Name Index

To

Furse of Moreshead: A Family Record of the Sixteenth Century

Trans. Devon Assoc., vol. XXVI, (1894), pp. 168- 184, pedigree.

by

H. J. Carpenter, M.A., LL. M.

Prepared by Michael Steer

The paper was presented in August at the Association’s July 1894 South Molton Conference. Furse is a Devon surname as well as one of several names for gorse (or gribble). The name is believed to be derived from Old Engish: fyrse (meaning "gorse"). The name is often compared to that of Furze generally found in Cornwall. The first recorded Furse appears in the Exon Domesday as Robert Furse. The farm named Morshead passed to a John Furse in 1525 when Johan the only daughter of John Morshead (whose ancestors had changed their family name from Le Bon to Morshead soon after they occupied the farm), married John Furse. This was recorded by John Furse's son Robert in the "Furse Diary" written in 1593. The article, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.