Moseley Name Study
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Surnames/tags: Moseley Mosley Mosely
[send private message] and One Name Studies WikiTree [send private message]Recorded as Mouseley, Moseley, Mosley, Mousley and Mowsly, this is an English surname. It is from any one of several places called Mosley, Moseley, or Mowsley, in the counties of Lancashire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Leicestershire.
The place names are all found in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 commissioned by William the Conqueror, and the translation would seem to be either "Mul's island" from the Olde English pre 7th century personal name Mul, with -eg, meaning an island or possibly "Mus-leah" meaning "mouse wood". Locational surnames were often given to either the local lord of the manor and his descendants or to former inhabitants who had left the village, and who took or were given as their surname the name of their former home.
Early examples of the name recording include those of Ernold de Moseley, lord of the manor of Moseley in Lancashire, and given in the heraldic rolls as living in the time of King John (1199 -1216). A later descendant was Sir Nicholas Mosley, of Houghend, also in Lancashire, and the Lord Mayor of London in 1422. A later Sir Nicholas Mosley, but of the Derbyshire branch from Burneston Hall, was also Lord Mayor of London in 1599, during the last years of the reign of Elizabeth 1st.
An interesting recording is that of Joseph Moseley, an early emigrant to America. He embarked from London on the ship Bonaventure, in January 1634, bound for Virginia colony.
The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Suen de Moseleia. This was dated 1195, in the Pipe Rolls of Worcestershire, during the reign of King Richard 1st, known as "The Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Moseley#ixzz4mB2EmWOg
Williams and Murphy Records and Related Families by Robert Murphy Williams:
- Starting on page 227, this book contains lineages of the Moseley name that branch into North Carolina and Florida, beginning with the William Moseley who came to Virginia in 1649, from Rotterdam, Holland.
- "England was troubled throughout the whole reign of Charles I, the trouble increasing until his dethronement and execution in 1649. During that period many of his loyal followers found refuge and peace in Holland. William Moseley seems to have been one of these, as the records say that he was born in Stafford shire, England, living in the palatial home, Rolleston. He was born in 1608, married Susannah Burnet (dau. of Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of London), and came in 1649 with their sons William and Arthur from Rotterdam to Lynnhaven Parish, Princess Anne County, Va., bringing with them ten servants, valuable jewels and portraits (painted by Van Dyck) of ancestors in armor, as well as portraits of each member of the family. He immediately became active in the Colony and was appointed Commissioner and member of the Court in 1649. He and his wife died in 1655."-p 227-228.
WikiTree source example, with link to source page:
- Williams, Robert Murphy. Williams and Murphy Records and Related Families (Edwards and Broughton Co., Raleigh, N.C., 1949)
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There was absolutely no relationship between this William MOSELEY and the MOSLEYs of Rolleston Hall at Rolleston-on-Dove in England. Susannah BURNET(T) Blackmore Moseley was utterly unrelated to Gilbert BURNET, Bishop of London. And the four portraits they brought with them to America were quite certainly NOT painted by Van Dyck.
For those who are interested ... one of the four portraits (the one of the eldest son, William MOSELEY, c. 1634 - 1671) has recently been "found" and will be briefly on exhibit in the original Lynnhaven area of Lower Norfolk in May 2018. The current owner is a direct descendant of the teenager in the portrait.
It was actually Sir Nicholas MOSLEY of Hough End in Manchester who was the Lord Mayor of London in 1599-1600. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I, and he had very deliberately changed the spelling of the family name from MOSELEY to MOSLEY. (I can provide detail.) I am not aware of any MOSELEY being a Lord Mayor of London in 1422, so I am not sure where you are getting this information from. The Lord Mayor of London in 1422 was Sir William Walderne.
The earliest MOSELEY in the Americas that I have been able to find to date was a Joseph MOSLEY who is listed as living at Bass's Choice near Jamestown in Virginia on February 16, 1624/25, two years after the Good Friday Massacre on March 22, 1622 (by the Julian calendar). In the Musters of Virginia in 1624 it is clearly stated that he is a 21-year-old servant of Daniell GOOKINS who arrived in Virginia in 1623 aboard the "Providence".
The earliest MOSELEY in New England was a married niece of Sir Nicholas MOSELEY: Ellen MOSLEY Nugent Sewell (b. 1587; see http://person.ancestry.com/tree/88372580/person/30567289061/facts).
Ellen or Elline MOSLEY Nugent Sewell (b. 1587) was the third wife of Henry SEWELL (1576-1656). She appears to have arrived in New England in about 1635 with her husband Henry. We know that: (a) Ellen was a daughter of Anthonie MOSLEY (1537-1607) of the Manchester family of clothiers and his wife Alice or Alicia WEBSTER Mosley; (b) Ellen had first married Walter NUGENT (1587-1613) in Manchester in 1606; and (c) after Walter's death in 1613 she remarried (in 1615) to Henry SEWELL, becoming his third wife. Ellen's paternal uncle NIcholas MOSELEY and then MOSLEY (1527-1612) was the man who determined that his family's surname should be spelled as MOSLEY. He was knighted as Lord Mayor of London in 1600 by Queen Elizabeth I. Henry and Ellen followed Henry's son from his first marriage (also Henry SEWELL or SEWALL) to New England. However, there were [obviously] no MOSLEY descendents from this marriage. It is not clear whether Ellen died in America or returned to England after her husband was found guilty of beating her in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, in 1638.