The earliest picture of a Birdwell is probably the stained glass window at the Church of St. Peter & St. Paul in Bardwell, County Suffolk, England, which depicts "Sir William De Berdewell" (as the bottom of the window reads), called 'the great warrior,' born 1367, died 1434, "who is reputed to have built the church." (now also spelled Bardwell) http://www.suffolkcc.gov.uk/tourism/churches/nw.html http://home.cinci.rr.com/ancestry/bordwelllink.html Scroll down further on this second page to the photos of Lyman D. Bordwell (of the New England Bordwells) and see how much Lyman Bordwell looked like the Virginia Birdwells. Also Caroline Bordwell and the other later Bordwells in Iowa. If you have looked at enough Birdwell pictures, the strong physical resemblance to these Bordwells should be obvious. Surely their origin and that of the Birdwells is more than merely "etymology." http://www.sixbellsbardwell.co.uk/pages/new2000.html Sir William de Berdwell (1367-1434) was known as the Great Warrior. He is said to have built the tower of the present church, as well as the superb painted hammerbeam roof in its nave. There are a number of references on the internet to a couple of daughters of Sir William Berdewell (b. c1412?), but I haven't seen a complete family chart. Sir William (b. c1412?) was a son of John Berdwell and wife (nee Clopton); grandson of William and Margaret (Packenham) Berdwell, Sir William Clopton (d. 1446) and Margery (Drury) Clopton. The grandfather William Berdwell was supposed to be born about 1361, called "of Bardwell, Suffolk; and West Harling and Gasthorpe, Norfolk." I wonder if they have the dates off and if this is supposed to be the same Sir William, though the Warrior would be near the age of his own grandfather. some links: http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:51Gjm_OA3sUC:www.nelsonfamilyhistory.org/trees/10045.htm+Berdewell,+suffolk&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=dkapell&id=24721 William Berdewell Born: Abt 1412, Saxon-Parva, Suffolk, England Married: Abt 1437 Elizabeth Heath, daughter of Thomas de Heath and Anna de Stapleton, about 1437. (Elizabeth Heath was born about 1415 in Suffolk, England and died before 17 Oct 1464.) Children included daughter Margaret/Margery de Berdewell/Bardwell, born about 1438 in Suffolk, England and died before 6 Nov 1459, married Abt 1452, Kentwell, Suffolk, England to John Harleston (Born: Abt 1430, Bardwell, Suffolk, England, Died: Bef 31 Jul 1458) and had 3 children: Alice, John, Margaret. http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:810924&id=I0469 http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=tamer&id=I1956 http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=dkapell&id=24724 http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=dkapell&id=24724 William de Berdewell's wife Elizabeth Hethe had a long ancestry: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=gnl1&id=I13188 http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=gnl1&id=I13211 http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=gnl1&id=I13211&style=TEXT http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=jweber&id=I17387&style=TEXT http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=ingoldsby&id=I0901 http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:a17584&id=I20124 http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/MSS/Buxton/deedsind.htm medieval charters and title deeds to 1517 found among the Buxton Papers. The numbers refer to the pages of the 'Calendar of Buxton Deeds (to 1517)': Bardewell (Berdewell), Robert, knight: 72 Amy Berdewell was born about 1354 in Middlesex, England, died after 23 Sep 1423 in Northumberland, England, and was buried in Cornhill, Northumberland, England. She married Robert Denny: http://stoverancestry.com/surname/gp140.htm#head1 http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:2014576&id=I97828715 http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/DENNY.htm http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~cousin/html/d0003/g0000385.html#I900 Richill Bardwell (b. c1255? in Lynn, Norfolk, England) married Gilbert fitz Warren (b. c1270?, †1296 ) http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~clopton/peche.htm http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~clopton/tourintr.htm http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/backtrackin/web/testweb/pafg62.htm _________________________________________________________________ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail