Spurgeons of Norfolk England
This site attempts to trace the Spurgeon surname in Norfolk, England. Even though most of the individuals are not my direct ancestors, I have tried to discover the links between the various families and have included census information and links, church documents as well as birth, marriage and death information. It is a much larger project than anticipated with many pages of information. When I started twenty years ago the various families seemed unrelated. In the 18th and 19th C there were families concentrated in Wayland, Henstead, Loddon, Erpingham, Mitford, Yarmouth and Norwich districts. The families found in Henstead, Loddon and Wayland can be traced to some common ancestors. Eventually many individuals moved to Norwich or other parts of England and others to Canada, the USA and Australia.
A number of sources say Spurgeon is Viking in origin ie "small sparrow" from "sporrechen" and others say it is Saxon or even Dutch. My DNA suggests it was an ancestor that arrived with the Romans.
There have been a few famous Spurgeons and some had status as doctors, lawyers, university professors, clergymen, surveyors and lithographers and, at least one was knighted, but the majority were like most of us, just getting by.