Explanation for William Durham's last name.

Question

William Durham [Durham-172] is the son of Thomas Thorne of Durham and the grandson of Thomas Thorne of Durham.  Is there any explanation as to why he is known as William Durham instead of William Thorne?  His sisters appear to have used Thorne as their LNAB,

Comments

I'm not sure who this family is, but up until recently he was attached to the Thorne family of Yardley Hastings. The ancestors of Gov. Thomas Dudley of the Colony of Massachuetts. I detached him from this family as they are not related. I could not figure out how he got the surname Durham as opposed to Thorne. Since he did not figure into my work I left him be.

---

I've yet to enter it, but a cousin of mine has done some extensive research on this section of the family tree. A direct quote from her (as yet unpublished) book is as follows:

DURHAM ORIGIN
The surname of Durham was derived from the place of residence of its earlier bearers, Durham, England. The name Durham is found in ancient English and early American records with various spellings such as Dureham, Durame, Darrim, and Durham of which is the most common used today.
The family name Durham is believed to be descended originally from the Boernicians. This ancient founding race of the north was a mixture of Scottish Picts and Angles, a race dating from about the year 400 A.D. Their territories ranged from Edinburgh in the north and southward to Yorkshire in England. By 100 A.D., this race had formed into clans and families, some of the first evidence of family structure in Britain.
Among the elite circle of clans and families, the earliest record of the surname Durham was found in Dumfriesshire where they were recorded as a family of great antiquity seated at the Grange with manor estates in that shire. Originally from Durham the county in England, one of the first settlers was Sir Robert Durham who was one of the twelve knights who negotiated the Border Law in 1246.
Fifty years later, Walter Durham rendered homage in Scotland to King Edward I of England on his brief conquest of Scotland in 1296. Sir William Durham was granted lands by King Robert the Bruce. Although numerically small, this border clan was very influential in border life and acquired lands. Notable among the family members during the early history was Alexander Durham who was Minder of the Royal Mint.
Among the first pioneers who could be considered kinsmen of the family name Durham were Elizabeth Durham who settled in Virginia in 1653; Robert Durham settled in Maryland in 1729 with his wife Elizabeth; George Durham settled in Virginia in 1721; Mary Durham settled in Baltimore, Maryland in 1775; and Samuel Durham arrived in New York in 1801. 

Source: We are Family - Discovering Durham Roots by Yvonne Durham, 2016

I've been attempting to connect with her, but it's been slow going. Will follow up with her sources when I get through.

---

Hello my name is Richard Durham,i have traced my Direct line, father,fathers father,and so on back to Grange 1322,sir william Durham the 9th of grange sold  grange and took his wife margaret Erskine to northumbria edinburgh,where he was not titled as Sir,just william Durham, he and magaret had a son David,and on down to me,i know not where we came from before 1322,i believe we to Be Irish but have found no trail,nor have i seen any link to thorne,if you have this information noted in scottish records, please provide with this Thank You

---

Hi, Richard, I too trace back to that William Durham but didn't know where they went. One story I read somewhere, didn't keep it, was that the last generation had all girls and one of the girls married the new Laird, at Grange. Also, William Durham 1322, keep in mind that was the time he was granted Grange from King Robert the Bruce, and that document still exists today. He was granted Grange for his valiant efforts as a Knight, so had to be fairly mature in age by 1322 to have worked his way up to become a Knight by that time. I'm placing his birth about 1295 or so, although that is a calculated guess based on his achievements. I have my line on Ancestry, if interested, drop me a note at the email listed below. The same for anyone else who is researching this line. A Lot of information is on the McFarlane Clan web site. I'm traveling to Scotland from the US to do further research summer 2019.

---

Hello, Mark.  My name is Grady Durham and I would like to get in touch with you regarding your Durham line.  ,my email address is gdurham@monticelloassociates.com.

Thank you.

Answer 1

This appears information came from the Gedcom uploading from Ancestry.com.

I would do more research just to make sure it should be Thorne.  

see http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rogercovalt/20gen/gp415.

 

I hope this helps

Comments

Sorry.  The link didn't work.