Genealogy Chat

Many thanks for all your replies. I am reasonably satisfied that Massees originate from France. Indeed one (or more) landed with William the Conqueror, and acquired lands, particularly in Cheshire, including Dunham Massey. I am convinced that my research is accurate, and it seems likely that my Massee ancestors come from this line. However my relatives are equally convinced that our branch of Massees came across from France much later. Personally I think that is purely folklore, probably made up by James Massee, who appears to have been a bit of a character. From Driffield Times, 9 Feb 1929 -
Nafferton's "Grand Old Man", Mr James Massey, of High Street, died on Sunday week at the age of 94. He used humorously to declare that though he was born in 1834 he had had only a score or so of birthdays, as his birthday was Leap Year's Day.
"Some say there was not a leap year in 1834," he once told a reporter, "but I know there was. They weren't satisfied with me only having a birthday every four years, so arranged, about 70 years ago, that there should not be a leap year for six years. Another time they fixed it so that there should not be a leap year for eight years, and so they robbed me of two of the birthdays I should have had".

However, I would still be interested if anybody knows of any family moving from France to Yorkshire around the time of the French Revolution, just in case the story has some semblance of truth.

Hello Paul and welcome to the Community boards.


There are several members of this site who have George Massee in their trees on here, it may be worth contacting them to see if they have further information. Click on Search, above and then click on Search all Members trees and add the details.


(I'll let Paul know how to find his replies ) :-)

After the capture of Fort Beausejour in the Acadia region in 1755 by the British, the French settlers were disbursed to England, France and English Colonies in America. The "Great Upheaval" also saw many make the long trek to some of the 13 colonies in the south to begin a new life, and in 1785 Spain transported seven shiploads of Acadian exiles to Louisiana where these Acadians became known as Cajuns. Much of French culture still remains today in Louisiana and in 2000, the Census reported that 15% of the population of Louisiana speak French at home. The French Colonial Empire in America ended in 1803 with the sale of Louisiana to the United States by Napoleon Bonaparte.


French Genealogy & Family History - French Ancestry


www.archives.com › Home › Genealogy › Trace Your Heritage

... which started in the late 1700s, ... Remember that prior to the French revolution, France was divided ... About 500,000 refugees flee the French Revolution for ...

Europe: 1600s-1700s - England


europe1600s.wikispaces.com/England

And despite previous opposition, England returned to its war with France in the ... causing many to flee to London where ... Over the 1700s this sense of citizen

Majority of Massee's appear to come from the Coutance area

Name: Jean Petel
Event Type: Marriage
Event Date: 07 Sep 1705
Event Place: Céaux, Céaux, Manche, France
Gender: Male
Father's Name: Francois
Mother's Name: Jeanne Maseé
Spouse's Name: Marie Abraham
Spouse's Gender: Female
Spouse's Father's Name: Toussaint
Spouse's Mother's Name: Michelle Pinel

GS Film Number: 1301409 , Digital Folder Number: 004206095 , Image Number: 00153

Name: Willm. Massee
Gender: Male
Christening Date: 03 Jan 1602
Christening Place: OTLEY,YORK,ENGLAND
Death Date: 18 Jul 1608
Father's Name: Willi. Massee

Indexing Project (Batch) Number: P00935-1 , System Origin: England-ODM , GS Film number: 0496811, 0496812

Last name: Masse


Recorded in many forms including: Masse, Massard, Massart, Masselin, Massel, Masserel, Masserelle, and the anglicised Masurel, this is a surname of French medieval metonymic origins. The "Dictionnaire etymologyque de France" describes it as being occupational, and a short form of "masse d'armes" meaning a mace bearer. The alternative spellings including the suffix el or in, are diminutives or double diminutives meaning "the son of the macebearer" or "the son of the son of the macebearer". Perhaps a quarter of all surnames were originally occupational, although many did not become hereditary unless as with this surname, the son or grandson followed in the fathers footseteps. As a result the diminutive and double diminutive spellings are often more popular than the base name. French church records are at best erratic, and often non existent. Many, indeed the majority, were destroyed during the famous Revolution of 1792 - 1796, when for a number of years the Catholic Church, which under the various kings was the only legal expression of religion, was totally banned. When found the church registers were burnt by the Revolutionaries who claimed that they were tools of the hated secret police. However with this name we have been firtunate to find a number of early recordings which have survived. These include Paul Massaret, whose son also Paul was christened at Sedan in the department of Ardenne, on October 17th 1593, Caterine Marie Masserel, the daughter of Joseph Masserel, christened at Xarmes, Meurthe-et-Moselle, on January 6th 1765, and Rene Masse, who married Felicitie Taude, at Allone, Maine-et-Loire, on July 10th 1781.

Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Masse#ixzz3Q7IfKGZp

We were brought up thinking we had French ancestors to who came over at the time of the revolution. Our surname Fasey was supposed to be tha anglised version of Fazier or some such spelling

Well NOPE the great grandparents were German.surname Fahse with umlaats over the a and it was grandfather and one of his brothers who adopted the name Fasey .

Al the family were German and came over to the UK sometime in the 1880's

The great gran could have been of French descent as she was Maria Marteus but she was German too

Family stories get handed down and added to and altered rather like French whispers I'm afraid

Still it's fun looking for info and sometimes breaking the myth

Good luck in your searches :-D

There is a tree on ancestry with Massees born in yorkshire back to 1570

The French Revolution was from around 1787- 1799

I would imagine that info about the French Revolution can be found by googling

I have traced by Massee ancestors back with a high level of confidence to George Massee born in Malton in 1778, and almost certainly beyond that to Bubwith. My problem is that the family folklore is that the Massees were related to the French royal family and fled from France around the time of the French Revolution. Does anybody know of anybody fleeing France at that time?