Where the Eaves came from and where they are now.

WHERE DO ALL THE EAVES LIVE?

In short, pretty much everywhere. However judging from data lifted from Halbert's Eaves Families around the World published in May 1989 the most populous area was Texas. In the UK, Lancashire had the most Eaves. The world population of Eaves probably exceeds 12,000. The distribution is, very roughly, UK 3500, USA 8200, Canada 300, Australia 600 and New Zealand 80. Obviously Eaves live elsewhere but this information - presumably dredged up from electoral rolls etc - would seem to account for most of them.

An interesting appendix in A Dictionary of English Surnames (Oxford University Press) shows there is a lot of evidence that a family name that originated in a particular area of England after the Norman Conquest still has the most people of that name in that area today - despite the increased mobility of the population. All that one need do is to see the number of Eaves in any area telephone book to verify this. Speaking from the evidence we have gleaned in tracing a family tree, we believe The Dictionary of Surnames observation is probably correct. Although I live in Suffolk, it seems that this is because of a migration of an Eaves family from Worcestershire back in the early 18th century. Before Worcestershire it appears that there was a drift down from Coleshill (east of Birmingham). At this stage we are looking at the mid 16th century.

The Hall of Names research on the Eaves family name is a little confusing. I spent some time trying to locate Claverley in Lincolnshire when in fact it is in Shropshire. I took up this point with Alan Richardson, the Hall of Names Chief Historian. This is part of his response:

"The scroll history is a very abbreviated thumbnail sketch, in your case, of the Eaves family. The simple economics and space available do not include a complete reference to all material available. The reference to Lincolnshire, I agree, is ambiguous. In order to follow the data available and the reasoning of the historian it must be realized that when the Conqueror was dividing England after the Battle, he had severe administrative problems. He gave his half brothers the Count of Mortain and Bishop Odo, Cornwall and Kent/Sussex, respectively. His many other barons were in a holding pattern in Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Oxford, Cambridgeshire. It was not until 1070 his army reached Chester, which he ravaged, and set Hugh Lupus (Avranches) a kinsman, as the administrator of Cheshire and North Wales. He set Roger Piotou in Lancashire (another kinsman), Earl Roger (de Montgomery) in Shropshire, Beaumont in Leicestershire and so on. Many of the Norman nobility, companions of these Earls, retained their lands in East Anglia, some abandoned them for greener fields in the midlands and north. These earls carried their adherents, their surnames and village names with them, depending on the protocol. Some adopted the surnames of their new domains."

Well, this is helpful but does not satisfy the keen amateur genealogist. There may well be a farmstead or somesuch called Claverley in Lincolnshire but I have not yet found it. The reference to an "ambiguity" may simply mean an error on its behalf. Other references in the Hall of Names' "thumbnail sketch" are as follows:

"The Eaves family emerged as a notable family in the county of Lincoln were recorded [sic] as a family of great antiquity seated at Claverley with manor and estates in that shire. They also branched to Lancashire at Eaves in St Michael on Wyre where many of the Lancastrian Eaves are descended. They flourished there for several centuries and later branched westward to the midlands of England to Salop [Shropshire] and Worcestershire.........."

To orient you, St Michael's on Wyre is a few miles east of Blackpool (west coast) in Lancashire. The closest "Eaves" town/village is Bashall Eaves about 15 miles to the east. Of course, whether the word "Eaves" in this context relates an Eaves family living there or simply means "edge"from the old English efes I cannot say. There are a few other places with Eaves mentioned in England such as Woodhouse Eaves which might simply mean a wooden house on the edge of a wood or hill. However, this is drifting into another subject area.

It seems, however that, if we are to believe that the family name is of Norman origin (yet another topic), the movements of the Eaves look to have have moved from East Anglia to Shropshire, subsequently with branches to Worcestershire or Warwickshire and Lancashire.

According to the Surnames Dictionary, the earliest mention of an Eaves is John atte Euese (Subsidy Rolls - Worcestershire). Variations in spelling of the name over the centuries are confusing and it appears that even experts do not coincide in their views. The Hall of Names seem to have dredged up earlier references of what it believes to be a variation of Eaves in its Harleian Manuscripts page. Try:
entering Evere in the search on this page and you will see it mentions Yorkshire and Northumberland. Of course, there are differences of opinion about spelling variations, so how much we can rely upon Evere ultimately being the same as Eaves - apart perhaps from an apparent corruption in pronunciation over the centuries - no one seems to know.

Time may refine my views and the historians' on this topic, but I offer it to you as a personal view from the facts I have been able get. If any of you can offer more information or make corrections, please let me know. I am no expert.

Peter Eaves

SEPTEMBER 1998
The confusion about Claverley being in Lincoln may be that the diocese boundary for Lincoln in the 12th century encompassed a much larger area than Lincolnshire does today.