Our Family Towns

Radcliffe, England
Radcliff, Kentucky
Radcliff, Ohio
Radcliff, West Virginia
Radcliffe, Iowa
Radcliffe, Kentucky
Ratliff, Florida
Ratliff, Kentucky [2]
Ratliff, Louisiana
Ratliff, Mississippi [2]
Ratliff City, Oklahoma
Ratcliff, Arkansas
Ratcliff, Texas [2]
Ratcliffe Cove Branch, NC
Ratcliffe Creek, Georgia

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Hundreds of years before the Ratcliff's came to American shores, our ancestor Ivo de Tailbois (or "John Talbot" in English) arrived in England the same year William the Conqueror overtook the country, 1066. Without doubt Ivo assisted William in the battles that took place and may have even been related to him. Ivo was born about 1022 in Anjou or Normandy, France. He apparently married and had several children prior to his move to England. Ivo's family was one of the most illustrious in Normandy, and his brother was the Earl of Anjou. Ivo was known as "Baron of Kendal." After his first wife died, Ivo married Lucia, a daughter of Earl Aelfger. Lucia was clearly of royal line, being the granddaughter of Gruffydd, the King of Wales. Some records state that Ivo and Lucia had two children, Nicholas Fitz-Gilbert and another Lucia, while other records state that Ivo's children were by his earlier wife.

Ivo's great-grandson, Nicholas Fitz-Gilbert de Tailbois, was a knight. He was given the manor of Radeclive from his lord, and may have built Radcliffe tower.

The tower and manor are located near the town of Radcliffe in Lancashire, England. Nicholas was often called Nicholas "de Radcliffe," meaning of or from Radcliffe because he lived near the town and owned the manor by that name. His children and other descendents were also called "de Radcliffe" and eventually the "de" was dropped. Thus our family has the distinction of being named after the manor and town in which our ancestor, Nicholas, lived. The town was named Radcliffe because it is located along the red banks (red cliffs) of the Irwell River.

My father, Clarence Ratcliff, who spent more thirty years studying the family genealogy, discovered the above details in his research. He also found about 30 different possible spellings of the family name. Why are there so many different spellings of the name? Clarence felt that most, if not all, of the variations are simply misspellings made by someone that eventually were accepted. My distant ancestor, Richard Ratcliff, who migrated from England, consistently spelled his name Ratcliff, a fact my father loved to point out. Perhaps the most accurate spelling of the name would be Redcliff, but I don't think anyone in the family spells it that way!