HEDDING
The Anglo-Saxon name HEDDING was established when the
family resided in the parish of Headon, which is in the diocese of
Southwell in Nottingham shire, or in the parish of Hedon, which is
the diocese of York in Yorkshire. The surname HEDDING belongs to the
large category of Anglo-Saxon habitation names, which are derived
from preexisting names for towns, villages, parishes, or farm
steads.
The population growth and the development of record
keeping in British society in the Middle Ages were the primary causes
for the development of Anglo-Saxon hereditary surnames. People began
to adopt an extra name to distinguish themselves from others of the
same first name. Many chose or were given local names. These were
derived from the name of a place or landmark where the bearer held
land, lived, or was born.
The era English language only become standardized in
the last few centuries; therefore, spelling variations are common
among early Anglo-Saxon names. As the form of English language
changed, even the spelling of literate poeple's names evolved.
HEDDING has been recorded under many different variations, including
Heden, Hedane, Hedind, Hedink, Hedan, Hedand, Hedant, Hedend, Hedent,
Hedynd, Hedint, Heding, Hedine, Hedyn, Hedding, Heddon, Hedden,
Headen, Headon, and many more.
When the Dark Ages began after the fall of the Roman
Empire even the most noble people were left largely illiterate. Monks
were sole guardians of the written word, and kept such documents as
the Assize Rolls, the Inquisitio, the Ragman Rolls, the Domesday
Book, baptismal records, parish records, cartularies, and tax
records. The earliest evidence of the HEDDING family was found in the
county of Nottingham shire, where Gerard de Hedon and Symon de Hedon
were both enumerated in the Hundred Rolls
,a census was taken to determine taxation in 1273.
Nicholas de Hedon was registered in the county of Cambridge by the
name survey. Members of the HEDDING family settled in Yorkshire by
the next century, and Willelmus de Hedon was registered in the
Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379. The family was also established at
Ponderrauls in Scotland by 1690, when Alexander Hedding was recorded
there.
The plagues and famine faced by the English nation in
the Middle Ages shook its physical foundations, but the conflicts of
the modern era would profoundly reshape reshape its political and
religious nature. Under the house of Stuart, King and parliament, and
Catholics and Protestants constantly struggled with one another. The
Stuarts were twice ousted from power, first by the Cromwell in 1649,
and again in the "glorious Revolution" of 1688-89.
For many English families, the political and
religious disarray that shrouded England made the far away New World
an attractive prospect. On cramped disease-ridden ships, thousands
migrated to those British colonies that would eventually become
Canada and the United States. Those hardy settlers that survived the
journey often went on to make important contributions to emerging
nations in which they landed. Analysis of immigration records
indicates that some of the first North American immigrants bore the
name of HEDDING or a variant listed above: Sarah Heading, who landed
in Barbados in 1659; Richard Hedon who landed in New England in 1684;
William Heddon who landed in Georgia in 1753; E. Hedding who landed
in New York at the age of 70 in 1823; Mary Hedin who landed in New
York in 1835; John Heden who landed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in
1842; Bernard Headon who landed in Philadelphia in 1850.
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