An Introduction to this Web Site
This site is exclusively dedicated to our One-Name Study of the "Pakes" surname. I expect that we may expand it in the future, but at this time it is very limited in content and devoted solely to "Pakes" genealogy. Still interested? Then stay with us.
According to scriptures, the surname 'Pakes' was descendant of Pack or little Pack (suffering), the name given to one born during the Jewish Passover of Christian Easter. A baptismal name 'the son of Pack'. In 1086 the compilation of the Domesday Book was ordered by William the Conqueror (1027 - 87), King of England from 1066. He was born in Failaise, the bastard son of Robert, Duke of Normandy, by Arlette, a tanner's daughter. On his father's death in 1035, the nobles accepted him as a duke. When Edward the Confessor, King of England, died in 1066, William invaded England that autumn, on 14 October 1066 killing Harold (who had assumed the title of King). The English Government under William assumed a more feudal aspect, the King's tennants-in-chief and all title to land was derived from his grants, and the Domesday Book contains details of the land settlements, and the names of the owners of such. PACKE (without surname) was such a tenant. Other records of the name mention Roger Pake who appears in 1195 in the County of Leicestershire, and Richard Packe was documented in the year 1221 in the County of Suffolk. John Filius Pake of the County of Cambridgeshire in 1273. Edward Pake in the County of Somerset in 1327. Humprey Pakes and Martha Brittaine were married in 1603 in London.
The bulk of European surnames in countries such as England and France were formed in the 13th and 14th centuries. The process started earlier and continued in some places into the 19th century, but it is normally accepted that in the 11th century people did not have surnames, whereas by the 15th century they did. During the Middle Ages, when people were unable to read or write, signs were needed for all visual identification. For several centuries city streets in Britain were filled with signs of all kinds, public houses, tradesmen and even private householders found them necessary. This was an age when there were no numbered houses, and an address was a descriptive phrase that made use of a convenient landmark. At this time, coats of arms came into being, for the practical reason that men went into battle heavily armed and were difficult to recognise. It became the custom for them to adorn their helmets with distinctive crests, and to paint their shields with animals and the like. Coats of Arms accompanied the development of surnames, becoming hereditary in the same way.