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R-A6093 North Mercia

  • 33 members

About us

In descending order of surname size, the cluster consists of the HYDE complex, BLOOD, WILLETT, ASHMORE, CHEATHAM, COKER, DAVIS, JACKSON and about 18 other singletons who are yet to join. All so far except WILLETT are connected with the Nottingham-Derby-Stafford region of the Midlands. (in what follows we use these for the counties, not just the towns).

Many men from this region emigrated to the new North American colonies in the 17th Century, especially New England, and several of these surnames have formed substantial populations there today. There is much misleading material online about these colonial families.

HYDE - HIGHFIELD - HITE

The name Hyde is usually considered to derive from an old unit of land, the hide. This was regarded as the amount to produce a pound of income in a year, enough to support one family - around 30 acres (120 old acres). Five hides were taxed by the Saxons to support one soldier, while the old 'hundred' region measure was 100 hides.  An alternative derivation of the surname is from a family of gentry associated with the manors of Hyde and Haughton near Manchester. There was another line of noble Hydes from Dinton Wiltshire, from whom two British monarchs descend, but their DNA signature is also unknown. 

We also have the Highfield variant, an obvious place name. 

There are around 65,000 Hydes/Hides  globally, of a large number of unrelated lines. In England there were around 12000 Hydes in 1901, spread most strongly through the Midlands and down the west side of England. There are around 19000 there today.

In America the Hydes  are  mostly descended from four men born 1610-25 - Jonathan Hyde and his brother Samuel, of Massachusetts, and Humphrey Hide and William Hyde of Connecticut. The first three are in our cluster.
  • Jonathan Hyde is remarkable for having up to 27 children by two wives. 'Sergt.Jonathan Hyde, brother of Dea. Samuel Hyde, ... was born, probably in England about 1626, and died intestate at Newton, Mass., 5 Oct. 1711, aged 85. In Apr.1639 he embarked in the ship Jonathan, bound from London for Boston, his elder brother Samuel crossing the Atlantic in the same ship with him, and in 1647 hesettled at Cambridge Village (now Newton), Mass.' According to one theory he is from Bakewell, Derbyshire.
  • Humphrey Hides was among the first Puritan settlers. He was born in Yorkshire of a family from Everton, Notts. 
The Highfields are concentrated in Stafford. One branch is Irish. There are 1630 in the UK. 

In a classic example of "surname convergence" in colonial Virginia (where similar sounding surnames adopt a single variant), there are at least 20 unrelated lines of the American surname HITE, one line of which is in our cluster. 

BLOOD

The origin of the name is not known. It may refer to a blood relative (a small line in the Welsh Marches was derived from ab Llud). It is mostly found in Derbyshire and Staffs, but had a strong presence in Nottingham and early branches in Leicester and Lincoln. There has been an Irish branch of distinction, descended from a soldier Edmund, born around 1570.

There are about 9300 Bloods globally, of which 2100 are in the UK. Almost all Bloods belong to our cluster (except for one RATHBUN NPE line in the USA). They divide up genetically as Nottingham and Derby Bloods, with a common ancestor in the 1400s or 1500s.

Four relatives James, Richard, Robert and John emigrated from Nottingham to Massachusetts 1625-35, and became substantial (and troublesome) landowners around Groton and Concord. Most Bloods are descended from Richard or Robert. About 3000 Bloods lived in New England in 1900. Another line emigrated from Nottingham to the USA in the 1800s.

The Derby Bloods are mostly in Britain and Australia. 

WILLETT

Willett has diverse origins - taken from either 'little William', from the place name "Wiltshire", or in America from the French name Ouellette. There were 2839 Willetts in 1891, found in England generally in two separate locations - SE England, and the Midlands, especially Stafford. 

ASHMORE

The name refers to a place or tree by the lake. There were about 1400 families in Britain in 1891, concentrated in Derby, which had 288 families. Today there are 4700 Ashmores.

COKER

This surname is commonest in the USA , where it is the result of 'surname convergence' in Virginia from various surnames. In this cluster, it appears to be originally CORKER, a Cheshire occupational name spread through the Midlands. There are about 1500 in the UK. 

MEAKIN

There are two lines of Meakin - the present one from Derbyshire , and another which owned potteries in Stoke, Staffordshire. There are about 5700 Meakins in the UK.
  
Jackson is a rare old line from Staffordshire of a very common surname. There is also a branch of this line  in the USA.
Davis is another rare branch of a common patronymic.