Hammerton of Hammerton

Last week, if you remember, I mentioned documents concerning Messingham then Richard hammerton contacted me for some further data as he has family tree links to the WASS family. One of the things we talked about was his tree that goes back to 1781 and I must wonder if this is a specific item because a search of the Latter Day Saints’ website familysearch also gives a family tree going back to the same date. A coincidence? Perhaps. While I keep repeating myself by saying don’t believe everything said or written because we are only human I did find a family tree on the site that went back to the origin of the name and the village of Hamerton in Yorkshire. The earliest entry in the tree is that of Richard Hamerton of Hamerton Yorkshire born around 1141 according to the Familysearch submitter. The line goes through a number of generations getting to Aukburgh (Alkborough), and Gervase Hammerton born 1597 who is assumed, according to the entry, to have married Jane gildas of Barton “abt 1627”. At around this point people carrying out research should have access to the registers and can verify the facts. By the 19^th century the hammerton family had settle in Wragby. George was born there in 1836 and was a bricklayer but lived in Melville St, Lincoln with eight children. There was a lot of travel undertaken by this family for his wife was from Warwickshire and two of the children had been born in Sheffield. A likely brother, John, was born Wragby in 1834 but was now a builder living in Buckingham with his family of six children and listed on the birthplaces are again some links to Yorkshire. The surname profiler puts the highest concentration of hammertons in London but there are a large number just to the west of the Humber in 1881. By 1998 the name has spread throughout the country. The village of Hammerton gets its name from the town or tun being near or on an Old English hamor or hill.

The name gildas later became regularised as gilders or gelders. A similar looking spelling is that is difficult to separate is gilder for the name could be either. One answer to the origin is that of the occupation of gilder and to gild and the other is also an occupation this time as the caretaker of a guildhall. As we all know it is so easy to leave off or put on an‘s’ that it would be hard to say which is which.

On March 17^th at Bracebridge village hall will be the event you have waited all year for. The Lincolnshire Family History Society Family History day and it starts at 0945. the varied program will be looking at Gravestones, a history of dialects and the history of newspapers. As if that is not enough there will also be the bookstall which will have an index for just about everything. Contact Mrs Robson, 135 Balderton Gate, Newark, NG24 1RY to book your seat as there are a limited number of places available.

Bits and Bobs

LRSM - 2nd December 1825 - Awful Instances of Mortality - On Sunday evening last, 27th November, aged 36 years, Mr. William HANSON, grazier of Butterwick. On Monday evening, 28th November, aged 62 years, Mrs. HANSON, wife of Mr. R. HANSON, a very respectable wool-buyer, grazier, etc., of that place, and Mother of Mr William HANSON: And on Tuesday evening, the 29th November, aged 40 years, Elizabeth, wife of the above Mr William HANSON, leaving seven orphans to lament their loss. All died after a short illness.