Whitehorne (sp?), of Yorkley & Whitminster c1675 (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Friday, August 26, 2016, 17:18 (3011 days ago) @ vcatkinson

My 9x Gt grandfather George Whitehorne left a will (1675)in which he states he is of Yorkley and leaves to his children - Elizan; Charlemaine; Elizabeth; Sarah; Mary; Bridget; George; John and his out of wedlock son George James (my 8x)
I can find nothing out about this family except that Elizabeth was granted probate (1677) not Charlemaine so he must have died.
He appears to have owned property in Whitminster (if I have read it right)
I am hoping somebody has heard of this family

Hi,
looks like a new surname for the Forum, at least in this spelling variant. As a starter the best I can suggest for now is to check you've searched on the Family Search site as it's great at offering spelling variants which are to be expected with a surname like this ?
My quick look for "George Whitehorne" in "Gloucestershire" between years "1600 - 1700" offers a few records up and down the eastern Severn so within easy access to Whitminster, including Badgeworth, Uley and Gloucester itself.
Spellings include Whittorne, Whithorne, Whitehorne, Wittern, Whitterne etc..

I'd be grateful to know if this link to these results will still work for you too, please.
https://familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&query=%2Bgivenname%3Ageorge...

One of the hits is for the Yorkley FoD area, namely

England Births and Christenings
Name Maria Wittern
Gender Female
Christening Date 06 Mar 1697
Christening Place NEWLAND,GLOUCESTER,ENGLAND
Father's Name Geo Wittern
Mother's Name Mar

Citing this Record

"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J33Q-74Q : 30 December 2014), Geo Wittern in entry for Maria Wittern, 06 Mar 1697; citing NEWLAND,GLOUCESTER,ENGLAND, reference ; FHL microfilm 423,272, 425,476.

(A word of warning, like many the FamilySearch site's search engine is an odd beast. I just modified my search, removing the name George and using "Newland" instead of Gloucestershire. I hoped this would refine the results, and perhaps give other family members, but in fact it gave NO results at all !. Best leave the placenames as "Gloucester" or "Gloucestershire" and manually filter the findings yourself !)

A quick look on Ancestry appears to confirm this surname is definitely linked to Shurdington etc, so the Badgeworth area as mentioned above.

---------

Returning to this FoD site, searching the PRs for say "Wittern", but with the Soundex box ticked to give spelling variants, finds quite a few including from the periods you're searching, have you seen them ? I see there are quite a few at Awre, so t'other side of the Severn from Whitminster etc, the site of an important ferry in times past.

I did wonder whether your surname itself is linked-to / derived-from "Whitminster" in some way, except I now see that Whitminster itself is a relatively new name, replacing Wheatenhurst,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitminster
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol10/pp289-291

Hoping this helps in some way, altho' I realise I may possibly be confirming what you already know.

Jeff