ALVORD FAMILIES RESEARCH

INDEX:


lu: F22.

[ORIGINS:]

ORIGIN OF THE ALVORD NAME:

J. G. Alford, English Cannon, says the name ALFORD is Saxon, rather than Norman, and came into being near Chester, England in the Eleventh Century. At that time "OLD" was spelled "ALDE", and "ALDEFORD" was an Old Ford across the River Dee, above Chester. Ricardus, Dominus de Aldeford—(Lord of the Ford)—commanded the Old Ford.

Alford is also a town in Lincolnshire, England; also said to be from the word ald, signifying the old ford, old way, or old pass.

The book 'extinct baronets' says that the name is from hall of the ford, which created the Halford family. George III, King of England, knighted Henry Vaughn as Henry Halford. There were two Halford lines in England, and the name is variously spelled Halford, Hallford, Holford, Hollford. There could be a connection with the ALFORD family, but that remains to be seen.

[COAT OF ARMS:]

[PLACES:]

ALFORDS OF SOMERSET ENGLAND: The Alford name appears in the Somerset, England records beginning about 1200. Their connections with the Alford Castle in Cheshire appears to be clear and distinct. The migrants to Somerset, who later became the forebears of the American Alvords, progressed and prospered, becoming land owners from about 1560, while those who remained in Cheshire gradually died out or sank in position.

WHITESTAUNTON, a parish in the hundred of Petherton, county Somerset, 3 miles N.W. of Chard, its post town, and 6 from Ilminster. There are quarries of chalk and blue lias. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Bath and Wells, value £255. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, is an ancient structure with a square embattled tower. The parochial charities produce about £21 per annum, which go to Somerhayes' school. There are vestiges of ancient encampments, near which Roman antiquities have been found." From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) Transcribed by Colin Hinson © 2003.

[THE FAMILY NAME:]

The name is usually spelled ALVORD in America, but was usually ALFORD in England.

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