LEAUSLY surname

[tamarclaire]

Hello,

Has anyone come across the surname LEAUSLY in Leicestershire?  What might the variant spellings of the name be?

William LEAUSLY is mentioned as a Trustee in a codicil to  the Will of Sherard Worsdale who died in 1727 aged about 45.  Sherard Worsdale had been living in Claypole, Lincolnshire with his wife and family from about 1710 until the time of his death in 1727, but he was born Stapleford, Leicestershire where his family had lived for several generations.  Sherard's wife Ann predeceased him by a few months. The other Trustee named in the codicil is Simon Levis of Stapleford who was Sherard Worsdale's brother-in-law.

I realise that William Leausly might have come from Lincolnshire rather than Leicestershire but Leicestershire seems to be a good place to start!  I am particularly interested in him because I cannot find Sherard's marriage to his wife Ann and I am hoping that William Leausly might provide a clue in trying to work out who Ann was.

Thanks very much to anyone who can help.

[diddymiller]

Freereg surname leausly with variations ticked  1700 -1800  lincs and leics gives a lot of results.


Diddy

[tamarclaire]

Thanks very much for your reply, Diddy.  I hadn't looked at the Freereg site so it was useful to get some variant spellings.

[Annie65115]

 I wonder how “Leau” was pronounced - possible Loo? Low? Ler? There must be a lot of possibilities.

[arthurk]

At some periods the letters 'u' and 'v' were virtually indistinguishable, so could Leavsley (& variants) be an option?

[Jomot]

I think the U may actually have been a V, ie Leavsly / Leavsley / Leavesley, Levesley etc

EDIT: Snap!

[arthurk]

 

[tamarclaire]

Thank you very much Jomot and arthurk - that is an interesting possibility and one I hadn't thought of.  I really appreciate your help.