About the Pascoe Surname
Cornish people
are said to be of Celtic and Iberian stock.
They had their own language;
and their own distinctive surnames as this ditty would suggest:
"By
Ros-, Car-, Lan-, Tre-, Pol-, Pen-. Ye may
know most Cornish men."
I understand it was a custom
of the Celts to name their children after the nearest holiday or
festive
occasion and the Pascoe name started with Paasche which meant Easter,
(the
Celts had been converted to Christianity by this time). This was also a
first
name which throughout the descendants became Pascoe. And other
variations of the
spelling.
The old Cornish name Pascoe
is a patronymic surname, formed from the medieval given name Pask. Pask in turn is thought to be derived from
the Middle English word Paske which meant Easter.
The Pascoe name was first
found in Essex where they were seated from
very early times, and were granted lands by Duke William of Normandy their liege Lord,
for their distinguished assistance at the Battle of Hastings in 1066
A.D.
Later
it was found in Cornwall where Hugo Filius
Pasche’ is listed in the Rotuli Hundredorum in that County in 1279. John Pascowe was listed in that County in
1443 and a Paskell Langdon. Who died in 1606 was in some instances
recorded as
Pascowe.
The Pascal name was also
found in Dauphine, South-eastern, France, where this
distinguished family were anciently seated as an aristocratic family in
the
seigneurie of Merins. Again it is found
in the area of Venice, although
branches of this surname are found in Genoa, Naples, Sicily, Ferrara, Florence, Bologna and Siena.
The surname of PASCOE was a
baptismal name 'the son of Pask', one who was born at Easter, or had
some other
particular connection with that time of the year, such as owing a
feudal
obligation. The name was derived from the Middle English word
'paske' but
was recorded in early documents in the Latin form of PASCUUM. It was originally from the given name PASCAL
from the Latin Paschalis, meaning 'the Passover'. The
name was introduced into England from
France, and it was popular throughout Catholic Europe, mainly in honour
of the
festival of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, but also in honour
of a 9th
century pope and saint who had borne the name. Surnames
as we recognise them today are
believed to have been introduced by the Normans after the
Invasion of 1066. The first mention of
such names appears in the Domesday Book and they were progressively
adopted
between the 11th and 15th centuries. It
was the nobles and upper classes who first assumed a second name,
setting them
apart from the common people who continued to use only the single name
given to
them at birth. It was not until the
reign of Edward II (1307-1327) that it became common practice to use a
secondary name, originally a name reflecting the place of birth, a
nickname, an
occupational name or a baptismal name which had been passed on from a
parent to
the child, as an additional means of identification. Early
records of the name mention Thomas Paske
of the County of Oxfordshire in 1253. John
Pask of the County of Oxfordshire in 1273. Later
instances of the name mention Pacowe,
son of John Langdon, registered at Oxford University in 1571. William
Pascoll and Agness Urlyn were married
at St. George's Chapel, Mayfair, London in 1585. Robert
Brown married Elizabeth Paskell, St. George's, Hanover Square, London in 1803. Blaise
Pascall (1623-62) was the French
philosopher and mathematician, born in Clermont-Ferrand, where his father
was the president of the tax court. Thomas
Paske of the County of Norfolk was documented in
the year 1634. Samuel Boldwin and Martha
Paske were married at St. Dionis Backchurch, London in 1702.
While the
Pascoe
surname was to be found elsewhere in Cornwall, its
main concentration appears to have been in the Wendron
mining district. One family line begins with John
Pascoe, born there around 1533. The will of Bennet Pascoe was
recorded in
Wendron in 1621. Although
not
confirmed, this John Pascoe (Paskoe) appears to be my earliest found
Ancestor.
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