An excerpt from www.HouseOfNames.com archives copyright © 2000 - 2015
Where did the English Tankersley family come from? What is the English Tankersley family crest and coat of arms? When did the Tankersley family first arrive in the United States? Where did the various branches of the family go? What is the Tankersley family history?
Before English spelling was standardized a few hundred years ago, spelling variations of names were a common occurrence. Elements of Latin, French and other languages became incorporated into English through the Middle Ages, and name spellings changed even among the literate. The variations of the surname Tankersley include Tankersley, Tankesley, Tankisle, Tankersly, Tankerslie, Tankerslee and many more.
First found in South Yorkshire at Tankersley, a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley which dates back to the Domesday Book where it was listed as Tancreslei and literally meant "woodland clearing of a man called Tata" having derived for the Old English personal name + ing + tun.  At that time, the land was held by Richard of Sourdeval and was quite small with 3 villagers and had enough land for 2 ploughs. 
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Tankersley research. Another 249 words(18 lines of text) covering the years 1510, 1600, 1455 and 1487 are included under the topic Early Tankersley History in all our PDF Extended History products.
More information is included under the topic Early Tankersley Notables in all our PDF Extended History products.
A great wave of immigration to the New World was the result of the enormous political and religious disarray that struck England at that time. Families left for the New World in extremely large numbers. The long journey was the end of many immigrants and many more arrived sick and starving. Still, those who made it were rewarded with an opportunity far greater than they had known at home in England. These emigrant families went on to make significant contributions to these emerging colonies in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers carried this name or one of its variants:
Tankersley Settlers in United States in the 20th Century
Tankersley Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century
The Tankersley Family Crest was acquired from the Houseofnames.com archives. The Tankersley Family Crest was drawn according to heraldic standards based on published blazons. We generally include the oldest published family crest once associated with each surname.
This page was last modified on 7 March 2015 at 23:59.