One of my projects is to be able to link in all the Eaves/Eves in the USA to the Eaves/Eves in Great Britain. We know that a Jonathan Eves (or maybe a John Eves) arrived in Lyn Haven, Virginia from England in 1636 with his sister Elizabeth and her husband Henry de Southworth but, thus far, we have failed to make a direct link to Jonathan/John from the English Eaves/Eves.

It is becoming clear to me that one of the main roots of Eaves/Eves families is buried deep in Lancashire. One of the oldest references to an Eves on our database is a marriage of John del Eaves to Joan who gave land to the Duke of Lancaster.

Elsewhere on the site I have written about the Eaves/Eves name and where they live and it was with great pleasure and surprise that I received an e-mail and a follow-up letter from James and Ann Drew who are keen genealogists in Grimsargh near Preston in Lancashire. I had earlier written a letter to them.

Dear Mr Eaves,

As promised in my e-mail to you, this is the reply to your letter concerning EAVES, for which I thank you for thinking to contact me. First, I had a brief look at your website. I am just a naive newcomer to this and went on-line primarily for e-mail to our family and friends overseas. Hence I am a little wary of using the Web but would access a particularly relevant site. Any suggestions in this regard would be appreciated.

Location of the place called Eaves in Lancashire

I looked at 'Where do all the Eaves live?' which I found interesting. May I make one or two observations about the location of Eaves 'in St Michael on Wyre' in Lancashire. My own interpretation of this may not agree with yours but, as you say, there is no recognised place as 'Eaves'. (Please note there is a hamlet Eaves Green in Lancashire.) Please bear with me in what may seem a lesson in geography which leads me to my conclusion!

I am doubtful of the nominating of Bashall Eaves as the appropriate Eaves: as you cn probably guess, we are very familiar with this part of Lancashire, living on the doorstep. The area north of Preston up to Lancaster and beyond to Cumbria (pre-1974 Westmorland) is predominantly rural and/or farming lands, whole tracts of which are owned by the Queen - as the Duchy of Lancaster (this is where Roger of Poitou comes in and echoes of John of Gaunt); also the Dukes of Westminster and less so by he Duke of Cavendish and the Earls of Derby around St. Michael's and Myerscough.

Bisecting the county is the ancient north-south highway (site of the AA6) down which the Romans trod as well as the Jacobite Pretenders.. Either side of this highway the country is quite different. To the hilly east is the Forest of Bowland, Longridge and Bleasdale Fells (near where we live), and the Ribble Valley, all beautiful country. To the west between Garstang/A6 and the coastal sprawl of Blackpool/Fleetwood is the flat rural Fylde. The only township of note, perhaps, is the ancient market town of Garstang.

St Michael's on Wyre village is in the Fylde, west of the A6/M6; Bashall Eaves is in the east side in the Forest of Bowland. In all practicality the two in no way can be thought as remotely connected and would not be described as such. You may wish to know that names in parish records and on O.S. maps in this area are extremely difficult to locate as they are often no more than a pub and a couple of farms! Bashall Eaves is a hamlet recognised by its post office and 'Red Pump' pub which does a nice lunch which we sampled quite recently!

However, there is a place called Eaves. Well sort of. This would fit the description of 'at St Michael's on Wyre'. Even 'St Michael's' itself is something of an anomaly: it is the name of the village where where lies St Michael's church, an ancient church that served quite a large area including Myerscough. In old records the residence of what is now St Michael's would be described as Upper Rawcliffe and/or Tarnacre and Myerscough. We have in our researches many instances of this in church records and wills. These places are like the above Eaves: not easily identifiable on modern maps.

I have an 1880 Preston Directory which states (abridged):
'Woodplumpton. This town has a village of its own name 4 miles NW of Preston with the hamlets of Bartle, 3 miles, Catforth, 6 miles, and Eaves, 6 and a half miles from that town. It contains 4970 acres and the population in 1871 was 1,290. The benefice is a perpetual curacy in the patrony of the vicar of St Michael's on Wyre.'

Anyone trying to find Eaves would have difficulty, even locals. It lies in a maze of country lanes and is only recognised by its pub, significantly called "The Plough at Eaves" though there is an Eaves Lane and Eaves Farm. In the 1880 Directory there was a mention of the Plough, and, of the other fourteen names as living in Eaves as they were all, without exception, farmers. No other inhabitants are mentioned. (A Henry Eaves was farming at Catforth.)

May I suggest therefore that this is the Eaves the family branched to from Claverley? If you would like me to delve further into the history of this Eaves or any other points mentioned here, please let me know and I will try my best. The surname Eaves is still quite a common name in this part of Lancashire.

I have a hotch-potch of records and census returns which are not yet sorted. These are hand-written and on a separate sheet.

I hope this is of some interest. If you can link any of this to your data I would be most grateful to hear about it. In the meantime, if I can offer anything further, or clarification, please do ask. Until then,

With sincere best regards,

Ann and James Drew