Before the Farthegn surname became Farthing it was spelled "Ferthing" and "Ferthyng". The next few pages contain a chronological list of these transitional forms. There is no doubt, however, that some of these names did not survive to become the Farthing surname. Further research may one day reveal which of these men are our true Farthing ancestors. - In ca 1140 - 1146 Richard Ferthing was listed as a witness in Yorkshire. In her study, Scandinavian Personal Names in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, Gillian Fellows Jenson includes Ferthing as a misspelling of Farthegn. - In ca 1156 - 1184 Agmund Ferthig (sic) was listed as a witness in Yorkshire. In the above mentioned book, Ms. Jenson also includes Ferthig as a misspelling of Farthegn. Agmund is an Old Norse personal name. - In 1175 - 1176 Hugo (Hugh) Ferthing paid 71 shillings and 1 pence in taxes in Yorkshire. From The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Twenty-Second Year of the Reign of King Henry the Second, A.D. 1175-1176, (London: Spottiswoode & Co. Ltd., 1904; Krauss Reprint Ltd., Vaduz, 1966), p. 118. In their book A Dictionary of English Surnames, P.H. Reaney and R. M. Wilson list Ferthing as a misspelling of Farthegn. - Adam Ferthing witnessed charters in ca 1175, 1200, 1210, 1216, and 1220 in Pontefract, Yorkshire. Adam was probably an official of St. John's. From Cartulary of St. John of Pontefract, Vol. XXV, ed. by Richard Holmes for the Yorkshire Archaeological Society, (printed for the Society, 1889), p. 138, 139,150-3, 162, 167. - Agemundo, -us (Agemund) Fetharing (sic) was listed as a property owner in Canterbury in ca 1200-1205. He was mentioned a dozen times in grants. This Agemund Farthegn may be a direct descendant of King Cnut's wealthy thegn named Agemund. He witnessed charters in Canterbury and owned manors in Dorset. From Cartulary of the Priory of St. Gregory, Canterbury, Volume LXXXVIII, ed. by Audry M. Woodcock, (London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1956), p. 35-39. Today my surname is often mispronounced as "Fathering" and "Fethering"! - Walteri (Walter) Ferthing is listed in 1216 and 1217 as a resident of Harwell in Oxfordshire. From Cartulary of Oseney Abbey, Volume IV, by The Rev. H. E. Salter, (Oxford: At The Clarendon Press, 1933), p. 449, 450, 451. - As a resident of Suffolk Willelmus (William) Ferthing paid 5 marks in 1221 and 5 shillings, 20 pence in 1222 for "judicial favours". From The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Fifth Year of The Reign of King Henry III, Michaelmas 1221/1222, introduction by David Crook, M. A., PhD., (London: J. W. Ruddock & Sons LTD, Lincoln, 1990), p. 56, 178. - Henry Ferthing of Steeple Barton, Oxfordshire was accused of killing Gunnild his wife in 1241. The townspeople of Steeple Barton were accused of hiding Henry from the authorities and the village was fined 2 marks. From The Oxfordshire Eyre, 1241, Volume 56, edited by Janet Cooper for the Oxfordshire Record Society, (Oxford: Parchment, Ltd., 1989), 130, 162. - Petrus (Peter) Ferthing' and Adam Ingayn were imprisoned for the death of Radulf Fingerlycht in Worcester in 1250. Peter's friend Adam Ingayn had a Norman name. The Ingayne family had originally settled in Northamptonshire after the Norman Conquest. Ingayne survives today as the surnames Gain, Gains, Dingain, and Ingham. From Close Rolls of the Reign of Henry III, (London: His Majesty's Stationary Office, 1922), 331. - Thomas Ferling (sic) questioned what services he owed to the abbot of Reading for 40 acres of land he owned in East Hendred in 1254. In 1261, Thomas' son Henry Ferthing' attempted to recover the 40 acres. He proved that his family had been tenants of the abbey of Reading as early as 1165! In 1266, John the son of Thomas Ferthing is given the 40 acres along with a house, mill, meadows, etc. that belonged to his father. He paid 10 pounds of silver for it along with an annual rent of 40 shillings and 20 pence sterling. In the same year, Henry quitclaimed his rights to it. In 1286, the abbey sold the lordship of John's son to his widow, Matilda. From Reading Abbey Cartularies, II Berkshire Documents, Scottish Charters and Miscellaneous Documents, Vol. 33, (London: Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1987), 86-89. - In 1254 Mathew Ferthing was pardoned by King Henry III for killing Robert Wilebech. From the Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Henry III (1247 to 1558) (Nendeln/Liechtenstein: Krauss Reprint, 1971). - In 1266-7 Willelmus (William) Ferthing and other tenants of St. Peter's Monastery were freed of all rents in Buckland, Oxfordshire. The editor believed Farthing and Ferthing to be derived from Farthein...and this was back in 1867! From Et Catularium Monasterii Sancti Petri, Gloucestrle, Vol. III, ed. by William Henry Hart, (London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1867), p. 64. - In 1274 William Ferthyng paid Robert Faukes 4 shillings for an oak tree in Wakefield, Yorkshire. When Faukes refused to give him the tree, Ferthyng angrily seized a cow that had been pledged by Faukes. Faukes then got two friends to testify that he was innocent of making any deals with Ferthyng. According to "the law of the third hand", Faukes was then quit and Ferthyng was fined two shillings. In another court case, William Ferthynge testified that he believed Margery de Alvirthorpe had a better right to a parcel of land than Robert de Skelton. His testimony allowed Margery to recover the property. In yet another court case, William Ferthynge is a pledge for Henry le Rede. In 1307 the courts established that William Ferthynge was the rightful owner of one bovate of land in Newton upon Derwent in Yorkshire. His daughter Juliana inherited the land. From Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield, Vol. I, 1274 to 1297, Records Series Vol. XXIX for the year 1900, edited by William Paley Baildon, F.S.A., (The Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1900), 83, 84, 163, 167. Also, Volume II 1297 to 1309 Record Series Vol. XXXVI for the year 1906, p. 82. - In 1274-5, Henry de Kyrkby, under-sheriff, neglected to arrest Thomas Ferthing for theft. It was claimed that Ferthing was "still wandering through the country." From Yorkshire Hundred and Quo Warranto Rolls, Record Series, Vol. CLI for the years 1993 and 1994, (The Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1996), 44. - In ca 1275 Willelmo (William) Ferthynge witnessed a grant in Lincoln. A generation earlier members of the Farthegn Family witnessed charters in the very same parish (All Saints in the Bail) that William Ferthynge did. It is clear that, in Lincolnshire, Farthegn has made the transition to the spelling Ferthynge. From The Registrum Antiquissimum of the Cathedral Church of Lincoln, Volume IX, ed. by Kathleen Major, M.A., D. Litt., (Durham: Northumberland Press Ltd., 1968), p.134. - In 1276, Andrew Ferthing and 11 other citizens determined the extent of the lands of Sir William de Arden. Ferthing and the others drew up the writ in Humberton, Yorkshire, about 16 miles Northwest of York. In 1282, Andrew Ferthing and 11 others made an inquisition at York before Sir Thomas de Normanville, the King's Steward. From Yorkshire Inquisitions of the Reigns of Henry III and Edward I, Vol. I, Record Series Vol. XII for the year 1891, edited by William Brown, B.A. (The Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Association, 1892), 172, 253. - Simon Ferthing' is mentioned as a miller in London in 1281. From Calendar of Letter-Books of the City of London, Letter-Book B, ed. by Reginald R. Sharpe, D. C. L., (London: Printed by John Edward Francis), p. 14. Previous Page......Next Page |