Benefiel/Benefield/Bedingfield Name Study

Profile managers: Michael Bissell --Benefiel [send private message] and One Name Studies WikiTree [send private message]

This is a One Name Study to collect together in one place everything about the surname Benefiel and its variants. The hope is that other researchers like you will join our study to help make it a valuable reference point for people studying lines that cross or intersect. Please contact the project leader, add categories to your profiles, add your questions to the bulletin board, add details of your name research, etc.

Study template: Paste this above the biography for each Benefiel (make sure there is }} at the end):

{{One Name Study | name = Benefiel | category = Benefiel_Name_Study

It will look like this:

This profile is part of the Benefiel Name Study.

The Question of the origin of the Benefiel (etc) surname:

"The BENEFIELD Lineage back to the Knights of Normandy", posted on Ancestry 14 Dec 2010 by obxseabean

Beginnings

The ”Benefield” surname began as ”Bedingfield”. The family are first found in England after 1066 with Ogerus de Pugeys. He was a Knight of Lord Malet, a companion to William, the Conqueror, at the Battle of Hastings, in 1066.The Bedingfield/Pugeys are of Norman descent with their forebears settling in Normandy, France along with King Rollo of Norway. Rollo was a Viking leader of the principality of Normandy. The King of France gave Rollo the land of Normandy in an agreement to end the looting of France and to help the King of France defend against other Vikings attacking France. One of the Lords of Normandy was William, Lord Malet de Graville. Ogerus de Pugeys was a Knight in Lord Malet’s court.In 1066 when William The Conqueror came over to England, Lord Malet and his Knights came with him to fight the Anglo-Saxon King, Harold. Lord Malet was first cousin to the King of England’s wife, and was apparently entrusted with the guard of Harold’s body after he had been slain on the battlefield. After the conquest William (Lord Malet) was made governor of York Castle and was slain in its defense about 1071. At the general survey in 1086 (which became the Domesday Book) Lord Malet’s son Robert, possessed: thirty-two Lordships in Yorkshire, three in Essex, one in Hampshire, two in Nottinghamshire, eight in Lincolshire, and two hundred and twenty one in Suffolk. The near kinsman of this Robert, William Malet, became Lord of the Honor of Eye in Suffolk.

'de Pugeys’ becomes ‘De Badyngafelda'

Because Ogerus de Pugeys fought bravely alongside Lord Malet he was given land in the county of Suffolk in an area known as ”Badyngafelda”. ”Badyngafelda” was a pasture or meadow that was primarily used for the grazing of sheep. Peter, the son of Ogerus was given the duty of caretaker for the second William Malet of Honor of Eye in Suffolk, England. Ogerus de Pugeys was given the title of ‘Sir Knight Ogerus de Pugeys of Badyngafelda’. The name was later changed to de Badyngafelda in recognition of the estate and manor and the de Pugeys was dropped. The family’s first seat was Flemmings Hall (it is now a farmhouse surrounded by a moat). Around the 1300s the ”de” was dropped, and the family became known simply as Bedingfield. In the fourteenth century the family divided into two branches, one of which established itself at Ditchingham, the other at Oxborough Hall in Norfolk, which continues to be the ancestoral home.

Other contenders for the origin of the surname:

(1) Anglo-Saxon from the Old English Bene feld = "living near the bean-field" and (2) Norman from the surname Banville.

Here is a sampling of websites with information on the origin of the Benefiel surname:

Ancestry.com: http://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=benefiel

House of Names: https://www.houseofnames.com/benefiel-family-crest

Mooseroots: http://names.mooseroots.com/l/29537/Benefiel

Genealogy Today: http://www.genealogytoday.com/surname/finder.mv?Surname=Benefiel

Surname Web: http://www.surnameweb.org/Benefiel/surnames.htm

Meaning-of-Names.com: http://surnames.meaning-of-names.com/genealogy/benefiel/

DNA Tested: Michael Bissell --Benefiel's DNA has been tested for genealogical purposes. It may be possible to confirm family relationships by comparing test results with Michael or other carriers of his ancestors' Y-chromosome or mitochondrial DNA. Y-chromosome DNA test-takers in his direct paternal line on WikiTree:

Michael (Bissell) Bissell --Benefiel - AncestryDNA Paternal Lineage Haplogroup R1b1b2a1a1*;

Ancestry.com member mgbissell;

Michael (Bissell) Bissell --Benefiel - Other yDNA 37 markers; Haplogroup R1b

Robert Benefiel Find Relationship - Other yDNA 37 markers; Haplogroup R1b