GORNALL & GORNELL, Lancashire, All dates

[gornallonenamestudy]

I am doing a ONE NAME STUDY of all GORNALLS and GORNELLS in Lancashire and other counties.  I am having a family reunion in 2005 for all GORNALLS and GORNELLS.
If there are any of you out there who would like to communicate with me and share your ancestors with me for my one name study I would be very appreciative. I am a member of the GUILD OF ONE NAME STUDIES, and
have a lot of data of GORNALLS AND GORNELLS everywhere.  

Catherine

[franklc]

Are you collecting Gurnells as well?
Claire

[gornallonenamestudy]

Hello - Yes I am collecting Gurnells as well. That is actually closer to the original name. In early records in Lancashire you will see the name Gurnell or Gurnall more frequently than Gornall or Gornell.  However, over the years the latter two names appear to have become the more popular version. Are you a Gurnell? If so I shall be delighted to hear from you.  I have a suspicion that we may have started out as one family, because as I proceed back in time with individual family trees, so many of them are joining up in the 1500's and 1600's. 
Catherine Proctor, Vancouver Island, BC. Canada
PS Please have a look at my website (which I am now in  the process of updating with new info) -
www.members.shaw.ca/gornallonenamestudy

[franklc]

My husband's paternal grandmother was a Gurnell, born in Wallasey in 1903. I have traced her family back as far as Joseph Gurnell born 1798 Liverpool. Funny that you should say you think that all the trees could go back to just one family as Granny Robin used to say that her family was the one and only by that name. (Not sure how she thought she knew that though.) I will send you the family details that I have via your email address on the website.

[gornallonenamestudy]

I would be very interested in seeing your tree. I have a number of Liverpool Gornall/Gurnall/Gornell family trees in my data base, and I have traced many of them to my own line. Some descend from John Gornall born in Preston in 1771, a cabinet maker, Preston Guild Burgess and brother of my 3X gr. grandfather. The others descend from the Gornalls of St. Michael on Wyre parish, and lived in Upper Rawcliffe and surrounding area. Those Gornalls descend mostly from Robert Gornall of Claughton who is also in my line, but dates back to the 1600's.  Your grandmother was on the right track - I wonder what great stories she had heard about the family?  The earliest record of have of a Gurnall is in 1350 and that was a John Gurnall/Gornall who appears in the court records for Arkholme.  I suspect the Gornalls were originally Vikings, as the name was first of all CEWORNHALGH, which meant a granary or a worker in a granary and was adapted from a viking word. The early records indicate they were a family of farmers and lay workers and no doubt some of the sons were monks who lived and worked in/for the monasteries in Hawkshead and Cartmel.  From the early years from 1000 to the disolution of the Catholic church the Gornalls lived and worked on the farms and in the granaries that belonged to the Church of Rome.  After Henry VIII broke up the church, you begin to see the Gornalls moving away looking for work in other areas of Lancashire.  I can trace my line back to the 1500's in Claughton and Garstang and by 1642 my direct ancestor Hugh Gornall/Gurnall was living in Preston as an Ale House Keeper and was the first in the family to join the Preston Guild. From that year to the present time we have had Preston Guild Burgesses in the family.  It is hoped that some of us will be in Preston for the next Guild in 2012.

I look forward to hearing from you again and you can reach me at proctor-is@shaw.ca or the address on my website www.members.shaw.ca/gornallonenamestudy


Catherine Proctor

[MadaboutRoses1883]

I know this is a very old thread, but I live in hope of a reply!
I too am researching my Gornall/Gornell familes in Lancashire.
Please get in touch if you have anything.
Mine starts with Abraham born in 1799 or 1800, I cannot get further back than him?
Cheers

[anneproctor]

I recently discontinued my One Name Study of the GORNALL families. My mother was born Catherine Elizabeth Gornall in Southwark, July 16th, 1916. She died in August 2014. Age 98. I was very fortunate to find out a lot about our families,  and the one thing I do know is that all those with the surname GORNALL, (OR OTHER ALTERNATIVE SPELLINGS) ARE RELATED.  There is one mAIN TREE WHICH HAS THE MOST GORNALLS IN IT, AND THEN THERE IS AN ANGLO SAXON TREE OF Gornalls, who descend from an illegitimate relationship of a GORNALL FEMALE and an ANGLO-SAXON MAN. The girl gave her son her maiden name, and of course that was also the name of her father, so my DNA project provided me with an abundance of information.  His descendant lived in NORMANDY, (WHICH WAS POPULATED BY VIKINGS IN THE 9TH CENTURY). That man's name was  GUERNUEL . Marvellously the name survived and we pronounce it as GORNALL now. I have more than half of my genes as Scandinavian, as my father's ancestors were Vikings too.  So, if you are descended from Abraham Gornall, then you can say that you descend from a Viking family. i remember working on the link for Abraham Gornall,  but I do not have  my notes and paper work here in England, as I left them in storage with my daughter in Canada when my husband and  I came back here to live in 2013.  I may return to Canada next year and if I do, I will see what I have for your Abraham.
Best Wishes,
Anne Proctor. Derby.

[MadaboutRoses1883]

Thankyou anneproctor.
I haven't been on here this year and just decided to come back and have a look and then i found what you posted today! Coincidence or what?
Thankyou so much for your reply, it's much appreciated.
Yes i am descendent of Abraham Gornall, b.1799/1800 in Ribchester Lancashire.
Interesting in where the Gornall's originated? I'd love to know more when you get your notes together again.
 Would it be ok to pm you?

[Tarranderist_Arden]

Hi i started my Gornall family tree 6 years ago and i believe i now have one of the largest Gornall trees going, ive connected the Gornall families of my town, other town and cities and other countries, ive gone all the way back to Hugo Gornall hes my 13th Great Grandfather, pls msg back.