Origin Introduction

How wonderful it would be to have a magic mirror that could show us the evolution of humankind from our earliest ancestors through to the present day. Surely it would be one of the most gratifying experiences to be able to witness their path out of Africa and chart migratory patterns as they coped with changing climatic conditions, hostile habitats and the inevitable sociopolitical turmoil that has brought us to our current level of civilisation. To be able to unlock these mysteries would be to open a window to a greater understanding of ourselves as individuals, our fellow man and society as a whole and many would argue that it would lead to greater peace and tolerance between cultures.

It is little wonder, therefore, that many of us harbour a burning desire to find out how we got here, particularly if we bear in mind the statistical improbability of making it this far. Centuries of starvation, disease and untold bloodshed should surely have ended our bloodlines a long time ago and for most species and sub-species that is exactly what happened. We are therefore privileged to be the custodians of our own particular bloodline and nature has equipped most of us with a strong sense of self preservation to ensure its survival.

Throughout the ages the powerful and the great strove to continue their control through nepotism and the unbounded desire for heirs often led to practices out of step with conventions of the time; the consequences of which remain with us to the present day. We are all affected by this through direct descent or through the clan/tribal system which has been responsible for preserving not only our bloodline but in many cases our names as well.

Of course no magic mirror exists that would reveal the secrets of the past and that part of the timeline we refer to as prehistory can shed only the faintest light on our clan/tribal origins. In time we would hope that initiatives such as The Genographic Project through its global analysis of DNA will result in a greater understanding of our migration since leaving the cradle of humankind but from a family tree perspective we are limited to researching documented history only. As it stands, this refers to any time after the 8^th century.

Very early documented history is sketchy, to say the least, and in many cases is confined to records relating to significant events such as births, deaths, marriages, wills and battles. Not only were the events significant enough to be recorded but the people mentioned in the records were also generally significant in terms of their social or political status. This must be borne in mind by the reader because the general masses from which most people would get their descent do not form any part of documented history until the late 11^th century. It is little wonder therefore, that the vast majority of genealogical websites give the impression that we are all descended from people of note – usually, if possible, royalty. This massages our egos and on the back of that will come the sales of souvenir merchandise usually bearing our supposed coat of arms. This should be regarded more as a disservice rather than a service to genealogists because the information is invariably misleading. This is particularly true of 'Cleere' and its variants where you will see several internet based genealogical sources offering totally unrelated coats of arms for the same name; why let accuracy get in the way of commercial gain?

Ordinary people’s names in any significant numbers first began to surface in public records at the time of a census, the most significant being the domesday book of 1085. As society evolved church records became more numerous but in general terms it is very difficult if not impossible to trace ones ancestry with any degree of certainty before the early 17^th century. However, the occurrences of the Cleere surname and all variants of it throughout history will be documented on this website whenever it is found during research.

This website is designed to be enjoyed by both young and old and to that end when we make reference to unusual or archaic words we will endeavour to add easy to understand explanations. This will be done via hyperlinks to either a reference page on ‘Cleere.com’ or to an external website. The genealogy section of this website is still in its conceptual stages and articles will be added as time permits with the ultimate goal of making it a unique resource for the Cleere Name

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