Possumblog

MORE Questions!

This one is actually something I might be able to shed some light on. Or not.

Anyway, just had someone swing through wondering: I want to know what the last name Oglesby means.

Okay then, but you probably won't after you find out.

ANYway, as an amateur genealogist, this is one of those things (for some reason) you think is good to know, and so first thing, you go searching around for it and wind up somewhat disappointed. Supposedly (and this comes from various self-pubished books and junk that can be INCREDIBLY off track), the name Oglesby is derived from Ogilvie, one of the fine old families of Scotland. "Ogilvie," in turn, is supposed to be derived from an Olde Englishe word meaning "high place," although I have also seen other places say it means "son of the blond man." But, basically, it only has the littlest to do with Oglesby. People get all excited thinking they're descended from nobility, but the more likely thing is that your genes were passed down from one of the yeomen or varlets or villeins or knaves on the pastureland of some landholder named Owhatever.

Another problem is that names were notoriously unstandardized and phoneticized until into the early 19th Century--my own great-g-g-g-g-granpappy Sabert is listed in Rev War lists, later census rolls, and even the old family bible not only as Sabert, but as Seabert and Sabred, with the last name variously being Oglesbee, Oglesbey, Oglespey, Oglesberry, and Oglesby. His kids seemed to have stuck with Oglesby, however.

My advice? Let it mean whatever you want it to.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at April 26, 2005 03:30 PM