Re: Goodfellow origin and meaning?
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In reply to:
Goodfellow origin and meaning?
Angela Stewart 6/10/01
Hi angela,
I am also interested in the ancient Goodfellows of Rushton Spencer and Bosley, near Leek town in the Staffordshire Moorlands. The mention of Norse DNA is relevant in that there are many traces of Norse names etc in the area. It was on the western edge of the Danelaw kingdom of middle England from the 800’s. The Roman road from the Danish town of Derby ran through Leek on to Macclesfield and Manchester. Part of it was called the Jarlsway or earlsway. It is seven miles from the recorded destruction of the small trading entrepot of Davenport on the river Dane in A.D. 920 by raiding Norsemen. Ancient traditions record a Viking raid through the Leek area into Cheshire, defeated by Saxon forces near Gawsworth church.
The French connection is unusual in that the Norman conquerors of England in 1066 were descendants of Norse outlaws who conquered Normandy some 150 years previous. Their language was obviously Norse based with later French language with the Plantagenet kings. The Danes had settled all along the north and eastern English coasts, which included Northumbria up to Berwick; and the Norse on the western side - Cumbria - plus major ports in Ireland. The Norse word ”FELAGI” was a person who partnered with money a business venture – a trusted person. The earliest reference locally was of the abbot John Goodfellow of Dieulacres abbey on the edge of Leek in 1443; later the 1640 birthplace of quaker Thomas Rudyard of New Jersey. In 1532 Peter Goodfellow was listed in Rushton Spencer, and James in 1539. Thomas in 1666 of nearby Cloudwood on the Earlsway was one of the first quaker converts. I believe the earliest Goodfellow grave is in Rushton Spencer church dated 1603. I have been told there is information concerning Goodfellows at Bosley church, dating back to the Norman conquest.
Bye pete