Sadly, it happens. I live in France and after careful research bought by internet a dictionary of French surnames. I was disgusted when it arrived. It had not in it several fairly rare names BY CHOICE - because they are dying out.... so my friend's name Thorez (grandchild of a distinguished early 20C politician) is omitted and various other names that I know, which are uncommon.That was my main reason for buying the book! I am descended from the Duterrau family (Huguenots,) just one family in England in the late 17C and early 18C, but they were very prolific in the mid and late 18C - some families having 6-14 children. One notable, Benjamin, went to Australia late in life where he did very well as an artist, but he only had one daughter. Others, in England, continued, but one man had 5 daughters - no sons. My last ancestor with it as her surname married in 1843 and her father died in 1848. Several used it as a Christian name but the last one so named was in 1907 and she died unmarried in 2000. Now I cannot find it anywhere, extant, continuing, in the world - though one young woman has chosen to take it up again after about 3 or four generations of maternal descent. Jean > Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:33:23 +1300 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: [SXP] The Spelt Family - where did they all go ??? > > Is anyone interested in the SPELT family who were quite prolific and prominent > in counties such as Hants, Sussex, Wilts from the 1500s to late 1800s. > > Curiously, the name has disappeared completely from UK with not a single Spelt > birth (or with Spelt the mother's maiden name) or marriage for almost 100 yrs. > > Francis > Auckland, NZ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hello Jean, It may be that your du Terrau became Terrau, elsewhere. He is earlier than your English du TERRAU but a Barthelemy TERREAU hired himself to Isaac Nafrechou to come to Canada on the 22nd of November 1662, and settled in Montreal, province of Quebec, Canada. http://data4.collectionscanada.gc.ca PIAF record number 23087 Similarly, Francis, your ellusive SPELT might be hiding under a variation of their original name. Cheers, Mona Jean Wood wrote: > Sadly, it happens. > > I live in France and after careful research bought by internet a dictionary of French surnames. I was disgusted when it arrived. It had not in it several fairly rare names BY CHOICE - because they are dying out.... so my friend's name Thorez (grandchild of a distinguished early 20C politician) is omitted and various other names that I know, which are uncommon.That was my main reason for buying the book! > > I am descended from the Duterrau family (Huguenots,) just one family in England in the late 17C and early 18C, but they were very prolific in the mid and late 18C - some families having 6-14 children. One notable, Benjamin, went to Australia late in life where he did very well as an artist, but he only had one daughter. Others, in England, continued, but one man had 5 daughters - no sons. My last ancestor with it as her surname married in 1843 and her father died in 1848. Several used it as a Christian name but the last one so named was in 1907 and she died unmarried in 2000. > > Now I cannot find it anywhere, extant, continuing, in the world - though one young woman has chosen to take it up again after about 3 or four generations of maternal descent. > > > Jean > > >

Jean, If you still have the book on French Surnames can I ask a favour - can you look up the name POILE - and variants - POYLE, POYL and POILES - My lines all comes from Kent/Sussex border but it has been suggested that it is French in origin. Cheers, Kevin (England). On 15 March 2011 09:58, Jean Wood <[email protected]> wrote: > > Sadly, it happens. > > I live in France and after careful research bought by internet a dictionary > of French surnames. >