(Vol. ix., pp. 174. 255.)
A communication from a gentleman, who married into a family of this name, informs me that the Longfellows of Brecon were a branch of a Yorkshire family; and that a portion of more than one family, probably from the same county, are now settled in Kent. My friend has not before had his attention turned to this subject, but he promises farther inquiry.
T. S. N.
Bermondsey.
Why should W. P. Storer suppose that the name of Longfellow originated otherwise than in the lengthy proportions of an ancestor? Surely the well-known surnames, Rufus, Longshanks, Strongbow, are sufficient to warrant us in saying that Longfellow need have nothing to do with Longueville. From what shall we derive the names of Longman, Greathead, Littlejohn, and Tallboy?
John P. Stilwell.
Dorking.
By the kindness of the Registrar-General, I am enabled to point, with some precision, to a few of the localities in which the name of Longfellow exists in this country. Upon reference to the well-arranged indexes in his office, it appears that the deaths of sixty-one persons bearing this name were recorded in the years 1838 to 1852; and of these, fifty occurred in the West Riding of Yorkshire, namely, in Leeds thirty-five; Otley, and its neighbourhood, ten; Selby four, and in Keighley one. The other instances were, in the metropolis seven, and one each in Swansea, Newport (Monmouth), Tewkesbury, and Hastings. More than one third of the males bore the Christian name of William.
It is not probable that the Longfellows are numerous in any part of England: indeed, as we
know that of the general population the average annual mortality is 2.2 per cent, the sixty-one deaths in fifteen years, or four deaths yearly, might be supposed to result from about two hundred persons of the name; but inferences of this nature, except when large masses are dealt with, are often very fallacious.