Shelverton

Shelverton One-Name Study

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Study details

Study: Shelverton

Category: 3 - A study where research using core genealogical datasets and transcriptions is well under way on a global basis.

Contact: Ms Sandra Adams

About the study

I first started to study the Shelverton name when I was trying to trace the family history of my great-grandmother, Sarah Ann Shelverton, who was born in Chelsea in 1856. As I became aware that Shelverton was a very rare name, it seemed natural to start to collect all occurences of the Shelverton name, wherever I could find them.

Variant names

Early occurences of the Shelverton name include the spellings Shelvedyn, Shelverdyn, Shelverdon, Shelvedine, Shulverton, and Shilverton.

At first I thought that Shelvington was a variant of Shelverton, but it turns out to be an even more rare name than Shelverton. The Shelvington name occurs predominantly in the Birmingham area, and I have found no relationship to the Shelverton name.

Name origin

The earliest occurences of the Shelverton name that I have found are in records from Kirtling in Cambridgeshire. Next it occurs in the Suffolk villages to the southwest of Bury St Edmunds. It was usually written as Shelverdyn in the 1500's records. Both Shelverton and Shulverton were used in the 1600's, and then Shelverton became the usual spelling in the 1700's.

The name may share the same root as the name Shulver or Shelver, which originates from the same Bury St Edmunds area of Suffolk.

Historical occurrences of the name

George Henry Walter Shelverton (1831 - 1871) is perhaps the most well known Shelverton. He participated in the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, and the work of his surveying party in Kashmir included determining the height of K2 - second in height only to Mount Everest.

Name frequency

There were 20 Shelverton's in the UK census of 1881, and 12 in the US census of 1880.

Today the majority of Shelverton's live in Tasmania, Australia.

Distribution of the name

In addition to the Shelverton families in England, descendants of the following Shelverton emigrants live around the world:

* Australia: The emigrant ancestors were two brothers, William and George Shelverton from Burwell, Cambridgeshire, who travelled to Hobart, Tasmania in 1833.

* India: The emigrant ancestor was John Shelverton, a watchmaker, who went to India in 1784. I have not yet discovered where he was from in England.

* United States: The emigrant ancestor was Josiah Shelverton, from Uley, Gloucestershire, who travelled to New York in 1834.

Data

I have collected the UK General Register Office information on Shelverton's from 1837. As well, I have a variety of parish register and census records, records from various directories, electoral lists, some wills, and a few newspaper clippings.

Since the Shelverton name is so rare, I have been able to use the data to group most of the individuals into a number of distinct Shelverton family trees.

Additional information shared by Shelverton family members is continually improving the accuracy and completeness of the information I have collected.

Contact Details

Ms Sandra Adams

General Search Results

Occurrences of the surname Shelverton in the Guild Indexes

(Click on the number to view the search results in each index. Indexes marked by * are only accessible by logged in Guild members.)

Modern Newspaper Index 2

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