Nowell Name Study

Profile managers: Dola Acree [send private message] and One Name Studies WikiTree [send private message]

How to Join

Please contact the project leader Dola Acree or leave a comment at the foot of the page. If you have any questions, just ask. Thanks!

Goals

This is a One Name Study to collect together in one place everything about the surname Nowell 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.

Project Members and their interests

A lis of project members, with information about the focus of their research, can be found at Nowell Name Study: Project Members. Do feel free to contact them via the Wikitree messaging system.

Surname Variants

These variants are included as part of the Nowell Name Study:

• Nowel
• Knowell

A number of other variant spellings of the Nowell surname are encountered, and where individuals with those surname spellings connect to families within the study, the study extends to them. The main ones are:

• Knowles
• Noell
• Nowill

Most Noel families are almost certainly unconnected to members of the Nowell family. But some records for early members of the family from which the Noel Earls of Gainsborough came use the spelling Nowell, and this family may be connected with Nowells of Yorkshire; and the Noel spelling is found in some other Nowell family lines.

Nowell Crest

The Nowell crest on this page is "Or, fretty gules, a chief azure." "Fretty" means covered with fret, which represented the old iron grill work on castle and city gates. "Or" means gold, "gules" means red, and "azure" means blue. Hence, the top of the shield is azure and the bottom is the gold and red plaid with lots of grill work around. This is the crest of one of the main Nowell families of medieval England, based in Lancashire. Several branches of this family used variations on it.

Origin of the Nowell surname

The most widely accepted explanation of the Nowell surname is that it derives from the French word Noel, meaning Christmas. It may have started as a nickname for someone born in the Christmas period.

Another explanation seen sometimes is that the name derives from a place-name, Noailles, in France: there are several possible contenders, including one in Northern France and one in the Limousin (from which the family of the Dukes de Noailles, which became prominent in 16th century France, derived their name). There is no firm evidence to link the name with places in France, though knights from much of France joined in the Norman conquest of England. Despite claims on websites like https://www.houseofnames.com/noel-family-crest/French, there appears to be no evidence that a Robert Noel accompanied William the Conqueror and was given extensive lands in England: the name does not appear on any version of the Battle Abbey roll, nor does it feature in the Domesday Book; and this story appears to derive from fanciful traditions written down around the 14th century by the monks of Ronton Priory, Staffordshire - see http://www.british-history.ac.uk/staffs-hist-collection/vol4/pp264-266.

Nowell or Noel or variants were also used as first names, and some families may owe the surname to an early forebear being called Noels or Nowells – that is, son of someone with a first name Noel/Nowell.

Origins of Nowell families

The first recorded Nowell in standard pedigrees (like that in the Lancashire volume of Foster’s Pedigrees of the County Families of England) is Adam de Nowell of Read in Lancashire, sometimes called Adam de Reved (an old spelling of Read). He was alive in the reign of Henry I (1100-1135). Many descendants of Adam remained based in Lancashire; some had Yorkshire connections; and some were established in London and at Edmonton, Middlesex by Tudor and Stuart times. It is probable that some descendants of this family migrated to North America in the 17th century: as part of this name study it is hoped to establish such links more firmly.

Other Nowell families can be found fairly early in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Kent and elsewhere. It is not at present clear how far, if at all, they are connected to the Lancashire Nowells.

DNA

Some Nowells associated with North Carolina, who may be descended from the Lancashire family, have the haplogroup I-M253, which is particularly common in Scandinavia. Like many medieval families of Northern England, the Lancashire Nowells may well have had Viking ancestry.

Notable Nowells

• Alexander Nowell, c.1516-1602, Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, London, England
• Laurence Nowell, c.1530-c.1571, antiquarian, cartographer, Anglo-Saxon scholar
• Increase Nowell, 1593-1655, a member of the Great Migration, who played a major role in early colonial Massachusetts
• Bradley James Nowell 22 Feb 1968 - 25 May 1996, frontman for the rock band Sublime based in Long Beach, California
• Dorcas Marie (Doe) Nowell 7 Apr 1925 - 18 Dec 2011, American model and actress

Migrating Nowells

• Alice Ellen Nowell Nightingale, 1855- , migrated from Lancashire, England to New Bedford, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States.
• Anais (Bertholet) Nowell, 1885-1986, migrated from France to New Bedford, Bristol, Massachusetts.
• Anthony Nowell, 1772-1857, migrated from Portugal to Portsmouth, Rockingham, New Hampshire, United States.
• Bertha Nowell McLeod, 1879- , migrated from Blackburn, Bristol, Lancashire, England to Quincey, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States.
• Bridget Helen (Stack) Nowell, 1881-1921, migrated from Ireland to Massachusetts, United States.
• Daisy (Wills) Nowell, 1885-1976, migrated from Liverpool, Lancashire, England to United States.
• Delia Agnes (Dromey) Nowell, 1887-1985, migrated from Ennis, County Clare, Ireland to Massachusetts, United States.
• Elizabeth Mary Nowell Grime, 1850-1918, migrated from Lancashire, England to New Bedford, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States.
• George Nowell, 1636-1689, migrated from England to Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts Bay Colony.
• George Nowell, 1655- , migrated from Taunton, Somerset, England to Barbados.
• Harry Nowell, 1886-1948, migrated from Blackburn, Lancashire, England to Michigan, United States with his wife Annie (Grierson) Nowell, 1883-1972.
• Increase Nowell, 1592-1655, migrated from Warwickshire, England to New England, British Colonial America.
• Jan (John) Nowell, (Noel), 1632-1670, migrated from Zeiden, Zuid-Holland, Nederland to Charles City County, Virginia, British Colonial America.
• John Nowell, 1600- , migrated from England to Mulberry Island, Richmond, Virginia, British Colonial America.
• John Nowell, 1806-1869, migrated from North Petherton, Somerset, England to Columbus, Franklin, Ohio, United States; with wife Charlotte (Murray) Nowell, 1808-1891, and children: Robert G., Eliza, Walter, Charles, Frederick, William, John, and Elizabeth.
• Marguerite Jenkins (Warner) Nowell, 1898-1973, migrated from Nova Scotia, Canada to United States.
• Mary Alice (Travis) Nowell, 1848-1925, migrated from Lancashire, England to Sanford, York, Maine, United States.
• Nathaniel Nowell, 1844-1905, migrated form Oldham, Lancashire, England to New Bedford, Bristol, Masschusetts, United States, with wife, Margaret (Catterall) Nowell, 1843-1901, from Blackburn, Lancashire, England, along with their children Bertha Nowell McLeod, Leonard Nowell, and Maud Nowell.
• Peter Nowell, 1673-1740, migrated from Falmouth, Cornwall, England to York, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America.
• Peternell Nowell, 1589- , migrated from England to Barbados.
• Philip Nowell (Noel), 1645-1675, migrated from Trinity, Jersey, Channel Islands to New England, British Colonial America.
• Robert Nowell, 1646-1691, migrated from England to Salem, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony.
• Stephen Nowell, abt.1660-abt.1710, migrated England to Philadelphia, Colony of Pennsylvania, British Colonial America.

WikiTree+ Profile Searches

WikiTree+ is an independent service offered for free by Aleš Trtnik. Among other things, it provides searches of the WikiTree profiles. If you’re interested in finding profiles that need help with missing sources, parents, or another aspect, chances are that WikiTree+ can help.

Here are a few searches tailored to the Nowell One Name Study. They include only Open profiles and match last name at birth, other last name, and current last name. Select one of the example searches below and after the tool page opens, click the “Get profiles” button in the left pane, wait a few seconds to a minute for the search to run, and the matching profiles are listed on the right. Use them as is, or as a starting point to customize your own search. The Help page explains search parameters in section 3.2.1 “Text Search”.

Tip: If you customize your own search, save the webpage address (after clicking “Get profiles” button), and your search modifications will be saved as part of the webpage address.

• Find Nowell profiles missing both parents
• Find Nowell profiles not linked to any other profiles (Includes profiles linked to only Private profiles. :-(
• Find Nowell profiles not connected to the global tree (Click on person’s treeXXXXXX link to see all profiles in their tree.)
• Find Nowell profiles with Unsourced template
• Find Nowell profiles with category containing “Needs”
• Find Nowell profiles with Migrating Ancestor template

Experimental Searches
Currently hardwired to descendants of Peter Nowell (Nowell-58). Have to edit the search with a different WikiTreeID to search for someone else’s descendants. Haven’t been able to combine these into a single search with an OR operator. Don’t see how to limit to male or female lines.

• Find living descendants of Nowell-58 with mtDNA test - NOT limited to female line
• Find living descendants of Nowell-58 with yDNA test NOT limited to male line
• Find living descendants of Nowell-58 with auDNA test

Task List

1. Improve Nowell profiles, including unsourced, orphaned, or unconnected profiles.

2. Add photos to profiles.

3. Add one-name study stickers to all profiles that carry the Nowell name and first generation of married Nowell females forward to 1900.

4. Add Descendency stickers to the next two generations after the first generation of married Nowell females to 1900.

5. Add Migrating stickers to Nowell profiles that migrated with their family from one country to another.

6. Attempt to take Nowell family lines further back in time.

7. Research how far different Nowell family lines can be linked together.

8. Establish more firmly the British origins of North American Nowell families.

9. Investigate the geographical occurrence of people with Nowell surnames.

10. Look up name origin, heraldry or coat of arms and meaning, legends, etc.

11. Use the categorization facilities on Wikitree to assist research.

Project-related free-space pages

• Nowell Miscellany - a place for miscellaneous information and images which have not - or not yet - been attached to profiles of individuals.
• Nowell Name Study: Project Members - a list of participants in the project and their interests.

Links

Please note that the listing of a webpage here does not mean that the Project Team vouches for its accuracy. There are demonstratable errors on some of these sites.

• Wikipedia list of notable Nowells
• Nowells of Great Harwood, Lancashire, England
• Nowell family of Read, Lancashire
• Nowell/Newell families of the UK
• Noels/Newells of Newfoundland
• Historical Manuscript Commission: Noel family, Earls of Gainsborough
• Herbert C Varney, 'Nowell Family'
• Alexander Grosart, 'The Spending of the Money of Robert Nowell'
• Nowell builders and engineers and the Macclesfield Canal
• NC Nowell Family Connection