The Tattersfields have made good emigrants! During the 19th and 20th centuries, many individuals, and sometimes families, left the shores of England. Many settled down to successful careers such as farming and textiles. Others are less easy to trace.
The most common destination was USA, sometimes via Canada. One large branch now lives in Mexico, having moved there from USA.
Three family groups have lived in New Zealand for a century or more. Two are descended from brothers from Heckmondwike, and the other from the London family. My own family went to Northern Rhodesia in 1947 and some remain in Southern Africa today. Canada, Australia and South Africa also attracted emigrants.
Some of those who left England were single men, of whom little is subsequently known. By contrast, some became the founders of large families. The most prolific of all were AKED and CATHERINE. They were first cousins who married in the Dewsbury area in August 1865 and emigrated from Heckmondwike in 1881. They settled around Flandreau, South Dakota. Names have been plotted on their family tree of some 173 descentants, excluding spouses, and there are certainly many more. Only a small proportion today have the surname Tattersfield.
Some families who emigrated changed their surname in their new land. Prominent among these are the FIELD family of Alberta, Canada, and the MONTHAN family of Tucson, Arizona. The two families are descended from two brothers from Heckmondwike called ROBERT and JEREMIAH who emigrated to Alberta, Canada in 1900 and 1902 respectively.
The history of a Massachusetts family called TATTERFIELD is being studied. They have been traced back to Newfoundland, Canada, in the 1840s, but a connection with the English Tattersfields has not yet been found.
Set out below are the stories, as far as they are presently known, of some of the emigrant families. The order in which they appear is not significant, but merely reflects when they were written. It is hoped to add many more as they become available. As far as possible their stories will be as written by descendants of the emigrants, to give both authentic historical accounts and actual recollections of some of the personalities involved. It is also hoped that these stories below will stimulate anyone reading them whose Tattersfield ancestors emigrated from England, to send in the stories of their own families for inclusion on this website.
Header Image: A late eighteenth century map, showing the way the world was understood when the first Tattersfield emigrated from Britain in the 1790s. The map is almost certainly by Mathew Carey, who engraved it in 1795 to illustrate Guthrie's new Geography. Among much else, the map shows the tracks of Captain James Cook on his voyages in the Endeavour in 1768 and the Resolution in 1780. Stock Image. Oleg Golovnev / Shutterstock.com