Surname Saturday – Ewell

I never ever thought of the Ewell surname being unusual until one of my geneabuds, Amy, A_Cain on Twitter, begin asking me about my Ewell line and commented that it was an unusual surname.


Of my paternal lines, my Ewell ancestors are the only line that I’ve been able to trace back to 1870 and yet for some reason it doesn’t fascinate me nearly the way the my other paternal lines do. That is until now. My Ewell line is as follows:

1. Mavis Jones

2. Earl Jones

3. Iola Luvenia Everett Jones, born abt May 1895 in the Crossroads section of Everetts, Martin County, NC; died 5 Apr 1969 in Shelby, Cleveland County, NC. Internment Evergreen Cemetery, Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, NC

4. Edith / Eadie Ewell Everett, born abt 20 Nov 1865 in Martin County, North Carolina; died 25 July 1917 in Everetts, Martin County, North Carolina. Internment – unknown.

5. Isaac and Pennie Ewell

Isaac was born abt. 1840 in North Carolina, probably Martin County; died between 1870 and 1880 probably in Martin County, North Carolina. Internment unknown.

Pennie was born abt 1840 in North Carolina. Her date of death and interment are unknown at this time.

In searching online for information on the Ewell surname, it appears that the best online information can be found at Ewell Family History and Genealogical Society. (I just discovered this terrific site today.) A great many sites suggest that the name finds it’s origins in Wales; however, the researcher, Paul Jensen, states that during his research of the Ewell name and its various phonetic spellings he didn’t find a single Ewell in Wales. Further research showed that the name most likely derived from the Wales name Llewellyn. It appears that for whatever reason, that upon arrival to the US, the name was shortened to its various spellings.

I also decided to check out the Ewell surname on Public Profiler. The top country for the Ewell surname is the United States at 17.78 FPM, with Utah being the top state, and Virginia Beach, VA being the top US city for the surname. In fact, three of the top five cities for the Ewell surname are located in Virginia. Brief readings on the history of Martin County as well as the eastern part of my home state, have always lead me to believe that not only does my maternal grandmother’s Everett side go back into VA at some point but her Ewell side probably does so as well.

On my paternal side of the family, I’m just now beginning to push into the slavery era on any line, so I’ve not done a lot. I’ve only briefly looked at candidates who possibly could be the last slave owner. In the coming weeks, I plan to explore these possible candidates more in depth. I hope you’ll join me on the journey.



Until Next Time!