Re: what is the ethnic background(s) of this name?
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In reply to:
what is the ethnic background(s) of this name?
Jason Pursley 6/13/02
Hi Jason,
The name Pursley is of Anglo-Saxon descent.The record of the first Pursley shows up in Shropshire, England.Society was disrupted in England in 1086 when the Normans invaded from France.The victory of the Norman's at the Battle of Hastings resulted in the end of the Anglo-Saxon rule,but the Normans continued to fight between themselves as to who would rule, as far up as 1070.Despite this, the Pursley family survived and was recorded in the records of Shropshire as a "family of great antiquity, seated as Lords of the Manor of Purslow" and estates in that shire.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, some migrated to Ireland and Scotland (some as protestants, some who just followed Cromwell, and some who were exiles from their own land)It was a good time to migrate.Land was being confiscated from the Catholic Irish at the time and being given to newcomers.Though there is no documented proof, one school of thought is that the name Pursley first arrived in Ireland as a result of the "Cromwellian Adventurers for Land" in the 17th century.People could go to Ulster and get 1000 acres of land for only L200.But as I said, this is only a guess on the scholars part.
The first to come this way was James Pursley who settled in the Barbados in 1679.There was a William and David Pursley who came to Carolina in the 1700's.Somewhere here I have an article that tells about their imprisonment for religious differences in England, and a church her in the US paid for their ransom and transport by ship.Many people came here this way.You were either a member of the Church of England, or you were like William & David.
There are also some Pursley's who came to Philidelphia in the early 1800's.But my line was the John Pursley who landed in Virginia in 1751.I have reason to believe he is related to the David / Patrick Pursley line in Westmorland Co. Virginia.Did I answer your questions here somewhere???
Dawn Pursley Goodrum