Origins Of The Hulsey Family

It's a rainy Sunday night so I decided to look around the internet to search out some Hulsey family history. This isn't the first time that I have ever done this, but this is the first time I have opted to share my findings. 

On my prior expedition, my wife Terri and I did an extensive full afternoon of tracing the family history back to the middle ages and beyond and discovered some really interesting items. It appears that one of my ancestors was an actual Sheriff of Nottingham for one year and that I am somehow related to the explorer Bartholomew Gosnold, who discovered Cape Cod and named Martha's Vineyard after his daughter.

Guess where I'm going to spend my Summer vacation?

Anyway, I couldn't find any info on that tonight so I will be posting a follow up later when I get more data on that.

What I did find is information on when my Norman ancestors raided and the settled in the United Kingdom. It seems that my ancestors on my father's side were from Norway and my ancestors on my my mother's side were from Norway.

You can't get any more white than me. That being said, don't mess with me or I will raid your town, steal all your treasures, defile your women and then burn it down.

It's the Viking way.

Okay enough silliness:

The name Hulsey reached English shores for the first time with the ancestors of the Hulsey family as they migrated following the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Hulsey family lived in Hulse, a township, in the parish of Great Budworth, union and hundred of Northwich in Cheshire.

The surname Hulsey was first found in Cheshire where they are conjecturally descended from Bigot de Loges, the holder of these estates at the time of the taking of the Domesday Book. It is assumed that this noble may be assumed to be William Bigot, brother of the famous Roger Bigod, both of whom were at the Conquest in 1066.

The Royal County of Berkshire, home of Windsor Castle was home to an early branch of the family. "In 13th century Bartholomew de la Huse was of the same county (Testa de Neville); and in 1322 Peter de la Huse or Hoese was returned from Berkshire for Knight Service. "

The Hulse Baronetcy, of Lincoln's Inn Fields in the County of Middlesex is a title created on 7 February 1739 for Edward Hulse, (c. 1682-1759) Physician in Ordinary to Queen Anne, George I and George II. This Baronetcy continues to this day. Their family seat is Breamore House, Breamore, Hampshire.

Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Huls, Hulse, Hulles, Hulsey and others.

Outstanding amongst the family at this time was Sir Edward Hulse, 1st Baronet (c. 1682-1759), of Lincoln's Inn Fields, was Physician in Ordinary to Queen Anne, King George I and King George II. Sir Edward Hulse, 2nd Baronet (1714-1800) was an English peer, as was Sir Edward...

Then there is this, which suggests that the origin of the name Hulsey actually comes from Germany, which is what I was told growing up:

At first it was thought that the surname Hulse was strictly of English origin, but research has proven this wrong. We have found that the surname Hulse, spelled as such, is also of German, Dutch, and possibly Irish and Scottish origin. On the other hand, the surname Hulses presently appears to be only from Germany, while Huls families have immigrated from both Germany and Belgium.

Most of the German families we have traced used Huls, but there are seven German families that used Hulse (plus one who used Hulses) on their arrival. According to the German dictionary of surnames, Hulse and Huls (both with and without the umlaut above the "u") all derive from a plant "thistle", that grows in swampy areas. The names are found in Germany in the region of Niederrhein, the country along the river Rhine, bordering on Holland. There are four towns name Huls - two in the north, and two in the Rhineland. For years, everyone has been telling us that Hulse meant "wood" in German. "Holz" means "wood" in German. Don't change the "u" to an "o". "Hug" is not a modern version of "hog", and apparently the German Hulse, with the "u" has nothing to do with "wood", but is a good old German Rhineland swamp thistle of the "carlina vulgaris" variety. My German dictionary says that Hulse also means "hull", "husk", and "cartridge".

The Hulse surname in England is an old one and its source is obscure. A Hulse, who we knew in England, said that his family came from the Shetland Islands. I suspect that Hulse has no central point of origin even though there is a hamlet of "Hulse" in Cheshire. The History of Kent mentions the Manor of Lovelace passing into the hands of Richard Hulse who was traced in the same article back to Sir Hugh Hulse, of the Hulse in the County of Chester. He was knighted by King Henry I for his bravery in the overthrow of the Welsh in 1157. Another article says that it may be the possessive plural of Hull, or Hulle, a surname variously said to mean "a dweller by a holly-tree," "a dweller at a hill," from the Middle English hull (hill).

Lastly there is this little tidbit, which I found incredibly stupid:

This surname comes from the word, hussy, meaning 'housewife' or 'home-dweller'. It was misspelt when immigrant ancestors came through Ellis Island. The elaborate cursive used in the day meant that for two Ss in a row, the first looped far above which resembled an L enough to be misread and adopted by future generations.

As I mentioned above, I will be posting more information as I collect it.