Hanson family from Kings Heath

[Stevehanson]

Hi all, i am trying to find anyone who is related to the Hanson family of Kings Heath Birmingham. I understand that in the 1800s my great-great grandmother was married to two Hanson brothers, her first husband died, she went on to marry his brother, consequently there are two branches of Hanson's in Kings Heath.

 

[MWS]

I see a Samuel & James Hanson who are brothers living on Silver St, Kings Heath. They both marry women called Hannah but they are different people (Hannah George & Hannah While).

 

[Stevehanson]

What a coincidence, my great grandmother's name was Hannah.

 

[MWS]

It is possible that they had another brother, Joseph, living in Kings Heath as well.

And his wife was called...you guessed it...Hannah. Again a different one, Hannah Mobley.

Also it seems that for some of them Hanson was corrupted to Anson.

 

[Stevehanson]

Yes my great great grandad was Joseph and my great great grandmother was Hannah Mobley. I'm sure our name is Hanson because I have had my DNA tested and a man contacted me from Denmark claiming we share the same ancestors, He is a Hanson. I have a photo of Joseph's son Richard who is my great grandad.

 

[MWS]

It does seem likely that Joseph, Samuel and James were brothers (sons of Samuel Hanson and Ann Hall) all married to 3 different women named Hannah. Ann appears to have lived to a ripe good age of 97!

Apologies, I wasn't suggesting your name wasn't Hanson just that before most people could read or write the spelling of names could change depending on who is recording your information. Joseph is recorded as Anson on the 1861 & 1881.

And at least one great grandson of Samuel & Ann (Frank Edwin) and his descendants became Anson.

 

[sospiri]

Steve,

Just adding to what MWS has said (because I have Anson on my mother's side of my family), Anson, very often spelt Hanson in the same family, is not exactly a rare name in Birmingham. I have 12 in my family going back to 1797 in both Birmingham and somewhere unknown in Warwickshire, and I haven't even begun to really research them yet. However, none of the forenames so far mentioned. The Danish version is normally spelt Hansen.

Maurice

 

[Stevehanson]

You could be right but i thought it came from ( the son of Han )

 

[sospiri]

Steve,

The original derivation is undoubtedly correct qv Wiki:-

Hanson is an Anglicized English surname of Scandinavian And German origin, created from the two words Hans and son (son of Hans). Spoken in English by a German or Swedish immigrant to America, for example, the sound of Hans' son comes out sounding like Hansson, shortened to Hanson,

though the Danes were in occupation centuries before the earliest parish registers (1538) and the first civil birth registration (July 1837).

What both MWS and I are saying is that the spelling will undoubtedly vary on the various documents that you consult simply because of illiteracy - the first Education Act was not until 1870 - and the tendency of people to drop Hs in their pronunciation due to both accents and lack of education. My own father was born in 1882 and he was the only one in a family of six that could read or write. That was very common in families with menial & rural occupations. If the parents were agricultural labourers, every person in the family other than infants were roped in to help and sending children to school when they were most likely to follow the same occupations as their parents was regarded as both pointless and reduced the family's capacity to earn an already pitiful sum of money.

The spelling of my own surname, SHEPPARD, has 24 known variations (5 of them regularly within my own family) and the surname PIERPOINT has 17 variations. The name BIRMINGHAM has many versions over the years. It all depends who is saying it and who is recording it. Never dismiss out of hand any reasonably close spelling if dates are a close match and there is no exact spelling & date.

Maurice