Odam History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Scotland

The name Odam is of Anglo-Saxon origin and came from when a family lived in Oldham, in Lancashire. This was a town near the city of Manchester; it has since been absorbed by that city. The place-name Oldham is derived from the Old English elements old, which means old, and ham, which means farm. The place-name therefore translates as "the old farm." Alternatively, Oldham could have meant "dweller by the long-cultivate river flat." 1

Early Origins of the Odam family

The surname Odam was first found in Lancashire at Oldham, an enfranchised borough, a parochial chapelry, and the head of a union, in the parish of Prestwich, hundred of Salford. Now part of Greater Manchester, the first record of the placename was found in 1226-1228 when it was listed as Aldholm. 2 "Oldham was for a long period celebrated for the manufacture of hats, which was established so early as the fifteenth century." 3

Another possible origin of the name was found. "This place [(Werneth, Lancashire) which adjoins to the town of Oldham], anciently Fernet, was held in the reign of Henry III. by Alwardus de Aldholme, founder of the family of Oldham. His daughter and co-heiress conveyed the manor to the Cudworths, a branch of a Yorkshire family; and from them the estate passed by sale to Sir Ralph Assheton, of Middleton." 3

We can only assume that both sources are referring to that same family at different times. Early rolls list the first record of the name not in Lancashire but as Achard de Aldeham in the Feet of Fines for Kent. Richard de Oldham was listed in Lancashire in 1384. 1 The Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 listed Agnes de Oldom and Robertus de Oldom. 4

Further to the north, Hoddam is parish in the county of Dumfries, Scotland. "This parish comprehends the ancient parishes of Hoddam, Luce, and Ecclesfechan, which were united in 1609. Hoddam, in ancient charters, is spelt Hodholm and Hodolm, signifying 'the head of the holm,' and is supposed to have derived that appellation from its situation on the bank of the river Annan, where the ground is flat and rich, and what is usually called holm land." 5

Early History of the Odam family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Odam research. Another 104 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1452, 1480, 1486, 1505, 1519, 1653 and 1683 are included under the topic Early Odam History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Odam Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Odam family name include Oldham, Oldum, Oldan, Oldhams and others.

Early Notables of the Odam family

Another 44 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Odam Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Odam migration to the United States +

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Odam surname or a spelling variation of the name include :

Odam Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

John Thomas Odam, who arrived in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1856 6

Odam migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Odam Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Mr. John Odam, English convict who was convicted in North Riding, Yorkshire, England for 7 years, transported aboard the "Eliza" on 13th July 1822, arriving in New South Wales, Australia 7

Contemporary Notables of the name Odam (post 1700) +

Dorothy Jennifer Beatrice Odam MBE (1920-2014), birth name of Dorothy Jennifer Beatrice Tyler, a British two-time gold and three-time silver medalist high jumper in the 1930s through the 1950s

Citations +

Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 15th February 2022). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/eliza