The Meadows Family from Virginia
The Meadows family from Virginia are paternal line
ancestors. It has taken me about ten years to research and prove that this
particular family is my correct line of Meadows. But they are proven and they
now have their place in my family tree along with related families. Who are the
Meadows? Where did this particular name “Meadows” originate? Why did the
Meadows come to the colonies?
The word meadows, as one would guess, comes from a
“meadow.” According to Google’s definition of meadow, a meadow is a
piece of grassland, especially one used for hay. A piece of low ground near a
river. The synonyms for meadow is field, paddock, pasture, prairie.
The surname Meadow is an Anglo-Saxon name and
comes from the family that resided in or near a meadow. The surname Meadow is
derived from the Old English words maed and maedwe, which both means meadow.
The surname Meadow belongs to the class of topographic
surnames, which were given to people who resided near physical features
such as hills, streams, churches, or types of trees.
I have researched my Meadows familial lineage back to
Daniel Meadows circa 1685 Virginia. There are Meadows in Suffolk, England that
possibly are the connection to my Meadow, but more research is needed to prove
the connection. My Meadows surname has consistently been spelled Meadows back
to Daniel Meadows. There are other spelling variations that I have found as I
was researching; but, they have not been connected to my Daniel Meadows line; and they probably came from the same area; and they are
probably connected. Suffolk
is an East Anglian county of historic England. The surname Meadow was first
found in Suffolk at Witnesham, a parish, in the union of Woodbridge, hundred of
Carlford.
There are Meadows, Medow, Meddows, Medor, living in
Virginia in the early 1600s but I have not connected them to Daniel. One of
them I am assuming is his father, but since I cannot find records to prove the
connection, I will have to keep looking.
The origin of the surname Meadows
is an interesting study, and I will continue researching this familial lineage
until I prove Daniel Meadows’ link to his parents. ■
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| Image from Google Images |
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