Metcalf and Allied Families
Metcalf and Allied Families. Joseph John McDonald Somerville, NJ 1938 Eft(J,lnj E.&. Wilua.m.s i! Bro. UY. Metcalf and Allied F anii1es BY J. J. McDONALD, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON Metcalf Arms-Argent, on a fesse wavy, between three calves, passant s3:ble, .a sword · f esseways. ' Crest-A-talbot sejant sable the dexV!r paw supporting a shield or, thereon a hand issuing from clouds, hoiding a pen. (Matthews: "'American Armoury.") · . T has been impossible to determine with certainty the origin of the name Metcalf. There are several theories, the most p:ropable being thal: it is a modification of Medcraft, or Medcroft, from mer}e, l\,fiddle English for a mowed gra~s :field, and craft or croft, meaning a small farm .. This earlier name appeared in the fourteenth cenn1ry in Yorkshire records, and there after in such varying forms that it could easily become tv1etcalf by the beginning of the following century, when it is found in records. The varieties in the first spelling confir.m this idea-Medcalf, Meadcalfe, and Metkalff. (Bardsley: "Dictionary of English and \Velsh Surnames.") Ralph Metcalf, whose biography .ippears in Generation IX of the family in America, has carefully preserved records which are the result of the labors of his father, Alfred Metcalf. These are· com plete through the Eng!ish Pedigree and through the first of the line in An1erica. For others of the generations, in addition to _r\.1fred Metcalf's work, we quote from authorities, these being plainly noted at the end of each generation. The original seat of t_he family in \England was in Yorkshire, where the name is still very common.
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