Bridges Name Meaning and History
English: variant of Bridge. The -s generally represents the genitive case, but may occasionally be a plural. In some cases this name denoted someone from the Flemish city of Bruges (Brugge), meaning ‘bridges’, which had extensive trading links with England in the Middle Ages.
http://www.ancestry.com/facts/Bridges-family-history.ashx
Bridge Name Meaning and History
English: from Middle English brigge ‘bridge’, Old English brycg, applied as a topographic name for someone who lived near a bridge, a metonymic occupational name for a bridge keeper, or a habitational name from any of the places named with this element, as for example Bridge in Kent or Bridge Sollers in Herefordshire. Building and maintaining bridges was one of the three main feudal obligations, along with bearing arms and maintaining fortifications. The cost of building a bridge was often defrayed by charging a toll, the surname thus being acquired by the toll gatherer
http://www.ancestry.com/facts/Bridge-family-history.ashx
Surname: Bridges
This interesting name, contrary to appearances, has two possible origins, one the perhaps obvious English topographical or occupational one, and the other locational, from Belgium. Firstly, then, the modern surname Bridges or Brydges usually derives from the early Medieval English topographical surname for someone who lived near a bridge, or from a metonymic occupational name for a bridge keeper; building and maintaining bridges was one of the three main feudal obligations in the Middle Ages, the others being the bearing of arms when required and the maintenance of fortifications. The derivation for this source is from the Middle English 'brigge', from the Old English pre 7th Century 'brycg', bridge. The first recording of the surname from this source is that of Gilbert atte Brigge, in the 1272 Pipe Rolls of Surrey, and the 's' of the variant froms 'Bridges' and 'Brydges' indicates the genitive case, meaning 'of the bridge'. Secondly, these surnames can be locational, from the Flemish city of 'Bruges', meaning 'bridges', which had important trading links with England in the Middle Ages. The first recording below is from this source. One Edmond Bridges was an early emigrant to America, leaving London on the 'James' in July 1635 bound for New England. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de Bruges, which was dated 1205, The Oxfordshire Curia Rolls, during the reign of King John, known as 'Lackland', 1199-1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling. http://www.surnamedb.com/surname.aspx?name=Bridges
Surname: Bridge
This long-established and distinguished surname is of Germany, Anglo-Saxon, and Olde English pre7th century origins. It is recorded in over fifty different spellings throughout Northern Europe, ranging from Bridge, Briggs, and Bridgeman, to Bruckner, Pruckner, and Terbrugge. It is either a topographical name for someone who lived near or on a raised causeway or bridge, or a it is an occupational nickname for a bridge keeper or toll gatherer. The derivation is from either the Olde English pre 7th Century "brycg", or Old High German "brucca or bruhke". The duties of tenants in the period between the end of the Roman Empire in Europe in about the year 460 a.d. and the end of feudalism in the 15th century, included the bearing of arms in support of the lord of the manor, the maintaining of fortifications, and most importantly the building and maintenance of roads and bridges in the vicinity. Consequently the surname was both an important and widely distributed one. The first hereditary surnames in the world were in England, and it is there that the firrst recordings are to be found. These include Nicholas de la Brugge of the city of Worcester in 1275, and William ater Bregg of the county of Sussex in 1296. One of the very first settlers in the new colony of Virginia, U.S.A. was a boy of twelve called Thomas Bridges. He was recorded as living in "James Cittie" on February 23rd 1624. The first recorded spelling of the family name anywhere in the world is believed to be that of Gilbert atte Brigge, which was dated 1272, in the "Pipe Rolls of Surrey", during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling. http://www.surnamedb.com/surname.aspx?name=Bridge
Learning the meaning of your father and grandfather’s surname is not the way to learn about your ancestor. It is interesting, no doubt, but you must start with yourself and document each generation with items that would not generally be available to the general public for 50 to 100 years depending on where your ancestors lived.
Since you said that these particular ancestors lived and I assume died in Texas, the following research plan will direct you to a place where you might find the birth and/or death records online if you can’t get them from family members. Read the plan, view the short tutorial and you will be unlocking the mystery of you ancestors in no time.
In genealogy, we document everything. Too many budding genealogist get frustrated and quit because they copied something from someone else’s tree that was improperly documented and later learned they were researching the wrong ancestor. There is an excellent tutorial for those who are new to family research at http://rwguide.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ ; I recommend it to everyone starting out in genealogy. After you complete the tutorial, the following is a basic plan and generally only requires the tools that you already have like your computer and Internet service provider.
The person you know about is you, so, start with your birth certificate, which has your parents, and then ask your parents for copies of their birth certificates, which will have your grandparents on them. Then if you grandparents are living, continue the process. At some point, you will experience a problem depending on when you grandparents or great grandparents were born, in that; birth certificates did not exist before the early 1900s. Therefore, you need to get back to 1930 with personal records because those types of records are not available to the public for 50 to 100 years depending on the jurisdiction in which they are held.
By copying or ordering these documents, you have gone to relatively little expense and you have three generations plus yourself and you have it documented with primary documents. That will give you 2 parents, 4 grandparents, and 8 great grandparents names to start researching. Now, you can use death certificates, marriage records, census records, immigration records, church records, court records and many other sources to research your ancestry. Your public libraries will most likely have both Ancestry.com and Heritage Quest.com free for anyone to use while at the library and with a library card you should be able to use Heritage Quest at home.
Another free online resource is the LDS/Mormon site, which has many free online records at http://www.familysearch.org/ and original documents on their pilot site at http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=0 . In addition to their online records, they have the Family History Centers where you can go for help with research and look at microfilm and they only charge nominal fees if they have to order something specifically for you . Find a location near you on their website and call to check hours of operation. http://www.familysearch.org/ .
Additionally, USGenWeb is another free online resource at http://www.usgenweb.org/ . This site is packed with how-to tips, queries and records for every state and most counties within those states. Then, there is Rootsweb at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ a free site hosted by Ancestry.com where you can search for surnames, post queries on the message boards and subscribe to surname mailing lists.
Also, do not forget to check Cyndi’s List at http://www.cyndislist.com/ and ProGenealogist top 100 genealogist websites at http://familytreemagazine.com/article/101best2009
both of these sites have many links for both free and fee based sites.
Finally, remember that you can always come back here for additional questions.