Tradition & Background
It has been passed down through the generations the belief
that all of the Wendens descended from a group of Saxon tribes called Wends.
These tribes descended on Britain
in the 5th Century and were partly responsible for founding the
counties of Wessex, Essex, Sussex
& Middlesex.
In Latvia,
until the early part of the 20th Century, the second largest
city was called Wenden. It is now called Cesis and in 2006 they
celebrated 800 years of history. The image in the top right is of a
postage stamp issued in Wenden.
A village called Wenden
was recorded in the doomsday book in Essex and during the 16th to 19th
Centuries the Wenden family name was mainly restricted to Essex and East London. Several villages existed in Essex, two were combined to become Wendens Ambo
and another was the now virtually non-existent Wenden Lofts.
As with all surnames, spellings
became corrupted to Wendon, Wendel etc, (and still does!)
In the research
the exception to the above is a large group of Wendons living around Cornwall which if they
are related, the connection must be quite early.
Any
Comments on this thought!! The Wendon's in the West Country
owe their surname to originally coming from the ancient Parish of Wendron.
The research information which
has been gathered over a very long period is available for your
personal reference and if you can add extra information to this 'one name
study' please contact us on the link below.
Research into the Wenden & Wendon family name
The information
contained in this site is the culmination of nearly 30 years collecting
entries from the Central Record Office, (1837-1925), IGI’s, census returns
and other sources. In addition there has been considerable help from other
fellow Wenden researchers.
We welcome any
comments about the database regarding additions or
discrepancies. You can contact me at the e-mail address below.
NEW
Database now updated to latest input from
Chelmsford Record Office (29-07-2009)
My complete personal
tree is available to view at http://kenwenden.tribalpages.com/
It requires a
password, use 'wendensambo'
Full Birth & Marriage indexes now
available, 1837-1925, see also links at top of page
NB. Some index references were difficult to
decipher and are, therefore, my interpretation and should be checked.
Major Wenden found in
Earls Colne, Essex in 1841. 1841 Census & other Earls Colne records
This
link will take you to the Wenden database,
(updated 29th July 2009).
We would like to
thank the following for sharing their own personal research:
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