ANSTEY: Our True Surname Origin and Shared Medieval Ancestry by Gary Anstey

The Anstey One-Name study was started in about 1905 by my great granduncle Thomas John Edmund Anstey (known as Tom). He produced copious quantities of high quality ‘Anstey’ surname research and we are very fortunate that much of it has survived and remains in the family today, providing an excellent foundation on which to build.

In 2014, Gary Anstey, a Guild member, took up the challenge of continuing and expanding his work in the internet age, which had already been advanced by other researchers interested in the Anstey surname in the interim. The surname Anstey was registered with the Guild of One-Name Studies in 2015 and Tom has been posthumously awarded the title of Honorary President of this particular study in recognition of his work.

In 2016 I began to collate my research and merge it with that of Tom’s and in March 2017 we together published a book on some of our Anstey findings; all net proceeds of which are being donated to the Guild of One-Name Studies charity. 

This book is entitled:

‘ANSTEY: Our True Surname Origin and Shared Medieval Ancestry’.

and it is available for purchase on Amazon UK and Amazon USA

The book description is as follows:

Surprising as it may sound, all Ansteys alive today are connected to each other, sharing a common Anstey ancestor who originated the Anstey surname in the 12th century! This is proved beyond doubt by authors G.M. Anstey and T.J. Anstey in the authoritative and comprehensive:

“ANSTEY: Our True Surname Origin and Shared Medieval Ancestry”

together with its sister publication “ANSTEY: We Are One Family. The Proof!”.

This first book lays the groundwork for the authors’ proof, documenting the true origin of Anstey as a surname and telling for the first time the complete and fascinating story of the medieval Ansteys from their 12th century origin to the end of the 14th century. The ancestors whose stories are told in this book are shared not only by all Ansteys alive today, but by anybody who has an Anstey appear anywhere in their family tree.

Designed to appeal to both casual reader and ardent genealogical enthusiast alike, two alternative titles could plausibly be:

“Your ‘great x 30’ Grandfather Owned a Medieval Castle” (if an Anstey appears anywhere in your family tree) or

“Researching in Medieval Times: Focusing (far too much) on ANSTEY as a Case Study” (if you are interested in what can be learnt about medieval ancestors from the extraordinary array of available medieval documentation).

A two page book review appeared in the July-September 2017 issue of the ‘Journal of One-Name Studies’ (Volume 12 Issue 11). 

The sister book, ‘ANSTEY: We Are One Family. The Proof!’, is a mammoth undertaking; research is currently well under way and this book should be available for sale in about a year. Once again, all net proceeds will be donated to the Guild of One-Name Studies charity.

You can connect with Gary by the link on the Anstey One-Name Study profile