Priscilla Tolkien Grandparents:

The Tolkien family can be traced back to the East Prussian town of Kreuzburg, near Königsberg, where the Tolkien surname has been recorded since the 16th century.

J. R. R. Tolkien’s proven paternal line begins with Michel Tolkien, who was born in Kreuzburg in 1620. Christianus Tolkien (1663–1746), Michel’s son, was a prosperous miller at Kreuzburg.

Meet Mabel Tolkien

Mabel Tolkien, the mother of J. R. R. Tolkien, was born in Suffield in 1870 and died on November 14, 1904.

John Suffield and Emily Jane Sparrow, her parents, had a business in Birmingham’s Stirling Road. Since 1812, the Suffield’s have operated a business out of Lamb House.

William Suffield, Tolkien’s great-grandfather, ran a book and stationery shop there from 1812, and Tolkien’s great-grandfather, also John Suffield, ran a drapery and hosiery shop therefrom 1826.

When her husband Arthur Tolkien died in South Africa in 1896, she and their two young sons were left without a means of support.

They first resided in Birmingham with her parents, then relocated to Sarehole (now Hall Green), a Worcestershire village that was eventually annexed to Birmingham.

Meet Arthur Tolkien

Arthur Reuel Tolkien, the father of author J. R. R. Tolkien, was born in Handsworth, Staffordshire, England on February 18, 1857, and died on February 15, 1896.

He was the eldest son of John Benjamin Tolkien and Mary Jane Stow, who married in All Saints Parish Church, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, on February 16, 1856.

Arthur’s father had previously been married to Jane Holmwood and had four children with her: Emily (b. 1838), Louisa (1840), John Benjamin (1845), and Jane (1847). (1846).

Meet Frances Bratt

Frances Bratt was born to James Bratt in Hanley, Staffordshire, England, around 1864. Frances Bratt was the mother of seven children. She died at Stoke upon Trent, Staffordshire, in January 1907.