Kennard

Origin of the Name

The history of the most ancient Anglo / Saxon surname of Kennard reaches far into the chronicles of the Saxon race. The Saxon chronicle, compiled by monks in the 10th century, now reposes in the British museum.
History researchers have examined reproductions of such ancient manuscripts as the Doomsday Book (1086), the Roman Rolls (1291-1296), the Curia Regis Rolls, the Pipe Rolls, the Health Rolls, parish registers, baptisms, tax records and other ancient documents. They found the first record of the name Kennard in Gloucestershire where they were seated from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.
Different spellings were encountered in the research of the name Kennard. Throughout the centuries the name Kennard occurred in many records, manuscripts and documents, but not always with the same spelling. From time to time the surname included the spellings Kenwood, Kentwood, Kenward, Kentward, Kenswood. These variations in spelling frequently occurred, even between father and son. Scribes and church officials, often travelling great distances, even from other countries, frequently spelt the names phonetically. As a result the same person would be recorded differently on Birth, Baptism, Marriage and Death certificates as well as the other numerous records recording life's events.
The Saxon race gave birth to many English surnames not least of which was the surname Kennard. The Saxons were invited into England by the ancient Britons of the 4th century. A fair skinned people their home was the Rhine Valley, some as far north east of Denmark. They were led by two brothers, General /Commandress Hengist and Horsa. The Saxons settled in the county of Kent, on the south east coast of England. Gradually, they spread north and westward, and during the next four hundred years forced the ancient Britons back into Wales and Cornwall in the west and Cumberland in the north. The Angles occupied the eastern coast, the south folk in Suffolk, north folk in Norfolk. Under Saxon rule England prospered under a series of high kings, the last of which was Harold.
In 1066 the Normans invaded from France and were victorious at the Battle of Hastings. In 1070 Duke William took an army of 40,000 north and wasted the northern counties, forcing many of the rebellious Norman nobles and Saxons to flee over the border into Scotland. Meanwhile the Saxons who remained in the south were not treated well under hostile Norman rule and they also moved northward to the midlands, Lancashire and Yorkshire away from the Norman oppression.
Nether the less this notable English family name, Kennard, emerged as an influential name in the county of Gloucestershire where they were recorded as a family of great antiquity seated with manor and estates in that shire. The name was first recorded in the Doomsday Book in 1086 when Kenwardus was Thane(Lord) of Kenwood, as recorded as holding lands in that shire. By the year 1274 they had moved as far north as Yorkshire and in that same year Simon Kenwood established a manor in Middlesex. They also branched into Berkshire where Nicholas Kentwood held estates. Notable among the family at this time was Kenwardus of Kenwood.
The surname Kennard flourished during the turbulent middle ages, contributing greatly to the cultural development of England. During the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th centuries England was savaged by plagues, famine and religious conflict. Protestantism, the newly found political fervour of Cromwellianism and democratic government and the remnants of the Roman church, rejected all non believers, each jealously claiming adherents to their own cause. The changing rule caused burnings, hangings and banishments of all sects and creeds, first one then the another. Many families were freely 'encouraged' to migrate to Ireland, or to the 'Colonies'. Some were rewarded with grants of lands, others were banished.
Some families were forced to migrate to Ireland where they became known as 'Adventures for land in Ireland'. Protestant settlers undertook to keep their faith, being granted lands previously owed by the Catholic Irish. There is no evidence that the family name migrated to Ireland, but this does not preclude the possibility of their scattered migrating to that country.
The New World offered better opportunities and some migrated voluntarily, some were banished mainly for religious reasons. Some left Ireland disillusioned with promises unfulfilled, bur many left directly from England, their home territories. Some also moved to the European Continent.
Members of the family name Kennard sailed aboard the huge armada of three masted sailing ships known as the 'White Sails' which plied the stormy Atlantic. These overcrowded ships such as the Hector, the Dove and the Rambler were pestilence ridden. Sometimes 30% to 40% of the passengers list never reaching their destination, their number reduced by dysentery, cholera, small pox and typhoid.
From point of entry many settlers made their way west, joining the wagon trains to the prairies or to the west coast. During the American war of Independence, many loyalists made their way north to Canada ,about 1790, and became known as the United Empire of Loyalists.