CLOSE one-name study

On my birthday I thought it might be interesting to see who else was born on 10th March.  In my CLOSE one-name study I found 23 individuals with the CLOSE surname who share my birthday - not counting the spouses who became CLOSE by marriage.  I suppose when you have over 20,000 people in a database (although of course for many I don't have an exact birth date) there are bound to be quite a number born on any given date in the year. I made the count using one of the tools offered by RootsMagic: an 'on this day' list - which lists not only the March 10th births in my own one-name study database but also a long list of famous people born on the same day.  As I browsed through the list, I came across one I already knew about: Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex; I'm old enough to remember his birth being announced in 1964.  Then I spotted the conductor Sir Charles Groves, and as a music-lover I was pleased to share his birthday.  The next name which caught my eye wa...

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 ...

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 , ...

Further to my post of 5 August, I've just come across this listing for 19 CLOSE losses from the German side: Date Last name First name Place 22/10/1914  CLOSE Anton Rodt, Aachen 29/10/1914  CLOSE Heinrich Mützig, Kr. Molsheim 27/02/1915  CLOSE Heinrich Mutzig (vermutl.) 29/05/1915  CLOSE Clemens Faymonville, Malmedy 27/09/1915  CLOSE Josef Heppenbach, Malmedy 22/06/1916  CLOSE Johann Feymonville 20/12/1916  CLOSE Johann Recht, Malmedy 20/01/1917  CLOSE Josef Selbeck, Düsseldorf 09/07/1917  CLOSE Franz Recht, Malmedy 14/09/1917  CLOSE Johann Recht, Malmedy 27/10/1917  CLOSE Johann Faymouville 22/12/1917  CLOSE Michael Recht, Malmedy 11/06/1918  CLOSE Alexander Faymonville, Malmedy 15/07/1918  CLOSE ...

As we remember the 100th anniversary of World War 1 this week, the enormous number of casualties comes home to me as I look through the list of CLOSEs from GB and Ireland who died: died last name first name Regiment 30 October 1914 CLOSE Frederick Gloucestershire Regiment 09 March 1915 CLOSE Evan James Welsh Regiment 14 March 1915 CLOSE Max Arthur Highland Light Infantry 18 April 1915 CLOSE John King's Own Scottish Borderers 27 April 1915 CLOSE James Northumberland Fusiliers 07 May 1915 CLOSE Robert Royal Irish Rifles 08 May 1915 CLOSE Arthur Monmouthshire Regiment 29 May 1915 CLOSE William Royal Irish Rifles 02 June 1915 CLOSE James Davison Royal Irish Rifles 15 June 1915 CLOSE Joseph Alexandra 30 July 1915 CLOSE Walter King's Royal Rifle Corps 14 October 1915 CLOSE...