FOUND COUSINS
April 27, 2000
Cousin Jayne writes: "Ran across your site and thought I'd gone to heaven! I'm a missing link in the Hurst line. My g.father was James Glen Hurst, no b. or d. on him. His father was Dr. Benjamin F. Hurst who married Minnie Hughes 1 Sept. 1889. She was 2nd wife. Doc's father was Jefferson Hurst b. 28 March 1824, d. 19 Sept. 1888 m. Elizabeth Vowel 26 Dec 1844. Jefferson's father was William Hurst b. 10 July 1796, d. 8 Oct 1849 m. Fannie Nunn. William's father was the infamous JOHN "MILLCREEK" HURST. My mother was an only child, and was named Freida Mae Hurst, b. 6 May 1921, d. 6 Dec 1974. Her mother was Dessie Lee Wallace b. 26 Jan 1899, d. 19 Nov. 1969. Dessie married James Glen (who went by the name Glen) 10 April 1920. Doc and Minnie also had one daughter, Bonnie Hurst Williams, and she had only one son Clair Williams. My Hurst ancestors were in Putnam Co. IN. I have one sister who says she remembers Mom talking about the coat of arms! Neat stuff! Thanks for letting me share.....Jayne jnjmiller80@earthlink.net
For those of us researching the surname "Hurst" and variations,
I thought I
would post what I have and see if anyone else is willing to share what they
might have as well. I find it interesting that for the most part we are a
group, by definition, in a forest as it certainly seems that way trying to
sort out our Hurst(s), especially the ones in Virginia and Tennessee!
Marta Hurst
***
Etymology of the surname "Hurst"
According to "The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, The
Unabridged Edition" Jess Stein Editor, published 1966. The English language
is Germanic in origin; separate from Italic, the origin of Latin; and Celtic
the origin of Welsh, Irish, Scottish etc. The fact that the English
language originated from German helps explain the confusion regarding
whether the surname "Hurst" is English or German.
In "The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, The Unabridged
Edition" if you look up "hurst/Hurst":
"hurst, n, a casting surrounding millstones to confine the flour.
hurst, n, 1. A wooded hill. 2. A grove. ME (Middle English); OE (Old
English) hyrst; c. (cognate with) LG (Low German) horst wooded high spot;
akin to Icel (Icelandic) hrjostr rough place]."
According to the book, "New Dictionary of American Family Names" by Elsdon
C. Smith, the various spelling of the surname "Hurst":
HURST: "(English) One who lived by, or in, the wood or copse, or on the
knoll or hillock."
HIRST: "(English) One who came from Hirst (wooded hill), the name of places
in Northumberland and the West Riding of Yorkshire; dweller at the wood or
hill."
HORST, HORSTMAN, HORSTMANN: "(German) Dweller in a thicket or near
shrubbery; one who came from Horst (woodland), the name of many places in
Germany."
HEARST: "(English) Dweller at the sign of the hart or stag; one thought to
have some characteristic of the Hart. (Hart: The adult male red deer; one
who came from Stag Island/Hart in Durham.)"
HIRSH, HIRSCH: "(German) Dweller at the sign of the hart; one thought to
possess some characteristics of a hart; name adopted by Jews as the emblem
of Naphtali (a hind let loose); descendant of Hirsh, a Yiddish form of Harry
(home, rule)."
As you can see with the exceptions of HEARST, HIRSH, & HIRSCH, the meanings
are all very similar.
The book, "A Dictionary of English Surnames", publ by Oxford University
Press, Oxford, England, 1997, has:
Page 245 "Hurst v Herst"
Page 229 "Herst, Hirst, Hurst, Horst: Thomas de Herst 1066 DB (Sx - Sussex);
Helies de Hirst 1177 Templars (Y - Yorkshire); Walter del Hurst 1196 P (Bk -
Buckinghamshire); Robert de la Hurste 1214 Cur (Sr - Subsidy Rolls);
Nicholas Horst 1220 (AssSt - Assize Rolls Staffordshire); William del Hirst
1275 Wak (Y - Yorkshire); Henry Attehurst 1277 (AssSu - ); William ater,
Robert ate, Peter de la Herst 1296 SRSx; Joan upe, Geoffrey uppe the Hurst
1322 SRSx. OE (Old English) hyrst `wood, wooded hill.' The surname may
derive from Hirst (Northumb), Hirst Courtney (Yorks), Temple Hirst (Yorks),
Hurst (Berks, Kent, Warwicks) or Hurst pierpoint (Sussex), earlier Herst,
or, more frequently, from residence near a wood or wooded hill. The variant
forms are due to different development in ME (Middle English) of OE (Old
English) y which, in general, became e in the south-east, especially Essex
and Kent, i in the north and the east midlands and u in the west and central
midlands and the southern counties."
In Heraldry the term "Hurst" means: "Hurst - A charge representing a small
group of trees, generally borne upon a mount or base." per James P. Wolf's
website "Heraldry On The Internet" http://digiserve.com/heraldry/pimb_h.htm
and the glossary from "Pimbley's Dictionary of Heraldry".
The "Hurst" surname has Heraldry in England, and the Coat Of Arms is the
"Red Sun In Splendor" on a silver background with a small group of trees at
the very top. The silver background supposable is reserved for nobility.
This page created 06-05-2000