Guild of One-Name Studies
One-name studies, Genealogy
Study: Medgett
Category: 2 - A study where research using core genealogical datasets and transcriptions is well under way, but currently in some countries only.
Contact: Mr David Burgess
Welcome to the MEDGETT one-name study.
This is a very small study of the MEDGETT surname. The majority of UK occurrences of the name are in East Kent.
I have not included any variants of the name. There have been a few instances of records with the spellings MIDGET and MEDGET, but these are very isolated and only occur in individual entries in parish registers and Civil Registration. There is one family group in Lancashire with surname MEDGETT, but a few generations back reveals the family originated from MADGETT.
The first MEDGETT we recorded had several spellings including MAGICK, which is phonetically similar.
We do not know how the name originated. The earlies occurrence is in Folkestone in 1582 with the marriage of Thomas MEDGETT to Annye SAMPSON, recorded as MAGICK. With the name being resident at a channel port it may be a corruption of an immigrant from overseas. There were many immigrants fleeing persecution in Europe in the 16th century.
As far as we can determine there has been no one famous with the MEDGETT surname. John MEDGETT was elected mayor of Folkestone after an altercation with his predecessor in 1650 when he refused to take the oath on his appointment as Jurat for which he was fined £5.
In the 1881 UK census there were 28 occurrences of the surname MEDGETT of which 27 were resident in Kent and one in Middlesex. To be more precise the Middlesex occurrence was in Islington, and the Kent occurrences were in the districts of Gravesend (1), Elham (1), Thanet (2), Canterbury (3), Blean (5) and Eastry (14). All the occurrences in 1881 were from the same extended family.
According to the Forebears Website, in 2014 there were 55 occurrences in England, one in Scotland, one in Germany and eight in Canada.
The data collected so far has been from England. I would be delighted to hear from anyone who has researched the name in America or Commonwealth countries.
The majority of MEDGETTS are descendants of Thomas MEDGETT who married Ann Harrison in 1662 in Deal. There are a few other MEDGETT families who may be related, but the link has not been made as yet. Several researchers have this Thomas MEDGETT as the same Thomas MEDGETT the grandson of the earlier Thomas MEDGETT (MAGICK). That is not the case as both have burials recorded in different places at different times. Nevertheless they may be related, but the link has yet to be found.
I have not undertaken a DNA study as the only contacts I have do not have a MEDGETT surname.
A website has not yet been developed.