Recorded in various spelling forms including Pease, Peaseman, and Passman, this is an English occupational surname. It derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century word 'pease' meaning the vegetable known as 'peas', and was originally given as a for a grower or seller of peas. The surname is one of the very first to be recorded, see below, itself an indication of the importance of fresh produce in the life of medieval people. Examples of the recordings taken from the earliest surviving rolls, charters, and registers of seven hundred and more years ago include: Roger Pise, in the 'Pipe Rolls' of the county of Norfolk in the year 1206, John Pese in the famous Hundred Rolls of the county of Bedfordshire, in 1273. The name is also recorded in the spellings of 'Pyse' in the Subsidy Rolls of Suffolk for 1327, and as 'Pece' in the Poll Tax Returns of Yorkshire in 1379. Other examples taken from the church registers of the diocese of Greater London in Elizabethan times include: Marye Peaseman, the daughter of Henrye Peaseman, who was christened at the church of St Boltolphs without Aldgate, on July 31st 1575, and in the variant form of Passman, Joseph Passman, who was christened at St Pancras Lying-in hospital, on July 12th 1752, his parents names are not recorded. Edward Pease (1767 - 1858) constructed the first railway line which ran from Stockton to Darlington in 1825, with Stephenson providing the locomotives. The first recorded spelling of the family name in any form is probably that of Thomas Pese, which was dated 1194, in the Pipe Rolls of the county of Berkshire. This was during the short reign of the famous King Richard Ist known as 'Lionheart', 1189 - 1199. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop", often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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