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Charles' Site
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Being a Bosomworth
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This is the place where I'll be mainly describing my historical
heritage, musing on the advantages and disadvantages of having a
'memorable' surname, and the places and people this connects me to...
What is there in a name?
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The origin of the name Bosomworth is lost, my own preferred explanation is that name comes from the place name Bosham, a village
in Sussex noted for it's connection to King Harold, 1066 and all that..
The local Sussex people around and about pronounce the name Bosham as
'Bossum'. Worth is derived from the Saxon meaning 'A court, farm,
possession, place, field or way; the place valued, sold, or granted.'
Putting these together might mean Bosomworth refers to a person owning
or originating from a farm or lands around and or connected to the
place Bossum, it's hard to know for sure and of course spelling was not
an exact science in those days. The family seems to have flourished in
and around Yorkshire from the available parish records, the Norman
invasion may well have displaced the Saxon Bossumworth's North, or one
may have stayed on in the area after Harold's battle at Stamford Bridge
where the Saxons defeated a Viking invasion just 3 weeks before the
battle of Hastings. Spelling variations come about because the literate
priest would transcribe the name given them as best they could from the
spoken form into the records.
Another theory.

Some history from the colonies
Mary Musgrove, Queen of the Creeks
a North Georgia Notable
Born:1700
Died:1763
Empress & Queen of the Upper & Lower Creeks
Mary
Musgrove was born "Cousaponakeesa", in 1700, at Coweta Town on the
Ockmulgee River. She was the daughter of a white South Carolina trader
and an Indian princess. Mary's mother was a sister of the illustrious
"old Brim or Bream," Emperor of the Creeks.
Mary Musgrove pictured with her third husband, the Reverend Thomas Bosomworth
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What a commotion!
In 1749 Coosaponakeesa and Bosomworth led a group of Creeks, including
Malatchi, then chief mico of the tribe, in a protest march on Savannah.
This is sometimes described as an 'invasion' Coosaponakeesa and
Bosomworth were arrested, but they were later released after
apologizing to Savannah officials.
Mary
Musgrove served as a cultural liaison between colonial Georgia and her
Native American community in the mid-eighteenth century. She took
advantage of her biculturalism to protect Creek interests, maintain
peace on the frontier, and expand her business as a trader.
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Of Bosomworth's and Oglethorpe
The
first property transfer in the new colony of Georgia involved Ossabaw.
Gen. James Edward Oglethorpe made a land deal with Tomochichi, the mico
of the Yamacraws, receiving the tidewater region between Savannah and
the Altamaha in exchange for granting Ossabaw, St. Catherines, and
Sapelo islands to the Indians in perpetuity. The Indians made a
subsequent deal, granting the hunting islands to Mary Musgrove, an
interpreter of mixed Indian and European parentage, who was considered
princess of the tribe. Musgrove, and her husband Thomas Bosomworth,
were granted the Indian hunting islands "as long as the sun shall shine
or the waters run in the rivers, forever." Not much happened with the
islands until Georgia lifted its ban in 1749 on slavery, which was
necessary to operate profitable plantations in the south. Musgrove
moved to establish plantations on her three islands, but the Royal
Trustees protested the legality of her title to the islands. Despite
the dispute, the Bosomworths built a home and planted fields on St.
Catherines, and raised cattle on Ossabaw. After 11 years, the case was
settled by granting them St. Catherines, and Sapelo and Ossabaw were
put up for public auction with the proceeds going to the Bosomworths.
More on Mary and Thomas Bosomworth
The funny thing is that my solicitor (US Lawyer) who is handling the sale of my house is called Oglethorpe!
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