Where We Live

Geographical spread in the UK

It’s interesting to see how the UK familes have migrated over the years.

The image to the left (courtesy of Ancestry.co.uk) shows where the Elsegoods were located, according to the UK Census of 1891 …. predominantly in Norfolk, but with the other centres of concentration in Yorkshire (like my own family) and in Kent (mainly around the River Medway).

Surprisingly few of the familes were at that time located in Suffolk.  My grandfather and his brothers all came from Brome in Suffolk – right on the border of Norfolk and Suffolk – but when the railway came to Stowmarket and Bury-St.Edmunds, they came North to set up residence in York, and my great-grandfather followed them. After that, in the early years of the 20th Century, the family was firmly established in York until my brother and I started work elsewhere, and now all the direct members of my branch of the family have left York.

Although the family name remains more common in the UK, and particularly in England than anywhere else, the Elsegoods have migrated all over the world. The migration of Elsegood family members to Australia, for example, began during the days of colonialism, when Australia was a penal colony and members of the British Army were stationed there as military prison guards.  The colonial expansion of the British Empire took many UK citizens, including Elsegoods, to all corners of the world, not least the USA (as see below).  There was also migration to Ireland and Argentina, and there are several Elsegood families in Argentina currently, with whom I am making contact.

During the British expansionary period in the mid-19th Century, Elsegoods found homes and established family settlements in many parts of the world, often being part of the military.  In the USA however, as the chart to the right shows, in 1880 there were no more than a few families, all located in the Eastern states of New York and Pennsylvania.After living for some 29 years in Bermuda, my brother (John), a reputed Commercial Artist/Graphic Designer, migrated to North Carolina: his is currently the only Elsegood family in that state. This website owes much to John’s creative talents.