Here we aim to be able to look back on the family name of Twiss , and with luck (and lots of helpful people), be able to trace our own branches of the family.
Wouldn't it be great to find out just a little (or a lot!) about your Great Uncle Arthur, what he looked like, were he
was born, who he married, where and how he lived, etc, etc.
This is just what I felt after hearing some old
family stories, and being able to see some of the old photographs that have survived over the years.
Since we've had our webpage up and running, we've already had a few Twisses visit us, from all over the world!
PS sometimes we forget to update this bit
Doh!
....For questions & comments on this site, please email me.
Origins of our TWISS name
Our family traces its origin back to Twizel on the border country of
England and Scotland c 1200 with oddments of history down to 1570, from
where we are able to trace continuing bloodlines to the present day.
Twist English (chiefly Lancs. and W Midlands): of uncertain origin,
possibly a metonymic occupational name for someone in the cotton spinning
industry whose responsibility was to combine threads into strong cord, a
sense of twist recorded from the 16th century.
Variation. : Twiss.
Others, including Bardsley, are of the opinion that the name derives from
the locality, in particular the hamlet of Twiss Green in Lancs.
David Mills says "Twiss Green - Fork in the river; which in 1258 derived
from the Old English Twis to Twisse.
Green has been added later, so we have
Twistgrene in 1565, later still becoming Twiss Green.
There is an Old English word Twisla, the meaning of which is "a fork in a
river".
MacLysagt says "a locative English name signifying dwelling by a bend in
the road....."
Twiss Green is one of the ares where many Twiss families settled after
having left Twizel in 15th & 16th centuries.
There is a widly held opinion that we are of German origin and much effort
and expense is being spent on fruitless research there. The Twiss families
in Germany are actually descended from those traders who settled in
Rotterdam from England, primarily in the wool trade.
The synopsis above is taken from a document compiled by Patrick and his son Gerald Twiss, New Zealand. For further details please contact Gerald on the link below. He is always interested in seeing peoples family lines. If you have any details of relatives as far back as you know, birthdates, jobs, where they lived etc.then please get in touch.
List of Family Members who have done research into the Twiss Family