This interesting and unusual surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from a place thus called near Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire. Recorded variously as "Paggewod" in early Charter Rolls of that county, dated 1043; as "Pachawud" in the 1195 Curia Regis Rolls, and as "Packwode" in the Warwickshire Feet of Fines, dated 1196, the place was so called from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "Pac(c)a", from "Paega", a name which, though forming the first element of several placenames, remains unexplained. The second element "wood" comes from the Olde English "wudu". Locational surnames were developed when former inhabitants of a place moved to another area, usually to seek work, and were best identified by the name of their birthplace. On January 18th 1569, Thomas Packwood, an infant, was christened at Fillongley, Warwickshire, and in 1617, Josiah Packwood, of Warwickshire, was entered in the Oxford University Register. A Coat of Arms granted to the family is a shield divided quarterly with three gold pickaxes in the first and fourth azure quarters, and three silver bells in the second and third black quarters. A silver demi lion rampant, holding in the dexter, and supporting in the sinister paw a black bell, is on the Crest. The Motto reads: "None is truly great but he that is truly good". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Johann Packwood, which was dated June 15th 1561, marriage to Johes Beck, Fillongley, Warwickshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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