Fear One-Name Study

Fear
One-Name Study

Topics

About the Fear One-Name Study
Variants
Origin of the surname
Historical occurrences
Frequency of the name
Data
Contact Details

About the Fear One-Name Study

This study aims to record and link all reference to persons with the surname FEAR across the world and at all dates.

Variants

The name has few variants, but FEER, FEERE, FEARE and FER are found in earlier documents. The separate surname FEARS is also sometimes used by members of the FEAR family so is also recorded. The name will be sometimes found spelt PHERE

Origin of the surname

The name seems to have oridinated in Somerset, UK, around the village of Chew Magna. In the 16th century almost half of the taxes in Chew magna were collected from families named FEAR.

The earliest references found to date are a Walter FERE in Oxfordshire in 1279 and a Roger le FER on Essex in 1327, but it has not been possible to link these to the families in Somerset and they possibly have no connection.

The earliest of Somerset group is a John FEERE found in the Subsidy Roll for 1523. His decendents have been traced down to the present day and he seems to have been the ancestor of most of the FEAR lines researched

Emigration took its toll and there are no no members of the family in Chew Magna. By far the greatest consentration is in America

Historical occurrences

The FESRs were a stable farming family and have not through up too many 'notables', but here are a few :-

1) Samuel FEAR (b 1799) who seems to have had a large number of 'wives' and left many children

2) Edwin FEAR (b1823) who founded the Fear Clockmakers once at FEAR Corner in Bristol

3) Edgar Daniel FEAR (b 1866) who founded the national Savings Movement

4) Ernest Dennison FEAR, who emigrated to America and made his fortune selling ice-cream. he returned to England and made ann early coulour movie film of his family home which still survives.

5) Sue FEAR, who in 2003 became the first Australian born woman to climb Everest

Frequency of the name

The name is fairly uncommon. In the 1851 census of England there are about 400 persons with the surname FEAR, and this rises to just under 1600 by the 1881 census

Data

The data is collected by a group of reasechers and is made available free of charge to all those who have an interest in the name.

There is a 'Fear Single Name Society' registered with the 'Guild of Single Name Societies' and we produce a newsletter to help us keep in touch. We have also produced a book, 'The FEARs of Chew Magna' which has gone through a number of editions as the resesrch progressed. It has now transformed into an electronic edition which is continuoisly updated as me research is reported

Contact details

For further information, contact:

Dr Tam A Llewellyn-Edwards
4 St Marys Mews,
Tickhill,
South Yorkshire
DN11 9LR
UNITED KINGDOM
E-mail: