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  1. #1
    apurdy1658
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    Default Purdy in 1500 and before

    I'm trying, via both DNA and written records, to find the ancestry of Francis Purdy who died in 1658 in Fairfield, Connecticut, USA (then Connecticut colony of course). I have found some Francis Purdys in earliest parish registers at Bury St. Edmunds and Purdys in other parishes in Suffolk and Norfolk. I have assembled the Francis Purdy tree which includes over 42000 names in Canada and America, and have been working on it for 20 years. We would like to extend the DNA search into England and Ireland. I suspect that the name came from the Continent in the 1200's or 1300's, possibly from Flanders.
    apurdy

  2. #2
    Name well known on Brit-Gen
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    Hello apurdy, welcome to the Forums. You have quite a job ahead of you but while you still enjoy it, why not?
    A new challenge to the members is always welcome, & I wish you good hunting.
    Happy Families
    Wendy
    Count your Blessings, they'll all add up in the end.

  3. #3
    Geoffers
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    Quote Originally Posted by apurdy1658
    I'm trying, via both DNA and written records, to find the ancestry of Francis Purdy who died in 1658 in Fairfield, Connecticut, USA
    Welcome to the B-G forums

    A difficult period in which to trace further back, especially gaining access to possibly helpful records from your location.

    Any useful wills?

    Was this a wealthy/landowning family?

    In your shoes I wouldn't restrict the search to East Anglia as a simple search of TNA's catalogue shows the existence of the surname and its variant spellings across a larger area.

    Good luck.

  4. #4
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    I suspect that the name came from the Continent in the 1200's or 1300's, possibly from Flanders.
    My 30 seconds research can't compete with your 20 years but Reaney's Origin or English Surnames says that the English surname Purdy is one of a small group of names derived from oaths, in this case from par Dieu probably shortened from de par Dieu (Lat de parte Dei). See Chaucer eg "For, pardee, ye han ofte tyme herd telle..." There is no suggestion that the surname originated anywhere other than England. However, that is only one expert's opinion, there may be others.

    To underline Geoffers' remarks, Purdy and its many variants are well scattered across England in the 19th century although for some reason there is a particular concentration in Worcestershire.

  5. #5
    apurdy1658
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    Geoffers and Peter,
    There are two reasons why I'm looking closely at Suffolk and Norfolk. First, the listing that was obtained from the Society of Genealogists about 30 years ago showed that the population of Purdys trended toward East Anglia as one goes back in time. This list is not a complete list by any means, as I have discovered, so it may have fatal flaws. From what I've found in parish registers in East Anglia, there appear to be Purdys fairly well established in both counties at the time the parish records began. The name Francis was quite rare in Suffolk in any family as a tax roll of 1524 shows only five Francis first names out of 16,600 names on the list. Over 13,000 were covered by five names!! I have found only one Francis Purdy in Norfolk, a son of John in Brundall and born 1585. I have gone to England twice to do research, the most recent trip to Ipswich and Bury St. Edmunds, and I found in St. Mary's parish register at Bury that there was a Francis Purdy earlier than the one at Brundall, and two who were born at a more appropriate time than 1585. I estimate "my" Francis was born about 1620. I was hoping to "kill off" or marry some of these Francis Purdys but I found no further record of any of them so now I have four of them. I've been told there was a likely Francis in Doncaster, Yorkshire and that his mother was "Elizabeth Bradish" Bradish being a known variant of Brundish, but so far I have found no evidence of this and the source won't respond to questions. I think he made it up.

    The second reason is that very little is known about "my" Francis. He died in a general sickness in 1658, age unknown. He was married by Aug 5 1642 as shown in a probate document of his father-in-law John Brundish. John Brundish is from Suffolk; he has links to Rattlesden and his daughter Mary (who married Francis) was christened at St. Mary at Elm in Ipswich in Dec 1628. Mary was about 12 -13 years old when she married and the marriage has all the hallmarks of a marriage of convenience. John Brundish married Rachel Hubbard of a known strongly dissenting family and John is said to have been a follower of Rev. Hooker (a famous Puritan minister and one of the founders of Hartford, Connecticut) and he was in settlements in Massachusetts and Connecticut which were strongly "Puritan". I believe that because of this background that the Brundish family would not have married their young daughter to a man they didn't know very well. Also, Francis apparently never owned land, as the lot that he and Mary settled on was her dowry. From these few facts I conclude that Francis was very close to the Brundish family and possibly knew them in England, as it was barely 5 years between leaving England and the death of John Brundish. Francis may have come over as a teenager with the Brundish family. Certainly Francis Purdy must have been a Puritan whose beliefs were suitable to the Brundish family.
    There are certainly opportunities for this theory to be wrong, and it's possible that Francis was from elsewhere. I'm concentrating on the hottest trail first.

    There is a hamlet named Brundish in Suffolk. By the time the parish records began, there was one old man named Brun there but nobody named Brundish. And no Purdys. I was trying to find any Purdy families and Brundish families living near eachother, but I found nothing close enough to get excited about. Then I tried Purdy and Hubbard but the Hubbards are thick like anchovies on Italian pizza so nothing fell out of that.

    I had the College of Arms research an alleged Purdy coat of arms (none exists) and they turned up a similar sketch of an unregistered arms attributed to a Robert Pardy in Shropshire in the early 1400's. The sketch had no colour specifications.
    The name and variants must have existed in the 1300's in order to be as wide-spread as it is when parish records began being kept.
    As far as I know, none of the name was famous or influential or wealthy so they have probably escaped being recorded.

    There are several books which claim that the name is derived from Par Dieu but at least one expert has said that this story is nonsense. I think that one person suggested this and everyone else is parrotting the story. Certainly it isn't a trade or location name like Smith or Wheelwright or Hill or Brooks. The Par Dieu story could be true, but to say that it absolutely is true one would have to know where and when the name originated and the experts don't even guess at those details. As I understand it, the common people of England didn't speak French, but royalty and much of the Peerage (at least those who got their land from William I) did until Henry V. If so, the name didn't likely originate among the common people, yet there isn't anything I've seen that places any Purdy among the French speaking classes. This may be too much of a generality to be a valid argument.

    I have seen the alleged coat of arms design attributed to a Parduyn family in Flanders but have not researched that yet. Although the design's attribution to Francis is fiction, the fact that the design did really exist with the name Pardy in the 1400's and is a simple design (and therefore early in heraldic history) brings up the interesting possibility that if the design is legitimately associated with Parduyn in Flanders there must be some link there. The other possible link with Flanders is the cloth trade between Flanders and East Anglia which goes back to the 1200's. There are Purdys who were weavers in the late 1500's-early 1600's but in East Anglia this was pretty likely to happen in any family.

    Yes, I'm chasing smoke here but I've had good success so far in using history joined with stories to find the solution. We have a good DNA image of Francis and need to find Purdys in England who can trace their ancestry back, and who match Francis. We would like to discover if all the Purdys (and variants) have a single common ancestor or multiple distinct ancestries. Families like Hill and Smith have multiple ancestries as there were lots of hills and there were lots of smiths but the spelling of Purdy is so consistent there may be a very small number of distinct lines.

    Thanks for your responses. Anything helps. I'll look at Worcestershire.

  6. #6
    Geoffers
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    This will be difficult to follow up from your location, but in your shoes I'd be inclined to look at the Patent Rolls held at The National Archives at Kew, in particular looking at the Licences to Alienate and other forms of land transfer. Have a look at this TNA research guide - also this guide on Land Inheritance

    I fear that looking at a roll from 1524 may not help to establish the frequency of a forename 100 years later - so it would be wrong to read too much into that. You might try a search of TNA's catalogue, simply looking for 'purd*' between 1550 and 1650 to establish where the name may appear - also try the same search using PCC will on documentsonline.

  7. #7
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    Default Purdy

    apurdy, I descend from Francis Purdy, too. Gabriel Purdy, the Loyalist, came from New York to Cumberland Co., Nova Scotia and so my Purdys flourished.

    I recall my grandmother (Alice (Purdy) Brown, 1911-1995) talking about the Purdy family being related to royalty. A Purdy is purported to have been a Duke or an Earl...something like that. My grandmother said the documentation was in the hands of the "Purdys out west" Canada. I find it interesting that you mention this as a possibility.

  8. #8
    Super Moderator Sue Mackay's Avatar
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    Hallo susieque129, and a very warm welcome to British Genealogy. apurdy hasn't visited the forum for a number of years, but hopefully he still has the same e-mail and your post will generate an e-mail alert.

    In the mean time do have a good look round the rest of the forum, now that you are here.
    Sue Mackay
    Insanity is hereditary - you get it from your kids

  9. #9
    Cruisecamp
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    Hello susieque129 ... I descend from Francis Purdy as well, but through Jesse Purdy, Gabriel's brother. Jesse Purdy went to Ontario as a Loyalist. I have extensive family info from this line - including photos and a family bible. I am interested in the Purdy connection to royalty. I was not aware of this story. However, I have managed to tie into royalty through a spousal line. Also curious about the "documentation .. in the hands of the "Purdys out west"".

    I'm new to this forum and not sure how to exchange info. Perhaps you can let me know.

    Thanks...

  10. #10
    Super Moderator Sue Mackay's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cruisecamp View Post
    I'm new to this forum and not sure how to exchange info. Perhaps you can let me know.

    Thanks...
    You can either add to this thread, or you can click on susieque129's username and opt to send her a private message. You can safely reveal your e-mail address in a private message.

    PS welcome to british genealogy!
    Sue Mackay
    Insanity is hereditary - you get it from your kids

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