Buel – Surname Saturday

Brown Line

Name Origin

According to Ancestry.Com, Buel is a variation of Buell. Then they indicate that Buell is, for Welsh, a variant for Bowell and for Dutch, it is an occupation name for a hangman. It continues that Bowell is a variant for Powell and that Powell is an Anglicized form of Welsh ap Hywel meaning “son of Hywel.”[i]

I think that Forebears does a better job of defining the name.  It too says it is Welsh, but that it means “a herd of cattle” or “an ox.” They also mention that it may refer to “Bueil,” a place in France.[ii]

So the question is, where our Buel’s come from, Wales, Holland, or France?

Geographical

The 1840 Census indicated there were 192 Buel families in the United States. Seventy, or 36%, were living in New York. During the 1790 census, the majority of Buel’s were in Connecticut, but my Buel family members were living in Amenia, Dutchess County, New York in 1790.

My Buel Ancestors

I have six known Buel’s in my tree – Two are direct, my 6th great-grandmother, Deborah Buel and her father, my 7th great-grandfather, Grover Buel[iii].  Grover was born in Connecticut on 4 April 1732. He and Jerusha Buck has at least 4 children besides Deborah. They were Jenusha, Simon, Daniel and Grover. All of the children were born in Dutchess County, New York.

My Direct Buel Ancestors[iv]

• #830 – Grover Buel (1832-1818) – Generation 10
• #415 – Deborah Buel (1761-1843) – Generation 9
• #207 – Electa Rowley (1782-1830) – Generation 8
• #103 – Deborah Buel Mabon (1804-1874) – Generation 7
• #51 – Mary Electa Parsons (1827-1888) – Generation 6
• #25 – Marion Sanford (1846-aft. 1885) – Generation 5
• #12 – Arthur Durwood Brown (1864-1928) – Generation 4
• #6 – Richard Earl Brown (1903-1990) – Generation 3
• My mother – Generation 2
• Me – Generation 1

My known relatives.

My records have 287 known descendants of Grover Buel identified over thirteen generations.

Endnotes

• [i] Ancestry.Com – Buel Family History – https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=Buel
• [ii] Forebears – Buel Surname Meaning & Statistice – https://forebears.io/surnames/buel
• [iii] Don Taylor – Roberts – Brown, Heredis Family Tree https://h1.heredis-online.com/en/dontaylor/roberts_brown_2016/accueil
• [iv] Ibid.

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