Surname Saturday: DEWEY

The Dewey surname is my closest linking ancestral name after my own surname.

There are many Dewey name bearers in the world – including a decimal system for libraries and a cartoon duck.

My own branch have lived in the county of Cambridgeshire, England since at least the 1700s, inhabiting the villages of Wentworth, Wilburton, Witchford and Witcham.

The earliest ancestor that I have confirmed so far was Thomas Dewey, who in 1768 married Elizabeth Covell at Witchford’s church of St. Andrew (this is where my own name comes from!). The couple had at least 3 daughters and a son George, and it is this son who travelled to Witcham where he married Mary Long in 1790. Sadly by 1807, Mary had died. This led to George heading to Wentworth to re-marry to a Mary Payton and continuing his family. In all, he fathered at least 11 children – 6 with his first wife.

George’s first child, William born in Witchford, is my ancestor and he married Ellen Markerham of Waterbeach. The couple set up home in Witchford where they had 6 children – 5 of them sons. The Dewey family grew and soon those children were having children and grandchildren themselves – continuing to grow the family throughout the county.

Variants

The surname has many variants: Dewey, Douay, Duey, Doway, Dowee, Doweay, Dewe, Dowey and Dewy, although as literacy rates improve, the surname generally ends up as Dewey or sometimes Dewy.

Dewi?

It is believed to be of Welsh origin, from the River Dewi area, although none of my ancestors have revealed their Welsh connections yet.

2010 Littleport Show taking place this Saturday

This Saturday (24th July) sees the Littleport Show – an annual day out for the family from 9am until 6pm at Highfields.

Included in the line up of this excellent show is the return of The Littleport Society marquee – where you can meet members of the Society’s team and find out more about your Littleport family roots. Perhaps you’ll spot a familiar face in a photograph or parish record?

Check out the event site.

Surname Saturday: BISHOP

 Bishop is the 201st most common surname in the UK, a fall of almost 30 places from the 1880s. According to John Ayto (Encyclopedia of Surnames), the surname of Bishop originates from a person who was a servant in the house of a Bishop or from someone whose appearance or demeanour was similar to that of a Bishop.

I’ve managed to trace my Bishop ancestors back to the 1700s with the help of fellow researcher and distant relative Gerard Kelly.

My most recent Bishop ancestor was my Gt Gt Grandmother, Adelaide Bishop (born in 1877, pictured). She was the fourteenth child of a total of eighteen children of a James Simpson Bishop and his wife Ann (née Bowers) of Wicken, Cambridgeshire. With this many children it’s a wonder how the name has declined at all, but in this family alone daughters were most common.

James Simpson Bishop was born in 1842 in Soham, a place that unfortunately needs little introduction. However, for the 1851 census the family had moved to a farm at Twineham in West Sussex – an unusual move considering that very few families at the time moved much further than the next village. I can only assume that James’ parents took the family there for work – perhaps as tenant farmers. By 1858 the family had returned to Cambridgeshire and are living close to Soham in the village of Fordham, before moving again to Wicken.

The family remained around this area with many children marrying and starting their own families.

Littleport Society announce 2010-2011 meetings calendar

I’ve just received the Summer 2010 (Issue 77) of The Littleport Society magazine and with it came the calendar of their meetings at the Village Hall in Littleport from 7.30pm.

They are as follows, but please note that you should check before travelling and I take no-responsibility for any changes made to the line-up below. Non-members are always welcome.

2010:

  • 7th Sept: Brian Jones – “William Harrison the Fenland Poet”
  • 5th Oct: Veronica Bennet – “The National Trust Properties of Cambridgeshire”
  • 2nd Nov: Stephen Kelley – “Life in Britain during WWII”
  • 7th Dec: Iain Harvey – Christmas organ concert – this will be in St George’s Church rather than the village hall.

2011

  • 4th Jan: Ken Wallace – “Autogyros and other flying adventures”
  • 1st Feb: AGM and Members’ Short Talks
  • 1st Mar: Janet Morris – “19th Century Rural Paintings”
  • 5th Apr: Les Millgate – “The History of RAF Duxford”
  • 3rd May: Tony Kirby – “Technology and the Victorians”
  • 7th Jun: Susan Oosthuizen – “Cambridgeshire from the air”
  • 5th Jul: Michelle Bullivant – “Poison and powder – cosmetics through the ages”

Wordless Wednesday

Shirehorses, originally uploaded by familytreeuk.

Wordless Wednesday

Ernest Edward Thomas Dewey (1896-1991), originally uploaded by familytreeuk.

Surname Saturday: MODEN

Edward and Mary Ann Moden at home in Ely, Cambridgeshire

The surname of Moden appears twice in my ancestry and several other times through marriage.

My two ancestral occurrences are both on my maternal side, and even though they only live less than 10 miles apart (sometimes less), I’ve yet to find any link between the two branches.

Branch One: Coveney and Ely
The most recent ancestor of mine with this surname was my Great Grandmother Susan Jane Moden (1896-1981). She was one of seven children born in Ely to Edward Moden and his wife Mary Ann (née Cross) (pictured).

Edward was born in Coveney, Cambridgeshire, about 4 months after his father’s death (also an Edward Moden) in 1867. It was his mother’s later marriage to David Seymour that brought the Moden branch to Ely.

Edward’s (junior) wife Mary Ann owned and ran a shop on the corner of Cambridge Road and Barton Road until her death in the 1950s. The building remained a shop until the 1980s when it then changed in to the private house that it is today.

The earliest Moden ancestor that I can find is in Coveney in 1792, marrying Margaret Nicholas.

Branch Two: Haddenham and Wentworth
The other Moden family appear to live in Haddenham during the 1780s. Like the Coveney branch, the history before this point remains unknown and perhaps this is where the connection between the two branches occurs.

My earliest ancestor on this side is William Moden (1781-1839). He married Esther Whitehead and later to Elizabeth Howard.

During the 1830s, the family shift from Haddenham to Wentworth.

This branch intertwines with the Clements, Dewey and Boulter branches at Wentworth and like Branch One, includes several Dewey/Moden marriages.

The name has appeared in many different guises, which makes it a challenge to trace. I’ve seen it noted as: Moden, Morden, Moten, Modan, Moreden, Moodan, Mowdan and even Martin.

Wordless Wednesday

Newman funeral group 1925, originally uploaded by familytreeuk.

Surname Saturday: FRANKS

Surname Saturday – the Franks family from Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire.

Sarah Jane Giddings (née Franks)
Sarah Jane Giddings (née Franks)

 The surname of Franks is part of my paternal family and my last direct ancestor to bear the name was Sarah Jane Franks, who was born in 1803.

Sarah Jane married my Great x 4 Grandfather Daniel Watson Giddings during 1825 at a church in March, Cambridgeshire. The couple settled down to produce eight children, which included a short-lived set of twins born in 1841.

Sarah’s sister, Mary Ann Franks (born in 1800) married Daniel’s brother James, but she died in 1824. James remarried, but then died in 1840.

A lost church

Sarah’s origins are a little ambiguous – looking back to the 1871 Census for March, Cambridgeshire, she states that she was born in that parish. However, go back 10 years to 1861, and Sarah states that she was born in “Coppenforth, Norfolk”, which does not appear to exist.

However, just a few miles from March is a parish called Coppingford – so this is likely to have been (or where she thought) her place of birth.

Coppingford’s parish church was destroyed prior to 1707, after which the villagers used the nearby church at Upton. It is likely that church records from Coppingford prior to this date were also destroyed.

By the time of Sarah’s birth, the population of Coppingford was just 53 persons. By 1931, this had dwindled to 29 persons.

Without church records or gravestone clues, the real identity of the origins of this surname are clouded, unless records for Upton can open a window on Sarah’s family.

Surname Saturday: GOTHARD

The Gothard family are part of my maternal ancestry.

Mary Gothard (1847-1931)

The most recent Gothard in my ancestral line was my Great Great Great Grandmother Mary Gothard (pictured) who was born in Witcham, Cambridgeshire in 1847.

Her parents were William Gothard and Sarah Hawkins, and she had eight known siblings.

My Great Grandmother remembers that the surname was spoken sometimes as ‘go-therd’. This makes me wonder whether the surname is an occupational one with ‘go-therd’ being to goats, what ‘shep-herd’ is to sheep. Whatever the origin of the name, I’ve only been able to push the Gothard family back (so far) to this William Gothard, born in 1816.

In a must-be-related branch of the Gothard family from just a few miles away, descends a photographer – Warner Gothard.

His work was so highly respected that he opened 4 ‘Day and Electric Light Studios’ in Barnsley, Dewsbury, Leeds and Halifax. He pioneered the ‘Montage Postcard’ and became a photographer for the British Royal Family.

A blue plaque has been erected in Barnsley on the shops and offices that he erected in the 1920s, and to commemorate his achievements and his gift of Seckar Woods to the people of Barnsley and Wakefield.

Common variants seem to include: Gotherd, Gothard, Gottard, Goatherd.