Family name origins & meanings
- English (West Yorkshire) : habitational name from a place in Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire, recorded in Domesday Book as Winchelesuuorde, from the genitive case of the Old English byname Wincel meaning ‘child’ + Old English worð ‘enclosure’.
- Michael Wigglesworth (1631–1705), Puritan poet and preacher, was brought from Yorkshire to New England as a child in 1638. His first home was in Charlestown, MA; subsequently, he settled in New Haven, CT. From 1651 onward he was a fellow of Harvard College; in 1654 he was appointed minister at Malden, MA. His son and grandson, both named Edward were professors of divinity at Harvard.