On Being Norse Neighbor

Walter R. Tingley, Jr of Shingle Springs, CA submits this story.

It is recorded that most of the Tingleys in the United States are descendents of Palmer Tingley. We have been told that Palmer landed in Ipswitch, MA in 1642. Marian Frye stated in the Tingley Family Revised that: "The name Tingley is a local name in Yorksire, England." There is in fact a town in England north of London, near Leeds, named Tingley. For many years my father and members of his family told me that we were all descendents of Palmer, who came from England. It was'nt until 1953, when I was serving in the army in Germany, that while driving into Denmark, that a Danish border guard in formed me I was Danish. Upon entering Denmark , he ask my nationality, and I replied, "American". He then said. "Oh, I know you're American, but where did your ancestors come from?" I said, England. And he said, "No, they might have come from England later, but they were originally Danish."

He said there was a small town 40 kilometers north of the border (in the Schleswig-Holstein area) named Tinglev, which I visited. He said this was probably the origin of our family in England. In 1066 or before, when the Vikings invaded England, some of them probably settled in England. Although History records that most of the Vikings came from Norway, its presumed that some of them must have come from Tinglev. The name was obviously anglicized later to Tingley. Recently, archeologists have found evidence of villages that were established by the Vikings near Leeds. I can only presume that they were Tingleys.

My notes: Records found show that Palmer's father last name was Tingle.