Townsend

This interesting surname of English origin is a topographical name for someone who lived at the extremity of a village, deriving from the Middle English "tone", "tune" meaning a "village" or "settlement" plus the Middle English "end" (Old English "ende"). The surname dates back to the late 13th Century, (see below). Further recordings include one Richard atte Tounende (1297), "Ministers' Accounts of the Earldom of Cornwall", and William atte Townesend (1327), "The Subsidy Rolls of Worcestershire". Variations in the idiom of the spelling Townend, Townen, Townsend, etc.. On May 27th 1645, Thomas Townend married Mary Heyward at St. Botolph, Bishopsgate, London. Audrea Townend married Alexander Denister on May 23rd 1648 at St. Martin in the Fields, Westminster. Susanna, daughter of Richard and Alice Townend, was christened on October 12th 1662, at St. Brides, Fleet Street. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Geoffrey de le Tuneshende, which was dated 1273, "The Subsidy Rolls of Norfolk". during the reign of King Edward 1, "The Hammer of the Scots", 1273 - 1307. 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.