Wednesday, July 8, 2009

HAM Country Updates



Links to research in West Virginia have been added to the HAM Country "Links" area. This was suggested by Thomas Hamm of Charlotte, NC.



If you haven't visited the indexes for the HAM Country "Wills & Estates," I have updated the index for England. Additions are from the Gloucestershire Record Office.



For a more complete list of changes see the HAM Country Revisions page.




- Enjoy







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Thursday, July 2, 2009

Devon DNA Project



Debbie Kennett is writing an article for the October issue of the Devon Family Historian, which is the journal of the Devon Family History Society. I have requested that the HAM DNA Project be among the Projects that can offer partially funded DNA tests, which I hope to provide through the HAM DNA General Fund.


Debbie is also the Administrator of the Devon DNA Project at family Tree DNA. She has a brief overview of the long history of settlement in Devon, the meaning of the Celtic word "Devon" ("the people of the land"), artifacts, hill forts, and archeology findings from the area. She also has some helpful links at the
bottom of the web page:


http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Devon


In our book, "A Short History of the HAM Surname in Virginia & NC," the main records we have are from Collyton Parish, which also mentions the parishes of Ashwater, Cheriton Fitzpyn, Halberton, Halwill, Hartland, Hemyock, Honiton, Luppitt, Milton Abbot, Oakford, St. Andrew's Parish in Plymouth, Shepewash, Shute, Tiverton, Uplowman, Upottery, West Budleigh, and Wilhayes. We also have in volume #1 (Origins) Wills from Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) for HAM residents of Devon.



Collyton
Parish is located near Plymouth. And, of course, there is a small town called "Ham" (or Ham Ward) near Plymouth as well. As many of you already know, the surname "HAM" is a place name, and locating the town of origin is a good indication of where the name was adopted after about 1200 AD.


A map of the area shows the area known as Ham, near Plymouth:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=248899&y=54192&z=5&sv=248899,54192&st=4&ar=Y&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf&dn=795&ax=248899&ay=54192








The primary HAM lines that are researching the area of Plymouth are the HAM lines of Maine and New Hampshire. They have an interest there because the first HAM progenitor on this continent was William HAM of Maine, a member of the Trelawney expedition. William HAM of Maine arrived on the Speedwell in 1635 and was originally contracted to fish. Several of the Mayors of Plymouth (England) were named Trelawny:


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Plymouth City Council
List of Mayors from 1600 to 1700



http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/homepage/councilanddemocracy/lordmayoralty/mayors/mayors1600-1700.htm


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Some descendants of William HAM of Maine were mentioned in the book "The HAM Family Kith and Kin" by Rev. Ervin Charles Tipton (1977). L. Winston Hamm was a contributor to Tipton's book, and had listed his own line back to the William HAM who arrived in Maine in 1635.I have mentioned a short biography of Winston Hamm in the Appendix of our volume #1 (Origins).


The exciting thing about Debbie Kennett's October article for the Devon Family Historian and the Devon DNA Project is that I am hoping to see DNA participants from Devon. If they are native to Devon, we should expect haplotype "R1b." If their is a Norman influence to the HAM lines in Devon, then of course they should be haplotype "I." The problem is that we have no DNA participants here in the U.S. for the Maine HAM lines.


So, I am pushing for participants from Britain, and am hoping for some DNA participants from the Maine and New Hampshire HAM lines as well.








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Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Facebook Albums on line



For those who are interested in the HAM surname, I have uploaded a few small albums to Facebook. I have a few picture handy, so I put them on Facebook.



David Hamm, a descendant of the Wayne County, NC HAM lines prodded me to join Facebook so that he could browse the web with his iPhone. I don't have one of those new fangled gadgets, so I just use my web browser.


Some of these pictures appeared in the "HAM Book Trailer" video, and some are from my video on "The Descendants of Eli HAM."


The public links to the albums are:


Some of my pictures from Ashe County, NC:


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9549&id=1603220466&l=640a274549


A few pictures from Grayson County, VA:


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=8642&id=1603220466&l=253c393bcc


Some pictures from my research trips for the book "A Short History of the HAM Surname in Virginia & NC":


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=7770&id=1603220466&l=45c45dfc82



My main Facebook page is at:


http://www.facebook.com/HAMCountry


but the main page is only open to Facebook "Friends" (folks registered at Facebook who claim to be my "friend"). The main page simply has my "Wall" of general comments.


I intentionally kept the images small so that they will load quickly via dial-up or iPhone.









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