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How can I
help this site?
If you have any Preece
references in your own family, no matter how
large or small, old or older, I would be
delighted to receive them, either in paper
format or via an e-mail.
Alternatively, if you have
any suggestions for new sources for One Name
Study extraction of names please do let me
know, and I will add this to the links page.
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Why are you doing this?
I have been researching my own - and other family
members - family history for many years. As part
of that research I started 'collecting' every
reference to my own name I could find, probably
hoping to fit them all into my own tree! I found
out about the Guild of One Name Studies in the
1980's, and became member number 1100 in 1987.
This has now grown into a huge database of
entries, some of which have developed into family
groupings. This in turn will (hopefully) help
others looking for Preece relatives - one aspect
that always pleases me is being able to put two
researches in contact who didn't know of one
another, sometimes across different continents. I
hold details of many people researching families
with Preece connections, both in this country and
further afield, particularly in Australia and New
Zealand and increasingly in North America.
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Where does the name "PREECE"
come from?
Although it has been suggested that it
developed purely as a name in its own right, it
is generally accepted that Preece comes from the
Welsh Ap Rees, meaning son of Rees, This
particular form of the name led to Price as well
as the many variants of Preece. This is
supported by the fact that the earliest mention
of the name is in the Welsh border regions. The
earliest Preece spelling I hold is from 1564,
but until probably around 1700 many different
spellings exist. Only once into the nineteenth
century does Preece become the 'normal'
spelling, but small pockets of some of the other
spellings do still persist. For example, there
are Prees families in Wales, and to a lesser
extent in and around Birmingham. An analysis of
the 1881 and 1999 Preece
populations is available within the site.
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Do you have all of the Preece
entries I might need?
Maybe but unlikely! As you
will see from the Database
page, the scope of the records held is
growing. However, there are so many entries in
various places, such as Census records, that
the task will continue for a considerable
time, and will never be 'finished'. But you
can help...... [ see left!].
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WILL ANYONE ELSE BE
INTERESTED IN THIS SITE?
Anyone with a direct
interest via a 'Preece' relative in their
family tree will obviously be interested. But
some of my contacts have arrived at the site
looking for others, and find a Preece
connection they knew nothing about. In
addition, any fellow One-Namers are welcome to
contact me for details on their own particular
names to be extracted from my database if I
haven't already sent them to you.
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What is the Guild of One Name
Studies?
The Guild of One Name Studies was formed in
1979. It maintains a register of all people,
such as myself, who are researching the
worldwide references to a particular name,
together with variants. They publish an annual
edition, and the register is available on-line.
I have been a member since 1987.
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Can I access the database
directly?
No, but a large number of
records are now available on-line. A message
will need to be sent asking for specific
information not covered by these records - my
email address is shown on the "Contact Me"
page. Records which have been put onto the
site include entries from the National Index
to Wills & Administrations, Trade
Directory entries, and some of the many
thousands of entries from the GRO Birth,
Marriage and Death Indexes. These index
entries have been matched up with parish
register entries wherever possible.
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What about a Coat
of Arms?
As yet no positive identification has been made
of arms granted to a Preece family member.
Several possible arms have been seen over the
years, but this is an ongoing project and I hope
to be able to incorporate such an item once it
has been located.
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