LOST WITHELLS

ONE NAME STUDY

Welcome

I always knew Withell was a fairly rare surname. My mother was Hannah Lillian WITHELL born in Hamilton, a country town in Victoria, Australia, and I began to look for her Cornish ancestors in 1984. It was very exciting to discover that in 1259 a John de Withiel had been appointed as cleric in St Merryn, the Cornish village where her ancestors had lived.

I found that although variations of the byname Withiel occurred in CORNWALL from as early as 1200, by 1990 there was no-one with the surname Withell living in that county. Here was a surname with a history in one area of at least 700 years, which at that time had completely disappeared from Cornwall. Thus began a world-wide search for LOST WITHELLS.

For a brief outline of the current assessment of the history and origin of the surname, click on About the Surname in the Header. You will also find a summary discussing the beginnings of the surname in Cornwall, Yorkshire and the Southern Counties followed by sections for individual families or parishes within each county. Indexes and charts are being gradually added but living persons will not be included.

Over the years I have accumulated a lot of information including wills, BDM's, details of property, legal documents and service records which are currently being re-assessed. My own work on the Cornwall families has been very detailed but my research on the Yorkshire and Sussex families is not as extensive. However members of these families have recorded their own branches and I am able to put researchers with similar interests in touch with each other.

I am happy to let other researchers have information from my database, but hope you will similarly let me have any connections and families that you know about.

Please contact me by e-mail if you have any interest in these names.

Contact - withell@onename.org

Guild of One-Name Studies (Member No 1878).Guild logo

Return to top of page