Yes we had also noted the Devon pocket of Pickard's but as we were talking about Yorkshire I thought I had better not cloud the issue. The answer we feel that would be the most likely is that they were fishermen or sailors and stayed in Devon with a lovely lass for company therefore producing many more "Pickard's. Elaine in Ottawa where there are about eight Pickard's and 500+ Picard's. -----Original Message----- From: Roy Stockdill Sent: Monday, November 15, 2010 1:36 PM To: eng-yorkshire@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [YORKSHIRE] Frederick PICKARD On 15 Nov 2010 at 11:15, Elaine Pickard wrote: > I am sure I wont be able to help you but being a "Pickard" researcher > myself I know how hard it is to pinpoint them. > > Our William Pickard we can trace back to Leeds/Bradford area in 1811 a > Wool Comber. > > When we checked the geographical area the majority of Pickard's came > from the West Riding but more so the northern part around Bradford. > > My husband whose line this is has a theory that the "Pickard's" came > over with William the Conqueror or at the later date when the > Cistercian Monasteries were founded as shepherds etc looking after > the sheep that belonged to the Abbey's i.e. Fountains, Kirkstall, > Riveaulex to give you a few. > Simply on the law of averages, there is a good likelihood that Frederick Pickard did come from the West Riding of Yorkshire since that has always been by far the most populous of the Ridings and home of virtually all the major towns and cities, due to industry and the fact that the North and East Ridings are virtually all rural. Surname Atlas shows that in the 1881 census by far the greatest number of entries for Pickard were in the West Riding, especially in Leeds and Bradford. Somewhat curiously, however, the county with the next largest concentration was Devon - a long way from Yorkshire - with the name being particularly pronounced around the town of Bideford. I wonder what your husband's explanation for this might be? I wish I had a fiver for every time I've heard the suggestion that such-and-such a surname "came over with the William the Conqueror"! However, I wouldn't dismiss it entirely since Reaney & Wilson suggest that Pickard derives from "A man from Picardy". Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any example of a reference before 1169, over a century after the Conqueror came here. Of course, there were French people who came to England long after the Conquest and some of them were indeed monks. -- Roy Stockdill Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE Some useful websites - FREECEN - http://www.freecen.org.uk/ FREEBMD - http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/ FREEREG - http://www.freereg.org.uk/ Want to know where a place in Yorkshire is - Try Genuki http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ENG-YORKSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.869 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3258 - Release Date: 11/15/10 02:34:00