Hazeldean

This interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from any of the various places that get their name from the Olde English pre 7th Century "haesel", hazel (tree), and "denu", valley; hence, "valley of the hazel trees". Examples of these places include: Hesleden in Durham, recorded as "Heseldene" in 1050; Haslingden in Lancashire, recorded as "Heselingedon" in the 1241 Close Rolls; and Hazleton in Gloucestershire, recorded as "Hasedene" in the Domesday Book of 1086. Locational surnames were developed when former inhabitants of a place moved to another area, usually to seek work, and were best identified by the name of their birthplace. In some instances also the surname may be a topographical name for a "dweller in a hazel-valley". Reginald de Haselden is noted in the 1275 Hundred Rolls of Wiltshire. In the modern idiom the surname has over twenty-five spelling variations ranging from Hazelden, Hazeldean, Hazzledine and Haseltine, to Hayzeldene and Hesleden. On September 30th 1574, William Haselden married Als Sumner at the Church of Findon, Sussex, and Ann Hazeldean married Nathaniel Turner on October 3rd 1756, at the Church of Withynam, Sussex. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Heseldene, which was dated 1242, witness in the "Assize Court Rolls of Durham", during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.