Clezie Name Study

Profile managers: Rick Heiser [send private message] and One Name Studies WikiTree [send private message]

This is a One Name Study to collect together in one place relevant information about this surname with so many variants: Clazie - Clezie - Clazey - Clezy - Clazy and occasionally even Clacey - Clacy - Claisye - Clasey - Clasie - Claize - Clasy - Clizzee - Clizy - Klazie. The spelling was creative!

Written records of the name first appeared on the European mainland and in the Scottish Borders, about the same date. Is it a French or Dutch name that made its way to Scotland? Or a Scottish name that somehow got to the Continent? What connects the various locations on opposite sides of the Channel? Surely it wasn't a spontaneous appearance in both places?

All members of the Clezie - Clazie - Clezy - Clazy - Clazey family in Scotland were described as Presbyterians, from the earliest-known records - although apparently not especially religious. Presbyterianism originated in France but reached its greatest success in Scotland; this family name occurs in both places. (The online Wikipedia says, "Presbyterianism was especially influenced by the French theologian Jean Calvin, who is credited with the devlopment of Reformed theology, and the work of John Knox, a Scotsman and Roman Catholic priest, who studied with Calvin in Geneva, Switzerland".) Those facts suggest - but do not prove - that the name itself might have originated in France and it somehow spread to Scotland. The details are lost in history.

After the year 1598, French Protestants called Huguenots were expelled from France. Maybe it was they who took the Continental name to Scotland? Later migrants and colonists carried the name from Scotland to Canada, United States, Australia, New Zealand, even a few forays by Presbyterian missionaries to Kenya, New Guinea, Yemen, Korea and Taiwan in the 20th century.

France

A list of pre-Revolutionary surnames in the departement of Deux-Sèvres, between La Rochelle and Poitiers in west-central France, shows the surnames Claise, Clayse, Clazay, Claze, Clazy, Clezie; but the dates and details are unclear. In the same general area, near Nantes, are place-names: the town of Clazay; a river, Ruisseau de Clazay; a commune named Clessé.

A village in Basse-Normandie is today called Clécy but earlier records showed the spelling Clézy. The area was heavily populated by Huguenots until their expulsion from France.

Family names Clezie, Clézie, Clezy, Clésie, Clésié, were found in pre-Revolutionary Paris and in Normandy, but details again are scant. At Habloville, in Normandy, the death of a child, Pierre Clezie, was recorded in 1749; his parents, Henry Clezie and Marguerite Nicolle, were from Paris.

In 1789, a death was reported (location not clear) of Pierre-Eustache Clésié, his surname also written Clézie. In 1790, Geneviève Emmanuelle Clezie, a widow, remarried to Pierre-Etienne Soret. She and her sister, Hélène-Théodore Clezie, signed papers before a notary, each appointing the other as guardian of their respective children. (The fathers were deceased, so the women took steps to prevent their children becoming orphans.)

The last-known French record of the name was dated 1899, spelled Clézy, with accented middle vowel: Geneviève Clézy, daughter of Victor Clézy was born at Ay, in the Marne region, just below the Belgian border.

Netherlands

Dutch records show varied spelling: Claesies (1687), Klaas (1709), Clazie (1723), Klissie (1783), Klaazie (1786), Claasje (1798), Klaasies (1815), Claassie (1830), Clasie (1834). Are they all related?

One record showed a marriage in 1723 at Leeuwarden in Fryslan or Friesland, the northern Netherlands: a man, Jean Clazie, married Jeanne-Louise Gonzal.

Another record in 1759 at Utrecht, central Netherlands, showed a marriage of Cornelis Klazie and Elisabeth Tolenaar. This is the only known example of the name written with K rather than C. But it seems to have been originally a patronymic: derived from a man's personal name, Nicolaas, or Nikolaas, shortened to Claas or Klaas.

Scotland

The earliest known Scottish record of the name shows that "Jon Clazie" delivered the bell to the newly-renovated church at Hutton, Berwickshire in 1665. Where did he come from? Born at Hutton, or arrived from elsewhere? Unknown.

The Kirk Session Book says the man who brought the bell was paid sixteen shillings when he delivered it:

"Given to Jon Clazie for drink qn the bell came home - 16 sh."

The bell was made at a foundry owned by the Burgerhuys family, located at Middelburg, in Flanders, now part of the Netherlands. The bell is inscribed in Latin: "SOLI DEO GLORIA JOHANNES BURGHERHUYS ME FECIT 1661". Roughly translated: "Glory to God Alone Johannes Burgerhuys made me 1661" The words "Soli Deo Gloria" were a defining motto of the Protestant Reformation, strongly associated with Presbyterianism.

Many similar bells were imported from the Netherlands around the same date and now hang in churches throughout Scotland. Maybe Jon Clazie, who delivered this bell, was himself from the Netherlands? Unknown. Legend claims that the surname originated with Huguenots, forced to leave France in the 16th century.

In Scotland, the spelling of the name diverged widely: Clazie, Clazy, Clezie, Clezy, Clazey, all were found. Occasionally other creative versions were seen: Clacey, Clacy, Clasey, Claisye, Clasie, Claize, Clizzee, Clizy. Spelling was flexible until well into the 19th century.

An inscription on a tombstone at Chirnside in the Scottish Borders illustrates the inconsistent spelling. Five closely-related members of one family were commemorated, with their surname written 4 different ways!

In Memory of Helen Carr Wife of James Clezy who died 15th April 1826 Aged 62 years.

Also Joseph Clezie their son who died May 18th 1823 aged 23 years. 

The said James Clezie died on the 8th June 1833 aged 66 years.

Also Margaret Claizey wife of Thomas Toucher who died Nov 23 1856 aged 65 years.

Also James Clazey son of the above James Clazey who died at Hutton 8th Dec 1860 aged 58 years.

Obviously there was no “correct” way to write this surname - just many variations. Consistent spelling was an unknown concept.

Berwick-upon-Tweed

Across the English Border, at Berwick-upon-Tweed, early records showed the baptism in 1666 of “Elenor Clasie” (her father was elsewhere called “William Clasey”). Spelling kept changing - all depended on who wrote it. A clergyman might record the name as he thought best, at time of baptism, marriage or burial; later, someone else wrote it differently. The middle vowel could be "e" or "a"; the next letter "z" or "s" or even "c"; the ending "ie", "y" or "ey". Clazey and Clazie became the usual versions at Berwick-upon-Tweed but Clezy, Clazy and Clezie were also found, and occasionally Clacey, Clacy, Clasey or Clasie.

Overseas

Emigrants carried the surname overseas. Certain spelling versions became the norm wherever they landed. Among the earliest overseas records were:

1775 - John Claizy (b. 1755 at Lithtillum, near Coldstream, Berwickshire) joined the Royal Artillery, he married Margaret Paulin, and was later sent abroad; their son born in 1786 at Port Royal, Jamaica was recorded as, "William Clizy", son of "John & Margaret Clizy".

1786 - John Clazy baptized at Hutton, Berwickshire, emigrated to Maryland in 1818 and there was shown with the "Clazey" spelling.

1790 - a 2nd child of the Royal Artilleryman mentioned above was born at Woolwich, Kent but was taken all the way back to Horndean, Berwickshire for baptism in early 1791; the baptism record showed the child's name as "John Clazy" but he later chose the "Clezy" spelling; in 1849 he and his family migrated to South Australia.

1832 - George Clezie (b. 1787 at Hutton, Berwickshire) emigrated to Canada, lived for a short time at Montréal, then moved to Toronto, while some of his descendants went south to the United States and settled in Ohio.

1841 - George Oswald Clazey (b. 1816 at Berwick-upon-Tweed) emigrated to New York.

1852 - William Clazie (b. 1821 at Ayton, Berwickshire), emigrated to Upper Canada (now Ontario).

1856 - William Clasey and John Clasey (b. 1836 & 1842 at Latheron, Caithness) emigrated to Ohio, while their sister, Betsy Clasey (b. 1825 at Watten, Caithness), emigrated to Canada West (Ontario); her descendants later moved to Iowa.

1953 - William Clazy McEwen, born 1894 at Prestonpans, East Lothian, a son of Agnes Steven Orr Clazy, became a Presbyterian missionary in Kenya, East Africa, died there and was buried in the Rift Valley.

1973 - Cyril Stephenson Clezy, born 1909 at Strathalbyn, South Australia, died; his burial record showed the surname written "Clezey".

Today

Clazie is the usual spelling in southern Scotland, also in Ontario and California, found as far away as Western Australia.

Clazey is used in northern England and in Maryland, occasionally found in Scotland and New York.

Clazy is limited to descendants of Rev. George Clazy from Paisley, Scotland.

Clezy predominates at Glasgow and Perth in Scotland, also in South Australia and Tasmania, and was found in France in the 1890s.

Clezie (one of the earliest versions in both Scotland and France) is now confined to just a few families in Ohio, California and Idaho, apparently no longer found in Scotland but recorded in France as late as 1899.

The goal of this one-name-study is to reconnect people with these various spellings, and to explore how they were related. They simply couldn't agree how to spell it!