Family Ties
The Ely Family
The earliest mention of Ely as a family surname in England occurred during the reign of the House of Plantaganet after the Norman Conquest. The English "Book of Dignities" records William De Ely as lord treasurer for King John and Richard I; Richard De Ely, lord treasurer for Richard I and Henry II; Ralph De Ely, baron of the exchequer for Henry III, (1240); Philip De Ely lord treasurer for Henry III (1271); Nicholas De Ely, lord chancellor, in 1260, Lord treasurer in 1263, and Bishop of Worcester 1266 to 1289.1
The family name Ely appears to be a place-name. The Isle of Ely is a traditional region around the city of Ely now in Cambridgeshire, England but previously a county in its own right. Until the 17th Century, the area was literally an island surrounded by a large area of Fen land, a type of swamp. The Fens were ultimately drained using a network of canals designed by Dutch experts. Its name is said to mean "island of eels", a reference to the creatures that were often caught in the local rivers for food.
There are various known spellings including Ely, Elie or Elye. John, fil [fil being a contraction of the Latin filius, meaning simply "son of"] Elie, of County Lincoln, is mentioned in the Placita de Quo Warranto [a legal record of pleas meaning "by what right"; commissioned during the reign of Edward I - abt. 1272-1307] and Reginald fil Elye, of County Lincoln and Gilbert Elye, of County Kent, both appear in the Hundred Rolls (1273, A. D.).
A second derivation of the name appears in the year 1227 when Nicholas de Ely was bailiff of Norwich; (the de being a French prefix meaning simply "of," and showing the French influence following the Norman Conquest of Saxon England in the year 1066 A. D.),
At a later date Alan de Ely was rector of Blickling, County Norfolk, and in the Hundred Rolls of that shire. The names of Michael and John de Ely also appear in early English records. Off these two distinct derivations, the first is the one applicable to the family considered the largest branch of the Ely family in England. They were seated in counties Lincoln and Kent, and it is from Tenterden, in County Kent, that the progenitor of the family in the New World is traditionally believed to have come.
The following excerpt is taken from Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 55 - 1942 page 29; THE CLERGY OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, SMALLHYTHE. By A.H. Taylor. It seems to indicate that there were several Ely men through the generations that held positions of rector or vicar.
c. 1589-1590. WILLIAM RAYNOLDES.
He was also presented2 in the following terms: "Wee p'sent Willyam Raynoldes for reading and saying of Comon prayer within the Chappell of Smalhed beeing unlycensed for anye thing wee knowe. Hee saith that his letters of orders is uppon the files in yowr Cowrte." He was summoned three times to appear but failed to do so; penalty reserved. The last entry is dated 5 April 1590 when he was excommunicated in Tenterden Church by George Elye, the Vicar.
First records of the Ely line that eventually emigrated to New Jersey begin with John Ely , born in 1544 in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. He married Elizabeth Webster (born 1548 in Somercotes). They were married in 1572 in Elizabeth’s home town, as was the usual custom. There are two Somercoates, North and South. The name 'Somercotes' literally means "dry summer grazing area". Since the area is a marsh land, only in summer would it have been dry enough to graze sheep. North Somercoates, the parish of St. Peter, was more than twice as big as South Somercoates. We do not know which village, North or South, was the home of John Ely. The couple moved to Lincolnshire.