The Witham Family History
Arms - ???. Crest - ???. Motto - ???.
The surname Witham is from the Celtic or pre-Celtic river of the same name in England. It is of uncertain meaning beyond that, although the name appeared as "Widme" in the Domesday Book [A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991]. Anglo-Saxon place names often finish in "HAM", so Witham could be of (at least partially) Anglo-Saxon origin as well, from the combination of "Widme" and "Ham".
Arms - ???.
Crest - ???.
Motto - ???.
The surname Witham is from the Celtic or pre-Celtic river of the same name in England. It is of uncertain meaning beyond that, although the name appeared as "Widme" in the Domesday Book [A. D. Mills, "A Dictionary of English Place-Names," Oxford University Press, 1991]. Anglo-Saxon place names often finish in "HAM", so Witham could be of (at least partially) Anglo-Saxon origin as well, from the combination of "Widme" and "Ham".The town itself of Witham is located in Essex County, England, where the River Brain and River Blackwater meet. As mentioned above, Witham is mentioned in William the Conquerer's Domesday Book of 1086 AD, so it is quite old. The site has been equated with Edward the Elder's burh, but excavations since the 1930's revealed instead an Iron Age earthwork, in which a castle was built in the 12th century; here also was the hundredal meeting place and focus of a royal manor. Next to the earthwork was found a minster church, an early market site and a small planned settlement. A short distance away from this site is where the Knights Templar laid out a substantial new town over the remains of what may have originally been a Viking camp. There is also a Witham Canal in the area, dating to Roman times, and a Witham Manor -- called Cressing Temple. Cressing Temple is a medieval barn situated four miles north of Witham, and was the headquarters of the Knights Templar who governed the manor of Witham in the early 1100's. The family crest can be found in Burke's Peerage.
Variation of the Witham name include: Whitham, Whiton, Whittam, Whittem, Whitten, Whittin, Whittom, Whitton, Whittone, Whittum, Widden, Wihtum, Withum, Witam, Witten, Witton, and Wittum (among other even more obscure spellings...).
An Interesting Mention of the Witham Family
"In the 18th century, Bearskin Neck in Rockport was the site of fishermen's shanties, boat building shops, stores which sold boat gear, bait, and clams, and an old tavern...
The name of this rough-and-tumble section of town comes from the following story about Ebenezer Babson (baptized February 8 1667 at Gloucester; died before 1696) and his rescue of our ancestor Henry Witham:
The story continues however, with the report that Ebenezer was "distinguished in an encounter with a less ethereal enemy, and thus have been the occasion of the loyal saying, 'The knife that Babson killed the bear with'". This legend now appears in the couplet: "Babson, Babson, killed a bear, With his knife, I do declare."
Roger W. Babson in his Story of Bear Skin Neck puts it as follows: "...Ebenezer Babson, who then resided at the Farms, saw the bear attack the boy [his nephew, Henry Witham]. He immediately attacked the bear to get his attention away from the child, but having no gun he permitted the bear to follow him into the water. There - after a terrific struggle - Ebenezer killed the bear with a fish knife."
The story is continued by George Jay Babson: "He then brought the bear onto the shore, skinned him, and spread the skin on the rocks to dry. Ebenezer died shortly afterwards, presumably at sea, but his nephew Henry Witham, whose life he saved, lived to a ripe old age. Naturally, he often told the story of his rescue, and when people asked how Ebenezer killed the bear, he would reply: 'With his knife, I do declare.'"
Citation from "John J. Babson, History of the Town of Gloucester Cape Ann Including the Town of Rockport (Massachusetts: Proctor Brothers, 1860);
Thomas Witham of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and some of his Descendants
Here's what we know. Thomas Witham arrived from England some time in the early 1600s. We know he settled in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and eventually died there in 1653. We don't know who he married, but we know he had a son named Henry. We don't know when Henry was born, but from here the record gets clearer -- we do know he married Sarah Somes on June 15, 1665 in Gloucester. We also know that Sarah was the daughter of Morris Somes and Margerie (???). And we know that Sarah was born on June 14, 1643, in Gloucester, and died on May 11, 1689, also in Gloucester. And we know that, two years later, Henry remarried, to Lydia Younglove Griffin, on October 23, 1691, in Gloucester. Lydia was born in Annisquam, MA, and died on November 1, 1702, in Gloucester. Henry had passed away seven months earlier, on April 17, 1702, in Gloucester.
The children of Henry Witham and Sarah Somes are all listed as either being born in Gloucester (baptismal records) or Salem (vital records):
We have additional information about the Witham/Babson clan. After James Babson died in 1683, his wife Elinor lived with her daughter Abigail and son-in-law Thomas Witham. In appreciation, Elinor gave them land near her own residence at The Farms, Gloucester. Thomas bought a quarter acre of land from Richard Babson next to land he had already received from his mother-in-law on May 11, 1696. The record reads: "John Ring, as the agent of Thomas Witham, bought the Babson Farm at the Little Good Harbor..."
The children of Thomas Witham and Abigail Babson are:
Daniel Witham, the fourth son of Thomas and Abigail, was born on August 30, 1700, in Gloucester. Daniel graduated from Harvard College in 1718 and married Lydia Sanders on January 7, 1734/35, in Gloucester. We do not know who Lydia's parents are. Daniel died some time in 1776 in Gloucester.
Their daughter, Judith Witham, was born on June 28, 1750 in Gloucester. She married Nathan Haskell on October 27, 1771, in Gloucester Massachusetts, and eventually settled in New Gloucester, Maine.
Their daughter, Mary Witham Haskell (1797-1864), married George Washington Waite (1793-1870), and eventually settled in Medway, Maine.