Mansion

This is a pure French surname. It is topographical and describes a person who lived in or by a large house, or at least a house which in someway stood out from other houses. The term 'mansion' was also used to describe the local Town Hall, although the usual expression is now the Hotel de Ville. Topographical names were amongst the earliest to be created, since the easiest form of identification was to call a person by the name of some natural or made made object such as a hill, castle or in this case 'mansion', by which they resided. If they actually lived in or more likely owned the house or castle, the proposition 'de' would be added as a prefix, and this in time became a symbol of nobility or at least of land owning status. Unfortunatley France is badly served by national church records. Many were destroyed in the Revolution of 1792, as they were regarded as being an instrument of authority, used by the secret police of the monarchy. From those that survived, we have the recording of Jeanne Mansion, the daughter of Jacques Mansion and his wife Annette, formely de Quaincour, who was christened at Metz in Alsace-Lorraine in 1649, whilst in England Andre Mansion married Marie Goessens at Christ Church, Stepney, on September 25th 1863.