Author Topic: looking for info about my surname  (Read 839 times)

Offline miss_isabelle_24

  • RootsChat Extra
  • **
  • Posts: 6
    • View Profile
looking for info about my surname
« on: Sunday 29 November 20 08:26 GMT (UK) »
Hello.
Recently I got interested in finding more about my ancestors and my family tree and eventually my surname.

I started asking family about ancestors and started making a family tree on paper. I think I am going to use some software to make it look good. Asking elders, I was surprised to find out that in earlier times lots of children died in birth or in a very early age. Do I register them? I need to make up my mind.

My surname is Pollock and I feel I need to know more about it. I mean, people know you by your surname and most times you don’t even know whether it means something or where it comes from. I made a search and this guy Tristan Pollock seems to have made some digging himself about the name Pollock.

Either way, if you could give me more pointers as to where to look for more information about surnames, please do.

Thanks in advance.

Offline Kiltaglassan

  • RootsChat Marquessate
  • *******
  • Posts: 8,486
  • The Seven Churches, Inishmore - early Christian
    • View Profile
Re: looking for info about my surname
« Reply #1 on: Sunday 29 November 20 09:21 GMT (UK) »

Welcome to RootsChat  :)

You don't say where exactly you are searching for your ancestors with a surname of Pollock but if any are from Ireland, then this is a good website for Irish surnames (John Gresham).

https://www.johngrenham.com/findasurname.php?surname=Pollock

KG
Researching: Cuthbertson – Co. Derry, Scotland & Australia; Hunter – Co. Derry; Jackson – Co. Derry, Scotland & Canada; Scott – Co. Derry; Neilly – Co. Antrim & USA; McCurdy – Co. Antrim; Nixon – Co. Cavan, Co. Donegal, Canada & USA; Ryan & Noble – Co. Sligo

Offline Spelk

  • RootsChat Senior
  • ****
  • Posts: 368
  • Pit Yacker
    • View Profile
Re: looking for info about my surname
« Reply #2 on: Sunday 29 November 20 10:30 GMT (UK) »
Hi Isabelle,
I think you should include children who died young as this was an important event fo their parents and maybe the siblings. The details for them such as where and when they died gives you information about what was happening to the family which might not be available from other sources. For the most part we rely on the census records to see what people were doing but they were only taken every 10 years (in the UK) so what was going on during the ten years can be a bit of a "black hole".
Note that the birth of a child and subsequent death will only generate birth and death certificates if the child was born alive. A still birth where the child did not take any breaths will not result in a birth or death certificate.
I suggest you do get some software to keep the records. Trying to keep a paper tree gets very time consuming. You can easily manually draw a tree showing you and your parents and their parents but when you add your aunts and uncles and their children (your cousins) it can become massive. I have 27 cousins (that I know of) and I've little idea of their children and grandchildren. If I had to manually draw them out on a piece of paper (wallpaper?) it would take hours and then if I had to add another it could mean I'd have to start it all over again.
Whatever software you use just make sure that you can export from it a GEDCOM file so your data can be moved to a different type of software if you change your mind later about which software to use. Having to retype details for hundreds or thousands of people is not something you want to do.

Offline garstonite

  • RootsChat Marquessate
  • *******
  • Posts: 12,013
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: looking for info about my surname
« Reply #3 on: Sunday 29 November 20 11:03 GMT (UK) »
although there are quitea lot in Scotland - this is the earliest I can find
Johanna Pollock b 1370 in Badby ,Northhamptonshire

https://gw.geneanet.org/methackrah?n=pollock&oc=&p=johanna
oakes,liverpool..neston..backford..poulton cum spittal(bebington)middlewich,cheshire......   sacht,helgoland  .......merrick,herefordshire adams,shropshire...tipping..ellis..  jones,garston,liverpool..hartley.dunham massey..barker. salford


Offline ThrelfallYorky

  • RootsChat Marquessate
  • *******
  • Posts: 3,626
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: looking for info about my surname
« Reply #4 on: Sunday 29 November 20 15:10 GMT (UK) »
Isabelle, start with your parents and immediate family, and what you know for certain / have documentation for. Then move back a generation, and so on. Don't start with long-ago holders of the same name ... you may well find that there's no link with them at all.
It's a fascinating hunt, it's got us all absolutely hooked, - and this is a really good and helpful site to have, so many on here are really brilliant at finding information, I certainly have had loads of really good help here, and feel pleased that from time to time I've even been able to help others a bit. Happy Pollock Hunting! (By the way, you did know about Pollock's Toy theatres, didn't you?)
TY
Threlfall (Southport), Isherwood (lancs & Canada), Newbould + Topliss(Derby), Keating & Cummins (Ireland + lancs), Fisher, Strong& Casson (all Cumberland) & Downie & Bowie, Linlithgow area Scotland . Also interested in Leigh& Burrows,(Lancashire) Griffiths (Shropshire & lancs), Leaver (Lancs/Yorks) & Anderson(Cumberland and very elusive)

Offline iluleah

  • RootsChat Marquessate
  • *******
  • Posts: 3,049
  • Zeya who has a plastic bag fetish
    • View Profile
Re: looking for info about my surname
« Reply #5 on: Sunday 29 November 20 15:26 GMT (UK) »
Hi and welcome to rootschat ;D

In some cases, it originates as a locative name derived from Upper Pollock, Renfrewshire, Scotland. An early bearer of a form of this surname is Peter de Pollok, in about 1172–1178. In other cases, the surname is derived from the Middle English personal name *Pollok (Old English *Pulloc).

More info about how surnames came about https://familytimeline.webs.com/originsofsurnames.htm
Leicestershire:Chamberlain, Dakin, Wilkinson, Moss, Cook, Welland, Dobson, Roper,Palfreman, Squires, Hames, Goddard, Topliss, Twells,Bacon.
Northamps:Sykes, Harris, Rice,Knowles.
Rutland:Clements, Dalby, Osbourne, Durance, Smith,Christian, Royce, Richardson,Oakham, Dewey,Newbold,Cox,Chamberlaine,Brow, Cooper, Bloodworth,Clarke
Durham/Yorks:Woodend, Watson,Parker, Dowser
Suffolk/Norfolk:Groom, Coleman, Kemp, Barnard, Alden,Blomfield,Smith,Howes,Knight,Kett,Fryston
Lincolnshire:Clements, Woodend

Offline Annie65115

  • RootsChat Marquessate
  • *******
  • Posts: 5,199
  • HOLYLAND regd with guild of one name studies
    • View Profile
Re: looking for info about my surname
« Reply #6 on: Monday 30 November 20 14:34 GMT (UK) »
There are lots of websites where you can look for general information about a surname.

According to The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland (subscription only), there are several variants of the name Pollock: Pollok, Pollack, Pollick, Polk, Palk. Current frequencies: GB 6073, Ireland 1345.

Some other websites you can look at:
https://surnames.behindthename.com/top/
http://www.taliesin-arlein.net/names/search.php
https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy.html    (NB this is the USA census, not the UK one)
https://forebears.io/

There are others too. These sites will not tell you about your family history but will give you an idea of the frequency and spread of the surname over.
Bradbury (Sedgeley, Bilston, Warrington)
Cooper (Sedgeley, Bilston)
Kilner/Kilmer (Leic, Notts)
Greenfield (Liverpool)
Holyland (Anywhere and everywhere, also Holiland Holliland Hollyland)
Pryce/Price (Welshpool, Liverpool)
Rawson (Leicester)
Upton (Desford, Leics)
Partrick (Vera and George, Leicester)
Marshall (Westmorland, Cheshire/Leicester)

Offline Skoosh

  • RootsChat Marquessate
  • *******
  • Posts: 5,736
  • Census information Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    • View Profile
Re: looking for info about my surname
« Reply #7 on: Monday 30 November 20 15:18 GMT (UK) »
Black's Surnames, has the lands & kirk of Pollock gifted by the High Steward to Peter who took his name from the estate & the kirk & its pertinents were gifted to Paisley Abbey, confirmed by Jocelyn Bishop of Glasgow, late 12th century.

https://www.nts.org.uk/visit/places/pollok-house

Skoosh.