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In earlier Newsletters I have mentioned the 1900 book of the Darlington family which was produced by a committee and edited by Gilbert Cope. It primarily covers the descendants of Abraham and John Darlington who came to Pennsylvania circa 1711. The Higginson Book Company, 148-GH Washington Street, Salem, Massachusetts, 01970 produces reprints of family histories and I got my copy of this book from them a few years ago. I recently noticed an advertisement in a genealogical magazine whereby the company has what appears to be a clearance sale of many of its holdings. The Darlington book is offered for $58.00 (US) with $10.00 additional for the hard cover version. It is a remarkable collection of descendants up to 1900 and would be of great interest to American researchers although the first 50 pages cover the "English Kith and Kin" of Cheshire. In passing I should note that I have no commercial interest in the Higginson Company.
STRAY
In many of my early editions of this Newsletter I attached Strays that I came across while searching for my ancestors in (mostly) Lancashire and Cheshire returns. I have not done as much census research as I did earlier but did find one lonely Martha Darlington in one of the "big houses" in Pall Mall, London in the 1841 census. She was 20 years old and simply shown as "FS", normally indicating a young single girl attached as a servant to the Head of Household. If the IGI is any help she is probably the daughter of John and Margaret of Whitegate or of Richard and Hannah of Prees, Shropshire.
GOONS
I noted in an earler Newsletter that we are now listed in the Guild of One Name Societies. They produce a Journal (surprise!), which publishes articles on families as submitted by people like me. So I sent them a blurb on the Darlingtons which they printed in the October 1997 edition. I don't think I break any copyright or republication rules by enclosing a copy of the text of the item.
I have already received one letter from a gentleman in Norwich taking me to task (gently) for not giving a more extensive reference of the origin of Darlington.
His comments are worth reproducing because he obviously has an extensive library of source books and they provide almost the "last word" on the etymological basis for the Darlington name. Herewith are his comments:
Quoting Ekwall in his "The Concise Dictionary of English Place-names" - ["Dearthington c 1051 HSC, Dearingtun 1104-8 SD, Derlington 1196 P] The TUN of Deorno 's people" (The Anglo Saxon or Scandinavian symbol was pronounced as th). The quoted sources are HSC = Historia de S Cuthberto, Surtees Society 51, Chrr & Mem 75.
SD = Symeon of Durham, Historia ecclesiae Dunelmensis and Historia regum. Chr & Mem Surtees Society 51.
P = Pipe Rolls.
Also Ekwall -
"Dalton [Derluntun 1086 Domesday Book, Derlintun 1156 P, Derleton 1172 P] Deorlufu's TUN. Old English Deorlufu, a woman's name , is not recorded, but cf Herelufu". Suggests a relationship to Harlton in Cambridgeshire?
In Adrian Room's book "Dictionary of Place Names in the British Isles" re Darlington.
"This industrial town south of Newcastle upon Tyne has a meaning 'estate associated with Deornoth'. The n of this personal name has become l under the influence of the Normans, just as Boulogne in France was originally Bononia. Darlington was thus recorded in 1106 as Dearnington.
P.H. Reaney in his "The Origin of English Surnames" analyses the names of immigrants to Norfolk from other counties (1285 - 1350) and suggests that the people with the surname Darlington had come from Darlton in Nottinghamshire. And it is equally likely that the name comes from Durham as the name Blinkhorn which is said to come from Blencarn in Cumberland. Later Reaney in his Dictionary of English Surnames seems to have shifted his emphasis to Durham as the origin of Darlington.
All of this might seem to be pedantic gibberish to anyone but a dedicated genealogical purist. For my part, I find the whole question of surname origins to be interesting and even fun. We have all encountered surnames like Thickpenny or Leatherbarrow and I am sure wondered at the moment in time when, in jest or sarcasm, the locals started to refer to John or Richard in those terms. And so to summarize my own selection from the cornucopia of choice, I select the "TUN of Deorno 's people" as the origin for my name.
The GOONS have initiated a project to collect from their participating members the frequency of each name, county by county as found in the 1881 census index for England, Scotland and Wales. Since I had already done the spade work on that I was able to respond quickly. The results are planned to be presented in a publication with graphic depiction on maps. The results may take some time before they are ready for printing.
QUESTION
In "Tracing Your English Ancestors" page 44, Colin Darlington Rogers was discussing Rate Books. He refers to two authors who have written on the subject. One of those is "Darlington, I, 1962". Can anyone tell me anything about this author?
FOUND ON THE INTERNET
I climbed my family tree and found it was not worth the climb,
And so, I scampered down, convinced it was a waste of time,
Some branches of my tree I found were rotten to the core,
And all the tree was full of sap and hung with nuts galore!
I used to brag of my kinfolk before I made the climb,
but truth compels me not to tell of those not worth a dime.
And I beg friends who boast aloud of their ancestors great,
To climb their family tree and learn of those who weren't so straight.
I've learned what family trees are like, I've seen them growing 'round,
They're like a "tater" vine, the best are underground.
I spent a week in February at the Mormon Family History Library in Salt Lake City; my second trip there, separated by about seven years. It is a fabulous place to a genealogical researcher. The staff are knowledgeable, friendly and accommodating. You can purchase UK certificates for $11.00 (US). You can photocopy to your heart's content for .20 c a copy. There are four floors of microfilms, microfiche and readers, plus an enormous collection of books from every background source possible. One works from 7;30 AM until 10.00 PM and comes away frustrated because the list of things "to do" just got bigger instead of smaller.
I did not enhance the Darlington side to any worthwhile degree but collected a ton of useful data of many other collateral families. On the last day I got into the pre 1858 Will indexes. It is an area that is difficult to research here in Victoria and I should have allocated more days to that topic. I did find Wendy's great great grandfather Richard Sharps of Highworth who conveniently named all his children. I also opened up a whole new line of Tinsleys in Holbeach, Lincolnshire. This calls for another trip to England this Fall!
When I began this Newsletter I knew the time would come when I had to report the passing of one of the "members". So it is with great sadness that I must inform the readers that Margaret Phillips of St. Margaret's at Cliffe, near Dover has passed away.
Margaret was the daughter of Colonel Sir Henry Clayton Darlington and Daisy Mary Hirst. Sir Henry had a distinguished Army career and the family traced back through the earliest Darlingtons of Wigan, Lancs. into Cheshire. Margaret had documented so many branches of her family that her ultimate chart stands almost as the definitive source for research to the beginner. At some point she was probably distantly related to all of us. She made her data freely available to me and we corresponded concerning her efforts to correct some of the details of the Gilbert Cope book on early American Darlingtons.
She and her husband Phillip were generous to Wendy and me during a visit to Kent, and we met again when many of us enjoyed the "clan gathering" organized by Arthur Darlington in Cheshire. I have written to Phillip.
NUMBER 13 - FALL 1998
I was in Ottawa for some business and managed a short visit to the National Archives of Canada. They have a rather good genealogical research facility and I have been looking for my grandfather's arrival in Canada for a long time. When I was almost ready to give up, he suddenly appeared in a passenger manifest dated 19 May 1870. The ship was the S.S. MORAVIAN out of Liverpool. He was accompanied by his cousin, William Williams Wibby, two young 21 year old Liverpudlian boiler makers looking for a new future. The whole question of emigration from the U.K. to Canada is a potential genealogical goldmine for us here in Canada but so little has been properly researched and written.
I suspect that Australians have the same desires but are further advanced than Canadians. They have the First Fleet records. Can someone from Oz enlighten me as to whether good arrival records were kept over the years? Our Canadian ones are very spotty.
The MORAVIAN passage took 32 days in a 1527 ton vessel licensed to carry 700 (!) passengers. The Montreal Ocean Steamship Company was the operator and it is interesting to note one of the certifications signed by Captain Robert Brown. He signs to the effect that he has provisions on board sufficient for 700 passengers. He does not certify that he has life saving equipment for the same number. But those of you who have seen the movie Titanic will know that matching life saving equipment with numbers on board is a fairly recent development.
I also found what must be deemed a "stray". Thomas Darlington, age 26, arrived in Napanee, Ontario on board H.M. Transport CROCODILE. That was in the same time period of circa 1870 but my naval knowledge does not extend to knowing why someone would emigrate on a naval transport vessel.
New Members
Through the magic of e-mail Mary Kleindienst asked if I had any info on her great grandfather Francis Darlington and his wife Elizabeth who arrived in New York City 11 May 1912. They brought four children, one of whom, Patrick, had the surname Hughes, presumably from an earlier marriage of Elizabeth. Francis was born 27 June 1872 in County Wexford, Ireland. He married Elizabeth on 7 February 1893 in Dublin. Francis was shown as a "porter" on his arrival declaration and the family settled in New York City. Their other three children were James (1896), Anna Mary
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