Genealogy Story – My Norman Ancestors

My mother’s maiden name is Pierpont and my father’s  (duh!) is Russell.  But the history of these two family names has some remarkable parallels which I have only recently discovered.

Norman Beginnings

Both of these names have their origins in northern France.  The area around Normandy had been settled by the Vikings in the early 900s, so the families there likely were of Viking origin.

The earliest that the Pierpont name has been traced is to Sir Hugh de Pierrepont who was born in the 900s.  He was the lord of a castle which had a stone bridge nearby which had been built by Charlemagne and from which the castle was named (Pierre=stone, pont=bridge).  The Chronicle of Flodoard refers to Castrum Petraepontis as an important place in 938.  You can find Saint-Saveur-de-Pierrepont in France today on the peninsula which juts out of the north side of France to the west of Normandy.  In 1066, Hugh’s son, Robert de Pierrepont, went to England with the army of William the Conqueror.

Around the same time, and not far away, there was another family (traced back to the 900’s as well), headed by Hugh Bertrand (born in 1012).  Hugh became lord of Barneville and le Rozel, thus making himself Hugh de Rozel (or de Roussel).  His castle was in le Rozel, France, a small village only 15 miles from the de Pierrepont castle.  Being in such close proximity, and both being lords of castles, it’s reasonable to conclude that the two lords knew each other.  Hugh also went to England with William the Conqueror.

Two families, two lords, two men travelling to England.

The English Years

Initially, both families settled in the southern coastal area of England.  They also both anglicized their names.

The de Roussel/Rozel family became the Russell family and settled near Dorset, in what is now called Kingston Russell, directly across the English Channel from their French home.  The de Pierrepont family became the Pierpont family and initially settled in Lewes, near Brighton, a bit farther to the east, then shortly moving to Wrentham, farther up the eastern coast.

Over time, both families also moved farther north.  The Russell family settled in Strensham (about halfway between Birmingham and Bristol).  The Pierpont family moved to Holme Pierrepont, near Nottingham, where they built their country manor house (which still exists).  Thus, both the Russell and Pierpont families still have English towns named after them.

Both families, also being upper class families, became involved in governmental affairs.  Several of the Russell family were knighted (becoming Sir ___ Russell), and served in parliament.  Several of the Pierpont family were also knighted (becoming Sir ___ Pierpont).  A few of them served as the Sheriff of Nottingham (which many may remember from the Robin Hood stories), and one was even killed in Sherwood Forest.

Two families, two place names in England, two knighted families.

Moving to America

After a several hundred years of being in England, a new continent across the Atlantic became known.  The English wanted to secure these new lands for themselves, and so many English families made the long journey to the “New World.”  The Russell and Pierpont families were no exception.  Both families participated in what was known as the “Great Migration.”  This term refers to the migration of English settlers, primarily Puritans to Massachusetts in the period 1620 to 1640.  They came in family groups (rather than isolated individuals) and were motivated chiefly by a quest for freedom to practice their Puritan religion.

The Russell family was headed by Robert Russell who arrived in 1640 and settled in Andover, MA.  The same year John Pierpont migrated and purchased land in Ipswich, MA.

Two families, having originally been only 15 miles apart, moved to England in the same year, also left England in the same year, and now are once again only 15 miles apart.

American Generations

Like most of the families who came to Boston in that time period, these two families began to spread and settle in other parts of New England.

Robert Russell’s grandson, also named Robert, moved from Andover, MA to Kent, NY, just to the west of the NY/CT border in the mid-1700s.  By the mid-1800s the family had moved just across the border to New Milford, CT.  It was there that my grandfather was born and married.  But in the 1920s he moved to Waterbury, CT as that was an industrial city that offered jobs during the depression.

John Pierpont’s son, James, got his religious education at Harvard and moved to New Haven, CT in the 1680s where he became the pastor of the Congregational Church there.  His descendants stayed in the New Haven area until 1781 when his great-grandson, Ezra, moved north to Prospect, CT, then in 1801 to Waterbury, CT.  The Pierpont family had large land holdings in Waterbury.

The Family Lines Join

In the 1940s my father was living with his grandparents in Waterbury.  He was attending the young adults group at a church just two blocks away, Mill Plain Union Church.  Also part of that young adults group were several members of the Pierpont family, including my mother, who lived less than two miles to the east.  That association led to my parents meeting and eventually marrying in 1946, following my father’s WWII service.

The two families, who had begun in northern France 1000 years prior and just 15 miles apart, who had moved to England in the same year, who had migrated to American in the same year where they were once again 15 miles apart, and via different paths had found themselves in the same city and less than two miles apart, were finally joined together.  What an amazing journey!