Find Ancestors

I thought I'd posted this yesterday, but as I can't find it anywhere and am assuming I messed it up, here we go again:

My surname is uncommon and the majority of "us" are in the Yorks/Lincs/Cambridgeshire areas. My family theory is our Dutch ancestor(s) came over back in the 18th C to help drain the fens.

I can't find anything to support this and surname searches reveal almost nothing, so can anybody help, please?

Paul Zealand

Hi Paul,

have you traced your ancestors? If so how far are you back with them?

If you want us to take a look for you please post some names and dates.


Dee x

for the record

William I Count of Zealand Pedigree
Male Family
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Event(s):
Birth:
Christening:
Death: 04 FEB 1222
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Marriages:
Spouse: Adelaide of Guelders Family
Marriage: 1198 Of Holland, , , Netherlands

BVRI has some Zealand marriages in Wrawby, Lincs starting 1722.
Also births, same place starting 1716.

International Genealogical Index - British Isles
1. JAMES ZELAND - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Marriage: 01 DEC 1716 Saint Mary, Kingston Upon Hull, Yorkshire, England

2. JAMES ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Christening: 07 DEC 1730 Wrawby, Lincoln, England

3. JAMES ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Marriage: 11 MAR 1731 Cottingham, Yorkshire, England

4. JAMES ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Christening: 22 FEB 1750 Cottingham, Yorkshire, England

5. JAMES ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Christening: 26 AUG 1798 Stickford, Lincoln, England

6. James Zealand - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Birth: 1819 Cottingham, Yorkshire, England

7. James Zealand - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Marriage: 27 JUN 1826 Hundleby, Lincoln, England

books at Amazon

Water, Water Everywhere: Draining of the Fens by Trevor A. Bevis (Paperback - Aug 1992)
Buy new: £3.90
2 new from £3.704 used from £3.15

Not in stock; order now and we'll deliver when available
Eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery.
2. The Lot Book of the Commissioners: For Draining the Fen Lands Lying Between the Hundred Foot River and the River Ouse (1768) by Richard Robinson (Paperback - Jan 2010)
Buy new: £14.03 £12.82
5 new from £10.061 used from £12.81

Usually dispatched within 1 to 3 weeks
Eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery.
3. The Lot Book of the Commissioners: For Draining the Fen Lands Lying Between the Hundred Foot River and the River Ouse (1768) by Richard Robinson (Hardcover - Feb 2010)
Buy new: £24.53 £22.08
4 new from £19.311 used from £18.91

Usually dispatched within 1 to 3 weeks
Eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery.

The Agricultural Revolution in South Lincolnshire (Cambridge Studies in Economic History) by David Grigg (Paperback - 1 Jun 2009)
Buy new: £17.99 £17.09
11 new from £14.975 used from £19.29

Get it by Thursday, Mar 25 if you order in the next 5 hours and choose express delivery.
Eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery.
Excerpt - page 23: " ... coastal protection is essential. The lowest parts of the fen occur on the peats and heavy clays of the interior fenland. In Deeping Fen, for example, there is land which is only ... "

JOHN ZELAND Pedigree
Male
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Event(s):
Birth:
Christening: 19 OCT 1603 Englefield, Berkshire, England
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Parents:
Father: JOHN ZELAND Family

Dee, Ann and Margaret

Thanks for all this feedback. I have only been at this family tree tracing (lark? Obsession, more like!) for a couple of weeks and have received a lot of help from people sharing their trees, so there is a lot I haven't done yet - including looking in the IGI and researching local history. I'd better apply myself.

The earliest ancestor I have is James Zealand, born c1799 in Stickford, Lincolnshire. This tallies nicely with no. 5 on Ann's list.

William 1 Count of Zealand sounds too good to be true, but I can hope!

Paul

well we won't be calling you M'Lord!!!

JAMES ZEALAND Pedigree
Male
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Event(s):
Birth:
Christening: 26 AUG 1798 Stickford, Lincoln, England
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Parents:
Father: JOHN ZEALAND Family
Mother: MARY
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Messages:
Extracted birth or christening record for the locality listed in the record. The source records are usually arranged chronologically by the birth or christening date.

this poor little chap didn't last long

JAMES ZEALAND Pedigree
Male
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Event(s):
Birth:
Christening: 07 DEC 1730 Wrawby, Lincoln, England

Death: 19 DEC 1730
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Parents:
Father: ROBERT ZEALAND Family
Mother: ELIZABETH
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Messages:
Extracted birth or christening record for the locality listed in the record. The source records are usually arranged chronologically by the birth or christening date.

SARAH ZEALAND Pedigree
Female
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Event(s):
Birth:
Christening: 18 OCT 1800 Stickford, Lincoln, England
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Parents:
Father: JOHN ZEALAND Family
Mother: MARY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Messages:
Extracted birth or christening record for the locality listed in the record. The source records are usually arranged chronologically by the birth or christening date.

. ROBT ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Marriage: MAY 1706 Wrawby, Lincoln, England

2. ROBT ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Christening: 22 OCT 1716 Wrawby, Lincoln, England

3. ROBT ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Marriage: 01 APR 1722 Wrawby, Lincoln, England

4. ROBERT ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Marriage: 01 APR 1722 Wrawby, Lincoln, England

5. ROBERT ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Marriage: 08 APR 1730 Goxhill, Lincoln, England

6. ROBERT ZELAND - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Christening: 02 MAR 1743 Ulceby (By Barton), Lincoln, England

7. ROBERT ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Marriage: 13 NOV 1743 Holy Trinity, Kingston Upon Hull, Yorkshire, England

8. ROBERT ZELAND - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Christening: 14 JUN 1746 Cottingham, Yorkshire, England

9. ROBT ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Marriage: 07 JUL 1747 Wrawby, Lincoln, England

10. ROBERT ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Marriage: 07 JUL 1747 Wrawby, Lincoln, England

11. ROBT ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Marriage: 09 JUN 1754 Wrawby, Lincoln, England

12. ROBERT ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Marriage: 29 JUN 1754 Wrawby, Lincoln, England

So here's James;

1841 England Census
about Eleanor Zealand
Name: Eleanor Zealand
Age: 40
Estimated birth year: abt 1801
Gender: Female
Where born: Lincolnshire, England

Civil parish: Stickford
Hundred: West Bolingbroke Soke
County/Island: Lincolnshire
Country: England

Street Address:

Occupation: View image

Registration district: Spilsby
Sub-registration district: Stickney
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
Thomas Zealand 55
Eleanor Zealand 40
Mary Zealand 15


Dee x

All John and Mary's children;

1. SARAH ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Female Christening: 18 OCT 1800 Stickford, Lincoln, England

2. JOHN ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Christening: 25 OCT 1789 Stickford, Lincoln, England

3. LEVI ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Christening: 02 APR 1796 Stickford, Lincoln, England

4. ANN ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Female Christening: 06 NOV 1785 Stickford, Lincoln, England

5. WILLM ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Christening: 09 MAR 1788 Stickford, Lincoln, England

6. THOMAS ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Christening: 20 JUN 1784 Stickford, Lincoln, England

7. SUSANNA ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Female Christening: 28 JUN 1784 Stickford, Lincoln, England

8. JAMES ZEALAND - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Christening: 26 AUG 1798 Stickford, Lincoln, England

John and Mary's marriage;

JOHN ZEALAND Pedigree
Male Family


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Event(s):
Birth:
Christening:
Death:
Burial:


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Marriages:
Spouse: MARY LONCASTER Family
Marriage: 30 JUN 1783 Stickford, Lincoln, England

Thanks again, guys. I can see I'll have to give up the day job - or pretty much limit myself to an hour a day.

Paul

There are various idea's as to where the Zealand name originates. One I have found is that it was a large island off Denmark called Zealand where the name possibly comes from. There is also Richard Zealand recorded in parish records of Breage in Cornwall Feb. 1688. Ann, daughter of John and Mary Zealand was christened in Stickford, Lincs, in 1785. There are records of a Robert and Ann son and daughter of John and Hannah Zealand being chtistened in the British Chaplaincy of St. Petersburg, Russia in August 1788 and Dec. 1790. Not been able to find proof yet.

Henry Dale. ( Son of Margery Zealand 1910.)

Recorded as Sealand, Selland, Solland, Sulland and in the British Isles, the rare Celand, Zeland and Zelland, this is usually an English and Welsh surname, but in some cases may be Flemish. Certainly it is locational and most nameholders will originate from the village of Sealand just inside the Welsh county of Flintshire, and across from the English city of Chester. However it may also be (French?) Huguenot Protestant because it was recorded at the French Church, Threadneedle Street, in the city of London in 1628 when Rebecca Zelande was christened there on February 3rd of that year. What we do know as well is that it is not recorded in the book of Welsh Surnames. This is probably because being locational it was a "from" name. That was a surname given to somebody after they had left their original village to move somewhere else, and this in olden times would almost always have been from Wales to England. Zeeland and Sealand both translate as the land surrounded by sea, and this is a fair description of Sealand village even today. Early examples of recordings taken from surviving church registers include Susan Solland christened at St Dunstans in the East, Stepney, on September 7th 1606, Arthur Sellind at St Giles Cripplegate, city of London, on May 8th 1690, Elizabeth Sealand, christened at St Martins in the Field, Westminster, on May 2nd 1789, Margaret Celand at St Mary-le-Bone, Marylebone, city of London, on August 8th 1832, and Grace Zelland christened at Bodmin Road Chapel, Mevagisey in Cornwall, on March 29th 1832.