On this page: Other EDGAR Websites; Facebook EDGAR Family; History of the EDGAR Name (generic); Other EDGAR Info
Last Update: Tuesday, October 25, 2011
• Edgar DNA
• Other Edgar Websites
- The James Somerville Edgar Genealogy (including Edgar Events Newsletters) by James Edgar
• EDGAR Family on Facebook
• History of the Edgar Name (generic)
"The origin is Saxon and the name was often bestowed 'with the hope that the bearer would grow up to be a distinguished
warrior.' The actual derivation of the name Edgar is 'ead' meaning happy, blessed and 'gar' meaning a spear, warrior. (source:
The Names of Ours by Alfred Wilfred Dellquest)
There seem to be three originating "branches" of the Edgar Name: Scottish, Irish, English. From there the Edgar tree grew to
Australia, America, and Canada.
"The Edgar’s of Nithsdale in Dumfriesshire [Scotland] were of Gaelic origin, the progenitor of the family was Edgar, circa
1200, son of Duvenald, son of Dunegal of Stranid (now Strath Nith), he held extensive lands in Nithsdale, his descendants
assumed the name Edgar. Some of the Galloway Edgar’s came to Ulster during and after the plantation in the 1600`s.
"In Ireland the name Edgar is almost exclusively found in Ulster, mainly in counties Antrim and Down. Though the original
name Edgar is English from the old English personal name Eadgar, meaning “happy spear” in Ulster though the name stems
mainly from Scotland, they originate from and are still common in the province of Galloway, where Edgar was first noted in the
thirteenth century. Other old pronunciations of Edgar were Agar and Eager and both are found in Ulster, Agar particularly on
the Ards peninsula in Co Down."
source: EdgarWeb, The history of the name Edgar
"The English family name Edgar is classified as being of personal name origin. According to the scholars the "oldest and most
pervasive type of surname is that derived from the given name." Such family names may be derived from a parental first name
or from the font name of the grandfather or indeed a more remote ancestor of the original bearer of the surname. In this
instance, the surname Edgar can be traced to the Old English personal name Eadgar which is composed of the elements
"ead" meaning "prosperity" and "gar" meaning "spear." Thus the surname signifies "the son of Edgar." There are variants of
this surname including Edger, Eagar, Eager, Eagger, Egar, Adger, Agar, Ager and numerous others. One of the earliest
written references to the surname Edgar includes Walter Eadgar who appears in the Feet of Fines for Suffolk in 1250 while
Thomas Edgar is recorded in the Liber Feodorum for Surrey in the same year. Research is of course ongoing and the name
may have been recorded much earlier than the date indicated above. Later records include William Edger, from Somerset who
was recorded in Kirby's Quest in the first year of Edward III's reign. Notable bearers of the surname include John Ware Edgar,
chief secretary to the Government of India who was created a distinguished member of the Knights Commander of the Indian
Empire in May, 1889. Records relating to the arrival of bearers of the surname to the New World include Charles Edgar who
settled in Virginia in 1642. The coat of arms described below is borne by the Edgar family from the Red House, near Ipswich in
Suffolk."
Brazon of Arms: Per chevron, or and azure in chief two fleur-de-lis of the second, in base five lozenges of the first, each
charged with an escallop gules.
Crest: An ostrich's head between two wings expanded or, each charged with as many bends azure, in the beak a horseshoe
argent
Origin: England
source: Carrie Edgar - The Historical Research Center - November 22, 1994
source: Edgar.GED @WorldConnect RootsWeb.com
http://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GED&db=:2788779&id=I04883
• Other Edgar Info
- History of documented EDGARs in Scotland and Ireland history
source: EdgarWeb
- "Newsletters of the Society of Edgar Families"
"The genealogy of the EDGAR family, as reproduced here, have been sourced from newsletters which were put together by
the Society of Edgar Families, with its headquarters in Melbourne, Australia and were distributed amongst its members from
1937-1942.
"To quote from the first newsletter: 'The Society of Edgar families was formed not only with a view to the investigation and
'vetting' of the pedigree of the various Edgar families but also in order that the results of the researches carried out by the
Society, or upon its behalf, should become available to the members and associates in permanent form.
" This collection of News Letters published by the former "Society of Edgar Families" has been reprinted for your information. I
have retyped the News Letters from original documents loaned to me by a foundation member of the Society."
"Attempts have been made by me to obtain copyright permission to do so but it appears that the Society collapsed during or
not long after the Second World War - it had its international headquarters in Melbourne, Australia" source: Edgar Family
- "The Edgar Relics"
"Canadian postscript to the mythology of the lost Stuart cause" by Elizabeth Hay Trott
"The Scotsman" Weekend Magazine, Saturday August 14, 1965 [a Canadian Newspaper]
http://users.chariot.net.au/~tucker/hope/edgar_relics.htm
[NOTE June 2008: This page is no longer active; if you find a more current page, please let us know.]
"Part of the Stuart Mythology - but fact and not fiction - is the story of the Edgar Treasure. This small but priceless
collection of painting and miniatures of the Stuart family fell into the hands of the Canadian Edgars through their ancestor
James Edgar, secretary to the Chevalier St George (the Old Pretender) during his long exile in Rome. It is a little-known
romantic gloss on the most historic of royal histories, and has its own intriguing postscript - where are they now?" Read the
rest of the story here. http://users.chariot.net.au/~tucker/hope/edgar_relics.htm
[NOTE June 2008: This page is no longer active; if you find a more current page, please let us know.]