Rigmaiden
One-Name Study

Topics

• About the Rigmaiden One-Name Study
• Variants
• Origin of the surname
• Historical occurrences
• Distribution of the name
• Data
• Links
• Contact Details

About the Rigmaiden One-Name Study

I have been interested in family history for about twenty five years and have acquired a large amount of information about the Rigmaiden family in that time. These days with so much information available on the Internet there is a new occurrence of the name almost every day. I feel that the Guild of One Name Studies is an excellent way to give some structure to the information and place the family in the context of the interesting times they lived through.

Variants

The main variants or deviants are: Rigmaden; Rigmayden; Rygmaden; Rygmayden but the name has also been mistranscibed as Regmarsden; Ringmaiden and Reymaiden

Origin of the surname

There are various suggestions as to the origin of the name, but most agree that it derives from a place-name in Westmoreland, which is in turn derived from the Old Norse hryggr meaning back and the Old English maegden. Close to Rigmaden Hall, which is near Kirby Lonsdale, is Maidan Way.

Historical occurrences

The earliest mention I have found is 1285 where a John de Ryggemayden appears in the Lancashire Assize rolls and is from Rigmaiden in Cumberland. Apart from this the Rigmaidens were an old gentry family from Lancashire and for over 300 years were lords of the manor of Wedacre and Scourton, near Garstang. One John de Rygmaiden in the 14th century was said to be descended from a branch of the Mansergh family, of Mansergh in Westmoreland, who adopted the name of Rygmaiden from the name of a Hall in that township and later settled at Wedacre Hall. In 1761 a William Rigmaiden sailed from England to America as an indentured servant. In the 1820s Thomas Rigmaiden of Liverpool settled in southern Louisiana at Lake Charles, marrying Eliza Ryan in 1826. He wrote a journal from 1836 to 1858 about life in those parts. As well as runing a small farm Thomas was also the local schoolmaster. He was the son of another Thomas from Liverpool, mariner and sea captain, and the evidence points to his involvement in the slave trade. Another son of the sameThomas, James Rigmaiden was in the Royal Navy reaching the rank of Commander and invented a replacement for the deadeyes in ship's rigging called Rigmaiden plates which he showed at the London Great Exhibition in 1851. The family included a great many girls and some of the familiesinto whom they married include: 19th century: Smith (the Grose Smiths of the Isle of Wight, solicitors and landowners); James (publicans); White (mariners); Ellerton; Hammill (merchants); Jackson (mariners & traders); Dickson (merchants); Brown (merchants).

Distribution of the name

Historically, most occurrences are in Lancashire (Lancaster, Garstang, Preston, Ormskirk, Liverpool) There are occasional mentions in Essex, Middlesex, London, Hampshire, Bath, Durham, Yorkshire etc.

Most occurrences of the name today are in the United States (Louisiana, Texas, Florida, California).

Data

I should have all the General Register Office (GRO) index births, marriages and deaths (bmds) listed up to 1940, from 1837, and some certificates. I have also collected many earlier bmds from parish register entries. I have looked at some original documents at The National Archives (TNA) one of which included a partial family tree for an 18th century branch of the family. This was submitted to Chancery in connection with a claim for the inheritance of an annuity and involved the Sykes and Crawford families. The publications of the Chetham Society make frequent mention of the family. I have also obtained copies of several wills. I have all the UK census mentions although there are one or two gaps. As well as travelling to the United States several Rigmaidens emigrated to Canada, and one branch on the female side found itself in Australia.

Links

http://rigmaidens.blogspot.com/

https://sites.google.com/site/julieparkergenealogy/

Contact details

For further information, contact:

Mrs Julie Parker
E-mail:

This page last updated 13 January 2012.

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