Possible Surname Origin And Meaning

Last name: Noseworthy

This is an Olde English locational name which means "The dweller at the farm (word) on the neck of land (nos or nes)". The date is pre 7th Century and it is possible that a place called 'Noseworthy' existed, but if so, the location now appears to be lost, or the spelling is corrupted from Northey. The dweller at the North Farm, the Noseworthy, all the original recordings were from Wiltshire, where the normal ending of "worth" is often transposed to "worthy" - although the meaning remains the same. In 1730, One Joseph Nosworthy, a Carpenter, married Elizabeth Pomfett, at St. Georges Church, Hanover Square, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Walter Noswuth. which was dated 1273, The Pipe Rolls of Wiltshire. during the reign of King Edward I, The Hammer of the Scots, 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Nosworthy Family 1917 Quebec City

As a by-product of putting together the previous post I learned to search the city directories for Montreal and Quebec City.  These were the forerunners of telephone books.  Many of them are available online.  From Alfred George Nosworthy's biography I finally was able to determine the family movements with some degree of certainty.  Although it indicates they were living in Quebec City from as early as 1915 and as late as 1919 he only turns up in the 1917 book listings.

From 1917 Quebec City Directory:

This is cropped from the original listing showing Nosworthy, Alf., draughtsman

 If you would like to view, print, or download the entire page from a pdf click HERE.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14kiVwhcpgABydq22hdm89hhs0_6joaAc/view?usp=sharing

With this address in hand I went to Google maps and tried to locate 1301 Lockwell.  I quickly discovered that the street did not go that far.  Next I thought the second number "one" looked odd so I tried to find 130 Lockwell.  That took me to the Google street map below.  Zooming in on the address plates at the four doors here I found 126, 128, then it jumped to 134, and 136.  This frustrated me for a few minutes until I spotted the door below street level.  There it was, number 130.  Then I went back to the directory and realized that at one time it was listed as 130½.

http://goo.gl/maps/UV3NE

 

View Larger Map

If you click on the larger map version you can use the arrow tool to look around the neighbourhood and virtually walk up and down the street where Alfred, Mary and their first six children lived.  That was Myrtle age 10, Roy age 8, Donald age 6, Buddy age 4, Peggy age 2, and Lolly age 1 at the time.

http://goo.gl/maps/kGixM



View Larger Map

 

Here is the Google map showing the route from the Nosworthy apartment to St. Matthew's Church were five of the children were baptized at once in 1916.  If you scroll down a few blocks you can see their proximity to The Plains of Abraham.