Message: "Given Name "Upshear, Upsher, Upsherd""

Given Name "Upshear, Upsher, Upsherd"

by Ralph Spicer@aol (guest)

12/25/2007, 12:27 PM

The given name of my great-great grandfather, Upshear (or variant shown above) Spicer of English heritage, born 1798 in Delaware and died 1855 in Illinois. I have found only one match from his extended family, Upsher Dolbee (or Dolby) who died in 1783 in Delaware. There seems to be no name like this in given name data banks.

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- Cleveland Kent Evans (clevelandkentevans) +2

12/28/2007, 4:47 PM

This is undoubtedly from the surname Upshur. Unfortunately I am not at home right now, but at my sister's in Tennessee, so I don't have access to my regular surname dictionaries. But Upshur is a well known family name in parts of the South. There are Upshur Counties in both Texas and West Virginia, for example.

- Cleveland Kent Evans (clevelandkentevans) +1

12/31/2007, 1:05 PM

P.S. Origin of Upshur

According to Reaney & Wilson's A Dictionary of English Surnames, Upshur indicates that one's ancestor came from a place called Upshire in Essex. Unfortunately this place is not listed in my English place name dictionary.

- Ralph Spicer (guest)

1/2/2008, 1:58 PM

Mr. Evans:

Thank you for your research regarding the origin of "Upsher, et. al.". I looked into place names as well. "Upshire" as you note was a hamlet in Waltham Parish, Essex County. I also found an "Upsher Green" in Suffolk. Because Upsher Dolbee (Messick) was the illegitimate son of Constance Dolby (Messick), we do not know the birth father's name.

I assume that given names which designated locations were assigned to individuals whose surnames came from other sources (occupations, physical characteristics, etc.) in order to provide specificity.

Again, thank you for your assistance.

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