Deshon

Deshon is a very interesting surname, one which in its different spellings has been quite popular over many centuries. It is of French locational origin, and was recorded as Chaume, Chaumier, Deschamps, Descamps, and others. However spelt all are locational and describe a person who lived at 'a cottage'. As there were many thousands of cottages spread across France some of which formed villages or towns, equally there were many local dialects, which in turn produced 'sounds like' spellings of the name! Education at even the simplest level was only available to about 2% of the population - mainly priests and clerics. This remained so until until the 1800's when Napolean Bonaparte made great strides to introduce education at all levels. The spelling as Deschamps was an early visitor to England with the Norman Invasion of 1066, and surnames from that source survive to this day as Camp, Camps, Deschamps, and others. To these should be added Deshon, Dushan, and Deshean. These were first recorded in English church records during the reign of King William 111rd of Orange and England, 1688 - 1702. This was at the height of the Huguenot (Protestant) immigration from the continent, when it is estimated that over 50,000 people came to England. These included many of France's most skilled craftsmen and engineers. Some of these people later found themselves in the colonies of New England, where small wars continued until the defeat of the catholics lead by the French General Montcalm at Quebec in 1759. The earliest English church recordings are in 1696 when one Laud Dushan was entered in the register of the famous church of St Martins in the Field, Westminster on March 21st 1696. The next recording is that of Martha Deshon at St Lukes, Chelsea, city of London, on February 17th 1705. Probably the earliest recording of any version of the surname is that of William de Campiss of the county of Kent, England, in the Hundred rolls of the year 1273.