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/zYB.2ACE/330.478.1415.1516.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.2.2 Message Board Post: Perhaps the following will help clear up some question of where and when the Gilstrap's name originated. ""History" The old English surname ?Gilstrap? probably originated in Nottinghamshire, England sometime in the late 14th century. Research done in England the 1960?s indicates that it is a place name and was originally ?Gelsthorp? or ?Village Thorp) of Gels (Gold)? which became Gilstrap through metathesis.. The earliest record of the name ?Gelsthorp? and its many variants (Gelstrap, Gilsthrop, Gelstrop, Gilstrap, Gilstrapp, and others) are in the Paris Record catalogued by the Church of Latter Day Saints in England. The earliest mention found to date is that of an Avice Gelsthorp who married Richard Roger 6 Feb 1584 in Whatton Notts. The earliest mention of the name ?Gilstrap? (spelled as it is today) is the marriage of Jane Gilstrap to Alexander Kent, 8 Dec 1747 at Westminster, St. Georges, Mayfair, London. An explanation of the migration of the name to the new world is, at best, still confused and subject to conjecture and further research. Family tales (and these vary depending on the family group) indicate that three or four brothers emigrated to colonial North Carolina from England (or Scotland) and settled in the New Bern (Craven and Jones Counties). The latest research by Nancy Gilstrap Mann has revealed that there were two Gilstraps, James and Peter, in Somerset County, MD in the mid 16th century. It appears that James died without issue and that Peter Sr.(arriving as an indentured servant in the colonies"" Emigrants to America. Indentured Servants Recruited in London 1718-1733 "by John Wareing. Jamaica 10 October 1726. Sailed under John Taylor") married Rachel Aydelotte (Idolet) and that they were the parents of Peter, James, Idolet and John Further information supports these findings as the family name of Mumford connects with the Gilstrap line in the marriage of Benjamin & Bright Gilstrap, sons of Peter Gilstrap jr, to Winifred and Selah Mumford. One of Rachel Aydelotte sisters, Naomi, married a John Mumford. Although no connection has been found or made between this Mumford and the father ( Jesse) of Selah and Winifred it was a common practice for families to move together. It is therefore possible that someone in the Mumford line moved with Peter and Rachel.into NC.