Adamthwaite surname group

The Adamthwaite One-name Study is registered with the Guild of One-Name Studies. The group acts as a forum for a number of researchers (68 of us at the last count!) and our aim is to discover if there is a link between all the individuals that hold the surname around the world. We know that all the lines we have identifed have their roots in a small corner of Westmorland close to an ancient farm called Adamthwaite near the village of Ravenstonedale.

Together, we have compiled a data resource of all known births, marriages and deaths and all census entries for Adamthwaites in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. This information, together with transcripts of wills, photo galleries, family trees and a selection of articles about interesting individual Adamthwaites, appears on our website the Adamthwaite Archive. We were proud to be awarded the 'Best Website' award at the 2009 Annual Conference of the Guild of One-Name Studies.

We recently started a yDNA project, through FamilyTreeDNA, with the aims of verifying the nine different lines of Adamthwaites that we have reconstructed and discovering whether there are any links between these lines. To date we have tested volunteers from three different lines - the results seem to indicate that these lines are not linked - however we still need more male Adamthwaite volunteers to continue this line of research.

If you have Adamthwaite ancestors, I hope you will find our website useful and that you will share your own information for the benefit of others. We welcome your discussions on any aspect of Adamthwaite family history on this forum.

Sue Mastel (website co-ordinator)