Meador/Meadows

Coat of Arms ~ Family Crests

~ Family Surname Origin ~

 

 

 

Meadows/Meadow/Medewe: Dweller by the meadow.
*Information comes from  A Dictionary of English Surnames by P.H. Reaney and R.M. Wilson.*

Origin: English

Spelling variations include: Meadowes, Meadows, Meadow, Meddows, Meddus, Meadus and others.

First found in in Suffolk where they were seated from early times and their first records appeared on the early census rolls taken by the early Kings of Britain to determine the rate of taxation of their subjects.

Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were: Anne Meadowes settled with her husband in Virginia in 1684; Elizabeth Meadows and her husband settled in Annapolis in 1758; James and John Meadows settled in Philadelphia in 1860. Edmund Meadus of Poole, Dorset, settled in Newfoundland.

 

Meador

 

Originated at Wytnesham, Norfolk County, England in 1188.  It consists of
a sable (black) shield with an azure (blue) chevron. The shield is divided
into three sections. On two of these is a pelican plucking its breast with
its beak, leaving a gules (red) spot of blood. This is a symbol of
self-sacrifice, arising from a myth that pelicans wounded themselves to feed
their young in times of famine. On the third section of the shield is a
statant (standing) lion, a peaceful but wary stance symbolizing the guarding
of home and country.

 

The motto below the shield, Mea dos virtus, translates
as, "My gift is virtue."

 

Origin: English

Spelling variations include: Meador, Meader, Meadur, Medur, Medor, Meder, Medder and others.

First found in Oxfordshire where they were anciently seated as Lords of the Manor.

Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were: the name represented in many forms and recorded from the mid 17th century in the great migration from Europe. Migrants settled in the eastern seaboard from Newfoundland, to Maine, to Virginia, the Carolinas, and to the islands.

 

 

 

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 © Deborah Lunsford Yates, 2000 - 2002

Last Updated Tuesday, August 27, 2002, 6:14:18 PM CST