N A N N A U

The Ancient History of the Distinguished Surname **** NANNEY ****

The surname Nanney is one of the oldest Welsh names. Before the Norman Conquest, Britian inhabited by many different ethnic groups, but perhaps the oldest of which is the Welsh race, a race which settled in the snow-capped mountains and peaceful valleys of Wales.

The Romans vacated the Isles, and the Welsh, or the ancient Britons, were left in sole possession of all of England and lowland Scotland. Their most distinguished leaders were Ambrosious, and later, in the 5th century, King Arthur of the Round Table. The first recorded king of Wales was Rhodri Mawr, or Roderick the Great. He died in 893. On his death he bequeathed Wales to his three sons, Anarawd became king of North Wales, Cadalh became king of South Wales and Mervyn became king of Powys, or mid Wales.

The history of the surname Nanney began midst the prosaic fabric of the ancient Welsh chronicles and was first found in Merionethshire where they were seated from early times and their first records appeared on rolls taken by the ancient Kings of Britian to determine the rate of taxation of their subjects.

Researchers examined early manuscripts such as the Domesday Book, the Pipe Rolls, Hearth Rolls, the black Book of the Exchequer, the Curia Regis Rolls, and your family name Nanney with many different spellings. Although your name, Nanney, occurred in many references, from time to time the surname was spelt Nanney, Nanny, Nannau, Nanphan, and many of these are still in use today. These changes in spelling frequently occurred, even between father and son, and it was not uncommon for a person to be born with one spelling, marry with another, and still have another on the tombstone in his or her resting place. Scribes and church officials frequently chose their own version of what the correct spelling should be, and recorded it so.

In confirming their descent from the Welsh race, the Nanney surname can be traced back to ancient times. The Welsh faced the Saxons, and then the Normans along the Welsh Marches, defending Wales with a string of castles, each not more than one day's march from one another, stretching from the River Dee in the north to the Sea of Severn in the south. A testimony to the indomitable Welsh fighting spirit is that there are more castles, or ruins of castles, to the square mile than anywhere else in the world.

Border warfare against the Normans and their successors continued unabated until the end of the 14th century. The Welsh tactic was to thrust, then retire to their bleak mountain homes to plan their next attack. Meanwhile, by the 15th and 16th centuries, England, ravaged by plagues and famines lost as much as 70% of their working population of peasants. The Welsh, attracted by the economic opportunities, moved eastward into the English cities. Seemingly not affected by the plagues they multiplied amongst the sparse population of England.

Despite the spartan life, the family name Nanney emerged as a notable Welsh family name in Merioneth where they were recorded as a family of great antiquity seated as Lords of the manor of Nannau and estates in that shire. They also held estates in Cefndeuddwr and Gwynfryn in Carnarvonshire. They were descended from Cadwgan, Lord of Nannau, son of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, King of Powys. They also branched to Maes-y-Neuadd in merionethshire. They were also Lords of Ynys y Maengwyn. By 1578 Edward Nanney was High Sheriff of Merionethshire. Notable amongst the family during the late middle ages was Lord of Nannau.

For the next two or three centuries the surname flourished and played an important role in local county politics and in the affairs of Britian in general.

During the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries England was ravaged by religious conflict. Henry the VIII started the great schism between the Roman Church and the English state. Continuing, the newly found passionate fervour of Cromwellianism, the newly created Protestantism of the Church rejected all nonbelievers. And the Roman Church still fought to regain the status and rights. The power of the Church, and the Crown, their assessments, tithes, and demands on rich and poor alike broke the spirit of men and many turned from religion entirely, or renewed their faith, pursuing with a vigour and ferocity, the letter of the ecclesiastical law. Many became pirates who roamed the West Indies.

Some were shipped to Ireland where they were known as the Adventurers for land. Essentially, they contracted to maintain and develop the Protestant faith, being granted lands previously owned 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 migration to that country.

The New World beckoned the more adventurous. Some of the disillusioned sailed voluntarily from Ireland, but most sailed directly from Wales or England, their home territories. Some even moved to the European continent.

They sailed to the New World across the stormy Atlantic aboard tiny sailing ships which were to become known as the "White Sails". These overcrowded ships, designed for 100 but frequently crammed with 400 and 500 passengers, spent two months at sea, were wracked with disease, sometimes landing with only 60 to 70% of the original passenger list.

In North America, one of the first migrants which could be considered a kinsman of the Nanney family or having a variation of the family surname spelling, was Robert Nanney who settled in Boston Mass. in 1635; Martin Nanney arrived in Virginia in 1731.

There are many notable contemporaries of this name, and the family name continued to make an important contribution to the political and cultural life of the societies on both sides of the Atlantic.

Whilst researching the family Coat of Arms we traced the most ancient recording and grant of the name. The most ancient grant of a Coat of Arms found was: Gold with a blue lion. The Crest was: A blue lion.

The Welsh surname Nanny or Nanney is locative in origin, that is to say derived from the name of a place or locality - in the present case the lands and house of Nannau, near Dolgelly in Merionethshire, which for many ages has been the home of the family. The Nanneys of Nannau are descended from Cadwgan Lord of Nannau, second son of Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, Prince of Powys, from whom the third royal tribe of Wales was descended. Howel Selyf or Sele, possessor of Nannau in the time of Owain Glyndwr, was ninth from Bleddyn ap Cynfyn; his grandfather, Ynyr Fychan (junior), son of Ynyr ap Meurig, presented a petition to the prince of Wales in the thirty-third year of Edward I's reign statng the King had made him Rhaglor of the comot of Talybont for his services in taking Madoc ap Llywelyn, who in the last war had made himself Prince of Wales. The petition was not granted as Ynyr could show no title or charter to the office. Hugh Nanney was head of the family during the first half of the seventeenth century and his name appears in the list of sheriffs of Merionethshire in 1627 and 1638. He died in 1647. The last of the line of Nanneys was his grandson, Colonel Hugh Nanney, Member of Parliament, Colonel of the Militia of his county and Vice-Admiral of North Wales in the last years of William III. He had no son and the Nanney estates were eventually inherited by Hugh Vaughan, eldest son of his third daughter, Catherine.

The Nanneys of Cefn Deuddwr were a branch of the great house but became extinct in the nineteenth century when the lineal representative, the Rev. Richard Nanney (died 1812) devised the estate to his sister's son, David Ellis, of Gwynfryn, Caernarvonshire. The latter died without issue and left the united estates of Geynfryn and Cefn Deuddwr to his sister's son, Owen jones, of Brynkir, who took after his own surname those of Ellis and Nanney.

The Nanneys of Maes-y-Neuadd, Merionethshire, were descended through the Wynns, of Glynn, from Osborne Fitzgerald, lord of Ynys-y-Maengwyn. Robert Wynn who was Sheriff of Merioneth in 1734 married the heiress of nanneys of Maes-y-Pandy in that country and his son and heir, William Wynn, assumed the name Nanney.

A Robert Nanney is said to have sailed from London for America in 1635 and he may well be the ancestor of the present day Nanneys of the United States. In the days when communities were small a person was identified by a single name only but with the increase in, and movement of, population, confusions arose and it became necessary to adopt a cognomen derived from one of four sources - the name of an ancestor, a place (of origin or residence), an occupation or some personal characteristic or nickname. Thus a man named John who was a member of the family resident of Nannau might be known as "John (of) Nannau or Nanney" in order to distinguish him from others of the same Christian name and in the course of time the cognomen became hereditary in what we now term surnames, ceasing to have any reference to the bearer's place of origin. The arms illustrated which may be described heraldically as Or, a lion rampant azure are ascribed to Cadwgan, Lord of Nannau, mentioned above, and used by the Nanney family by virtue of their descent from him. Writers in the past have attributed symbolism to the tinctures and charges of heraldry - thus or (gold) is said to denote generosity and azure (blue), loyalty and truth. The lion has always held a high place in heraldry as the emblem of deathless courage and therefore of the valiant warrior.