The Stonnell One Name Study grew out of my research into my family tree. It is my mother's maiden name. During my family history research I found a grand-uncle who had moved to Canada and eventually was able to communicate with some of his descendants. A cousin referred me to Stonnells in New Zealand and how they got there is contained in the book "Lucie - A History of Mendl Creative Dance" by Kate Stirling [Ellesmere Publishing NZ; 2012: ISBN 978-0-473-19551-9].

Via the Facebook group page "Stonnells' of the World" contact has been made with Stonnells whose ancestors were in Virginia at the commencement of the American Civil War - if a certain bullet had hit another part of the body instead of the hand of one Virginian Stonnell some of the Virginian descendants would not be alive today. There is verbal evidence that there are also Stonnells in Australia but they have yet to be found.

Bringing all the threads together is the reason for this study. It is a fascinating study and has been full of surprises.

There are at least three variants of the Stonnell surname - STONNILL, STONALL and STONELL. It is considered that these have arisen by dialect but more of this later.

There is a plausible suggestion that STONNELL is a variant of STONELL rather than the other way round. As the research continues it is hoped that the picture becomes clearer.