WREN FAMILY HISTORY


This site is dedicated to genealogical research on the Wren family and descendants.                                                             

Apart from current descendants, substantial interest in the Wren family has been generated in the past by its most famous member, the architect Sir Christopher Wren. There is consequently a range of published material on the family, and this site is intended to serve as a guide to that material and as a focal point for sharing between researchers with an interest in the family.

The Wren family appears to have originated in Denmark, but some of the earliest references in the UK are to the Wren family which settled in the area around the river Wear in Durham in the C14. This family initiated several branches which spread from County Durham to Yorkshire, Warwickshire, Cambridgeshire, Ireland and gradually further afield. By 1881, the highest concentration of the Wren name was in Hertfordshire (with about 0.28% of the population), followed by Cumberland and the rest of the Home Counties, with the original centre in Durham ranking relatively low. Many researchers are interested in their potential descent from Sir Christopher Wren, and a discussion of his known descendants is attached. Some notes on the potential origins of the Wren name are also included here.

Several Wren trees have been constructed by researchers, and the intention is to provide an index to these on the Genealogies page.

Wren specific research interests can be submitted, and the intention is to summarise these on the Researchers page.

There are numerous resources on the internet relating to the Wren family, and links to these appear on the Wren links page.

The website www.wrenkin.com (edited by Bonnie Wren) is an online version of Ruth Wren's Wren Kin Newsletter of the early 1990's. The Wren Family Association's goal is to help sort out all American Wren/Wrenn/Ren/ Renn families and possibly tie them to Old World Wrens. A Wren DNA project is underway, with the aim of establishing the likely proximity of the principal US lines to that of Sir Christopher Wren. So far, results suggest a close relationship between Nicholas Wren (1631-1701) and Francis Wren if Isle of Wight, Virginia, who emigrated to the US in the 1650's, with the family having a Norman halotype similar to that of the Bohun family.

Any general comments, suggestions, relevant material and inquiries for this site should be addressed to Ian Hall.

 

 

This page was last updated 13 August 2013 About this website ...