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Origin of the Genson Surname
It was common in many countries to add either a prefix or suffix to the father’s name to form the family name. Surnames formed in this manner were among the last to be handed down from one generation to the next because the names changed as the father of the family changed.
In England the suffix ‘son’ was added to the father’s name. The name Genson originated from the name Geneson or son of Gene. The given name Gene was considered a masculine name meaning to be born or become. It has it’s origin in the Christian era. Gen being short for the first book of the bible, Genesis.
Changes of Spelling have occurred in most surnames. Usually a person would speak the name phoneticlly to a scribe, a priest, or a recorder. Local accents frequently changed the spelling of a name. Some common variations of the surname Genson include Geneson, Genneson , Ginson, Jenson, Jennison and Gonson.
The Genson name appears in English documents beginning in the mid-fourteenth century. William Geneson is mentioned in the Assize Rolls of Staffordshire in the year 1346AD. In Early England the Assize rolls were the equivalent of today’s court records. They include all writs, indictments, bonds and coroner’s inquests. A William Geneson can also be found recorded in the Register of the Freemen of the City of York in the year 1518. In 1513 John Geneson set sail for France aboard the ship "Sirius". Sir David Genson, (aka. Gonson), resisted the reformation of the church in England under King Henry VIII and was executed for his beliefs. The name Genson appears in church records in the Devon, Lincoln, Somerset, and Cheshire regions of England as well as the Lorraine region of France starting in the sixteenth century. Earliest records of the Genson family in the United States predate the Revolutionary War. A Richard Genson who was born in England in 1759, fought in the Revolutionary War at Fort Klock NY under the command of Capt Benjamin Dubois.