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Kneeland Name Study

Privacy Level: Open (White)
Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: Kneeland Kneland Neeland
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Last update: 3/10/2024

Contents

Purpose

The Kneeland One-Name Study project is intended to be a collaborative platform to collect information on the Kneeland name. The hope is that other researchers like you will join the study to help make it a valuable reference point for other genealogists who are researching or have an interest in the Kneeland name.

As a One Name Study, this project is not limited to persons who are related biologically. Individual studies can be used to branch out the research into specific methods and areas of interest, such as geographically (England Kneeland's), by time period (18th Century Kneeland's), or by topic (Kneeland DNA, Kneeland Occupations, Kneeland Statistics) or particular family lines. These studies may also include a number of family branches which have no immediate link with each other. Some researchers may even be motivated to go beyond the profile identification and research stage to compile fully sourced, single-family histories of some of the families they discover through this name study project. The emphasis, at least initially, will be on the primary name but may eventually branch out to related surnames and surname variants, adopted lines, daughter lines, etc.

Much of the early Kneeland genealogical information comes from Stillman Foster Kneeland’s (hereafter referred to as SFK) book Seven Centuries in the Kneeland Family, self-published, 1897, New York.

See also Ancient Family of Cleland by John Burton Cleland, published 1905 in London, UK. The information on the Kneland/Cleland lineage "of that ilk" (1200s-1600s) is very similar to SFK, but this version provides more details as to the original sources. Though SFK published earlier, his information was most likely obtained from John Burton Cleland.

Origins

The name Kneeland appears to have originated in Scotland in the minor variation of Kneland and, according to Anderson’s Scottish Nation, with the K pronounced. It subsequently also appeared as Kineilland.

Phonetically similar names also arose in Ireland and elsewhere, but never with the leading K. The Irish names are generally believed to patronymic names meaning descendants of Neill. The websites suggest a link to Niall of the Nine Hostages (spelled Nail on some websites) who was a king in Ireland circa 400 AD. Since surnames were not adopted until around 1000 AD, it does not seem likely that many of them were based directly on that Niall, although Niall/Neill and it’s variants had probably become popular subsequent to him. The earliest recorded name in Ireland is Phelim O'Niallain, dated 1093.

The Kneeland name in America originated in the early colonial period (mid-1600s) in Massachusetts with a John Kneeland of Boston and the descendants of Edward Nealand of Ipswich. SFK linked these two as first cousins and as descendants of the Scottish Knelands. However, the Massachusetts court records consistently identify Edward as an Irishman. SFK claimed all the Kneelands in America were the descendants of these two. However, there were 30+ additional Irish immigrants in the late 1700s to early 1900s, most subsequent to the Irish potato famine, that adopted the Kneeland spelling after coming to the United States.

The majority of the Knelands who remained in Scotland changed their name to Cleland subsequent to the death of Mary, Queen of Scots. As a result, there are very few Kneelands in England or Scotland since then.

The Kneelands in Canada are mostly descendants of families that were in the United States first. There are some with alternate spellings, such as Neeland, that appear to have immigrated directly from Ireland to Canada.

The Kneelands of Mexico are descendants of a mid-1800s Irish immigrant that came first to the US and then went on to Mexico. A few of his descendants have immigrated back to the US.

African-American Kneelands appear to have originated with a George Kneeland who was born about 1814 in South Carolina, was in Tennessee when 2 sons were born in the 1840s. George, his sons, and their families are the only African-American Kneelands found in the 1880 Census. They are all living in Haywood County, Arkansas at that time. An Elizabeth Kneeland in Tennessee is listed as a owner in the 1860 US Census Slave Schedule and an Isaac Kneeland is listed for that locale in the 1840 Census. Isaac's ancestry has not yet been determined.

Scope

  • About 1000 with Kneeland as given or middle name. 105 Wikitree profiles as of 2/22/2024. Use Search Form and enter Kneeland in First Name field to get list and/or see the SubCategory Page
  • Kneeland Places. See the Kneeland Places Page. As of 3/10/2024, the following Kneeland places have been identified:
  • 3 communities, all small and unicorporated
  • 31 streets and roads
  • 6 geographical/geological features
  • 2 cemeteries
  • 6 other places
  • About 500 books, articles, etc written or published by Kneelands
  • About 25 other objects labeled as Kneeland
  • Several 100,000 records (Kneeland surname exact)
  • Family Search
  • Records 68,000 Regular records search
  • 28,000 Labs Wills & Prop Records Full-Text search
  • Family Tree Profiles 5,000
  • Ancestry
  • Records 154,000
  • Find A Grave 2,500
  • incl maiden 3,200

Organization

  • Descendants of Edward Nealand/Kneeland of Ipswich (c 1640). About 3500 Kneelands and over 20,000 total descendants including spouses.
  • Descendants of John Kneeland of Boston (c. 1632), About 400 Kneelands and about 3000 total descendants (currently known).
  • Descendants of later Irish immigrants adopting the Kneeland name (late 1700's to early 1900's)

Membership

  • Kurt Kneeland (Kneeland-36) - Coordinator


How to Join

To join the Kneeland Name Study, first start out by browsing our current projects to see if there is a specific projects that fits your interests. If so, feel free to add your name to the Membership list below, post an introduction comment, and then dive right in! If a project does not yet exist for your particular area of interest, please contact the Name Study Coordinator: Kurt Kneeland for assistance.

... ... ... is a member of the Kneeland Name Study Project.

Once you are ready to go, you can also show your project affiliation with the ONS Member Sticker:

{{Member|ONS|name=Kneeland}}

Planned Projects

Here are some of the current research pages included in the study. I'll be working on them, and could use your help!

  • 1. Descendants of Edward Nealand of Ipswich
  • Nearly all Kneeland LNAB have basic profiles. Lots of work needed to improve bios and sources, add spouses and descendants of female Kneelands. Have created a sub-category. Currently adding links on applicable profiles to this space page and the sub-category.
  • 2. Descendants of John Kneeland of Boston
  • Nearly all Kneeland LNAB have basic profiles. Lots of work needed to improve bios and sources, add spouses and descendants of female Kneelands. Sub-category created. Only the root person added so far.
  • 3. Descendants of later Irish Kneeland immigrants
  • 4. Other Kneelands
  • An African-American sub-category has been created. See In-Progress project below.
  • 5. Create an Errata Space Page for Seven Centuries in the Kneeland Family
  • 6. Create Space page for Kneeland Notables
  • 7. Create Space page for Kneeland Businesses
  • 8. Create Space page for Kneeland Publications (Catalog of Books & articles by Kneelands
  • 9. Create Space page for Kneeland Sources (Books, Articles, Databases about Kneelands
  • 10. Create cross-reference pages for major Sources (eg Census).

In-Progress Projects

  • 1. Adding ONS links/category to Kneeland surname descendants of Edward of Ipswich.
  • 2. Adding profiles for African-American Kneeland lineages (In conjuction with the US Black Heritage Project - 1880 Census Project.

Completed Projects

  • 1. Created SFK-Wikitree Cross Reference.
  • 2. Created an Illustrations List for SFK's Seven Centuries and linked themto a digital version and to applicable Wikitree profiles.
  • 3. Edited the Seven Centuries in the Kneeland Family space page to make the Table of Contents entries hotlinks to a digital version of the work.
  • 4. A Kneeland Places space page has been created and includes lists of various types of places (communities, streets, geographical area, cemeteries, other).

Related Surnames and Surname Variants

  • Kneland
  • Cleland
  • Neelands
  • Neyland
  • Kneelange - There are no profiles in Wikitree with this spelling (at this time). It appears to be a valid surname originating in Germany. No connection to this One Name Study.

There are a large number of variant spellings in the various indexes due to mis-reads, primarily of hand-written documents. The two that I have been aware of previously are Knuland and Knelland. However, with the advent of large scale use of AI aided indexing of hand-written records, many more variations can be seen.

Family Search Labs has opened access to its' full-text indexing of millions of pages of Wills and Land Records from 30 states. The good news is that there are 27000+ newly discoverable references to Kneeland. The caveat is that there are 5000+ more Kneeland records that are incorrectly indexed. Fortunately, many of those are on the same pages as correctly indexed Kneelands, so we can actually see and evaluate the kinds of errors the computer is making and develop a list of alternative spellings to search for. Some, but I don't think all, of these alternative spellings, would apply to human indexed records (eg Knuland and Knelland).

K -> A, H, R (X possible but not seen so far)
n -> r, u
ee -> ei, el, ie, u (ii possible but not seen so far)
l -> (no variations seen so far, but e, i seem possible)
a -> o
n -> r, u
d -> (no variations seen so far)

These variations can occur in any combination.

The existing fuzzy search engines operate more like the original Soundex systems, so they pick up variations like Neeland and Neyland but are not designed to pick up the kind of variations being generated by mis-read cursive script.





Collaboration
  • Login to edit this profile and add images.
  • Private Messages: Contact the Profile Managers privately: One Name Studies WikiTree and Kurt Kneeland. (Best when privacy is an issue.)
  • Public Comments: Login to post. (Best for messages specifically directed to those editing this profile. Limit 20 per day.)


Comments: 1

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Interested in the descendants of Edward Nealand of ipswich. :-)
posted by PE Rosner

Categories: Kneeland Name Study