Washer family, possibly Somerset?

[jrcarleton]

Hello, I am searching for the origin of a John Washer who came to the US from England in the early 1700s. Family lore says that his neighbor was a ship’s captain, and John wanted to go to sea, and his mother decided to rid him of that dream by letting him go as a cabin boy on the neighbor’s ship. John was 10 years old, they landed in Boston, and he jumped ship and hid from the captain, and stayed in America. This would have been sometime between 1710 and 1725.

I have been searching for records, and it seems there was a sizable conclave of Washers in Somerset, particularly in the Watchet-Minehead region. And it seems that perhaps Bristol (and nearby harbours in Somerset) would have accounted for most ships going to the American colonies for trade during this time, does that seem right? Interested to know if I might be on the right track.

[bridgwatergirl]

It doesn't seem an unreasonable place to start looking at all, especially as you're right - a lot of the surname usage seems to concentrate/originate in that area of Somerset.  (Bear in mind, though, that any UK port might have an occasional ship going to a foreign port even if it was unusual, and that all British ports were closely connected by regular coastal traffic anyway, so it would be impossible to rule out all other locations for sure just on that basis.)

I also have two sets of Washer families from that area on my tree, and while one of my lines fades out before that, and the other is a sideline on another tree that I haven't been able to expand yet, my Washers also moved between the West Somerset coastal area, Bridgwater (another port) and Bristol. So it's possible I might be able to help give pointers with some of my own researches - although sadly I do not have a ready-made missing John to match your Boston runaway!

But if you want to send me a PM and maybe let me know a bit more, I'll see whether I can fish out anything useful for you.  Good luck with your searching anyway!  And while it's not the rarest name, it also isn't super common - so maybe even if we can never prove it, we might still be long lost cousins from a very long way back, who knows?   

(Bear with me if I'm slow to respond at any point - I'm not always that well at the moment, but I will always still get back to you eventually.)

[chris2024]

It doesn't seem an unreasonable place to start looking at all, especially as you're right - a lot of the surname usage seems to concentrate/originate in that area of Somerset.  (Bear in mind, though, that any UK port might have an occasional ship going to a foreign port even if it was unusual, and that all British ports were closely connected by regular coastal traffic anyway, so it would be impossible to rule out all other locations for sure just on that basis.)

I also have two sets of Washer families from that area on my tree, and while one of my lines fades out before that, and the other is a sideline on another tree that I haven't been able to expand yet, my Washers also moved between the West Somerset coastal area, Bridgwater (another port) and Bristol. So it's possible I might be able to help give pointers with some of my own researches - although sadly I do not have a ready-made missing John to match your Boston runaway!

But if you want to send me a PM and maybe let me know a bit more, I'll see whether I can fish out anything useful for you.  Good luck with your searching anyway!  And while it's not the rarest name, it also isn't super common - so maybe even if we can never prove it, we might still be long lost cousins from a very long way back, who knows?   

(Bear with me if I'm slow to respond at any point - I'm not always that well at the moment, but I will always still get back to you eventually.)

hi, i do some voluntary work in a cemetery, and this year have seen the names; Gadd , washer in bridgwater . 2024

[bridgwatergirl]

hi, i do some voluntary work in a cemetery, and this year have seen the names; Gadd , washer in bridgwater . 2024

Oh, that's cool.  The Gadds are unlikely to be my family, however, since they were mainly buried at North Petherton, but the Washers and Youngs are very likely to be connections.  (I used to live in B/w & have been over the old & new cemeteries off Quantock Road, although never to the one on the other side of town.)