I have many ancestors that settled in the American colonies well before 1650, all on my mother’s side of the family tree. When I began researching in 1980, a few of the English hometowns had been uncovered, but many were still a mystery.

Since then, much research has been accomplished and when I took a look to see how many places in England I could identify with one or more ancestors, I was a bit surprised, as there are just about 100!

I decided to pin them all using Google Earth:

Source: Google Earth

This is as much of the map as I could get in one cropped shot. The problem is that, although I can enlarge it to show even more of the town names, when I do that, it also brings in highway markings and other cities that aren’t on my list.

Even with that limitation, I think it’s pretty cool to see a map dotted with all my ancestral villages. If you see any familiar places and think we might be cousins, here are the surnames that go with each town:

Alcock – Mancetter
Antrobus – St. Albans
Arnold – St. Albans
Baldwin – Aston Clinton, Cholesbury
Bate – Lydd
Belden – Heptonstall, Gisburn
Bigg – Cranbrook
Blood – Ruddington
Boyse – Halifax
Brooke – London
Brown – Inkberrow
Browne – Sawbridgeworth, Childerditch
Bunker – Odell
Burt – Harberton
Butterworth – Halifax
Clarke – Theydon Garnon
Coffin – Brixton
Coley – Tring
Cramphorne – Sawbridgeworth
Eveleth – Exeter St. Thoas
Farrington – Olney
Fenn – Stewkley
Folger – Norwich
Foote – Shalford, Royston, Colchester
Fosdick – Hadley
Freeman – Irchester
Foule – Charlton Musgrove
Giddings – Clapham
Glover – Saltwood
Goodale – Downham, Great Yarmouth
Green – Toppesfield
Harre – Hadley
Haskell – Charlton Musgrove
Hearne – Colnbrook
Hilelay – Halifax
Holden – Lindsey
Holton – Holton St. Mary
Holyoke – Alcester, Kimcote and Walton, Tanworth
Hayward – London All Hallows
Howlat – Bures St. Mary
Hudson – London All Hallows
Huse – Salisbury st. Edmunds
Ingalls – skirbeck
Jenckes – London St. Anne Blackfriars
Knapp – Bures St. Mary, wormingford
Lakin – Ruddington
Lane – Rickmansworth
Lawrence – St. Albans
Lide – Inkberrow
Lobdell – Northam
Lockwood – Combs
Loker – Bures St. Mary Essex
Lynde – London All Hallows & Dunstable
Major – Odell
Marbury – Berkhamstead
Marche – Dean Prior
Martin – Tenterden
Mason – Bolton
Newhall – Sherrington
Nubery/Newberry – Exeter St. David
Pratt – Maldon
Prudden – Kings Walden
Purrier – St. Albans
Sargent – Gildersome, Meare
Scarlett – Nayland
Scott – Glemsford
Shatswell – Sibbertoft
Smith – Whatfield St. Margaret
Stevens – Brixton
Stockton – Alcester
Stokes – Yardley
Stowe – Biddenden
Tarbox – St. Ippolyts
Tompson – Preston Capes
Torrey – Combe St. Nicholas
Tue – Little Horkesley, Wormingford
Tuttle – St. Albans
Warren – Nayland, Wissington
Wathen – Bristol St. Stephen
Wells – Ringstead
Wheeler – Cranfield
Whipple – Bocking

Google Earth is a great tool and the best part is that it can locate even tiny little villages almost anywhere in the world.

Next, I think I am going to plot out all the New Brunswick, Canada towns where my Loyalists settled.