Re: Relatives from North Wales
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In reply to:
Relatives from North Wales
9/04/00
Hi Philip!
My Dad (age 75) claims his father claims our ancestors (which include Philip Bellis, by the way) came from Wales...I'd sure love to confirm this, but I think it belongs under family "legend" based simply on the derivation of the name BELLIS--which is Welsh.But I believe our ancestors descend from German BELLESFELTs who arrived in America circa 1730.Early on branches of these immigrants Anglicized the name to BELLIS/BELLES/BELLAS/BELLOWS.There were indeed BELLIS here who came to the colonies from "England" before 1730, but I haven't seen much web research being done on them as of yet.