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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • English : topographic name for someone living by a Roman road or other great highway, from Old English brād ‘broad’ + strǣt ‘paved highway’, ‘Roman road’ (see Street), or habitational name from some minor place named with these elements.
  • The poet Anne Bradstreet (1612–72) was born Anne Dudley, probably in Northampton, England. She and her husband Simon Bradstreet came to MA with Winthrop in 1630. Simon (1603–97) came from an old Suffolk family. He served in various public offices and was governor of MA from 1679 to 1686 and again in 1686–92.

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