Crusham

This name with variant spelling Crosham, is of English locational origin from one of the estimated seven to ten thousand villages and hamlets that have now disappeared from the maps in Britain. The prime cause of these "disappearances" was the enforced "clearing" and dispersal of the former inhabitants to make way for sheep pastures at the height of the wool trade in the 14th Century. Natural causes such as the Black Death of 1348, also contributed to the lost village phenomenon. The placename itself can be broken down into two elements. The first element "crus", may be from the Germanic word "Krush", or the Swedish "Cruus", both meaning "to crush", thus inferring that this element of the name may be job descriptive for someone involved in the milling, crushing or breakdown of materials. It may also derive from the old English "crucc", cross, which may signify a village by a cross, as the second element "-ham", coming from the old English word "ham" meaning village or settlement. On May 30th 1896, James Edward Crusham married Elizabeth Boscow at Warrington, Lancashire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of George Crosham, which was dated September 8th 1793, christened at Eccleston by Chorley, Lancashire, during the reign of King George 111, known as "Farmer George", 1760 - 1820. 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.