Bradstreet Family Crest, Coat of Arms and Name History

Bradstreet Origin:

England

Origins of Bradstreet:

The name Bradstreet is of Anglo-Saxon origin and came from when the family resided near a major road. The name literally means by the broad street, and would have been given to someone who resided by one of the major roads of the time. It is only in the last few hundred years that the English language has regulated. For that reason, early Anglo-Saxon surnames like Bradstreet are characterized by many spelling variations. As the English language changed and combined components of other European languages, even educated people changed the spelling of their names. Authors and priests in the Middle Ages spelled names they sounded, so it is common to find many variations that refer to a single person. The variations of the name Bradstreet include as Bradstreet, Broadstreet and much more.

Variations:

More common variations are: Broadstreet, Braodstreet, Bardstreet, Brodstreet, Broadstreat, Broudstreet, Bradstred, Bradstrut, Broadstrit, Breedstraet.

England:

The surname Bradstreet first appeared in Derbyshire where they held a family seat from very early times. Some say well before the Norman Invasion and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 AD.

Ireland:

Many of the people with surname Bradstreet had moved to Ireland during the 17th century.

United States of America:

Individuals with the surname Bradstreet landed in the United States in three different centuries respectively in the 17th, 18th, and 19th. Some of the people with the name Bradstreet who arrived in the United States in the 17th century included Simon Bradstreet settled in Boston in the year 1630 and later moved to Salem, where, in the year 1679 he became Governor of the Colony. Simon Bradstreet, who arrived in Massachusetts in the year 1630. Humphry Bradstreet at the age of 40, landed in America in the year 1634. John Bradstreet at the age of 3, landed in New England in the year 1634. Martha Bradstreet at the age of 2, landed in New England in the same year 1634.

People with the surname Bradstreet who landed in the United States in the 18th century included Francis Bradstreet, who arrived in Virginia in 1741.

The following century saw more Bradstreet surnames arrive. Some of the people with the surname Bradstreet who arrived in the United States in the 19th century included H M Bradstreet, who landed in San Francisco, California in the year 1850. B G Bradstreet, who landed in San Francisco, California in the same year 1850.

Here is the population distribution of the last name Bradstreet: United States 1,584; Australia 202; England 102; Canada 99; France 49; New Zealand 40; Belgium 22; Hong Kong 2; Spain 2; South Africa 2.

Notable People:

Anne Bradstreet (March 1612 – September 1672), née Dudley, was the most famous of early English poets of North America and the first female author in England’s North American colonies to be published. She is the first Puritan figure in American Literature and notable for her large corpus of poetry, as well as personal writings published posthumously.

James Jeffrey “Jeff” Bradstreet (July 1954 – June 2015), was an American doctor, alternative medicine practitioner, and an old preacher who ran the International Child Development Resource Center in Melbourne, Florida, a medical practice in Buford, Georgia and in Arizona, where he practiced homeopathy.

Major General John Bradstreet (December 1714 – September 1774) was a British Army officer during King George’s War, the French and Indian War, and Pontiac’s Rebellion. He was born in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia to a British Army lieutenant and an Acadian mother. He also served as the Commodore-Governor for Newfoundland.

Simon Bradstreet was the husband of Anne and governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from the year 1679 to 1686.

Tim Bradstreet was an American artist and commercial painter.

James Bradstreet Greenough was an American classical scholar.

Blazons & Genealogy Notes

1) (Stacumnie, co. Kildare, bart.). Motto—Virtute et non vi. Ar. a greyhound pass. gu. on a chief sa. three crescents or. Crest—An arm in armour embowed the hand grasping a scymitar all ppr.
2) (Ireland). Gyronny of six gu. and or, on each a crescent counterchanged. Crest—A unicorn’s head betw. two branches of laurel in orle.