Melhuish is certainly a name from Devon, Google threw the name up in Genuki family names on Devon.
Just a quick search on Google shows this lot...
http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/DevonFHS/Surnames.html Have you tried the One Name study site or this Melhuish Family site on
http://x-stream.fortunecity.com/pasteur/144/The Devon Family History centre has a family Bible but that would require a visit to the Tree House in Exeter.
http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/index.htmTake a look at
http://genforum.genealogy.com/melhuish/and theres this too
doesnt specify exact location but the one after that does. Near Exeter.
This was a on heraldry site
The surname of MELHUISH was a locational name 'of Melhuish' a small place in County Devon. Surnames derived from placenames are divided into two broad categories; topographic names and habitation names. Topographic names are derived from general descriptive references to someone who lived near a physical feature such as an oak tree, a hill, a stream or a church. Habitation names are derived from pre-existing names denoting towns, villages and farmsteads. Other classes of local names include those derived from the names of rivers, individual houses with signs on them, regions and whole countries. The earliest of the name on record appears to be John de Melewis who was documented in the year 1242 in County Devon and Elina de Malhwys was documented in 1274. Many factors contributed to the establishment of a surname system. For generations after the Norman Conquest of 1066 a very few dynasts and magnates passed on hereditary surnames, but most of the population, with a wide choice of first-names out of Celtic, Old English, Norman and Latin, avoided ambiguity without the need for a second name. As society became more stabilized, there was property to leave in wills, the towns and villages grew and the labels that had served to distinguish a handful of folk in a friendly village were not adequate for a teeming slum where perhaps most of the householders were engaged in the same monotonous trade, so not even their occupations could distinguish them, and some first names were gaining a tiresome popularity, especially Thomas after 1170. The hereditary principle in surnames gained currency first in the South, and the poorer folk were slower to apply it. By the 14th century however, most of the population had acquired a second name. Later instances of the name include Robert Mellish who married Anne Smith at St. Michael, Cornhill, London in the year 1674. The associated arms are recorded in Sir Bernard Burkes General Armory. Ulster King of Arms in 1884. Registered at Taunton, County Somerset, and County Devon. In the Middle Ages heraldry came into use as a practical matter. It originated in the devices used to distinguish the armoured warriors in tournament and war, and was also placed on seals as marks of identity. As far as records show, true heraldry began in the middle of the 12th century, and appeared almost simultaneously in several countries of Western Europe.
AND THERES IS ALSO THIS
There's a village in Somerset called Huish as well as roads and
districts and a college (Richard Huish College, Taunton). I've heard
it pronounced as "hue-ish".
Literally, 'household'. Used interchangeably with OE hid, 'a hide of land', it later came to denote a measure of land which could support a household. OE hiwisc, The Somerset villages are, Huish Champflower OE hiwisc, Z family-name
Huish Episcopi OE hiwisc, L episcopus
There are also the villages of Cushuish and Rodhuish The Ordnance Survey gives 31 places with Huish in the name.
Regards Stan Mapstone
www.mapstone.orgThe name Melhuish originated about the year 500 when a bloke Maegla took up a hide of land somewhere near Tedburn St. Mary (just west of Exeter).
Thus Maegla's hiwisc. The name has gone through many variations over the years as the family moved generally North East through Cruwys Morchard, Witheridge, Washfield and so on into Somerset.
The earliest mention that I have of a name recognizable is from the Feudal Aids, page 345, AD 1303, Petrus de Melehywyssh tenet in Melehywyssh et Langeston un fee. Also, the Devonshire lay subsidy roll of 1332, where one William Melhywish paid a fee of 2 shillings on Melhiwysh (Melhuish Barton) near Tedburn St. Mary. There are other bits and pieces, but I don't have anything substantial until about 1550 when the Melhuishs of Witheridge burst on the scene.
There are also Melhuishs in Cornwall.
happy hunting
Foxy
