I first began this study when I found myself searching out all of the church and census records relating to this surname in an attempt to determine which people were part of my ancestral line. It would seem that this should be fairly easy considering the small number of people named Tregeagle. However, too many of them had the same first names to make anything particularly clear!
This study focuses on gathering all instances of this surname worldwide. All of the data is then used to create family trees with the hope of proving or disproving that all families originated with one common ancestor.
Tregeagle is a surname that originates in the county of Cornwall. It appears to refer to a place, hence the surname means ‘from Tregeagle’.
The earliest reference to this place name appears in the Domesday Book. It is possible that it also began to be used as a surname in the early medieval period, although I have not tracked any documents confirming this at this stage.
Some of the alternative spellings for this name include Tregagle, Tregagell, Tregayle, Trogagle, Tregengle, Trenagle, Tragagle, Tregegle, Tregegel, Tredeagle, and Treagagle. These have all been identified from a variety of sources, including parish registers, burial indexes, National Archives Catalogue and The Gentleman’s Magazine, to directly link to a Tregeagle family member.
I will be adding tables summarising the information I have found over the coming weeks. However, I am happy to answer specific questions for people with a connection to Tregeagles.