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Project Background

Isbell is the ancient spelling of the feminine name "Isabell." This name was universally spelled Isbell but pronounced Isabel in Medieval times. The surname dates back at least 900 years and some say predates the Norman Conquest of 1066. It has been spelled Isbell since at least the 12th century (or since 800 A.D., by some accounts, and since 64 A.D. by others). Whether all the Isbells, Isabelles, Isbills and Isabels of England, France, Spain, Germany and America truly descended from a common ancestor is a matter for DNA studies yet to determine.

GENEALOGY OF THE ISBELL FAMILY (1929) by Mary Scott, page 11: "It is said that the first Isbell came into England with William the Conqueror."
Page 216: "....the Isbells of England were descendants of William Isbell, who came over from Normandy with William the Conqueror."

William Fitz-Isbell was Viscount, portgrave and sheriff of London in 1160-1194, also called lord mayor and governor of London in some histories (Fitz-Ysabel in Latin records). An account from A.D. 1166 described him as a Christian of Norman descent and one of the three wealthiest commercial financiers in London. Another history called him “one of the barons of London.” He and his two contemporaries were the last generation of Christian financiers to support the crown and the national economy of England before the Jewish financiers rose to dominance in the next generation. Some histories appear to confuse William Fitz-Isbell Sr., the financier of 1160, with his son William Jr., the portgreave of 1193. One history states, presumptively perhaps, that his mother was a Norman noblewoman named Sybella but without source documentation for the statement. The office of portgrave was called variously governor, vicomte, viscount, and viscountie in divers records of this period in history but generally translates to the office of lord mayor today.

The English family of Fitz-Isbell claimed descent from this William Fitz-Isbell. In 1202 he was recorded as William Isabelle in "Early Charters of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, London, during the reign of King John, known as 'Lackland.'"
His son Roger Fitz-Isbell was a land owner of great wealth in London in records from 1197-1202 but he did not succeed his father in office. Roger’s sister Margaret Fitz-Isbell married William le Viel who became viscount and sheriff of London. Their daughter Dionisia le Viel went by the name Dionise Fitz-Isbell when she married in 1243 to William Pentecost, who also was viscount and sheriff of London. Some histories call her Margaret Dionise Isbell le Viel with William Pentecost as her second husband.

The Fitz Isbell family is found predominantly in Latin records as Fitz Ysabel and Isabelle. Nineteenth century histories and most 18th-19th century publications of Latin texts in England translate the name as Fitz Isabel while more recent translations adopt the Old English spelling which the family themselves used, Fitz Isbell.

One of several coats of arms for Isbells in England is recorded by Burke's Peerage as Ysabel of Oxford. in 1273 Walter Ysabel(le) held estates in Oxford where the family was described as "anciently seated" as "lords of the manor." Some accounts describe this family as an ancient Saxon line.

Johannes (John) ISBELL lived in Yorkshire in 1379, when his Christian name John was recorded in the Latin and his surname recorded in the English, exemplifying the changing attitudes during this period toward the translation of surnames. Prior to 1379, the surname in English records is usually found written in Latin and French Isabelle, Ysabelle, and Isabell. (Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (1901) by Charles Wareing Bardsley, p. 420.)

All evidence indicates the surname was pronounced "Isabell" in earlier centuries, regardless of spelling, since Isbell was the more popular spelling of the girl's name in Medieval days as well.
Both the baptismal name and the surname were almost universally spelled Isbell in seventeenth and eighteenth century England and Colonial America. Phonetic spellings and spelling changes occured more frequently in the 19th century. The spelling Isbill appeared among descendants of John Miller Isbell, who died in Monroe County, Tennessee in 1853 and also among some Canadian families, including the ancestors of Canadian musician Herb Isbill. The name Isbill also appeared in England since the 19th century. The novelist Ursula Isbel bears the most popular variation of the name in Germany.

Hiram Isbell died around 1900 in Cross County, Arkansas, and his descendants spell their name Isabel. Ezekiel Isbell, born in 1804, has many descendants in Alabama who spell their name Isabell as well as Isbell.

The first Isbell in America was Robert Isbell who came from England to Salem, Massachusettes by 1634. His descendants are well traced for the most part, with documentation still readily at hand for retracing them through public records.

The Isbells of Virginia present more of a challenge. Destruction of so many courthouses and records during the Civil War renders the construction of pedigrees from public records more difficult in the South than can be done from New England records. The records surviving in the South offer much in the way of circumstantial evidence of relationships, however, so genealogies of the Isbells of Virginia heretofore have been largely based on circumstantial fragmentary records and family names and therefore the family trees are replete with the usual mistakes inherent in such genealogical methods. This is where DNA testing is breaking new ground.

Sandie Isbell (or Issabell) came from England to Gloucester County, Virginia by 1655 and John Isbell came from England to Gloucester County, Virginia by 1664. Whether either men left children is unproven; however, William Isbell was on record in 1699 in King and Queen County (formed from Gloucester), as was John Isbell in 1702. When King William County was organized in 1702, the Isbell estate lay in King William. The property was situated next to the Waller plantation, Enfield. Documentation is lacking to prove their relationship to one another or whether either man had children, but their business dealings and associations with one another and related families in a parish of but a few thousand people is enough circumstantial evidence to indicate that they were related. John Isbell shipped goods and may have been a passenger on a ship from Bristol, England, to Virginia in 1700.

Past researchers and family historians have published or distributed family trees based upon fragmentary records, theory, and oral tradition, some good, some not so good. Some of the more accurate family trees include those outlined in Joan Cervantes’ book, BOUND FOR THE PROMISED LAND (1992), and in VIRGINIANS by John W. Pritchett as well as Pritchett’s SOUTHSIDE VIRGINIA GENALOGIES.

NOTABLE SOUTHERN FAMILIES by Zella Armstrong has a well documented account of the family of James Isbell of Orange County and Albemarle, as does the book REYNOLDS-.HUGHES-TURNLEY-ISBELL by Rubyn Reynolds Ogburn. HISTORICAL SOUTHERN FAMILIES by John Bennett Boddie traces the descendants of George Isbell, son of William and Ann Dillard Isbell (In the book Descendants of Robert Isbell by Edna Warren Mason, 1944, Mrs. Mason incorrectly describes this George as the son of George Isbell and Mary Daniel, which to this day still causes much confusion among descendants.) AMERICANS OF GENTLE BIRTH AND THEIR ANCESTORS (1903) by Hannah Pittman contains the family of Benjamin and Lettice Hickman Isbell.


The goal of DNA testing is to prove or disprove relationships given in some of these previous works and to help researchers to develop new theories. So far it has proven that all the Isbells in the South are indeed related. As more detailed tests are administered to participants, we hope to learn more about the Isbell family tree.