Researching the Milstead Surname
I have been researching the Milstead surname for a number of years and have a large database of information on Milsteads and their relations in America. In particular, most of the people in my database are descended from Edward Milstead who was supposedly born in Kent, England (a lot of people think Bethersden, Kent, but I have not been able to find a record to verify this) and was transported as an indentured servant in 1674, winding up in Port Tobacco, Maryland.
I am the project administrator for the familytreedna.com Y-DNA project for the Milstead surname.
I also have a collection of several hundred old photo images of various branches of the Milstead family and would be interested in adding your family photos taken before 1950 to the collection. The image attached to this post is an example of those photos. It is a tintype of James Milstead, from an undetermined branch of the family.
There are many supposed connections among various individuals in this family group for which actual documentary evidence is scarce or non-existent and I would be interested in sharing notes with any others researching this family.
The village in Kent called Milstead
This listed document may assist you to come forward to your chosen date - cheers
Last name: Milstead
SDB Popularity ranking: 14193
Recorded in several forms including Milstead, Millsted, and Millstead, this is an English surname. It originates from the village of Milsted in the county of Kent. Accoring to Ekwalls famous book 'English Place Names' the name derives not from the Olde English pre 7th ccentury 'mylen-stede' or the place of the mill, but from 'middel-stede' meaning the middle place, although just what Milsted is the 'middle of' is unclear. Locational surnames are usually 'from' names. That is to say that they were used to identify strangers, who had arrived from somewhere else. It was an easy system but one which given the erratic nature of spelling and the fact that local accents and dialects were very thick, often lead to the creation of 'sounds like' spellings of the surname, as indeed with this name. Milsted (village) was actually recorded as 'Middel-stede' in the year 1226, but thereafter seems to have slipped back into the original form of (nearly) 'Milstede' used around the begining of the Millenium, and at the time of the Norman Invasion of 1066. The surname is much later. Recording taken from surviving church registers of Kent for the period include: Ann Milstead, christened at Margate, on September 28th 1600, Samuel Millstead, a witness at Little Chart, on August 30th 1630, and Daniel Milstead, who married Mary Everden at Tenterden, on April 8th 1746.
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