Handskum and Hart families in Hollywell-cum-Needingworth, Huntingdonshire.
Hoo knows what the correct spelling of Handskum is?
In Hollingwell-cum-Needingworth, Huntingdonshire, England on the 31st of January 1721 my 6th great grandparents, Thomas Hart and Mary Handskum were married.
They named their son Handskum but in the church records it was spelt Hanscomb.
Handskum/Hanscomb Hart didn't appear to name a son Hanscomb (not according to the records anyway) but his son Peter Hart had a son whom he named Hanscom.
This Hanscom Hart married Hannah (Dunchely or Dunklin) in Huntingdonshire on the 14th of July 1817. They also used the family name for a son born in 1830 but somehow/somewhere the H was dropped - perhaps the Vicar needed a Hearing aid - and Hanscom became Anscum. Poor little Anscum died that same year.
His elder brother Peter Hart was my great great grandfather. I think Peter swam to Australia.
He married Agnes Mason at Talbot, Victoria in 1870.
Peter and Agnes also named a son Hanscom Hart. This Hanscom was born in Echuca, Victoria in 1887.
My Mum once told me that she remembers her grandmother, Margaret (nee Hart) always dropped the H from Hanscom when talking about her brother so it came out as Anscom.
If it wasn't for all the use of this unusual name back through the generations I would probably never have been able to trace my Harts and Handskums/Hanscombs/Hanscoms/Anscoms back so far.
This post is part of Gould's Family History through the Alphabet Challenge
Love it! All I could think was "In Hartford, Hereford and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen"!
ReplyDeleteLOL Fi, You mean Hollywell-cum-Needingworth, Huntingdonshire didn't cross your mind?
DeleteGreat post Kerryn, I found a middle name of Hainsworth and traced it back to a very interesting chap named Eliezer Hainsworth Dodd. His Mum's maiden name was Hainsworth.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kylie. Yep middle names can prove very useful.
DeleteIt's always good to be reminded that any name starting with H can lose it. I have also seen names *gain* an H. As they say... life was not meant to be easy! For the letter H in this challenge (which I am really enjoying), I did H is for Hackney Cabs and Helen Harris's indexes.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny Judy I had never thought much about dropped H's until my Mum mentioned that to me.
DeleteThis is a great post highlighting the variant spellings of a name. Great work researching back to you 6x grandparents.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun post Kerryn. My mum always warned against dropping my "aitches" but whoever would have thought, eh? Oh, dearie me... reckon some of my "olds" were good swimmers like your GGGrandfather, Mr Peter Hart... or was that Mr Peter Art? Cheers, Catherine
ReplyDeleteHow did I miss this the first time round? Great post!
ReplyDeleteMy mother still drops the "h" and Hugh sounds like ewe and herbs like erbs
thanks Sharon, there are so many blogs to read I'm sure we miss a few. My blogger reading list can never decide if it is even going to show up lately. Frustrating.
ReplyDeleteI am also a descendant of the Hart/Hanscome line and this is excellent information. I am in Cambridge today and am an Aussie off to Hollywell-cum-Needingworth and looking to solve some anomalies in my tree. This is very inspiring
ReplyDeleteOh wow Brades thanks for your contact. I would love to know where we connect and more about your trip. My email address is geekaytay at gmail dot com
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