THE HISTORY AND MOVEMENT OF FAMILIES AROUND THE WORLD
| FRANCE | ENGLAND | SCOTLAND | AMERICA |
| GERMANY | ITALY | RUSSIA | CANADA |
| AUSTRALIA | NEW ZEALAND | BRAZIL | CZECH REP. |
| SWEDEN | HUNGARY |
The earliest family known to bear the surname Maule derives from the town of Maule in France. (For further details see Maule, France.) The family who became Lords of Maule in the tenth century used 'de Maule' as a surname from at least the eleventh century.
The family is a very ancient one indeed and fortunate in having such complete records, early charters and contemporary chroniclers that it is possible to trace the family history back to the ancestors of the Lords of Maule. (See Family Trees and Biographies.)
The very earliest origins of this family are, of course hypothetical, but they are believed to be descended from an Austrasian warrior associated with Charles Martel in the eighth century. Austrasia, the land of the East Franks consisted of what is today northeastern France, the Low Countries and parts of West Germany.
Peter, the third Lord of Maule, born about 1025 is the first member of the family of whom there is documentary proof that he used the name 'de Maule', although it is quite possible that it was used by both his father and his grandfather.
The main line of Lords of Maule died out in 1396 when Robert de Maule was killed at the Battle of Nicopolis, in what is today Hungary. There may well have been descendants from cadet branches of this family, other than the Maules of Panmure in Scotland, but we have no certain knowledge of them at present. In fact the name Maule becomes increasingly harder to find in the country of origin as the years go by.
There are occasional references to Maule families fleeing to other countries during or shortly after times of turbulence such as the Huguenot risings and the French Revolution but we cannot be certain if these are descendants of the original family.
The traditional story is that Guarin, born about 1047, the third son of Peter de Maule the third Lord of Maule in France, settled in England shortly after 1066. According to the 'Registrum de Panmure' he received the lordship of Atun in Cleveland and numerous other grants of land in England from the King. If this is true, he may have fought with William, Duke of Normandy, at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 as is claimed in some of the 'Battell Rolls'.
(See 'Family Trees' and 'Biographies' pages.)
Most of the references to the surname in England between the 11th. and 15th. centuries actually relate to the de Mauley family, the Barons of Mulgrave in Yorkshire. When more complete records begin to emerge in the 16th. century, family groups are found in Oxfordshire, Shropshire, London, Suffolk and Essex. The last two groups are definitely descended from the de Mauleys.
(See 'Coats of Arms' page.)
By the end of the 16th. century smaller groups also occur in the counties of Buckinghamshire, Kent, Cornwall and Warwickshire. From the 17th. century onwards the spread of these families in England is quite rapid.
In the early 18th. century one branch of the Scottish Maules of Panmure had been established in the Greenwich area of London. By the mid-18th. century another family of Maules had moved from Berwickshire into Northumberland, their origins are still obscure but may derive from the de Molle families of Roxburghshire.
Many Maule families emigrated, to what were then British possessions around the world, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
It is estimated that there are probably just over 300 Maule households in England today.
Guarin's eldest son Robert and his sons are believed to have accompanied David, Earl of Huntingdon, into Scotland when he succeeded to the throne as David I in 1124. Robert may have received grants of land in Lothian. His eldest son William was granted land and appears in the records as William of Fowlis. From Robert's second son Roger are descended the main line of the Maules of Panmure which ended with the death of William, Earl of Panmure of Forth in 1782.
(See 'Family Tree' and 'Biographies' pages.)
Many of the Maule families in Scotland today are probably descended from younger members of the Panmure family who settled elsewhere, particularly in other parts of east Scotland. In the 17th. century one branch of this family was also established in Ireland and another in North Carolina, U.S.A.
Very many Scottish families emigrated to all parts of the world, in the seventeenth, eighteenth and particularly the nineteenth centuries.
It is estimated that there are perhaps 125 Maule households in Scotland today.
The first Maule to arrive in America was Thomas who was born on the 11th. of May 1645 in Berkswell parish, nr. Coventry, Warwickshire, England. He sailed to Barbados (possibly as a cabin-boy) when he was 12 years old and arrived in New England from Barbados probably in 1668. Three years later he settled in Salem, MA. where he wrote and published 'Truth Held Forth and Maintained' in 1695. A convinced Quaker he was constantly in dispute with the Puritans because of his refusal to accept the authority of the courts in religious matters.
Thomas married twice and was the father of eleven children, he died on the 2nd. of July 1724.
The genealogy of Thomas and his American descendants are comprehensively studied in 'History and Genealogy of the Maules' and his biography is published as 'Better That 100 Witches Should Live', both books are by James Edward Maule of Villanova, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. For further details see other pages on this site.
Other families continued to arrive in North America from England, Scotland, Germany, Italy and via Canada. I have details of the descendants of John Maull b. London in 1714 who settled in Lewes, DE before 1736 and of the Wisconsin descendants of George Frederick Maule who emigrated from England in about 1863 as well as some of the German immigrant families.
Several theories, all presently without confirmation, exist about the origin of the Maule families in Germany. One is that a Scottish Maule, perhaps a Crusader, settled in southern Germany in the Middle Ages. Another is that Alexander Maule and his son William, members of the Panmure family of Scotland, who left that country in 1498 arrived in Germany. A third explanation is that Huguenots, including some Maules fleeing either direct from France or via Scotland, settled in Germany.
There are many Maule and particularly Maul families in Germany today, the connection between the two variants there is not known. The spelling Maeule also occurs in the records, where 'ae' represents the German 'a umlaut'. A family of Maules settled in the Glueckstal colonies of South Russia after 1830. Members of both Maul and Maule families emigrated from Germany to settle in America and Canada during the 19th. century, and to add to the confusion, some members of Maul families added an 'e' to their surname. Some of the Maule families in Italy claim descent from Maules of Germany.
There are many Maule families in Italy and members of two of these, from Broligne and from Carneda, emigrated to America in the late 19th. century. Both of these families explain that their ancestors had come to Italy from southern Germany two or three generations earlier. A branch of one family emigrated to Brazil at the beginning of this century.
There are some Maule families who emigrated to America from Russia in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. There were a number of Maule, Maul and Maeule families in the German Glueckstal colonies of South Russia between 1834 and 1885.
These families disappeared after about 1885 and presumably they too emigrated to either U.S.A. or Canada.
The earliest family in Canada of whom we have knowledge is that of John (1787-1867), a member of the Northumberland, England family of Maules. John was a Major in the army, who married and raised a family in Quebec. Other families from Scotland, England and Germany continued to arrive throughout the 19th and 20th. centuries.
Most of the 60 or more Maule households today are located in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec.
We know of about five immigrant families in Victoria, mostly from Scotland. Several arriving there in the Goldfields around the 1850's. We also have information on a Maul family which came from Germany to New South Wales. Some other individuals emigrated to Australia from England, Scotland and New Zealand. However, in most cases, we have no knowledge of the modern day descendants of these families.
There are 70+ Maule households estimated to be in Australia today.
We have knowledge of four families who arrived in New Zealand, from Scotland and England, in the second half of the nineteeenth century. Some of these were in Australia for a short time before reaching New Zealand. There are approximately 40 Maule/Maul households in New Zealand today.
We only know of two Maule families in Brazil. One came from Italy at the beginning of this century. The present generation is the third. The family tradition is that they originally came from France. The other family apparently came from York in England in the late 19th. century. However, we have very little information on either of these families.
We have heard of two Maule families in the Czech Republic. They both may have originated in France, one coming via Alsace and Bohemia to that country.
A Maule family in Sweden was founded, in the mid-eighteenth century, by a James Maule who came from Kincardineshire in Scotland. He was a ship's captain in the Swedish East India Company.
A Maul family lived in Hungary from the middle of the 18th. century to the middle of the 19th. century. Their origin and later history are not known.
Johann Maul was born probably around 1735 in Pest in Hungary. Five generations of his descendants lived in Kernei, Bacs-Bodrog, Hungary.
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| FAMILY TREES | BIOGRAPHIES | COATS OF ARMS | KNOWN FAMILIES |
| VARIANT NAMES | EARLY RECORDS | INTERNET LINKS | MESSAGE ARCHIVE |
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