My family were a family of hoarders, and when my father died I found interesting wooden boxes stuffed full of notes, jottings and photos. Add to that the photo albums, letters, newspaper cuttings and saved official documents – however innocuous, and you end up with a fascinating insight into our past.

Since those early days I have made contact with countless descendants of Ivens around the world, but notably in Portugal, Australia, Canada, and of course around the UK.

My approach has been to establish a database of ALL known Ivens (and Ivins) taken from all the Census (1841-1921) and the 1939 Register, plus Birth, Marriage, Death, Probate and Parish records and combine them into a comprehensive source of individuals and families with supporting documentation. It currently holds some 10,200 individual records representing over 7000 individuals from early the 17th century onwards.

IVENS is not a common name, but the family is much bigger than one first imagines.

There is a suspicion that it is a derivation of 'Evans', but the name 'Ivens' has been clearly recorded as distinct from Evans for many a long year. Though, like many names, it has been spelled phonetically while also taking account of accents and hard-of-hearing vicars.

The variants drift. From Ivens to Ivins (especially when the 'e' is closed by a tight hand), Ivin, Ivans, Ivons (which can so easily be mistaken as Irons in some scripts), To Eyvens, Iving, Ivings, Ivines, Aivens, Hivens and even as far as Irving and Irvings.

One part of the family went to the Azores and descendants married the Portuguese Ferraz family creating the Ivens-Ferraz contingent.

The origin is uncertain, though there are several theories.

The earliest record is the death in 1572 of Robert Evinge, of Great Rissington, Gloucestershire.

The family in Warwickshire were mostly farmers and country-folk.

But a few notables included:

• Roberto Ivens - Portuguese Explorer (1850-1898)
• Michael Ivens – Campaigner for Free Enterprise and Trade Union reform
• Joris Ivens – Dutch Documentary Film Director;
• Mary Hannah Frances Ivens, CBE, MS (lond), ChM (Liverp), FROG.
• William Ivens – Religious and Political figure is Manitoba, Canada.
• (Marsha Sue Ivins - Astronaut (Ivins is an “Americanized” form Ivnitski, as her grandfather came from Russia))
• Artur Ivens-Ferraz – General and Premier of Portugal;
• William Ivens, born in 1778, sponsored by the Fettiplace family, gets a job in London as a clerk to a Merchant: William Hadfield. Sent off to St Michael, the largest of the Azores, to start a branch of William Hadfield’s business exporting citrus fruits. Becomes prosperous. By 1816 William applies for, and is granted the family Coat of Arms. Marries Elizabeth Flora Hickling, daughter of the then Vice Consul, Thomas Hickling.

Ivens is an unusual name with an average of 550 individuals at any one time in the UK.

Not sure about a global count.

• 1841 – 467 (UK) + 10 (Sco) + 30 (Wal) – Ivens + Ivins
• 1851 – 424 (UK) + 12 (Sco) + 26 (Wal) – Ivens + Ivins
• 1861 – 463 (UK) + 9 (Sco) + 32 (Wal) – Ivens + Ivins
• 1871 – 555 (UK) + 12 (Sco) + 50 (Wal) – Ivens + Ivins
• 1881 – 608 (UK) + 0 (Sco) + 42 (Wal) – Ivens + Ivins
• 1891 – 621 (UK) + 4 (Sco) + 58 (Wal) – Ivens + Ivins
• 1901 – 655 (UK) + 3 (Sco) + 69 (Wal) – Ivens + Ivins
• 1911 – 620 (UK) + 0 (Sco) + 107 (Wal) – Ivens + Ivins

There is a large and spreading family which, in the 17th and 18th centuries, was based in the villages around Warwick, starting it seems in Harbury, Warwickshire, but then soon spreading across the County, and into Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire. There is also a large showing in Wales, usually in Glamorgan or Monmouthshire.

There are also lines in Belgium and Holland which might have been the origins of some in the USA. But many in USA, Canada and Australia can be traced back to the English and Welsh families

Notable locations were:

• Warwickshire
  • Harbury, Grandborough, Bishops Itchngton, Eydon, Long Compton, Napton, Churchover, Wolfhampcote, Snitterfield, Priors Marston, Barford, Southam, Harborough Magna, Budbrooke, Lighthorne, Hampton Lucy, Clifton upon Dunsmore, Kineton, Alcester, Willoughby, Lower Shuckburgh, Shipston and more besides.
• Northamtonshire
  • Butlers Marston, Daventry, Woodford, Morton Pinkney, Thrapston, Cranford, Badby, Long Buckby
• Oxfordshire
  • Caversham, Swinbrook, Wroxton
• Leicestershire
  • Lutterworth
• Kent
  • Maidstone, Erith, Lewisham and Strood
• London / Middlesex
  • St Pancras, Islington, Clerkenwell
• Hampshire
  • Portsmouth, Southampton and Isle of Wight
• Buckinghamshire
  • Marsh Gibbon, Fenny Stratford, Water Eaton, Bletchley
• Bedfordshire
  • Bedford, Dunstable and Sandy
• Staffordshire
  • Penkridge, Brierley Hill, Drayton Bassett, Sedgley
• Berkshire
  • Reading, Maidenhead, Wokingham

A large number emigrated to first Canada, and then the USA, and more latterly to Australia and New Zealand.

My data is held on a bespoke designed Database (Microsoft Access) which now holds 7526 individuals. The database enables me to search the records looking for obscure patterns which might suggest a link: Occupations, siblings (and the order of their birth), locations, father's name, guests at weddings, beneficiaries of wills.

It covers all entries from the census (1841 - 1921 +1939 Register) England, Scotland and Wales, plus probate, marriage, baptism, burial records from parish registers and many other sources.

It is augmented by fragmented details and trees from many contributors from around the world seeking to join up the dots of their own families. All these trees are recorded, in an attempt to link them up. Often successful, but sometimes not.

In addition, I scour the newspapers for articles containing a member of the family.

I am now embarking on transferring all information onto Family Historian with a view to creating a searchable website.

The AllaboutIvens Blog on Wordpress is a designed as a depository for the interesting anecdotes and stories that lie behind the statistical cold facts.

It seeks to reveal the coincidences, the crimes, the frustrations, the tragedies, the hidden connections and the sometimes the absurd.

https://allaboutivens.wordpress.com/