Guild of One-Name Studies
One-name studies, Genealogy
Study: Emm
Variants: Emme
Category: 2 - A study where research using core genealogical datasets and transcriptions is well under way, but currently in some countries only.
Contact: Miss Adele Emm
I mainly hold family history data from circa 1513 for the Emm/Emme surname and other Emm/Emms/Emme information. Most of the information is UK based although I am now expanding it worldwide to include the USA and Canada. There is no significant historic presence in Australia and New Zealand (apologies to my cousins who moved out there in the 20th century). A Joseph Emm/Emmes, transported from Broad Chalke, Wiltshire, to Sydney, Australia, in 1813 had daughters so the surname died with him.
The world's first EMMPOSIUM took place on the 27th and 28th May 2006 in Wiltshire, UK for anyone with the surname Emm, Emme or Emms - by marriage or maiden name. It was a tremendous success. The most recent was held in 2019 (pre Covid!). There are no plans at the moment to hold any more but please contact me if you are interested.
In 1860, cordwainer Walter Thomas Emm, was tried in the celebrated (and infamous) Stepney Murder Case. He was acquitted but the other suspect, James Mullins, was hanged. There was a huge amount of press interest and illustrations published including their representation of our Walter. Sir Conan Doyle investigated the murder in 1901. In 2017 Sinclair Mckay published 'The Mile End Murder, the Case Conan Doyle Couldn't Solve' where our hero, Walter Thomas Emm, is featured quite prominently. So far no common ancestor has been discovered between this London branch of the Emm family and the Wiltshire one although the DNA connects us about ten generations ago.
There was a brief flurry of excitement when I read a contemporary 1878 newspaper report that Walter Thomas' father, John Emm, had been bosun on HMS Victory when Nelson was killed at the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar. This was a remark to the journalist at the tragic death of John's wife Susanna (aged c88) in a house fire when, because it was 1878 and confirming facts took a little more time than today, promptly published it. For anyone interested, William Wilmet, HMS Victory's bosun at the Battle of Trafalgar, was busily engaged in firing at French ship Bucentaure whilst Nelson was dying. See my blog.
Diana Dors' second husband, the late Richard Dickie Dawson was, originally, Colin Emm.
Finally, the US surname Emm is generally held by former German migrants. I am working on this at the moment. One prominent common ancestry for many American Emm(s) is Johann Imm and Wilhelmina Earnesta nee Zimmermann enumerated in Illionois in the American census of 1870. Their many children were Illinois born aand all their descendents had large families. Although Johann (he changed his spelling to John) and his wife were buried under the name Imm, their sons largely used Emm. There was another large branch of Emm(s) in Iowa who, again, descended from German stock. I have some evidence immigrants from Germany with the surname Ohm changed to it to Emm presumably as a pragmatic approach to the German pronunciation of Ohm (vaguely Erm) being difficult in English thus Emm. There is an Iowa Emm family who also had a large number of children. I am currently working on a massive database of US Emmses.
The Canadian incidence of Emm largely belongs to emigrating Wiltshire Emm(s) and may well be on my somewhat large personal family tree so please contact me.
Finally, and I was astonished to discover this only recently, the Yerington Paiute Washoe Tribe in Nevada, USA, boast a family with the surname Emm. If you are reading this, I would love to know how and when this surname was acquired.
The Emm/Emme surname appears to have started around the Wiltshire, (UK) area, although, since emigration and the largescale movement of people, it is now found all around the world. The first Emm on any of my trees is found in Sutton Veny on the edge of Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire and the family then skirted northwards toward Bratton or southwards into the Broad Chalk area and nearby villages. Emm arrived in Broad Chalk from circa 1720.
The British Emm contingent in North America are relatively recent ie largely early 20th century. There is another Emm contingent who appear to vie from Germany.
DESCRIPTION OF DATA COLLECTED
www.adeleemm.com