All those who today bear the surname of Goldstraw will eventually
be able to trace their origins back to an ancestor who bore the surname
of Goostrey. Tracing a family history (genealogy) back through the
generations using birth (baptism), marriage and death records has, for
some, proved difficult if they were not aware of this fact. It has
often been the case that a family researcher has attempted to trace a
strict "Goldstraw" route and this has quite quickly thrown up a dead
end. Once aware of the fact that during the nineteenth century the
surname Goostrey began to evolve into the surname Goldstraw then the
possibilities of further research once more open up. The fact that
Goldstraw is (or was) Goostrey may seem strange to those who now live
outside the family heartland of the north Staffordshire/Cheshire
borders but to those who remain in that area it is no secret.
The
following quote is from
the book "Brittains of Cheddleton Paper Makers" written by Robert
Milner [ISBN: 9781897949788] who is writing about the time the
Goldstraws owned and managed
the paper mill:
"By
1851, William
Goldstraw (or Goostrey) and George Hulme were paper manufacturers at
Cheddleton. Goldstraw was at that time living in London Road, Leek. It
seems highly likely that he and Hulme took over the lease in the early
part of 1849 but no evidence has yet been found to confirm this.
It
is rather confusing that
the name Goldstraw was known as "Goostrey" in the early years of the
19th century and the name is still commonly pronounced in that way. The
Goldstraws connected with the paper mill were descended from Isaac
Goostrey who was born at Cheddleton in 1780."
The following quote is from
the
book Distinctive Surnames of North Staffordshire [Publisher: Churnet
Valley Books (1 Aug 2002) ISBN-10: 1897949804 ISBN-13: 978-1897949801 ]:
THE
SURNAMEGoldstraw is a
local
variant of
the placename Goostrey near Holmes Chapel, which is recorded as Gostrel
in the 1086 Domesday Book, Gosetre, Gorstre during the 12th and 13th
century,
and Goulstry in the 17th century.
Developed
The
placename was originally taken
by
Ekwall in
his Dictionary of English Placenames as meaning the tree
belonging
to Godhere, an old Saxon name, but McNeal Dodgson in the Placenames of
Cheshire proposes a hypothetical Old English word “gorst-treow” in the
sense of gorse bush or bramble.
The local pronunciation of
Goldstraw
probably
developed along the following lines. Just as the word “cold” becomes
the
dialect “cowd”, and with the inclusion of the intrusive letter “l”, the
initial part of the name would be easily associated with the word
“gold”
and the original form of the name just as soon forgotten.
Interestingly enough, the
placename
is
still
pronounced Goostrey, and hence, is closer to its original form.