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The Hamerton name has descended through the generations from the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture. Their name comes from having lived in Hamerton or Hammerton. Hamerton is found in Cambridgeshire, and Hammerton, Green Hammerton, and Kirk Hammerton are in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The place-names are of the same derivation, though. They are derived from the Old English words hamer, which meant hammer, and tun, which meant farm. The place-name as a whole indicated a "farm where there is a smithy." Green Hammerton indicated the presence of a village green in that place; a place where the village would gather for social events. Kirk Hammerton indicated the presence of a church; kirkja is an Old Scandinavian word for church.
The surname Hamerton was first found in Yorkshire where the family is "one of the most ancient families in the North of England, descended from Richard de Hameron, who lived in the twenty-sixth of Henry II., anno 1170." 1 During the reign of Edward III, the family acquired Hellifield in Yorkshire where they still reside today. 2 "A chantry was founded [in the parish of Slaidburn in the West Riding of Yorkshire] in 1332, by Stephen de Hamerton, in the chapel of St. Mary then existing on his manor of Hamerton, for a secular chaplain to celebrate mass for the repose of the souls of himself, his father, and his mother." 3
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Hamerton research. Another 81 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1629 and 1647 are included under the topic Early Hamerton History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Only recently has spelling become standardized in the English language. As the English language evolved in the Middle Ages, the spelling of names changed also. The name Hamerton has undergone many spelling variations, including Hamerton, Hammerton and others.
Another 37 words (3 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Hamerton Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
To escape the unstable social climate in England of this time, many families boarded ships for the New World with the hope of finding land, opportunity, and greater religious and political freedom. Although the voyages were expensive, crowded, and difficult, those families that arrived often found greater opportunities and freedoms than they could have experienced at home. Many of those families went on to make significant contributions to the rapidly developing colonies in which they settled. Early North American records indicate many people bearing the name Hamerton were among those contributors: