According to Gutierre Tibon's "Diccionario etimologico de Apellidos Españoles" Fornell is a Catalan surname. "Fornell, Cat. "fogon"(Horno-Oven). Plural Fornellas Tambien de varias poblaciones del norte de Cataluña y de una aldea de Menorca" Italian; Forno, Fornelli, French; Fournal, Fournel, Fourneau, Fournet, Fournil, German; Ofele. Garcia Garrafa's "Solar Catalan, Valenciano y Balear" also documents the following surnames as Catalans originating in Gerona; Forner, Fornell and Fornells. White telephone pages of Spain lists 130 Fornell's; 121 in Cataluña, 108 of them in Barcelona, and 11 in Madrid. The French white telephone pages lists in the Mid-Pyrenees (bordering the Catalan region) region 6 Fornells. I would venture to speculate that your ancestors are Catalans. My mother's maiden name is Cervera which is Catalan but it is also found in the Mid-Pyrenees region of France. In the early 1700's the two countries had open borders relationship "Pacto de Familia"; Spain's Felipe V was the grandson of France's Louis XIV. Regards, Jorge Piñon Cervera