English Surnames record Localities or places where ancestors originated or from their occupation or physical attributes.

Eachus is an old English Surname, first mentioned in the field name Eachus Plan in Church Minshull, Cheshire in the year 1304 CE.

It is a local house name, perhaps with a first element related to addition or increase

The name Eachus comes from the Norman French word ēaca, which means land added to an estate.

Difficult Times

One of the things that would have effected our ancestors was the long hot summer of 1305, it was a summer of burning heat and drought which resulted in the hay harvest failing.
Later in 1316 we get the start of two years of terrible floods, which resulted in famine, and 1000s losing their lives.

Burning heat and drought.

Then in the Mid 16th Century a run of very cold winters and short growing seasons resulted in food shortages and famine. In 1557 the harvest failed for the third year running, this was followed bytwo years of heavy rains, which resulted in what was reckoned to be the worst famine that century. As well as starvation, thousands died from an outbreak of plague, one observer noted that, “The like whereof has never been known before”, to make matters worse prices rose sharply and in the previous year grain had cost double what it did in 1553. This was a disaster for the 60% of the population who lived at subsistence level, wage earners had to spend 80 to 90%t of their income on food. One of the big trades was the cloth trade, which collapsed as exports were down by 30%. Whilst there can be no information as to how this situation effected the Eachus family, it is a fact that the only written reference to any Eachus family members in the following years is in 1566 when on the 3rd day of May 1566 in Church Minshull, a child of Thomas Eachus was baptised named John.

Our story really starts with the person who is believed to be John’s brother Peter. The marriage between Peter Eachus and Margaret Pownall took place on the 21st April 1594, again in Church Minshull. All the Eachus family members alive today are descended from Peter & Margaret.