Guild of One-Name Studies
One-name studies, Genealogy
This study is no longer registered with the Guild, but this profile page has been retained at the member's request. Please note that neither officers nor members of the Guild are able to answer any questions about this study.
I was able to get a good start as my father in law's cousin had already started a Lynas study and the youngest of my 5 cousins turned out to have started a Wem study. I had recently acquired my own PC as I had started a consultancy company on retiring from employment and one of my purchases was a CD set with UK names phone numbers and addresses. That enabled me to find the 40 of so addresses at which all of the 'Wems' on England and Wales electoral rolls could be found. Until then I knew of only two other families with our surname, one called WEM and the other WHEM. After writing to each of the 40 addresses I found that there were then no more than 5 family groups ie descended from one known ancestor and had found some called WEMM also, who seem to comprise one group
However I have also received mail or found data on line where the name was written or transcribed as Wern, Webb, Wein, Wems, Mew and Hew to name just those of the 30 or more which occurred most frequently
I have ignored the names Wenn and Weymss all of which are likely to be shown when using a Soundex search. Wenn in particular appears to be an East Anglian name and the one WEM I found there is probably a mistranscription, he having been transported to Australia after being convicted in Norfolk and is probably a WENN. There are no more than 3 Wem family Groups in Australia. The descendants of my brother are the only WEM family in NSW. Another group in West Australia is descended from the same ancestors as my brother and I. They have no male descendants now living in Australia, their one male descendant family now live in California. The third Australian group appear to be descended from Marine Wem a 20 year veteran who enlisted near Shrewsbury in 1812 and later settled in the West Midlands. He has an extended family there still
The WEMS in Manchester however can be shown to have originated in Shropshire
The earliest reference I have is of someone called Thomas Wemme, alias Wykynsley, being sent down on 5 July 1520 from Oxford University, before being readmitted 17 Jan 1521. He supplicated for BCL or Bachelor in Canon Law 28 May 1528 and became a Vicar or Rector in a number of Parishes 'until death'. Died by 1550, will dated 10 Aug 1550
Ref Biographical Register of University of Oxford AD 1500-1540
I have not identified any descendants of Thomas. There is no mention of a marriage
The most complicated family group I have come across so far is one where a the father of the groom in a wedding later married the mother of the bride. I have also found what I and other relatives believe to be uncle/niece wedding
My own group has used Wem Wemm and Whem. The 15 Whem's in the 2001 Census are part of the group to which I belong, with proven descent from about 1729 in or near Atcham and probably from Richard Wem of Atcham near Shrewsbury in about 1650
Numbers from 'The Geanologist' website show that in the early part of the Victorian period more that half of all occurences were in Shropshire and more that half of the rest in adjacent counties which leads me to believe that it is derived from the town of Wem (formerly Wamm)some 10 miles North of Shrewsbury on the Shrewsbury to Crewe railway line. The name of Wamm was of Saxon origin, meaning marshland, referring to the area either side of the River Roden that passes through the town. William the Conqueror gave most of Shropshire to Roger de Montgomery who, in turn, bestowed the barony of Wem upon William Pantulph. It remained in that family for 150 years. The 1086 entry in the Doomsday Book (Folio 257 Shropshire) is short and describes the area as being wooded
A rhyme dating from the Battle of Wem says
The women of Wem, and a few musketteers Beat the lord Capel, and all his cavaliers
A more recent claim to fame for the town of Wem is that it is the Sweet Pea capital of the country. The Eckington Sweet Pea Society Show in Wem claims to be the premier Sweet Pea event of England
Those numbers 5237 apart show that there must be a lot of groups of names with only 14 or 15 members listed who were alive in 2001
I have still not yet started recording the US names but have seen it noted that they 'came from Britain by migration' One of my correspondents purchased a book of worldwide Wems about 10 years ago so I have some data to start on. A lady with the maiden name of Wem living in Canada says there are a lot of them about. Her particular branch of the family have no living male heirs. One of my related West Australian groups has one male child only and he lives in California. I have not received any reply from his parents.