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Some Special Interests => One Name Studies => One Name Studies: A to G => Topic started by: Anarchia on Saturday 26 January 08 05:50 GMT (UK)
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I am beginning to organise data for a one name study of Gwatkin and its variants. Any and all information and enquiries welcome! :D
Ana
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I am, somewhat tentatively and ignorantly, beginning to organise data for a one name study of Gwatkin and its variants. Any and all information and enquiries welcome! :D
Ana
Hello Ana,
Have you looked at www.familysearch.org ? It lists several people named Gwatkin from Tamil Nadu and Wes Bengal in India.
Christopher
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Thanks for the information. I knew there were some Gwatkins in that region, because I found British government letters to a Gwatkin working there. I hadn't checked for offspring though.
I have been using family search. But, it is a bit of a pain with Gwatkins because I always end up with hundreds of Watkins to search through to find them! Do you know how I can get the search system to keep the G in front while using soundex on the rest?
Ana
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Hi Ana,
I think the IGI search may show only the name Gwatkin.
The Person Page number 3655 on ThePeerage.com shows www.thepeerage.com/p13655.htm shows some Gwatkins.
Christopher
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Hi Ana,
I have just been told I have a Gwatkin in my tree.
Martha Gwatkin married John Wood 22.4.1747 Kings Caple, Herefordshire. Their daughter Mary ch 30.7.1775 Kings Caple, Herefords married John Smallman. My grandmother was a Smallman.
If anybody has a link to the Gwatkin family, I'd love to hear from you :)
Beverley
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Hi Beverley,
There are likely to have been several different 'Gwatkin' families, which makes it more diifficult for you to find your Gwatkins
The name developed from the Welsh patronymic system. If your name was Howell and your father's name was Walter, then you might have been called Howell ap Gwatkin. ('Ap' meaning son of, and Watkin being a pet name for Walter. The Welsh for reasons unknown to me, seem to have been inclined to stick a 'G' in front of a 'W' when it was preceeded by the 'ap'. They did the same for William, hence the surname 'Gwilliam'. If anyone knows for sure why they did this, I would love to hear from them! Perhaps saying apgw was easier than saying apw?)
When people had to choose last names in the sense we mean now, some people just dropped the 'ap' or the 'ap G', and called themselves 'Watkin' or 'Watkins', and others, only a few families from my very preliminary look at it, but more than one, dropped the 'ap' and called themselves 'Gwatkin'. (There are a few 'Gwalters' too.)
This is a long-winded way of saying that if you want to contact people in your Gwatkin family, you will need to narrow things down a bit.
I assume that the person who gave you the information about Martha Gwatkin got the information from the IGI. It is not possible to work out from the IGI who Martha's parents were. There are only two Martha's on the IGI records who are likely to have been the Martha in question, and although I know which of these I would favour, the IGI information gives an incomplete record of the people who were around at the relevant time. You would really need a will or something of the kind to give us more of an indication of the direction in which to search.
Thanks for giving me something interesting to investigate!
Ana
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Hi Ana,
Thank you for your message, really interesting info. I have been tracing my nan's SMALLMAN line. One way back married a WOOD and I got in touch with someone who has done a fair bit on the Wood's. It's one of those who married a GWATKIN. The person who did the research used the usual records but I don't know how far back for, so I shall just pencil them in for now, untill I can find out more :)
Beverley
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Hi Ana,
I am a Gwatkin - born in Herefordshire where my family seems to come from.
We have done some research but not that extensive as yet.
Stephen
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Hi Stephen,
Very nice to hear from a Gwatkin who is actually in Herefordshire!
I am currently classifying the Gwatkin families that I have identified by the area in which I find the earliest family member, and almost all are from Herefordshire or Monmouthshire. I am descended from a family that appears in Chepstow in 1784. I would love to know where they were before that, but am missing the information I need. I currently have 15 separate Herefordshire families, although I am 90% sure about links between some of these - I just don't have the evidence to back my hunches.
Let me know if you have information that you are happy to share or if I can help at all. I would be interested in knowing which family you fit into. Have you made links to any of the families in the census records?
Best wishes,
Ana
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Hi,can you or any one help.
I have a Jane Gwatkin married to Frederick Gabb, They are my G/G parents, Jane is from Walford and Fred is from Elmore, gloucestershire. The Problem I have is that a Caroline Gwatkin married Eli Gabb. Both in the gloucester district and all there children, 12 in totally are born in the same area. I can't as yet find a link with these to couples. ??? any help would be wonderful.
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Caroline and Jane are sisters, daughters of Richard Gwatkin and Elizabeth Dobbs.
This family is on the Gwatkin one name study website at treesandstars.com/Gwatkin.
I am not sure whether Frederick and Eli were brothers, although it seems likely. I will have a hunt, and add that information to the website once I have solved the puzzle.
All the best!
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Hello, Thank you so much for the link to the Gwatkin one name study, All good and have worked out dates and names, just hunting out the Gabbs, James and Malpass family links.
Regards Yvonne
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Hi my great great grandfather is Eli Gabb married to caroline, did you find anything out
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Hi,can you or any one help.
I have a Jane Gwatkin married to Frederick Gabb, They are my G/G parents, Jane is from Walford and Fred is from Elmore, gloucestershire. The Problem I have is that a Caroline Gwatkin married Eli Gabb. Both in the gloucester district and all there children, 12 in totally are born in the same area. I can't as yet find a link with these to couples. ??? any help would be wonderful.
Hi Yvonne, I know this is quite some years later, but in case you didn't find the Gabb connection, I can also confirm that Eli and Frederick were first cousins. Frederick's father Daniel was the brother of Eli's father Thomas. Daniel and Thomas were my great x 4 grandfather William Gabb's first cousins. If you would like any further information on the extended Gabb family, please feel free to send me a message.