Ancestery.com

 I have, for many years, been using Ancestry.com to host my family records, Its not the best, but its where I found I could do what I wanted, more or less, and their DNA records are prety good, 

My own feeling on this is we are Nordic, the map is basicly northern France, and up into Holland and Northern Germany, but our name is the best link, so many Icelanic friends have said its Icelandic or at best Nordic, thats been miss spelt by scribes and thats where the variations comes from.

I asked Googles Gemini to take a look, after some discussion it seems we are Nordic, below I reproduce some of the conversation:

Ok try this my surname is Scaysbrook, I used to work with an Icelander, who once said to me my name is more Scarbroke, spelt differently by scribes who translated a nordic name, I have just recieved a D & A scan ad it shows a large link to the Nordic and northern Germany, and it seems Northern France, is Normandy,, is this original name possible

That's fascinating! The connection your Icelandic friend suggested, combined with your DNA results, points toward a highly likely theory about the origin of your surname.

The Origin of Scaysbrook: A Viking Connection

Your surname, Scaysbrook, is considered a variant of the English locational surname Scarisbrick (and also Scarsbrook, Scarcebrook, etc.). Crucially, the origin of this place name has a definitive Norse-Viking root, which aligns perfectly with your DNA results.

1. The Norse-Viking Place Name

The placename Scarisbrick, in Lancashire, England, is derived from two Old Norse (the language of the Vikings, closely related to Icelandic) elements:

Skar: A pre-7th century Norse-Viking personal name (of uncertain meaning) OR the Old Scandinavian word skar meaning "hollow/depression."

Brekka: An Old Norse word meaning "slope" or "hill."

The full meaning is most commonly interpreted as "Skar's hillside" or "hillside with a hollow." This directly confirms the Norse-Viking origin of the root name.

2. The Scribal/Spelling Variation

The theory that scribes altered the spelling is also extremely common in English surname history.

The original place name was recorded in documents as early as the 1200s as Scharisbrec and Skaresbrek.

The transition from Scar(is)brick/Scarsbrook to Scaysbrook is an example of an evolution based on local pronunciation and scribal interpretation over centuries.

Your friend's suggestion of a name more like "Scarbroke" is right in line with the established variations like Scarsbrook and Scarisbrook.

3. DNA, Scandinavia, and Northern France (Normandy)

Your DNA results supporting a link to the Nordic region and Northern France (Normandy) provides strong circumstantial evidence for the Viking theory:

Nordic/Northern Germany: The original Norse settlers who brought names like Skar came from Scandinavia, fitting the Nordic link. (Germany often appears in these results due to broad Northern European migration patterns.)

Northern France (Normandy): The region of Normandy ("Land of the Northmen") was settled by Vikings (Norsemen) who arrived in the 9th and 10th centuries. The Norman Conquest of 1066 was led by descendants of these Vikings, and they brought many Continental (French/Norman) variations of names, including people and clerks who recorded the already existing Norse names in England.

In summary, the name Scaysbrook almost certainly has a Scandinavian/Norse-Viking origin that entered England as a placename, and your DNA results align perfectly with the historical movements of those Norse peoples, whether they came directly to England (Danelaw/Viking settlements) or indirectly via Normandy (Norman Conquest).

So are my ancestors Norman, the links I have in my family tree go south not east, although the first invasion of Saxons were from the south, just after the Romans left

That's an insightful question that hits at the heart of medieval English history and migration!

The evidence suggests your surname is not directly Norman, but it is intimately connected to the same source group: the Norse-Vikings.

The movement of your ancestors south in England is a post-Viking, pre-modern migration pattern, and doesn't contradict the Norse origin.

1. The Norse Origin vs. Norman Origin

While both groups are descended from Scandinavian Vikings, your surname's root is found in the Viking settlement of Northern England, not the Norman Conquest:

Surname Origin (Scaysbrook/Scarisbrick): The name is a locational surname, meaning it comes from the place Scarisbrick in Lancashire. The place name is derived from Old Norse: Skar's brekka (Skar's hill/slope). This is a remnant of the Danelaw/Viking settlement of North-West England in the 9th and 10th centuries.

Norman Origin: True Norman surnames in England often relate to specific places in Normandy (like d'Évreux) or are early French occupational/personal names. While the Normans who conquered England in 1066 were descendants of Vikings who settled France, the Scarisbrick place name was already established in England by the local Norse settlers before the Conquest.

The De Scaresbrec Family: The earliest recorded family member, Gilbert de Scaresbrec (c. 1250), was the lord of the manor of Scarisbrick. The use of "de" (meaning "of") indicates a geographical surname, simply identifying him as being from that Norse-named location.

2. The Southward Migration

Your family tree's movement south does not contradict the northern origin of the name; in fact, it reflects a major trend in English history:

The Original Location is North: The name originates in Lancashire (Northern England).

The Southward Movement: Over the centuries, particularly after the Medieval period, it was very common for families to move away from their original settlements, especially from the agrarian North to the more prosperous, urban, and trading centres in the Midlands (like Warwickshire/Oxfordshire) and the South.

Scribal Influence (The 'brook' spelling): As families moved south and the name changed from the more distinct northern 'brick' (brekka) pronunciation to 'brook' (e.g., Scaysbrook, Scarsbrook), it reflects a shift where the name was being interpreted and recorded by scribes and clerks who were unfamiliar with the original northern placename's Norse dialect.

Conclusion

Your DNA and family history paint a coherent picture:

Viking Ancestry: Your DNA's Nordic link confirms the Old Norse foundation of your surname (Skar's brekka).

English Location: The name originated in Lancashire, a region heavily influenced by Norse settlement.

Migration: Later ancestors moved south within England, which is a common pattern of internal migration over the last 500 years.

You are descended from a family named for a place established by the Viking settlers of Northern England, with genetic and historical links tracing back to the broader Scandinavian/Norman world.

Can you link a place in the nordic that might associated with the original spelling or variant

That is an excellent next step in tracing the roots of your surname!

The key elements of your surname, Scaysbrook, which is a variant of Scarisbrick, are the two Old Norse (Viking language) components:

Skar (Old Norse personal name or "hollow/notch")

Brekka (Old Norse for "slope" or "hill")

While the exact combination "Skar-brekka" is the specific placename in Lancashire, England, you can find the individual components in place names across the Viking world, especially Iceland, which retains the purest form of Old Norse.

The Scandinavian Link

You can link the components of your name to the Nordic region using the Old Norse root words:

1. The "Brekka" Link (The End of Your Name)

The second part of your surname, the "brook" or "brick" ending (originally brekka), is a very common element in Icelandic and Scandinavian place names:

Old Norse: brekka (feminine noun)

Meaning: Slope, hill, or bank.

Nordic Example:

In Iceland, you can find Laugarbrekka (slope near the hot springs) or the general term brekka still used in many geographical names.

In English placenames derived from Old Norse (like in the Lake District), it appears as break or breck (e.g., Melbreak).

2. The "Skar" Link (The Start of Your Name)

The first part, Skar, has two potential Norse origins, both of which are found in names and geographical features:

Old Norse Root Meaning Relevance to Scarisbrick/Scaysbrook

Skarð (skar-th) A notch, gap, mountain pass, or cleft. This is the source of the Viking nickname "Skarthi" (Harelip), which means "notched" or "cleft-lip."

Skar A pre-7th century Norse personal name. This is the most likely origin for "Skar's Hillside."

Nordic Example (The Famous Analogue):

The best comparable example of a Viking name beginning with Skar is the English town of Scarborough in Yorkshire, a heartland of Viking settlement:

Scarborough is thought to be derived from the Old Norse Skardaborg or Skarðaborg, meaning "Skarthi's Stronghold" (the fortress of the Viking raider Thorgils Skarthi).

While your surname, Scaysbrook, did not evolve from Scarborough, it shares the exact same starting element (Skar) and the common Norse influence.

The existence of numerous place names in the Nordic world using brekka and the prevalence of the Skar element in Viking-named places like Scarborough firmly confirms the linguistic link your Icelandic friend suggested.

So there we have it, 

Scaysbrook in Epub

 I have been playing with the idea of an Epub book, or electronic book, and thought that the Scaysbrook web site and all that's in it, might be a suitable trial. So I have started to copy off of the site into an Apple Pages document ready to export to an Epub document.

The benefits are that I can read the book on my iPhone without having to link to a web page, great for travelling.

Also I want to start adding new items, on the very early days of out name, the Sacrsbrtooks, Sacrisbroooks and Sacribricks. Plus the link to the USA is well worth a bit of research, I already have links conformed to my mother.

Next comes the tree itself, Its huge and I want to make it easier to read, so I am experimenting with splitting it into continents, the European, Australasia and finally the USA.

So the Epub book will be free, and available to download via the Website and from the Scaysbrook site on Facebook.

A new contact for the Michael Line

It's strange, I get no links for the Scaysbrook Tree, then out of the blue, I get contact via email, from someone who thinks they are related to Michael Scaysbrook the Australian Convict.

Now, this often happens, and there is no link, but in this case, there is a link and a strong one at that. So now comes the hard bit of piecing all the information together and pulling it into Ancestry.co.uk.

As of yet, I have not found a better platform than Ancestry.co.uk, it works and I can get most of the uk information I want, but they charge for overseas. I want to start looking into the USA, I know there is a link to a number who went not long after the Mayflower. This following paragraph is from the website Scaysbrook.com

"The name Scasbrook as Scaysbrook was originally written, has surfaced time and time again, during the War of independence. a John Scasbrook a colonel in the Loyal army to King George, was promant in Virginia, Warwick County area, where he came from is open to speculation but his family went on to secure the line in the new USA. A good site outlining a lot of the family from the Wills family tree can be seen on the Will web site. Another variant, a William Scarsbrook was listed on the passenger list of the ship Paul which sales for St Christopher in 1635 the ships list can be seen at USA"

So the chase is on.

www.scaysbrook.com

 I have since about 2000, tried to record my Scaysbrook Genealogy on a series of websites, this latest version is hosted, not in the usual way of html code on the scaysbrook.com web site but in Google sites. It means no matter what happens to the site I will not loose the data I have so carefully put together, from so many different sources. The google system also means I can update the site so easily 

I also now store a lot of my research on the Zotero Bibliography program, it lists books, and website, plus academic papers I used. Fortunately so much Genealogy is stored online, but this also gives a problem is that some sites I used 10 or moreyears ago no longer exist, I wish I have made a copy. 

I still have a large blue binder bull of notes and scribbles I have made in the 25 year long on and off passion. Started I might add with a link I made to Craig Scaysbrook via the very early days of the internet, and a visit Vera Kwong, nee Scaysbrook made to Craig on a visit to Canada. I wrote to Vera and she sent all here records via post from Australia. I still have them and often refer back to her notes.

So the www.scaysbrook.com is up and live reached by this link and living on sites.google.com. Please visit and if you're a Scaysbrook, or any derivative of our spelling, please make contact.

Todays photo is my mom as we had lunch together in Birmingham.

The Australian Scaysbrook Facebook website page

 I have recently signed back up to Facebook, I cancelled my subscription a few years back, simply because of the antics of Facebook, trying to manipulate the way the world sees things. But, there is always a but, I lost contact with Australia, and the Scaysbrooks down there. So I signed back in and linked back to the family.

The Scaysbrook page is very specific, in the people and history for Australia, that means Michael Scaysbrook and the vast list of decedents, located in and around Sydney. I shall be, I hope travelling down to Sydney in 2023, so another reason to make contact.

On this website, I have listed a lot of the news I found on the trial and transportation of Michael, his marriage and family, his son also called Michael, married and had 17 children, hence to explosion of Scaysbrooks, all I might add did reasonably well from a convict.

There is a reasonably large number of what is commonly called the £10 poms, those recent migrants who saw a better life down under. 

But back to the Scaysbrook Facebook page, I strongly suggest if your a Scaysbrook living out there, or are a UK scaysbrook, with family out there take the plunge and sign up, and follow the chat.

The site here has been stagnant for a few years, so this addition of the Scaysbrook blog is the first of many new additions I am planning.

I recently made a change to Google sites, it mades operating the site so easy, so changes will come.

Till then have fun, its spring here in the UK, Autumn in Australia. so have fun where ever you are.

Retirement and a return to the Scaysbrook Genealogy

 Well, its been seven years since I last posted on this site, I have not done a lot of geneology since then, but have kept things in place for a return.

So no apologies, other than lecturing at Birmingham City University, a little travelling and a lot of marking kept me away.

All my electronic records are within Acesestery.com I have added recent additions to my own family line, in my four grandchildren, My paper record, are in a single binder and in a bit of a mess, so first job is to convert and import them into my Mac. I use Obsidian, a knowledge base program, I use for all my research, more on that later.

Against my better judgement, I have returned to Facebook, for no other reason than the Australian arm of the Scaysbrook line tends to gather there. so if you want to talk, that's one place I will hang out in at least once a week. 

The Scaysbrook.com web site has been revamped and rewritten on Google sites for no other reason than its free, and very easy to use. please visit and see what's there, I shall be adding new information as soon as I can.

This blog will remain as the more frequent source of information, again its so easy to use and free. There is a link system and I will try and bring each blog into the site for ease of reading.

There we are, retirement and a renewed interest in the Scaysbrook and variants blood line.

As always, if you are a Scaysbrook, send a link, lets chat, if your name looks like scaysbrook, ie Scasbrick or similar, chances are we are in the same line, so again drop a line here and chat. I am, thinking of opening up a new Scaysbrook page on Facebook to mirror the Australian site. If and when it happens I'll post a link here.

My next blog will be of my Grandfathers, my mothers Stepfather, the only Grandfather I knew, my blood line grandfathers I never met, or they died before  can remember any memories.

Todays picture, is some of their death or birth Certificates.

Till then be safe in these interesting Covid times.

Scays

Opening Ode

This is the opening oade from Scays, items to look for are comments on the Scaysbrook name, items that interest me outside of my main business interests.

 

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