Dear Sandra, can't answer your immediate question, but just in case you didn't know: Crassweller, surname first found (as John Cressweller) in 1558 in 'Sussex Wills' published by the Sussex Records Society in 1935-41. Sometimes spelt with one 's'. It means 'man from Cresswell', but there are several of these (Carisbrooke [Isle of Wight], Derbyshire, Dyfed, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Pembroke, Staffordshire). Since there are innumerable Cresswells (families) in Sussex, there may have been a Cresswell (place) there that is no longer recorded. However, failing this, the vast majority of Cresswells (families) lived in Derbyshire in 1881. The place-name means what it says - 'spring where cress grows' and the one in Derbyshire was spelt Cressewella in 1176. The chairman of the committee who purchased the Lord Mayor's chain for Portsmouth City in 1859 was listed as G. Cressweller, esq., but the majority of the Portsmouth family spelt it Crassweller (and Councillor Charles Crassweller of 11 Lion Terrace, a short walk from Crasswell Street - was a borough magistrate the same year), Crasswell Street in Landport, Portsmouth, was known as Crassweller Street in 1855, no doubt named after the above. If the family money came from brewing, there was a Christopher John James Crassweller, brewer and maltster, owner of the 'Spain Brewery' in Petersfield in 1865 - only 10 miles NE of Portsmouth. By 1875 he had moved to The Square, Petersfield, and was also a baker and corn factor. I understand that the German Grossweiller was sometimes naturalized as Cressweller. Regards, David