Rees/Reese
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Rees/Reese Surname Genealogy
Rees is commonly considered a Welsh surname, although it has English origins as well. The root is the Old English name Rhys meaning "ardor" or "fiery warrior." The name appeared as Hris in the Anglo-Saxon chronicles for Cambridgeshire in 1052. More significantly, Rhys ap Tewder was the name borne by the last ruler of independent Wales. He died in 1093 after unsuccessfully resisting the Norman advance. A century later, there was Rhys ap Gruffydd, often called Lord Rhys, the Welsh warrior-prince.
Rhys in time became a common Welsh name. It sounded like "Rheece" in south Wales and it was probably scribes who changed its spelling to Rees (although there were other lines that went to Rice and Price).
The Rees surname can also be found in Germany and Holland. The town of Rees in the Rhineland contributed the German Rees (now mainly to be found in Baden/Wurttemberg); while there were the van Rees in the Netherlands. Rees changed to Reese and sometimes to Reece on its arrival in America. Today Reese outnumbers Rees in America by more than four to one.
Wales. Rhys and Rees are names that are primarily to be found in south Wales.
In the days of Welsh patronyms and before the advent of English-type surnames, the Rhys name was associated with the ancient Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth and with the powerful family which made its home in the Tyvi valley at Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire. Their most prominent member was Sir Rhys ap Thomas. He it was who fought with Henry Tudor in 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth Field and was rewarded with lands and power in south Wales. However, his family position was lost a generation later in 1531 when Gruffydd ap Rhys was beheaded by Henry VIII and had his lands confiscated.
These Rhyses (they styled themselves Rice) had their lands partially restored later and were ennobled to the Dynevor peerage in the 18th century.
But most Rhys in Carmarthenshire became Rees as English-style surnames came to be adopted. There were early Rees in:
The Rees name spread east into Glamorgan in the 19th century as industry and mining developed there, initially probably into Swansea. There were Rees sea captains who brought copper ores from Cuba and Chile back to Swansea in the early 19th century. Many Reeses became coal miners in the Rhondda valley. The Rees name has become particularly common in the towns of Merthyr Tydfil and Neath.
America. Rees nonconformists and Quakers were in Pennsylvania by the early 1700's. The Rev. Duffyd settled at that time in Lancaster county and his family, starting with his son William, adopted the name Reese in their new land, The descendants of the Quakers Thomas and Margaret Rees and Morris and Sarah Rees were to be found in Frederick county, Virginia and then, as Reeses, inland in Ohio and Indiana and south in Tennessee and the Carolinas. Solomon Reese married a sister of Daniel Boone in Boonville, North Carolina and David Reese was a signer of the North Carolina Mecklinburg Declaration in 1775.
By that time, there were also German Reeses in Pennsylvania. Reinhold and Christina Ries had arrived in Philadelphia from Wurttemberg sometime around 1760. Their Reese descendants settled in Ohio. The iimmigration data for the 18th and 19th centuries showed that approximately 60 percent of the Reeses in America had come from England and Wales and 40 percent from German-speaking lands.
The 19th century saw further Rees Welsh immigration. This time many of them were miners (part of the 80,000 or so Welsh miners who migrated to the NE Pennsylvania coal mines between 1860 and 1910). John Rees had arrived in 1866 with his wife Sarah and settled in Scranton. Another John Reese came a year later. But he soon developed a new line of work, healing athletes' injuries. His nickname was "Bonesetter" and he gained national recognition as the doctor for major league baseball.
Select Rees/Reese Miscellany
Select Rees/Reese Names
Sir Rhys ap Thomas was the chief backer of Henry Tudor in the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 and emerged as the most powerful man in south Wales.
Abraham Rees was an 18th century Welsh nonconformist minister and the compiler of Rees's Cyclopaedia.
H.B. Reese was the inventor of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and the founder of the Reese Candy Company.
Dai Rees was the Welsh golfer who captained the British side which won back the Ryder Cup in 1957.
Eberhard Rees was the German-born rocket engineer who in 1970 succeeded Wernher von Braun as the chief of American rocketry efforts.
Select Reeses Today
Site Map: Select Names
The Origin/Spread of Surnames
Rees is commonly considered a Welsh surname, although it has English origins as well. The root is the Old English name Rhys meaning "ardor" or "fiery warrior." The name appeared as Hris in the Anglo-Saxon chronicles for Cambridgeshire in 1052. More significantly, Rhys ap Tewder was the name borne by the last ruler of independent Wales. He died in 1093 after unsuccessfully resisting the Norman advance. A century later, there was Rhys ap Gruffydd, often called Lord Rhys, the Welsh warrior-prince.
Rhys in time became a common Welsh name. It sounded like "Rheece" in south Wales and it was probably scribes who changed its spelling to Rees (although there were other lines that went to Rice and Price).
The Rees surname can also be found in Germany and Holland. The town of Rees in the Rhineland contributed the German Rees (now mainly to be found in Baden/Wurttemberg); while there were the van Rees in the Netherlands. Rees changed to Reese and sometimes to Reece on its arrival in America. Today Reese outnumbers Rees in America by more than four to one.
Select
Rees/Reese
Resources on
The
Internet
- Wales and The Story of the Rhys Clan Rhys in Welsh and early American history.
- The Rees Family of Cilymaenllwyd Descendants of John Rees of Cilymaenllwyd.
- The Rees Family of Maesarddafen Descendants of John Rees of Cwmddyche farm.
- Rees Family History Welsh immigrants to America in 1867.
- Ladd, Illinois and the Enoch Rees Family A Rees mining family from Wales.
- Where Did the Rees Name Originate? Rees origins in Germany and Holland.
Wales. Rhys and Rees are names that are primarily to be found in south Wales.
In the days of Welsh patronyms and before the advent of English-type surnames, the Rhys name was associated with the ancient Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth and with the powerful family which made its home in the Tyvi valley at Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire. Their most prominent member was Sir Rhys ap Thomas. He it was who fought with Henry Tudor in 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth Field and was rewarded with lands and power in south Wales. However, his family position was lost a generation later in 1531 when Gruffydd ap Rhys was beheaded by Henry VIII and had his lands confiscated.
These Rhyses (they styled themselves Rice) had their lands partially restored later and were ennobled to the Dynevor peerage in the 18th century.
But most Rhys in Carmarthenshire became Rees as English-style surnames came to be adopted. There were early Rees in:
- Cilymaenllwyd (near Llanelli).
The Reeses of
Cilymaenllwyd were prominent local magistrates. A
CDROM The History of Cilymaenllwyd,
which covers these Reeses, was released by the Llanelli History Society
in 2009.
- Llandovery. Rev. Owen
Rees was a minister for Protestant dissenters here in the 1740's and
his son Josiah a noted scholar and Unitarian minister. William
Rees was a cleric and antiquarian. His son William started up the
nearby Tonn printing press in 1829.
- Llandybie. The early Rees ministers here were Methodists. Bowen Rees, the son of a stonemason, was a missionary to Africa in the 1880's.
- and Trelech (near Carmarthen). Rev. David Rees was an early 19th century nonconformist preacher known as "the agitator." The Reeses in Trelech lived on Pant-hywel farm.
The Rees name spread east into Glamorgan in the 19th century as industry and mining developed there, initially probably into Swansea. There were Rees sea captains who brought copper ores from Cuba and Chile back to Swansea in the early 19th century. Many Reeses became coal miners in the Rhondda valley. The Rees name has become particularly common in the towns of Merthyr Tydfil and Neath.
America. Rees nonconformists and Quakers were in Pennsylvania by the early 1700's. The Rev. Duffyd settled at that time in Lancaster county and his family, starting with his son William, adopted the name Reese in their new land, The descendants of the Quakers Thomas and Margaret Rees and Morris and Sarah Rees were to be found in Frederick county, Virginia and then, as Reeses, inland in Ohio and Indiana and south in Tennessee and the Carolinas. Solomon Reese married a sister of Daniel Boone in Boonville, North Carolina and David Reese was a signer of the North Carolina Mecklinburg Declaration in 1775.
By that time, there were also German Reeses in Pennsylvania. Reinhold and Christina Ries had arrived in Philadelphia from Wurttemberg sometime around 1760. Their Reese descendants settled in Ohio. The iimmigration data for the 18th and 19th centuries showed that approximately 60 percent of the Reeses in America had come from England and Wales and 40 percent from German-speaking lands.
The 19th century saw further Rees Welsh immigration. This time many of them were miners (part of the 80,000 or so Welsh miners who migrated to the NE Pennsylvania coal mines between 1860 and 1910). John Rees had arrived in 1866 with his wife Sarah and settled in Scranton. Another John Reese came a year later. But he soon developed a new line of work, healing athletes' injuries. His nickname was "Bonesetter" and he gained national recognition as the doctor for major league baseball.
Select Rees/Reese Miscellany
If you would like to read more, click on the miscellany page for
further stories and accounts:
Select Rees/Reese Names
Sir Rhys ap Thomas was the chief backer of Henry Tudor in the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 and emerged as the most powerful man in south Wales.
Abraham Rees was an 18th century Welsh nonconformist minister and the compiler of Rees's Cyclopaedia.
H.B. Reese was the inventor of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and the founder of the Reese Candy Company.
Dai Rees was the Welsh golfer who captained the British side which won back the Ryder Cup in 1957.
Eberhard Rees was the German-born rocket engineer who in 1970 succeeded Wernher von Braun as the chief of American rocketry efforts.
Select Reeses Today
- 48,000 in the UK (most numerous in Glamorgan)
- 27,000 in America (most numerous in Pennsylvania)
- 10,000 elsewhere (most numerous in Australia).
Site Map: Select Names
The Origin/Spread of Surnames
For other surnames check the companion selectsurname.com site where there are to be found the history and genealogy for more than 500 surnames.