ENGLAND by Clarence McDaniel updated December, 2004 We have read time and time again that the Paschall family origins in England stem from the religious controversy that spawned the Protestant movement. We are told that potential victims of this strife fled their native France seeking admission in the British Isles and elsewhere. Some found shelter with the sympathetic British, converging on the Scotch, Welsh and English homelands. These people were of all manners and classes, wealthy and poor. The English records show some were knighted and received heraldic arms, others were skilled tradesmen and joined English guilds. In short, these Frenchmen became Englishmen. Very early, in order to identify and distinguish themselves, the French family name of PASCAL took an anglicized form. This form, listed in the heraldic college, doubled the final "L" and later added an "H" after the "C", thus PASCAL became PASCALL, PASCHAL, PASCHALL. The intent, no doubt was to retain the phonic rendition in English with only the written form to provide identity. Unfortunately due to English phonics and local dialect there were spelling variations which produced records with different forms of the written name. The above constitutes a very romantic and completely unauthenticated Paschall origin. The author in his own very limited search and historical reading sees no reason to conclude that the Paschall lines in England began at this period, indeed most of the English references are for periods preceeding the Reformation and Edit of Nantes. Furthermore, the name is descended from Hebrew to Greek and then to Latin and its most ancient meaning is religious. The Latin word "paschalis" which means pertaining to or about Easter descended to all modern european languages including English. The author suggests that the name in Great Britain is likely as old as it is in France, and elsewhere. Our history concerns the English descendants and we limit our story to that portion of the island. History of Essex; Much-Badow, Great Badow, Little Badow The sources for this material are many and varied. Quite often one source quotes another, etc. Interested persons should obtain copies of, "Visitations of Essex, Pt 1, by Metcalfe, 1878". Also a book called,"The History and Antiquities of the County of Essex". The following has been extracted from those and other sources. According to the last source above, the name Badow or Baddow means "bad river" and was so named for a difficult river crossing in the area. The first mention of John Pascall seems to be that he came into possession of the estate called, "Much-Badow" or "Badow-Hall", about 1547, in the reign of King Edward VI. John,A1, married Margery, the daughter of John Wiseman of Canfield. John's son, John,A11, married Mary, daughter of Edmond Noke. John,A11, died April 27,1544, possessed of a large estate. The name John is most usually identified with these descendants, we find six in direct line of descent. Most of these early persons are identified though the name of the wife, her father's name and his place of residence. The sources show coats-of-arms and several generations of descent. One descendant, Andrew Paschall, being listed with the title, "Knight". The descendants of John move about to other areas in the county of Essex. Many parish names are given, South Hanningfield, Preston, Springfield and others. Dates of birth and death are very scarce in these records and pronoun references are confusing making the task extremely difficult. As of this date(1988) no connection between these lines and our American descendants has been established although it seems very reasonable that William may be descended though this line as a large number of these people were of the yeoman or farmer class. History of Bristol Another group of Paschalls which appear to be from the Essex line are those of the County of Somerset. The name Thomas is very prevalent in this group. The principal source generally available and much extracted here is the, "History of John Lea", published 1906. The towns/parishes of Portbury, Wells, Yatton, Wrington, Canterbury and St. John Baptist, Bristol, are all mentioned in this work. The dates begin from 1541 and carry through to the late 1700's in Philadelphia. These people were weavers and tradesmen or artificers who crafted pots and pans in common and rare metals. It is patent nonsense to maintain that this line of Paschalls were closely related to the philosopher of Port Royal, Blaise Pascal(1623-1662). THOMAS was the first of this line and his administration was granted to his widow on July 27, 1541. UNK but likely a son married, Joanna of Yatton, whose will was later proven in the same court(Consistory Court of Wells). THOMAS of Wrington, County of Somerset, who lived there from 1609 to 1622, died in Churchill, January 26, 1638, was likely the son of UBK and Joanna. He had wife Mary who died later at the house of her son, William, in the parish of St. John Baptist, Bristol. They had at least five children whose names are known with two or more sons having issue. WILLIAM, son of Thomas and Mary, was b, c1608. He was a pewterer and had four wives, the last surviving him in 1670. He was buried at St. John Baptist. They had two sons and two daughters. THOMAS, son of William and his first wife, Joanna Collins, was baptized December 29, 1634, at St Mary, Redcliff, Bristol. He is designated in the English line as A22 and also as B in the American line. The English listing given here is very brief and many dates are missing; much work needs to be accomplished in the English genealogy. This is a very specialized area and totally unlike American genealogy. A through knowledge of Latin, Old English and local dialects being a proven necessity. Also, there are no deed books as we are used to in America. American Descendants American genealogy as related to English origins depends on the ability to find documentation which shows the locality from which the migrant came in Britain. This is of course useless unless there is a traceable descendancy of the line in America. Quite often a line may be established in America but can not be definitely traced to Britain. This is only true of those early migrations before 1800 for which few passenger records were made. The author has found three, pre 1800, lines of more than six generations each. The B and T21 lines seem to be interelated through Benjamin, B28, who is believed to be the father of Benjamin, T21. Only the B-line has been tied to England. These lines are: THOMAS PASCHALL(1634-1718) called the B-line JEREMIAH PASCHALL(1696?) called the T2-line WILLIAM PASCHALL(c1705-1774) called the C1-line There were other British immigrants, mostly indentured servants, but we have not been able to trace a male line of descent and fear these lines are extinct. Notable were the early settlers of MD/VA in which several instances of the Paschall name are to be found. Their tracks disappear and so our history consists mainly of the above three lines for which ample evidence exists. Only Thomas has been identified in both England and America.