MARRIS FAMILY HISTORY PAGE

900 AD Vikings ('Northmen') occupy Normandy

Inside 100 years are converted to Christianity, Latinised and Feudalised.
And speak FRENCH!

Outside Calais there is now a town called Marck, which has a Coat of Arms which is quite similar to the Arms granted to the contemporary Marris family by the College of Heralds, as displayed on the Home Page.

1000 The Comptes be Marcq (Latinisation of Germanic word, Mark, meaning a piece of land ?) begat:

Osbert de Marcq, great, great, great...................(33 times) grandfather of the contemporary Marris family, the youngest of whom are now aged 2-4 years, who begat:

Adelof (Viking name, surely) de Marcq,

who fought for the Conqueror in the Battle of Hastings (1066) and received lands which are in the Doomesday Book.

In a few generations the name became de Marisco, in which capacity the family became Lords of Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel, where they held some independence from the Crown (and a reputation for piracy) until the middle 13th Century

The name then changed to de Mareys becoming Marris in late 15th Century.

Now for what reason unknown, no longer landed aristocracy but tenant farmers.

In 17th Century there was a relation called Colonel John Morris who infuriated Oliver Cromwell by changing sides from Parliament to Royalist. As a result he was hanged, drawn and quartered in 1649.

In the second half of the 19th Century, great grandfather George created a metal working business in Birmingham which produced, among other things, brass bedsteads and their knobs. Later they produced bronze fire-irons and picnic outfits.

The firm remained in the family until forced to close down by the high level of the pound in the early 'eighties.