SNOWDON FAMILY HISTORY


This page is dedicated to the history of the branch of the Snowdon family from the area around Eston and Stokesley, North Yorkshire

Snowdon appears to be a locality name, probably based on a number of original locations principally in the north-east. The placename Snowden is recorded in West Yorkshire, but the concentration of the name by 1881 was strongest in Northumberland and Durham, possibly pointing to a secondary origin further north. Lincolnshire, Cumberland, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire all had notable concentrations of the name.

A branch of the Snowdon family was established in East Coatham (in Kirkleatham parish), North Yorkshire by the 1560's, when two generations of John Snowdons left wills, and it would appear that this line was antecedent to most of the later Snowdons in Kirkleatham, Eston and the surrounding area. There were also Snowdons in Easby in the parish of Stokesley from the 1570's. Robert Snowdon was baptised at Eston in 1592, one of several probable siblings with no parents recorded in the early parish register. While most of his contemporaries remained in Eston and initiated several Snowdon lines which continued there into the 19th century, Robert appears to have moved to Stokesley where he had a son Thomas in 1628 and died in 1670. Thomas went on to live at Thoraldby hamlet within the parish and initiated a line of Snowdons who flourished within the parish down to the present. There were still 16 Snowdons born in Stokesley recorded in the 1881 census for Yorkshire. An outline of the top of the tree and the connections of the various researchers is attached.

Other local Snowdon lines, probably linked to the Eston or Stokesley ones, flourished in Great Ayton, and it appears that the William Snowdon who married Mary Pickering there in 1744 may have moved north to Monk Hesledon in County Durham, where a William Snowdon baptised a son by the name of Pickerin Snowdon in 1750. This Pickering Snowdon was among the passengers of the ship Two Friends which sailed from the port of Hull for Nova Scotia in March 1774, and an excellent outline of the subsequent evolution of this branch of the Snowdons was provided in Jim Snowdon's Snowdon Family Record, although Jim has since died and this link appears to have broken. Richard Snowdon of Halifax, Nova Scotia, is also interested in this line.

Another local Snowdon line, originating in County Durham but later in Lingdale near Skelton, is being researched by Alison Small.

There are various other earlier County Durham lines which probably have their own independent history, including a line in Houghton le Spring including several Matthew Snowdons, from which sprung William Septimus Snowdon and several emigrant Snowdon lines which have been explored by other researchers.

 

Anyone interested in further details of this branch of the Snowdon family, or who is able to provide additional details relevant to this branch, is invited to contact the coordinator for this page Ian Hall.

 

This page was last updated 21 January 2013