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Welcome! American Gypsy Records |
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Welcome! American Gypsy Records |
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Was Your Ancestor a Gypsy?
Do you suspect that one of your British ancestors was a Gypsy? If so, how can you establish a firm connection with a Gypsy family?
Not everyone described as a traveller or a vagrant was a Gypsy. Not every hawker, basket maker, or chimney sweep was a Gypsy, but many were. By gathering a series of documentary references to an individual or a family, it may be possible to establish a Gypsy connection using a combination of typical occupations, forenames, surnames, and other data.
Descriptions
References to travel or movement may give a clue to Gypsy origins. Most Gypsies lived in tents, though traveling vans were adopted by some from the mid nineteenth century.
Occupations
The following occupations were commonly practiced by Gypsies, who provided goods and services to local communities in the course of their travels. The terms dealer and general dealer were frequently used by Gypsies from the late 19th century, but the terms were also used to describe other traders and shopkeepers. A marine store dealer was a dealer in scrap materials.
Forenames
Gypsies often used standard forenames - such as Samuel, William, Mary - but they were also fond of unusual names. Examples of male names:
Examples of female names:
Surnames
Most surnames used by Gypsies are also common in the "Gorjer" or non-Gypsy population. The best known and most widespread Gypsy families include:
· Boswell, Buckland, Faa, Hearn, Heron, Lee, Lovell, Smith, Wood, Young.
The following families all traveled in southern England:
· Ayres, Baker, Ball, Barnes, Barney, Bartlett, Bath, Beaney, Beckett, Birch, Black, Blackman, Bland, Bowers, Brazil, Buckley, Bull, Burton, Bushnell, Butler, Camfield, Carey, Carrington, Castle, Chapman, Clark, Cole/Coles, Collins, Coneley, Cooper, Cox, Cripps, Crocker, Crutcher/Croucher/Kircher, Curtis, Davis/Davies, Dawes, Deacon/Deakins, Dixon, Doe, Draper, Duckett, Eastwood, Elliot, Essex, Frankham, Giles, Golby, Green, Gregory, Griggs, Gritt, Groves, Hall, Harfield, Harris, Hibberd, Hicks, Hughes, Isaacs, James, Jeffs, Johnson, Jones, Keet, Kempster, King, Kircher, Lakey, Lamb, Lambert, Lane, Light, Loveridge, Matthews, Miller, Mills, Mitchell, Mustow, Newland, Odam, Orchard, Page, Pannell, Parker, Pateman, Penfold/Pinfold, Peters, Pidgley, Pike, Proudley, Rawlings/Rollins, Ray, Roberts, Rose, Rowell, Rowland/Rowlands, Sanders/Saunders, Scamp, Scott, Sheen, Sherred/Sherrard, Sherwood, Sines, Stanley, Stevens/Stephens, Stokes, Stratton, Tanner, Taylor, Thompson, Turner, Vincent, Wells, Wenman, Wheeler, White, Willett, Williams, Willis.
This list is by no means exhaustive. Further names are given on the Information page and in the publications of the Romany & Traveller Family History Society.
Further Information
The journal Romany Routes, published quarterly by the Romany & Traveller Family History Society, includes much information about British Gypsy families, and gives advice on sources and methods for Gypsy research.
The publications of the Society include research guides and memoirs, as well as transcripts and indexes of documents relating to Gypsies. Find out more about the Society by using the links below.
Linda Griggs found this page in the Google search engine cache. It is no longer available on the web.
This is Google's cache of website.lineone.net/~mcgoa/gypsy.html. It was retrieved on Tue, 09 Nov 1999 12:05:34 GMT. Google's cache is the snapshot that we took of a page as we crawled the web. More about Google's cache. Google is not affiliated with the authors of cached pages or their content. Due to its cached nature, this is likely not to be the most recent version of the page.
We will add to this page as we obtian these records and manuscripts.
Anyone with information on Gypsies in America please contact us.
