WITTEN, Thomas^[1]

Abt 1632 - 1686  (54 years)

• Name	WITTEN, Thomas  [2]
  Birth	Abt 1632	Mixbury, Oxford, England   [2]
  Gender	Male
  Death	1686  [3]
  Person ID	I111	Fitzgerald-Aller
  Last Modified	16 Jun 2005

  
  

  Father	WITTEN, Thomas,   b. Abt 1599, London, Middlesex, England d. Yes, date unknown
  Mother	Bulkeley, Audrey,   b. Between 1590 and 1610   d. Yes, date unknown
  Marriage	Y  [2, 4]
  Family ID	F141	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Bulkley, Mary,   b. 1636, Barbados, BWI d. Yes, date unknown
  Marriage	31 Dec 1656	Christ Church, Barbados, BWI   [5]
  Children	1. WITTEN, Thomas,   b. 9 Feb 1672, Charles Co., Maryland d. Abt 1740, Prince George's Co., Maryland (Age 67 years)   2. Witten, Bulkely,   b. 6 Jul 1675, Charles Co., Maryland d. Yes, date unknown   3. Witten, Wiliam,   b. 26 Sep 1678, Charles Co., Maryland d. Yes, date unknown   4. Witten, George,   b. 9 Oct 1683, Charles Co., Maryland d. Yes, date unknown
  Family ID	F61	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	16 Jun 2005

  
  

• Notes

  From Salisbury Family: Family lore has it that the Wittens came from Prussia on the Elbe River to England in the 4th century. The first recorded Wittens in England has them residing in Yorkshire in 856. OR The Wittens of Witton English surnames are, as a rule, derived from one of four sources: a place name (e.g. Joan LONDON), a proper name (Clarence THOMAS), an occupation (Bobby CARPENTAR) or a nickname (Bobby SHORT.) I consulted P.H. Reaney's Dictionary of British Surnames (one of my favorite resources) and found nothing close to Witten-- but Reaney makes a point of emphasizing that the one sort of surname he does NOT cover is the place name. As usual, the answer (I hope) to the origin of the family name Witten came up in some papers I had which I had forgotten-- photocopies of a chapter titled "The Homes of Family Names," author and book title unnoted. It covered tax and conveyance rolls of Norwich 1285-1350 which showed families from other parts of England present in Norwich-- and one family was designated "Witton" for (no doubt) their home village of Witton, in medieval NORFOLK [according to this chapter.] This does not mean that this specific family was ours-- only that it is likely that at some point our ancestors, too, left Witton to live elsewhere, and were identified in their new home by their place of origin. Or, if not Norfolk, they could have come from Yorkshire. The Blue Guide for England describes the present-day village of Witton-le-Wear (on the river Wear) as being "attractive," and adds "Its striking but altered castle of 1410 stands S of the river; the grounds are a public park with a camping and caravan site." Is this the Witton our ancestors left? Also, were these two places-- Norfolk Witton and Yorkshire Witten-le-Wear-- the sites of a "witenagemote," an Anglo-Saxon council which met from time to time to advise the King? A participant in one of these councils was called a "witan" from the Old English for a sage or an adviser. Come to think of it-- perhaps Witten is not a place name, but a nickname for someone wise in the village who would give sound advice (or a real buttinski: "That guy thinks he's a regular witan!") Who knows. Well, I started out to shed some light but I find I am dazzled with more possibilities than I started with. Any ideas? Billye Higdon http://www.charweb.org/gen/whitten/witton.html

  
  

• Sources

  [S20] Melissa Thompson Alexander, GEDCOM File: Melissa Thompson Alexander. [S66] Petition of Samuel Greenweel against est of Martin French wo died 4/20/1804, SMC, MD. [S23] "Footprints of Marion Co, Fall 1987 (Vol 12, No 2). [S71] Stephen Barr sbarr@bellsouth.net (died 4/01). [S65] Peter Oxenbridge Christchurch, New Zealand, petox@xtra.co.nz.