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Family History

Ancestral Lineage

Origins of

the Surname

Variations of

the Surname

Armorial Bearings, Symbols and Mottoes

Researching

by Location

Migrations of the

American Family

Source Documents

Family Images Gallery

Gen-Resources

About This Webpage

Family history

Direct ancestors

Additional information about the persons in our database  as   well  as   a   complete

listing of individuals with this surname may be reviewed by clicking on this LINK.

Descendant Register

Generation 1

MARY CULP¹ VINNELL was born in 1778 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. She died in 1840 in Ohio. She married Isaac Gardner Sr. on 23 Jan 1796 in Maryland. He was born about 1775 in Maryland. He died on 22 Jan 1827 in Wayne Twp., Tuscarawas Co., Ohio, USA.

Isaac Gardner Sr. and Mary Culp Vinnell had the following children:

·            WILLIAM² GARDNER was born in 1799 in Maryland. He married Rebecka Wilkins on 29 Jan 1823 in Guernsey Co., Ohio. She died in 1837.

·            NELSON GARDNER SR. was born on 06 Jun 1800 in Maryland. He died in Jun 1870 in Washington County, Oregon.

·            NANCY LUCYNTHIA GARDNER was born on 05 Jun 1802 in Frederick County, Maryland. She died on 09 Jan 1883 in Union Twp., Lewis Co., Missouri. She married Disbury Johnson, son of Griffin Johnson and Sarah Mary Wright on 29 Jan 1823 in Guernsey County, Ohio. He was born on 01 Nov 1799 in Jefferson County, Ohio. He died on 25 Feb 1883 in Union Twp., Lewis Co., Missouri.

·            WILSON GARDNER was born in 1804 in Muskingum County, Ohio. He died in 1850 in Lee County, Iowa.

·            BENJAMIN GARDNER was born in 1806 in Muskingum County, Ohio.

·            GEORGE GARDNER was born in 1808 in Tuscarawas County, Ohio.

·            MARY VINNELL GARDNER was born on 15 Oct 1815 in Harrison County, Ohio. She died on 21 Mar 1893 in Staplehurst, Seward Co., Nebraska. She married John J. Johnson, son of Griffin Johnson and Sarah Mary Wright on 24 Dec 1833 in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. He was born on 08 May 1807 in Cadiz, Harrison Co., Ohio. He died on 16 Sep 1869 in Tamaroa, Perry Co., Illinois.

Mary Vinnell Gardner was born on 15 Oct 1805 in Harrison County, Ohio.

·            HENRIETTA GARDNER was born about 1817. She married Henry May on 07 Mar 1839.

·          ABNER DAVIS GARDNER was born on 05 May 1819 in Tuscarawas Co., Ohio. He died on 26 Feb 1885 in Marion County, Oregon. He married Sarah P. Johnson on 08 Aug 1842. She was born about 1821 in Missouri.

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Origins of the surname

An Introduction

to the Surname

Source/Meaning

of the Surname

History of

the Surname

More About

Surnames

An Introduction to the Surname

The practice of inherited family surnames began in England and France during the late part of the 11^th century.     With the passing of generations and the movement of families from place to place many of the original identifying names were altered into some of the versions that we are familiar with today.  Over the centuries, most of our European ancestors accepted their surname as an unchangeable part of their lives.  Thus people rarely changed their surname.  Variations of most surnames were usually the result of an involuntary act such as when a government official wrote a name phonetically or made an error in transcription. 

Source(s) & Meaning(s) of the Surname

Most of the modern family names throughout Europe have originated from with of the following circumstances: patronym or matronym, names based on the name of one's father, mother or ancestor, (Johnson, Wilson). Each is a means of conveying lineage; occupation (i.e., Carpenter, Cooper, Brewer, Mason); habitational (Middleton, Sidney, or Ireland) or topographical (i.e. Hill, Brook, Forrest, Dale); nicknames (i.e., Moody Freeholder, Wise, Armstrong); status (i.e. Freeman, Bond, Knight); and acquired ornamental names that were simply made up.

History of the Surname

     Surnames as we know them today were first assumed in Europe from the 11th to the 15th century. They were not in use in England or Scotland, before the Norman Conquest of 1066, and were first found in the Domesday Book of 1086. The employment in the use of a second name was a custom that was first introduced from the Normans who had adopted the custom just prior to this time.    Soon thereafter it became a mark of a generally higher socio-economic status and thus seen as disgraceful for a well-bred man to have only one name.  It was not until the middle of the 14^th century that surnames became general practice among all people in the British Isles.

Variations of the surname

Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to unfold and expand often leading to an overwhelming number of variants.  As such one can encounter great variation in the spelling of surnames because in early times, spelling in general and thus the spelling of names was not yet standardized.  Later on spellings would change with the branching and movement of families.

The complexity of researching records is compounded by the fact that in many cases an ancestors surname may also have been misspelled.  This is especially true when searching census documents.   The Soundex Indexing System was developed in an effort to assist with identifying spelling variations for a given surname.  Soundex is a method of indexing names in the 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920 US Census, and can aid genealogists in their research. 

Searching for more Information about this and other surnames?

Click LINK button to view our Surname Locator and Resources page.

Amorial bearings, symcbols and mottoes

In the Middle Ages heraldry came into use as a practical matter. It originated in the devices used to distinguish the armored warriors in tournament and war, and was also placed on seals as marks of identity. As far as records show, true heraldry began in the middle of the 12th century, and appeared almost simultaneously in several countries of Western Europe.  In the British Isles the College of Arms, (founded in 1483), is the Royal corporation of heralds who record proved pedigrees and grant armorial bearings.

Gallery of Images

Descriptions of the

Armorial Bearings

Motto(es) of

this Surname

More About Hearldic Bearings

Image gallery

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ARMORIAL BEARINGS

The associated armorial bearings for this surname and close variant spellings are recorded in Burke’s General Armorie and Reitstap’s Armorial General.  The additional information, presented below, is offered with regard to the armorial bearings depicted above:

FIGURE 1: These arms belong to a Vinyals of Catalonia. The gold shield contains a red lion surrounded by natural vines.  The use of a vine in heraldry denotes a strong and lasting friendship.

FIGURE 2: Burke attributes this coat-of-arms to a Vine of Great Britain.  The black shield contains three silver wheat-sheafs.  The crest is a golden heraldic tiger’s head emerging from a ducal coronet.  The wheat-sheafs signify that the harvest of one's hopes has been secured.

FIGURE 3: These arms were bestowed upon Sir Thomas Vyner, of Gloucestershire, by King Charles II when he became the Lord Mayor of London in 1653. These arms also belonged to Thomas Vyner’s nephew Sir Robert Viner, who became a Baronet in 1661 and Lord Mayor of London in 1675.  These arms feature  a blue shield containing a gold bend and a silver chief.  The chief holds an engrailed saltire (cross) and two Cornish choughs. The use of an engrailed line signifies the earth or the land.  The crest (not shown) depicts an armoured dexter (left) arm embowed and holding a six pointed gold star.

FIGURE 4: These arms belonged to a Vinel of Toulouse, France.   The blue shield features a silver swan and flower all backed by a terrace of the same color.  The swan signifies poetic harmony and learning, or lover thereof.

FIGURE 5: This coat of arms belonged to a Viner or Vyner of London.  It displays a blue shield with a gold bend and silver chief.  In the chief is a sinister (right) hand flanked by two cornish choughs (crows).  The use of Cornish choughs usually mean strategist in battle; or watchful for friends.

FIGURE 6:  Burke attributes theses arms to a Vyner of Great Britain.  The blue shield features a gold bend and silver chief containing two cornish choughs. These arms are quite similar to those featured in figures 3 and 5 which may mean that these families are closely connected.  The utilization of a bend on heraldic arms represents the scarf or shield suspender of a knight commander, and signifies defense or protection.

FIGURE 7: These arms were granted prior to 1656 to a Viner of Sackfield Hall of the nine parishes in county of Suffolk belonged to Joshua C. Carpenter whose wife was Ursula daughter of Richard Viner, Esq. of Sackfield.  The silver shield has a blue bend that contains three white birds of paradise.

FIGURE 8: These armorial bearings were granted n 1702 to a Viney of Hothfield and Maidstone in the County of Kent.  Burke’s description is of a silver shield containing a bunch of grapes stalked and leaved. The use of the color silver in heraldry signifies peace and sincerity.   The crest shows an arm couped at the shoulder holding a bunch of grapes by the stalk.

MOTTO(ES)  

     A motto is a word or sentence usually written upon a scroll and generally placed below the shield, but sometimes, especially in Scotland, above the crest.    Many ancient mottoes were war-cries such as the Douglas motto of “Forward.”    Many mottoes refer to the name of the bearer, for example “cole regem” for Coleridge.   In general most mottoes convey a sentiment, hope, or determination, such as the Cotter motto “Dum spiro spero” where the meaning is “While I have breath I hope“.     Mottoes are often used by several successive generations, but may be changed at any time by the grantee. The languages most in use are Latin, French, and English.  Exceptions are seen in Scotland where they are often in the old Lowland dialect, and in Wales, often in the language of the principality.   

The following listed mottoes and their translations are attributed to Vinnell or its variant spellings:  “Labore et honore”, (Viner of Badgeworth, Gloucestershire)

Heraldic bearings

The art of designing, displaying, describing, and recording arms is called heraldry. The use of coats of arms by countries, states, provinces, towns and villages is called civic heraldry.   A Coat of Arms is defined as a group of emblems and figures (heraldic bearings) usually arranged on and around a shield and serving as the special insignia of some person, family, or institution.  Except for a few cases, there is really no such thing as a standard "coat of arms" for a surname.  A coat of arms, more properly called an armorial achievement, armorial bearings or often just arms for short, is a design usually granted only to a single person not to an entire family or to a particular surname.  Coats of arms are inheritable property, and they generally descend to male lineal descendents of the original arms grantee.  The rules and traditions regarding Coats of Arms vary from country to country. Therefore a Coat of Arms for an English family would differ from that of a German family even when the surname is the same. 

Some of the more prominent elements incorporated into a  coat of arms are :

Crest - The word crest is often mistakenly applied to a coat of arms.  The crest was a later development arising from the love of pageantry.  Initially the crest consisted of charges painted onto a ridge on top of the helmet.

Wreath or Torse – The torse is a twist of cloth or wreath underneath and part of a crest. Always shown as six twists, the first tincture being the tincture of the field, the second the tincture of the metal, and so on.

Mantling – The mantling is a drapery tied to the helmet above the shield. It forms a backdrop for the shield.

Helm or Helmet - The helmet or helm is situated above the shield and bears the torse and crest. The style of helmet displayed varies according to rank and social status, and these styles developed over time, in step with the development of actual military helmets.

Shield or Arms - The basis of all coats of arms.  At their simplest, arms consist of a shield with a plain field on which appears a geometrical shape or object.  The items appearing on the shield are known as charges.

Motto - The motto was originally a war cry, but later mottoes often expressed some worthy sentiment. It may appear at the top or bottom of a family coat of arms.

Searching for more information about heraldry? Click on the button at the  right to take a look at our webpage featuring links to websites having images

of a wide variety of arms, crests, and badges.  They may also feature additional heraldry resources as noted in the accompanying descriptions.

Ancestral locations

Researching the locations where our ancestors lived has provided us with valuable evidence needed to fill-in the gaps in our family trees.  It has also led us to many interesting facts that enhance the overall picture of each family group.

Locations of

Direct Ancestors

Locational Distribution

of  this Surname

Where In the World

are my Ancestors?

Locatiof Direct Ancestors

The names of states and counties on the following list were derived from the known places where the Direct Ancestors in the “Ancestral Lineage” (see above) were born, married, and / or died.

COUNTRY

STATE

COUNTY / SUBDIVISION

UNITED STATES

OF AMERICA

Maryland

Anne Arundel; Frederick

Ohio

Harrison; Muskingum; Tuscarawas,

Use this LINK to find out more

about the locations listed above.

Locational distributionstors

     Knowing the geographical areas where the surname you are researching is clustered and distributed is an indispensable tool in deciding where to focus your research.  We believe that the “Public Profiler” website will open up to you a wide range of solutions which implement current research in spatial analysis.  This site provides an array of local spatial information tools useful to the genealogist.

          The information presented below shows where the VINNELL surname is distributed within the United States as well as in the British Isles, the probable country of origin of this family.      Statistics show that there are approximately 1.1 persons per million of population with this surname, within the British Isles, and 0.04 persons per million within the U.S.A.  New Zealand is found to be the country in the world where this surname is the most highly clustered having approximately 6.0 persons per million of population.  The top region of the world where this surname is the most highly clustered is the Kapiti Coast District, New Zealand, and Bath, Southwest, UK is the top city where this surname is found.

United States of America

Key

European Country of Origin

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click on thumbnail for larger image

Click on the LINK to the right to see more information about the World distribution of a surname.  You can get

greater detail for any of the following maps by clicking on the area, i.e state, county that you are interested in.

Wjere are my ancestors Ancestors

Resources which enhance our knowledge of the places inhabited by our ancestors are almost as important as their names. The LINK to the right will take you to Maps, Gazetteers,   and  other  helpful   resources 

that will assist in discovering Ancestral Locations.  These web sites comprise only a small portion of what is available for researchers interested in learning more about where their ancestors lived.

Migration routes

       Tracing our own family’s paths of migration can prove crucial in identifying previous generations and eventually, figuring out where and how they arrived in the “New World” as well as where they eventually settled.  Knowing the network of trails American pioneers traveled can help you guess where to start looking.  The trail map(s) provided below may assist you in understanding the routes that our direct ancestors of this family may have taken to find new homes and opportunities in the vast area now encompassed by the United States.

      During the 17^th, 18^th and 19^th centuries hundreds of thousands of Europeans made the perilous ocean voyage to America.  For many it was an escape from economic hardship and religious persecution.  For most it was an opportunity to start over, own their own land, and make a better future for their descendents.

 Immigration records show a number of people bearing the name of Vinnell, or one of its variants, as arriving in North America between the 17^th and 20^th centuries.  Some of these immigrants were: John Viner who settled at Virginia in 1663; Thomas Viner who came to in New England in 1672; Jane Viner who came to Maryland in 1735; Michael and Susannah Vine settled in Maryland in 1720; and George Vinnell who came to Maryland about 1730.

Use the following links to find more early immigrants with this surname:

$ Search Ancestry.com Immigration Records; or Free Ship’s Passenger lists at OliveTreeGenealogy.com

VINNELL MIGRATIONS BETWEEN 1778 AND 1840

Anne Arundel County to Frederick County, Maryland

Frederick County, Maryland to Muskingum County, Ohio: c. 1803

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The Development of an Historical Migration Route

It is understood that in many if not all cases we do not know exactly what routes our ancestors took as they migrated throughout the United States.   As such certain assumptions have been utilized to re-create the migration path presented above.  With regard to 18^th and 19^th century land routes we assume that they travelled along few trails and roads that were in existence at the time.  Research shows that a great many of these old paths and trails are today designated as U.S. Highway Routes.  For example, a major east-west route of migration known as the National Road is now U.S. Route 40, and a primary north-south migration route of the 18^th century followed the Great Indian War and Trading Path is now U.S. Route 11.  In some situations the re-created migration route may travel along state routes that connect or run through the seat of a county as that populated place is probably the oldest settlement in the area. The use of water as a migration route is also likely.  For example, during the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries many families travelled west on the Ohio River as they moved on the new lands in Missouri or the Old Northwest Territory.  As such when applicable water routes have been included as the possible migration route.   

Source documents

The documents contained within this “Source Documents Archives” have been located during our research of this family, and used as evidence to prove many of the facts contained within the database of this family’s record.   We have source documents related to the following persons within our database with this surname.

This Link will take you to our

archive of source documents.  

You are welcome to download any of the documents contained within this archive that does not cite a copyright.  Should you encounter a problem obtaining a copy you may get in touch with us via the contact information found at the end of this web-page.

     Most of these documents can be considered as primary or secondary evidence.  Primary evidence is usually defined as the best available to prove the fact in question, usually in an original document or record.  Secondary evidence is in essence all that evidence which is inferior in its origin to primary evidence. That does not mean secondary evidence is always in error, but there is a greater chance of error.  Examples of this type of evidence would be a copy of an original record, or oral testimony of a record’s contents.  Published genealogies and family histories are also secondary evidence.

     Classifying evidence as either primary or secondary does not tell anything about its accuracy or ultimate value.  This is especially true of secondary evidence.  Thus it is always a good idea to ask the following questions: (1) How far removed from the original is it, (when it is a copy)?; (2) What was the reason for the creation of the source which contains this evidence?; and (3) Who was responsible for creating this secondary evidence and what interest did they have in its accuracy?

SOURCE:  Greenwood, Val D., The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, 2^nd edition, Genealogical Publishing  Co., Baltimore, MD 21202, 1990, pgs. 62-63

Images gallery

During our research we have collected images and photographs that are of general interest to a particular family.  Some of them are presented on this website because we believe they tend to provide the reader with additional information which may aid in the understanding of our ancestors past lives.

This Link will take you to our

collection of family photographs.  

Use the power of Google™ to find more interesting images about this topic. This button will link you to the Google Images Search   page.   Enter   the   topic   you   are

searching in the box and click “Search Images”. At the “Images” display page you will see the image, as well as the website of which it is associated.

Web resources

This search engine may

provide you with additional

information to assist with

your research about this topic.

·             Our Surname Locator And Resources web page contains the following: (1) links that will take you to an updated listing of all surnames as posted in our three databases at the Rootsweb WorldConnect Project; (2) the Surname List Finder a tool that finds sound-alike matches for a given surname from among RootsWeb's thousands of surname lists; (3) the Soundex Converter that can be used to find the soundex code for a surname, plus other surnames/spellings sharing the same soundex code;  (4) Surname Message Boards the world's largest online genealogy community with over 17 Million posts on more than 161,000 boards; (5) Surname Mailing Lists of all surnames having mailing lists at RootsWeb, as well as topics that include (6) Surname Heraldy, and  (7) Mapping a Surname. 

·              Your genealogy research of this surname can be facilitated by use of Surname Web. This website links to the majority of the surname data on the web, as well as to individual family trees, origin and surname meaning if known, and many other related genealogy resources. 

·              Surname Finder provides easy access to free and commercial resources for 1,731,359 surnames. On each surname specific "finder" page, you can search a variety of online databases all pre-programmed with your surname.

·             Use All Surnames Genealogy to get access to find your surname resources .  There are almost 1300 links in this directory.

·             SurnameDB Free database of surname meanings - This site SurnameDB.Com contains a large FREE to access database (almost 50,000 surnames) on the history and meaning of family last names.

·             Public Profiler / World Names - Search for a Surname to view its Map and Statistics.

·             Linkpendium Surnames - Web sites, obituaries, biographies, and other material specific to a surname.

·              Cyndi's List - Surnames, Family Associations & Family Newsletters Index - Sites or resources dedicated to specific, individual family surnames.  

Free Records & Databases

All of the records and databases we’ve collected are FREE and can be accessed and searched online without having to pay for a subscription.   We have divided our collected into 14 record types as follows: Biographical; Birth; Cemetery; Census & City Directories; Church; Court; Death; Immigration & Naturalization; Land; Marriage; Military; Newspapers; Occupational; and Tax Records.    We try not to list any sites that have only a few records for the purpose of getting you to a website that will charge a fee to actually see the record beyond just a name.  

This Link will take you to our

collections of FREE Records.  

The following Link will take you to our library of genealogy reference books.   Here you will find bibliographies, family histories and books about names.  In addition, there are texts that pertain to ethnic and religion groups, history, geography as well as other books that will assist you with your research.

This Link will take you to our

collections of reference books.  

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-- This webpage was last updated on --

01 April 2012