Distribution of Sayces

United Kingdom

Given the history of the Sayce family name, it is not surprising that the Sayce families were concentrated on the Welsh/English border region. In the West of England, these are the counties of Shropshire and Herefordshire, and in the East of Wales, the county of Monmouthshire.

Parish records of the 1700’s indicate that the Sayce’s were mostly found in the counties of Shropshire and Hereford.

In Shropshire, they were predominantly found in the town of Bishops Castle. They were also found in surrounding towns, such as Lydbury North, Burford, Ludlow, Mainstone, Much Wenlock and Oswetry.

In Herefordshire, they were more spread out, but found mainly in the towns of Hereford, Abbey Dore, Dilwyn, Kilpeck, Moreton Jeffries, Monkland, Mordiford, Pembridge, Staunton-on-Arrow, Wellington, and Weobley.

A large number of families had by the 1700’s moved to London, attracted by the opportunities for work, etc. Isolated families could be found in the counties of Essex, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Surrey, and Worcestershire.

The 1881 Census records show that that he highest concentration of Sayce families are still found in Shropshire and Herefordshire. The 1891 Census records show how this concentration was still evident, with numbers of families having moved to adjoining counties in search of work opportunities, etc.

A comparison of the two maps below¹ show the Sayce population density change from 1881 to 1998. Interestingly, the highest density is still mainly in Wales and western regions of England adjoining Wales.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have categorised the UK census records (1841-1911) as well as the 1939 UK Registers and shown them by country and county. Included are those records where the census official had spelt the surname incorrectly for people who were Sayces. In addition I have filtered out people whose surname was shown as Sayce, but were in fact not Sayces. Therefore my numbers will differ from those produced by certain genealogical websites may which include the errors mentioned.

The table below is a summary of my listing. It is interesting to see the decline in numbers from 1911 to 1939, most likely due to the impact of the First World War.

 

 

United Sates of America

The highest concentration of Sayces was orignally found in Massachusetts. From these counties the Sayces migrated to the coastal regions of the USA.

 

 

I have produced the listing below from the 1900-1940 US census records. I have verified these records against my personal records and family trees in order to elimate including records with incorrect spelling of the Sayce surname :-

State	1900	1910	1920	1930	1940
California	1	1	1	1
Connecticut					1
Illinois		1			5
Indiana	6	9	8	7	6
Massachusetts	18	19	22	44	51
Michigan	7	6	5	6	4
New Hampshire				5
New York	4	2	2
Ohio		1	1
Washington		9	8	10	14
Wisconsin		1	1
Total	36	49	48	73	81

References

1. The National Trust, U.K.

2. www.names.whitepages.com/last/Sayce