Brief Life History of William
When William Oswald was born on 8 July 1862, in Woolwich, Kent, England, United Kingdom, his father, Color Sergeant John Robert Oswald, was 28 and his mother, Hannah Lark Bensley, was 28. He married Ellen Elizabeth Newton on 4 January 1898, in Salt Lake, Utah, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 4 daughters. He immigrated to New York County, New York, United States in 1868. He died on 17 February 1941, in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States, at the age of 78, and was buried in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States.
Photos and Memories (3)
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Family Time Line
Sources (92)
- William Oswald, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church Census Records (Worldwide), 1914-1960"
- William Oswald, "United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, Births, and Marriages 1980-2014"
- William Oswald, "Utah, County Marriages, 1887-1937"
Spouse and Children
Parents and Siblings
World Events (8)
1863
Abraham Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation, declaring slaves in Confederate states to be free.
1880 · School Attendance Becomes Mandatory for Children
School attendance became compulsory from ages five to ten on August 2, 1880.
1884
Art Nouveau Period (Art and Antiques).
Name Meaning
Scottish (Fife and Lanarkshire), northern English, German, and French (mainly Alsace and Lorraine): from an Old English personal name composed of the elements ōs ‘god’ + weald ‘power’. In the Middle English period, this fell together with the less common Old Norse cognate Ásvaldr. The name was introduced to Germany from England, as a result of the fame of Saint Oswald, a 7th-century king of Northumbria, whose deeds were reported by Celtic missionaries to southern Germany. The name was also borne by a 10th-century English saint of Danish parentage, who was important as a monastic reformer. Veneration of Saint Oswald, the king, spread from the German lands to the neighbouring Slavic lands as well. The surname in the (German) spelling Oswald is thus also found especially in Czechia and Slovakia, while in North America it also absorbed various Slavic forms (see 3 below).
Irish (Down): adopted as an English equivalent of Gaelic Ó hEodhusa (see Hussey 1).
Americanized form of Slovenian, Slovak, and Czech Osvald, Slovenian and Slovak Ožvald or Ozvald, and probably also of Slovenian Ožbolt: from vernacular forms of the German personal name Oswald, of Old English origin (see 1 above).
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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