jul 1930; citing Sarnia, Lambton, Ontario, Canada, 21273, Archives of Ontario, Toronto; FHL microfilm 2,313,255.
* "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVGM-2S8F : 13 December 2015), Thomas Lapish, 1873; Burial, Mooretown, Lambton, Ontario, Canada, Sutherland Cemetery; citing record ID 108892040, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.

 

Note: There is also a 'Thomas Clark Lapish' that is in the same area, but this is a different person and I am not sure how/if they are related somehow.

 

Any help is appreciated, even if it's just suggestions as to where I could potentially look.

Answer 1

familysearch.org did not have the specific location of his birth in England, but some with the Lapish surname were from London, England

Lapish

This is one of those rare names which is fairly well recorded but has never become in anyway common. The name is first recorded in England as "Lapus", which is either a developed form of the ancient hebrew "Lapidus", recorded in the book of judges as the husband of the prophetess "Deborah" or it may be job descriptive for a Mason, a derivation of Lapis - a stone. The relatively late first recording clearly suggests that the original name holder was of immigrant status. The period coincides with the early entry of the huguenots, but this is not proven from the records. The early entries include Edward Lapish, a witness at the Church of St. George in the East, Stepney, London on November 19th 1742, at the christening of his daughter Ann. The name is recorded heraldically as Lapisse of Guyenne, Gascony. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Jane Lapus, which was dated March 16th 1654, christened at St. Martin's in the Field, Westminster, during the reign of Oliver Cromwell, "The Lord Protector", 1650 - 1658. 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.

© Copyright: Name Origin Research www.surnamedb.com 1980 - 2017

Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Lapish#ixzz4jQJBhySW

 

 

Answer 2

https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=lapish

If you click on "England & Wales" the map confirms that there was a significant number of folks with the Lapish surname in Yorkshire. There were also some in Lancashire, Leicestershire, and in London.

Comments

Yeah - I think that is how I came to my thought that he may likely be from Yorkshire. I did a search on Ancestry and noted a lot of them were in Yorkshire, though it's difficult with such a common name like Thomas to figure out if any of those were him without parent names, alas.

Though there is a birthdate on his gravestone - not sure if that is his actual birthdate. (I think I had a notion when searching on Ancestry tos ee if I could find any birth records with that exact birthdate, but not sure if I missed it or what.)