This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/7aB.2ACEAE/82.1.1 Message Board Post: The surname Minall originated in Wiltshire, England, where the village of Mildenhall to this day is known by local people as Minal. The surname is found both as Minall and Mildenhall and proliferated in the communities along the valley of the River Kennet from about 1525, though the name Mildenhall occurs in early archives from the 12th century. Quaker members of the Mildenhall/Minall family of Ramsbury, Wiltshire sailed with William Penn in 1682 to help found Pennsylvania, changing their name to Mendenhall. The Minall family of Bucklebury, Berkshire, were respected yeoman farmers and survived there for about 200 years from c.1640. I am a descendant.