Variant Surnames.

  1. TATTERSAL or TATTERSALL.

There are numerous occasions when the surnames Tattersall and Tattersfield have apparently been used by the same individual, or close family.

1A. CHART 15, the family of ABRAHAM Tattersfield, is an example (see separate Section).

The Tattersfields on CHART 15 descend directly from a family named Tattersall, shown in CHART 15a. CHART 15a traces the TATTERSALL ancestry of ABRAHAM in the Mirfield and Kirkheaton areas. While the family connections seem convincing, it is emphasised that CHART 15a is somewhat speculative.

The earliest known ancestor of ABRAHAM was CHARLES Tattersall, who married Ann Thornton on 28 Feb 1715, and then Jane Clarkson on 26 Jan 1721, both in Mirfield. CHARLES died in 1767. The birth and baptism of CHARLES have not been found, so a connection cannot be proved between him and CHART 16 (below), though it is very probable the two groups were closely related.

1B. A further attempt at linking TATTERSALL and TATTERSFIELD is shown in CHART 16. The TATTERSFIELD families of York, Hull, and Leeds all descend with a high degree of confidence, from marriages in Dewsbury Parish Church between 1770 and 1786. It is also very probable that the Lancashire family descend from a marriage in 1788.

In 2003 Mr Ian Lloyd, of Wakefield, pointed out that a JOHN TATTERSALL in Mirfield had a family of nine children. Eight were sons, of whom six survived into adulthood. Three of these had the same Christian names, THOMAS, DAVID, SAMUEL and JAMES, as the progenitors of CHARTS 5, 6, 8 and 9 respectively, and a possible grandson called JOSEPH could be the JOSEPH at the head of CHART 11. Furthermore a son called JOHN could have moved to London and be the head of CHART 7. All the weddings of the above are on dates well suited to the respective dates of baptism.

This may only be a surprising coincidence, but the “fit” between this family and the various TATTERSFIELD regional families seems too good to ignore.

CHART 16 should be seen as hypothetical at this stage.

I am very grateful to Mr Lloyd for the original concept.

2. TATTERFIELD

The surname TATTERFIELD only rarely appears in English records, probably as a spelling or transcription error. However, a TATTERFIELD family have been continuously in Massachusetts since 1870 -1875, when WILLIAM HENRY TATTERFIELD settled there. He had been born on Christmas Day, 1846, in Mud Cove, Burin. Newfoundland. His father is recorded as William Tarfield (but the original church record is difficult to decipher). Certainly by the time of the immigration to USA, the name TATTERFIELD had become fixed.

There is no known documentary connection between this family and the TATTERSFIELDs or TATTERSALLs in England, or elsewhere. Moreover the Family DNA Project, which included one TATTERFIELD tester, showed a different Haplogroup, and no match with TATTERSFIELD or TATTERSALL.

This is discussed in more detail in the Section TATTERSFIELD Y-DNA Project.

The TATTERFIELD family have been included on this website, and shown in CHART 20, solely on account of the similarity of the surnames, and as a resource for that family.