Maurice de Olmestede, Sheriff of Essex

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The name Maurice has been used in England since the Norman conquest, and has it's roots in France.

Please see "Feet of Fines For Essex, by the Essex Archaeological Society, 1899, page 231"; the entry speaks of a legal document which lists "Maurice, son of John de Olmestede". I have also found reference to a "Johannis de Olmstede" who was involved with the donation of land at Little Maplestead in Essex.

The Olmsted family was occupying land called Olmsted Green, in Essex England; this land was actully held by the De Vere family. This "clue" indicates that the Olmsted family were beholden to a Norman family, because they too were Norman.

According to Wikipedia, The De Vere family were an English aristocratic family which have derived their surname from Ver (dep. Manche, arr. Coutances, cant. Gavray), in Lower Normandy, France.[1] The family's Norman founder in England, Aubrey (Albericus) de Vere, appears in Domesday Book (1086) as the holder of a large fief in Essex, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and Suffolk. His son and heir Aubrey II became master chamberlain of England, a hereditary office, in 1133.