When Samuel Fretwell was born about 6 July 1761, in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom, his father, Robert Fretwell, was 25 and his mother, Hannah Davis, was 20. He married Esther Leabeter on 11 March 1787, in Ilkeston Circuit, Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom. They were the parents of at least 7 sons and 7 daughters. He died on 28 April 1838, in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England, at the age of 76, and was buried in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom.
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Thousands of British troops were sent to Boston to enforce Britain's tax laws. Taxes were repealed on all imports to the American Colonies except tea. Americans, disguised as Native Americans, dumped chests of tea imported by the East India Company into the Boston Harbor in protest. This escalated tensions between the American Colonies and the British government.
"On April 18, 1775, a shot known as the ""shot heard around the world"" was fired between American colonists and British troops in Lexington, Massachusetts. This began the American War for Independence. Fifteen months later, Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence. The Treaty of Paris was signed in September 1783 which ended the war. The colonies were no longer under British rule. Many who fought for the British fled to Canada, the West Indies, and some to England."
The first fleet of convicts sailed from England to Australia on May 13, 1787. By 1868, over 150,000 felons had been exiled to New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, and Western Australia.
English (of Norman origin): variant of the Norman surname de Frescheville, from an unidentified place in France named Frècheville. The English surname Freshfield is also derived from this placename. The surname Fretwell is attested in Derbyshire from the 13th century. Alternative possibilities include minor placenames in the Midlands or north of England, such as Fretwell Close in Tadcaster, Yorkshire, or the lost Frethewell in Morton, Nottinghamshire, but there is currently no evidence to support these origins.
English: habitational name from Fritwell, Oxfordshire, which is possibly derived from Old English freht, fyrht, firht ‘augury,’ and w(i)elle ‘well’, meaning ‘wishing well’. This name is recorded as Fretewell in 1203, and Fritewell in 1236.
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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