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From: "Colleen" <>
Subject: Re: FITCH reply
Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2002 07:19:28 -0000
References: <B9EBD219.1E12%wolfango.defrancesco@tin.it>


Were your Gernons conncted to the the Garnons who owned Theydon
Garnon near Epping, Essex? I'm sure they were originally Gernons.

Colleen

----- Original Message -----
From: "De Francesco Wolfango" <


> dear evelyn,
> i don't have specific info on your fitch family , but general info about
the
> name. the fitch name in some cases, not all , mind you, derives from my
> ancestors the gernons, of 1066 fame. the gernons were cousins of william
the
> conqueror, of the ducal family , based in monfichet , normandy, south of
> bayeux. they contributed to the 1066 invasion and baron robert de guernon
> was very heavily rewarded by william , becoming one of the 15 largest
> landowners of england under the conquest. five years after the conquest,
> robert de guernon's children and grandchildren started calling themselves
> de monfichet, or , anglicized to mountfitchet, after the name of their
huge
> norman castle. there were important members of the family that signed the
> magna charta and were very well known in their time, their castle near
> blackfriar's bridge, monfichet castle and tower was one of three main
> medieval norman buildings under the conquest, built at the same time as
> london tower and baynard's castle, but was destroyed around 1215 by king
> john , along with their main castle at stansted mountfitchet, of which
they
> were lords,among many other places(they held around 100 manors,in 10
shires,
> mainly in essex) for rebellion. (they also built many churches, castles
and
> monasteries in normandy, england and ireland....)with time , later on,
part
> of the family called montfichet or mountfitchet began calling themselves
> fitch. some members of this branch held (possibly built) fitch castle in
the
> north.the gernons were a potent norman family intertwined with most major
> norman families of the time, a branch went on the norman invasion of
ireland
> and married immediately both into the connaught royal house and the de
> burgo family(descended from plantagenets) that founded the burke family,
> from which diana descends through her mother. the family was very
> influential in the pale for many centuries, until around 1700, when my
> branch specialized as a medical family(we're at 8th generation of doctors
> now). the gernon surname died out in england in this manner, through name
> change, while the mountfitchet name slowly was superceded by fitch.
already
> a very wealthy grandson of baron robert de guernon changed his name to
> cavendish , founding that great family of nobles found for example in
> charles, diana's and camilla's bloodlines and that of many english
> aristocrats.....the gernons didn't die out, they merely changed names. the
> only gernons i have found in england today are people that derive from the
> irish branch and have returned to england. while i am not saying for sure
> that your family is the same fitch family and there are other origins of
the
> fitch name, this is one origin i know well. i am a gernon family historian
> and have a website at: http://utenti.lycos.it/mary1943/index.htm

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