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Showing posts from February, 2018
Surname origins? One can speculate on the origin of the surname CLOSE. It's most likely to have been originally associated with a close of land, an expression which crops up in many old land transaction documents (and which is a serious nuisance when I'm  trying to search online catalogues for people named CLOSE!). However, for several CLOSEs the origin of their surname was made clear in the baptismal register of St Bartholomew the Great, City of London. For 22 February 1638 no parent(s) mentioned, just this entry:   "Elizabeth Close that was found in the close" For 4 March 1642, another one: "Frances Close and was soe named because she was found in the close" And on 4 Jan 1656: "Grace Close that was found in the close" ... and there are more foundlings baptised at St Bartholomew the Great.  Evidently the church close was thought to be a safe place in which to abandon an unwanted child.
ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN ... That was the theme of the Guild of One-Name Studies seminar I attended in Abberley, Worcestershire, on Saturday 24 February.  As ever, there was a range of interesting and informative talks on various aspects of the topic. However, the event was also the scene of a 'happy accident': of all the people I could have spoken to for the first time at the event, during one of the breaks I 'just happened' to get into conversation with another Guild member who, it turns out, could be a distant cousin. As we chatted about our family history research it soon became apparent that we both had CLOSE and HARKER ancestors from Swaledale, Yorkshire.  Both surnames are common in that area: I have TEN marriages between a CLOSE and a HARKER in my CLOSE one-name study, including my own 3g-grandparents. How they are all related to one another, if indeed they are, remains a mystery for the time being - more research tasks to add to our 'to do' lists ...

CLOSE surname Y-DNA news

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I've been reviewing the CLOSE Y-DNA project at Family Tree DNA and am pleased to report that in the last few days two people have contacted me with a view to taking a test and joining the project.  One wishes to confirm a possible Swaledale connection - for which we already have six completed tests.  The other person's ancestry can be traced back to Minchinhampton , Gloucestershire - for which we have no other known participants at the moment, although we have several CLOSEs in the USA who may have as yet unconfirmed English ancestry. In addition to those two English 'hotspots', there have been CLOSE families in and around Baltonsborough , Somerset and Collyweston , Northamptonshire, for at least 400 years.  There are a number of other areas in the UK where the CLOSE or CLOSS surname can be traced back several hundred years: Ipswich , Suffolk, Llanberis , N Wales (both appear to have changed from CLOSE to CLOSS), Leeds, Bradford, Hull, Yorkshire, Grantham ,