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The
GRACE Family Name & Y-DNA Study
"Plenty
& Grace
Be To This Place"
(from an Elizabethan prayer)
Introduction
for anyone with the name GRACE, or similar name
Many of us with the name of GRACE
have totally independent origins. Early references in England,
before significant periods of economic migration, suggest local
reasons for the name being adopted (see maps below). Any name
sounding close to a word that occurs in the Christian Bible (a
main vehicle of early education) would inevitably lead to an
early standardisation of the spelling. Here are some of the
possible reasons why you may have this surname, although I have
no idea about my own:
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1. A
direct descendent or illegitimate offspring from the old
noble Norman Irish de
GRAS or
le
GROS,
later GRACE, family;
2. A C11th/C14th Irish servant or
tenant-farmer working for the GRACE family above;
3. A
resident of "Grace's County" in Kilkenny, Ireland;
home of the de GRAS / GRACE family;
4. A servant or
tenant-farmer working on the lands of GRACE family in
Buckinghamshire, England or connected with the estates in
surrounding counties;
5. A church orphan/foundling, who
was given that as a church name;
6. Someone who was the
(illegitimate) son of a mother named Grace;
7. Someone
who was graceful in nature or character and was given that
name (from the Old French);
8. Someone who was deemed to
be religious and was given that name (grace - a term mainly
used in Catholicism);
9. Someone who was grey
(particularly in hair colour or complexion), i.e. originally
greys
or
gray
(grisja
in
Old German, later latinized to grace
in
Old French);
10. A shortened form of "grazier"
from atte
grase -
a shepherd or animal stock keeper (from Old English graes
meaning
grass or pasture);
11. Immigrant named GREIS, GRIES,
GRAES, GRACZYK, GROSE, or similar, from Western Europe
(France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Poland) adopting a
naturalised spelling - Frisian names such as GRAETS, GRAETZ,
GRATES & GRETTES, as examples, of particular interest due
to Y-DNA evidence;
12. Dialect for GRICE or similar family
name of different origins. Note: GRICE has an origin from
gris
as
English dialect from the Old Norse griss
meaning
pig or boar. The modern Norwegian name for pig is also gris.
One GRICE coat of arms shows three boars heads, possibly
supporting this origin;
13. Someone from the port town of
Grays in Essex, perhaps?;
14. There were GRACE plantations
in the West Indies which may account for some Afro-Caribbean
surnames;
15. Some modern oriental GRACE family names
appear to be anglicized Chinese or other languages (many such
names in Hong Kong today);
16. A westernised name of
Latvian origin, possibly originally GRACEOUS, or similar;
17.
Modern French names of GRACE & GRÂCE, perhaps
connected to original Norman French families;
18.
Connection with the farm and area surrounding of Great
Graces, Little Baddow, east of Chelmsford, Essex ("Graces
Manor"), although many centuries prior to the birth of
my 3xGGF nearby;
19. A variant or mistranscription of
GRACIE, GRACEY or similar name of English origins;
20.
...and what about you?
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Graces Manor,
near Little Baddow & Danbury, Essex
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The
GRACE DNA-Study
In 1990's I initiated a Y-chromosome DNA
study for the GRACE name, in an effort to see if I was really a
descendant of that clan family name (as discussed below), or
possibly an orphan as speculated on my
family GRACE webpage. The few GRACEs outside of my known
family tree who have taken the Y-chromosome test to date show
that there is no close match to my own results. I therefore
submitted my DYS results
for comparison on the free & publicly available Ybase
& Ysearch
databases, and
I would encourage any male GRACE interested in genetic genealogy
to submit their results to these databases as well as contact me
to compare results. Status of my genetic search can be reviewed
on my GRACE DNA page, with my
Frisian haplotype of considerable interest for possible East
Anglian/Friesland (possible Dutch/German immigrant) ancestral
links.
Before the southern North Sea became flooded, in
the area sometimes referred to as Doggerland, it is entirely
possible genetically-related Neolithic tribes moved both east and
west as the waters rose after the last Ice Age. In more recent
times there is normal North Sea trade, and 1795 when the French
invaded Holland overthrowing the Old Dutch regime, this may have
resulted in emigrant families who may be the origin of the name.
Was Jeremiah, the son of a Dutch or Frisian immigrant?
As
a first step, a volunteer from my GRACE family tree was required
to compare their Y-DNA with my own. This would independently
verify the haplotype of our Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA),
William GRACE (1840) and thereby Jeremiah GRACE, assuming him to
be his only genetic son. A third cousin (one of my most distant
living male relatives and therefore most ideal candidate,
descended from one of William's other sons, and not from William
Henry from whom I am descended) was kind enough to provide a
sample in 2010. This confirmed without doubt that we are
descended from a common ancestor and apart from one fast mutator
marker (DYS576), we have an exact match. These results will be
used as the basis to compare any other GRACE from our own tree,
and those of any outside GRACE and all other surnames.
My ancestral search is for any Jeremiah
GRACE baptised between 1800-1830,
anywhere in the UK & Ireland (the latter country having a
known concentration of that family name), although there is no
evidence to connect my family with the noble Irish or Kilkenny
families. Jeremiah consistently believed he had origins in
Colchester, Essex, and that his reported ages put his birth
around 1811/12. Spelling variations are also of interest which
include GRACE, GRACEY, GRACIE,
GRACEY, GRAYES, GRAYS, GREYS &
GRICE.
There is also a grouping of the GRACE family name in the
Bermondsey area of London. It is also possible the name is an
anglicized version of a European family name such as GREIS,
or GRACZYK,
and perhaps one of Frisian origin. It is known, as an example,
that one Jeremias DIEDERTS took the surname GRAS on 24.12.1811 in
Stavorn, Netherlands, as everyone had to take a surname by law at
that time (he already had sons Berent, Diedert, Johannes &
Uilke and 3 daughters Aafke, Rink & Trijntje, so wasn't my
Jeremiah. Some immigrants may have left earlier in 1795 when the
French invaded Holland.
Earliest East Anglia family names include
an Adam GRACE
on the Suffolk Subsidy Rolls (1302) and Simon
GRACE on the Essex Court Rolls
(1310). From the reign of Edward I (1239-1307) there was Gras's
or Grace's Manor which fell within the Chelmsford area of Essex
in Little Baddow (see map above). In recent times a few GRACE /
GRICE / GRAYES families have lived in the area (Chelmsford, Great
Waltham, Purleigh, Runwell, Springfield) but appear to be
connected to the numerous families in Hertfordshire &
Buckinghamshire. The earlier families were likely connected to
the lands owned by the noble Irish family who arrived with
William the Conqueror in the C11th and led to the family name
being common in Kilkenny, Ireland.
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Earliest
English GRACE references:
William le
GRAS - Gloucs Pipe Rolls (1199)
Roger le GRAS - Staffs
Curia Regis Rolls (1200)
Henry GRECE - Northants Hundred
Rolls (1275)
Adam GRACE - Suffolk Subsidy Rolls
(1302)
Simon GRACE - Essex Court Rolls (1310)
William
atte GRASE - Somerset Subsidy Rolls (1327)
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Records shows the earliest
known GRACE family references in the following English counties.
The name has a clear geographical focus on Buckinghamshire, which
was home to lands belonging to the GRACE family. The name has
radiated outwards from the focus area along major routes of the
times. The other more widespread occurrences may be due to the
alternative pastoral origins of the name:
Beds:
Leighton Buzzard (1572), Berks:
Reading (1588), Sunninghill
(1579), Bucks:
Aston Clinton (1586), Aylesbury
(1565), Cheddington (1566), Chesham (1539), Chicheley (1567),
Cholesbury (1587), Datchet (1563), Grandborough (1554), Hoggeston
(1571), Ivinghoe (1583), Leckhampton (1560), Marsh Gibbon (1591),
Newton Longville (1596), Stone (1549), Swanbourne (1573),
Waddesdon (1563), Cambs:
Cambridge (1584), Essex:
Manuden (1579), Saffron Walden
(1581), Shellow Bowells (1597), Gloucs:
Bristol (1720), Dursley (1610),
Hants:
Penton
Mewsey (1562), Weyhill (1565), Herts:
Cheshunt
(1561), Kimpton (1583), Layston (1567), Much Hadnum (Hadham)
(1583), St. Albans (1563), Tring (1566),
Hunts:
none, Kent:
Canterbury (1547), Dover (1562),
Lancs:
1690's, Leics:
Desford (1561), Melton Mowbray
(1567), Lincs:
Horncastle (1576), Morton by
Bourne (1567), London:
Bermondsey (1584), inner London
districts (1545), South Mimms (1558), Norfolk:
Field Dalling (1568), Norwich
(1561), Northants:
none, Oxon:
Brize Norton (1571), Henley on
Thames (1595), Lower Heyford (1578),
Rutland:
Whissendine (1579), Staffs:
Shenstone (1600's), Suffolk:
Woodbridge
(1566), Surrey:
Buckland
(1560), Godalming (1568), Kingston on Thames (1569), Ockley
(1590), Sussex:
Brighton
(1562), Chichester (1596), Dimmington (1562), Fittleworth (1568),
Hove (1584), Rudgwick (1587), Warwicks:
Radford Semele (1575), Wilts:
Boscombe
(1579), Bromham (1596), Newton Toney (1593), Sailsbury (1592),
Urchfont (1551), Yorks:
Allerton
Mauleverer (1589), Braithwell (1626), Crofton & Wakefield
(1643), Felkirk (1612), Gargrave (1579), Leeds (1581), Rotherham
(1614), Sheffield (1575), Thirsk (1618) Thornhill by Dewsbury
(1580), Wragby (1620).
This C16th
distribution in England is shown on the map, below:
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Map
showing locations of LDS references
for the GRACE name in
England (C16th & earlier)
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Distribution
of the family name in 1881 (above).
More widely
distributed, but with not much change to the pattern in
Southern England towards the end of the C19th (cf. C16th).
The new concentration in the NW of England is presumably due
to Irish immigration through Liverpool. The name is
particularly rare in East Anglia, the supposed origins of my
head of family.
The maps below show present day
distribution based on 2000-2005 data in UK, Europe &
Ireland.
Frequency of
the name distribution is 528 per million for the whole of
Ireland and 128 per million in the UK, with the highest
concentration being in the area of SE Ireland at over 1830
per million.
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My
GRACE family tree in detail
Details
of the Irish noble line, the feudal lords of "Grace's
County", Kilkenny, Ireland, (no proven relationship), can be
found in Sheffield GRACE's 1823 book "Memoirs of The
Family of Grace", which traces the family line back to
pre-Norman Conquest days. This was published in a limited edition
of 25 copies. One copy was presented to the Pope in the Vatican
at the time. Other copies become periodically available through
searches by antiquarian bookshops, but are mainly held in
important reference libraries. The copy previously held by me was
purchased by Kenneth GRACE (USA). Kenneth's work suggests some of
the family tree is missing and some of it may be wrong. This
could either be poor research by Sheffield or due to the style of
romantic and elaborated historical writings that were very
fashionable in the C19th.
My arrangement of the war song
of the Grace's "Grasagh
Aboe!"
contained in the book
appropriately became the first piece of
music I ever sold.
An overview of the number of
GRACE households in each county of Ireland can be found in the
Primary Valuation property survey of 1848-64 (the number of
households paying), with the main counties highlighted in bold
below - perhaps you're related to one of them?
Antrim (2),
Armagh (3), Carlow (6), Clare (10), Cork (33), Dublin (7),
Dublin city (12), Galway (1), Kildare (9), Kilkenny (268),
Laois (24), Limerick (10), Limerick city (3), Meath (8),
Offaly (2), Roscommon (4), Tipperary (110), Waterford
(14), Westmeath (4), Wexford (31), Wicklow (10)
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