The
Surname of Goostrey
Regrettably
yet
more misinformation
The
information copied below from; http://www.geocities.com/gander/namehis.html
is, in the most part inaccurate. I do not particularly
blame the
family who posted it on the web, they are undoubtedly victims of those
Bucket Shop "History of Your Surname" con merchants.
I have left the information
(sorry misinformation) in
tact and added
my comments in black print where appropriate.
A correctly researched pedigree of the original family
to bear the
name Goostrey can be found here.
The
History of the Goostree Name..
The
name of Goosetree is one of the early surnames that was taken from the
shire in which the family lived.
[For
what it
is worth, this bit is OK in that the family did take its name from the
manor of Goostrey (then known as Gostre), the Shire being Cheshire. The
progenitor of the Goostrey line being Michael De Gostre who was the
third
son of Lidulph de Twemlow]
They
who went by the name Goostree (goosetrey) came to Normandy with Viking
Conqueror Rollo (860-933)
[This
bit is
utter rubbish, the Goostrey family are descended from Godric who held
the
manor of Goostrey at the time of the Conquest. Godric is described in
the
Doomsday Book as a Saxon. Therefore Vikings and Normans are total
figments
of someone's imagination]
[What
follows
is pure waffle to fill the page, it has no relevance to the history of
the name and is pure school boy Hollywood but do read on, it may amuse
you.]
The
ships of the Vikings were only open boats by oar as well as by sail,
the
sailors were very strong men, bold and would make voyages thousands of
miles from home in their ships. The Vikings seem to have no fear
and loved danger and adventure for they were brave men. The poor
people along the coastline of France and England were terrified when
they
saw the Viking ships approaching the coast. The ships had the
black
raven painted on their sails. The forward part of the ships
(called
prow) had large images hewn into them the forms of dragons, along the
defensive
wall of the ship hung large glittering rows of shields and standing
lines
of strong men ready to come ashore. The Northmen were pirates!
Villages,
monasteries, churches and even whole cities were just burned to the
ground.
Whole cities and districts were gone after the raid of the
Vikings.
Each year more and more Vikings came. Then came a large band of
Vikings
led by Rollo He forced a descendant of Charles the Great to turn
over to them a whole district of the best land in northern
France.
The Northmen settled down in the region they had conquered and
gradually
gave up their fierce customs. They married the women of the
country
and learned to speak French instead of the rude northern tongue.
They became practically Frenchmen, but they were always noted for their
energy, their love for adventure and courage in war!! Their province
was
called Normandy, and did become the most prosperous parts of all of
France.
Normandy
was just across the British Channel from England and the Normans knew
that
country was still weak. When one of the English Kings died
without a son, the leading men of England chose Harold, who was a
powerful
noble, to be their ruler. But William, Duke of Normandy, whom men
have always called William the Conqueror, declared that the late King
had
promised him the throne, so he gathered an army of adventurous Normans
and sailed across the channel and there was fought a famous battle.The
army knew how to fight on horseback and how to skillfully use archery,
and after all they had William to lead them!
But
the English stubbornly stood together to fight off every attack with
axes
and their swords. So William the Conqueror decided that he and
his
army of men would trick the English, so he and his men pretended to
retreat.
The English had no one to lead them at this time because Harold their
leader
had been wounded, therefore they broke line and ran in no order after
their
enemies. At this time William gave signial for his men to rush
the
English army and by nightfall, the English had been
destroyed.
William rewarded his followers by making them nobles and giving them
large
estates in England, the land they had taken by war. They built
castles,
and the architects and the masons knew how to build these stone
building,
which were stronger than the wood buildings the English people had
built.
[There
then follows
a number of extracts from Wills etc. which are probably OK but I have
deleted
the info so that we can come to the next bit of information which I
really
find amazingly inaccurate and so misleading it must have been invented
to flatter someone's ego]
Earl
of Chester gave his third son Michael, a half of the village of
Goosetree.
Therefore he was called Michael de Goostree.
[The
above misinformation
really hurts me. Anyone who knows how to research family history will
know
that the family of a Peer of the Realm (as the Earl of Chester was -
the
present earl of Chester being HRH The Prince of Wales) would have a
WELL
documented history. We know from our own research that the above
statement
is only "partially" correct in that Michael de Gostre WAS a third son
but
most definitely NOT the third son of the earl of Chester. A pedigree
drawn
up by John Booth, of Twemlow, based on early deeds &c. Harl M.S.
2011,
f. 94b, and 2059 f. 245. shows that Lidulph de Twemlow had three sons -
Richard de Croxton, Robert de Winnington and Michael de Gostre. He gave
Michael half of the manor of Goostree. Lidulph is a direct descendant
of
Godric (the Saxon). NONE are remotely related to the then earl of
Chester
who's history and family tree are well documented and can easily be
found.]
In
the little town of Goostree, in England, there stands a chapel.
It
appears to have been a side [
presumably
"site"] of the
ancient manor
house of michael de Goostree. The building has been described as a
quaint
little building!!!!!!!
[Goostrey
is not
a town, it is a village. It does not have a chapel but a church which
is
actually quite an imposing building !!!!]
Please note, I have tried to contact the
author/webmaster of the
site in question to discuss the blatant inaccuracies published on the
site
and would be delighted if they would contact me. I tried to ask if the
misinformation could be corrected but to no avail. I can not emphasize
enough that this information probably came from a bucket shop "Name
History"
merchant and it really hurts me that people who have a genuine interest
in their past can be so mislead. If you are researching your family
history,
you MUST check the facts for yourself.
Martin Goldstraw
