Find Ancestors

I'm trying to find the line of my surname, my sister and I have tried but are completely stuck.

The information we have only goes back to 1902 when my grandfather was born William John Vidgen to a Sarah Hammond in Kent.
My grandfather only ever knew that his father was killed in the Great War (WW1) but there is no reference to the father or where my grandfather's surname came from.

Also any Vidgen's that have William John and/or Amelia nee Symms in their family tree I would be really happy to hear from you as we really know nothing of the Vidgen side of our family.
TIA

Gayle

Is this his birth reg?

Births Jan/Feb/Mar 1903

VIDGEN William John Elham 2a 1133

The district Elham is in the county of Kent.

Do you have this birth cert?
It will tell you his Fathers name and occupation also his Mothers maiden name.

Certs cost £7

Put your names into the 'search trees' option.
This will tell you if those names are on any other GR members trees.

Gerri x

FreeBMD has a birth of William John Vidgen, March Q 1903, Elham. (2a 1133)

There are only 4 Vidgens listed at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site, and not one of them has any family info in the record.


1 VIDGEN, AUGUSTUS EDWARD Stoker 1st Class K/5011 27/02/1915 Unknown Royal Navy United Kingdom Naval. 18. 934. GILLINGHAM (WOODLANDS) CEMETERY

2 VIDGEN, FREDERICK Private 203217 03/05/1917 Unknown London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) United Kingdom Bay 9. ARRAS MEMORIAL

3 VIDGEN, R P Rifleman 4725 23/12/1914 27 Rifle Brigade United Kingdom C. 4. FAUQUISSART MILITARY CEMETERY, LAVENTIE

4 VIDGEN, WILLIAM Private 8802 08/05/1915 Unknown Cheshire Regiment United Kingdom Panel 19 - 22. YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL


I wonder whether your William might not have been named for his father?


CWGC:
http://www.cwgc.org/debt_of_honour.asp?menuid=14

FreeBMD for births, marriages, deaths:
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl

1911

VIDGEN WILLIAM 1903 8 Bridge Kent

living with

SMITH SARAH 1886 25
SMITH HARRY 1887 24
SMITH HARRY 1910 1

That would be Sarah Hammond?

Interesting.

Marriages Sep 1909
SMITH Harry William Elham 2a 2327
VIDGEN Sarah Hammon Elham 2a 2327


The question is, was Hammon/Hammond her middle name or birth surname??

Aha. So when you said Sarah Hammond, you meant Sarah Hammond Vidgen.


Births Sep 1885
Vidgen Sarah Hammond Bridge 2a 784

So the upshot is -- your grandfather's surname came from his mother. ;)

Sadly, with no father named on his birth certificate, and his mother having married years after his birth and him still appearing as Vidgen in 1911 (good indications that Harry Smith was not his father), you will have absolutely no way of determining who his father was, short of DNA testing ... for which you need a potential relation, which you don't have.

This happens to pretty much all of us somewhere along our lines, but you have the misfortune of it being at such a late stage.

But now you can trace the Vidgens! Do you have access to censuses, or would you like help? You can get Sarah's parents' names with that birth info by buying the certificate here:

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/

You can look for her in censuses, but the birth certificate is a must, to be sure.

Thanks for all the replies.

I'm pretty sure March was the month he was born in, he died in the same month 4 months after I was born. As far as I know my sister has a copy of William John's birth certificate. She has 1902 down and no father, but the 1903 record matches so I'm happier to go with that. and do my own digging.

Sarah Hammond was in service at the time of William John's birth as far as I know and did go on to marry a man named Smith and later on in life Symms.

There's many theories kicking about over where the name Vidgen came from but nothing we can pin down. I'm currently looking into Augustus E. Vidgen as he seems more eligible than other matches I've found.

Gayle

Well, here's a start. I don't like to trace someone's entire family tree for them unless they've asked, so I'll just go this far and leave the other discoveries to you, unless you'd like help!


1901

Name: Sarah H Vidgen
Age: 5
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1886
Relation: Daughter
Father's Name: George W
Mother's Name: Sarah A
Where born: Lower Hardres, Kent, England

Civil Parish: Lower Hardres
Registration district: Bridge

George W Vidgen 30
Sarah A Vidgen 28
Annie E Vidgen 8
Sarah H Vidgen 5
Frances Holmes 5 - niece
Ellen Holmes 4 - niece

Janey

Your too good for this world! LOL

Well done!

Really REALLY going to bed now

Over n out

Gerri x

PS

Marriages Jan/Feb/Mar 1882

Holmes Sarah Ann Bridge 2a 911
VIDGEN George William Bridge 2a 911

Fantastic!

I'll have a delve into Sarah Hammond Vidgen, we didn't know the name was attatched to her as my father only ever knew her as Sarah Hammond/Smith/Symms.

The big problem is that I'm only 23....my father is 77 and William John is his father, having not known his biological father. We were always under the impression that Sarah had picked the name from the father.

Mystery partly solved.

Gayle

You were typing as info was still being added. ;)

Really -- Vidgen was his mother's surname. Keep reading!

edit - oops, you did. ;)

Got your PM, and you're most very welcome. The 1911 census has been a great boon in these things!

(Of course, you *knew* there was a Smith marriage in there, and didn't say -- every bit of info counts!)

What I would start by doing, looking at Vidgen, is just going to FreeBMD and searching for Vidgen records -- all types, no date or place.

The name is absolutely entirely local to Kent. It should be interesting to sort out the family from those records and censuses.

But then have a google, and you'll see it's spread far and wide, as you may of course already know. ;)

http://eresearch.griffith.edu.au/brisbanememories/index.php/Site_23_-_%27Vidgen%27s_Farm

Up late - are you one of our Australian cousins in fact?

It does seem to be Kent based but our direct line will die out with my father unless one of us has children using the name Vidgen.

Although my partner traced the origin of the name back to Cornwall and our coat of arms is Flemish...it's all very fascinating.

And nope, English....just got the bug and a bit of a night hawk.

My family has so many grey areas it'll all take me a while but I'm so chuffed the Sarah Hammond part has been cleared up now I can carry on going back with the surname.

I dunno about this Cornwall theory. ;)

Try the IGI

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/customsearchresults.asp

Just put in the surname Vidgen, region British Isles, nothing else.

Every single entry back into the 1500s is in Kent. I at least was knocked over by the number of them. Gives you lots to work with, anyhow!

UK Electoral roll sent to GAYLE

( for interest only )

Hi Gayle

Not sure if you will read or how far you will have got with your research but my mothers maiden name is Vidgen or as it sometiimes spelt Vidgeon. You will find the Hammond name in the family everywhere. Sometimes as a first name sometimes as a middle name. The story in my family is that the Hammond bit came from a smuggler who was unfortunately (for him) caught and his name was carried on through the family. However, I suspect that there is some link with Hammon Videan of Wytherlin Court in Molash. But that is pure conjecture on my part.

Best of luck

John

John, you should click on Gayle's name and send her a private message. If she isn't looking here regularly she won't see your post, but if she still has the same email address as when she registered she will get an emailed notification of your private message.