Hildreth Name Study

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: Hildreth Hildrith Heldreth

Contents 1 About the Project 2 How to Join 3 Current Membership 4 Research Teams 5 Background Information on the Name Hildreth 5.1 Origins of Hildreths in America 5.2 The Hildreth Name 5.2.1 Meaning of the Name 5.2.2 Distribution of the Name in America 6 Related Surnames and Surname Variants 7 Hildreth Notables and Hildreth Places 7.1 Notable Hildreths 7.2 Places Named Hildreth 8 The Hildreth DNA Study 9 Research Resources 10 Helpful Links 11 To Do List 12 Special Projects

About the Project

This is a One Name Study to collect together in one place everything about the surname HILDRETH and its variants. The hope is that other researchers like you will join the study to help make it a valuable reference point for people studying lines that cross or intersect. Please contact the project leader, add categories to your profiles, add your questions to the bulletin board, add details of your name research, etc.

As a One Name Study, this project is not limited to persons who are related biologically. Individual teams can be used to branch out the research into specific methods and areas of interest, such as geographically (England Hildreth's), by time period (18th Century Hildreth's), or by topic (Hildreth DNA, Hildreth Occupations, Hildreth Statistics). These studies may also include a number of family branches which have no immediate link with each other. Some researchers may even be motivated to go beyond the profile identification and research stage to compile fully sourced, single-family histories of some of the families they discover through this name study project.

Also see the related surnames and surname variants.

How to Join

To join the Hildreth Name Study, first start out by browsing our To Do List (below) and Discussion and To Do List Page to see if there is a specific study ongoing that fits your interests. If so, feel free to add your name to the Membership list below, post an introduction comment on the specific team/research page, and then dive right in!

If a team or research page does not yet exist for your particular area of interest, please contact the Hildreth Name Study Coordinator: Vic Watt for assistance.

You can find the master Category page for the Hildreth Name Study HERE.

Current Membership

• Vic Watt, coordinator and manager
• Nelda Gilchrist Spires, co-manager

Research Teams

• Rev. Benjamin Griswold Hildreth Focus on Rev. Benjamin Griswold Hildreth and his descendants; primary geographic area: southeast United States. Team Leader: Nelda Gilchrist Spires
• Establish profiles for every Hildreth on the US 1850 US Census. Team Leader: Vic Watt
• Establish profiles for every Hildreth on the US 1790 US Census. Team Leader: Vic Watt
• Establish profiles for every Hildreth who served the nation during the American Revolutionary War. Team Leader: Vic Watt
• Add profiles and sources for Hildreths in the military. Team Leader: Vic Watt

You can see all sub-projects on the Discussion and To Do List page

Background Information on the Name Hildreth

Origins of Hildreths in America

It appears that the early Hildreths in America descend from two immigrants, Richard and Thomas. It is not yet known how these two immigrants were related, but DNA results have shown that there is a connection. Their birthplaces in England are not known, however, in 1891, 30% of all Hildreths lived in Yorkshire.

• Richard, b. ca. 1605, who probably came to Massachusetts in about 1635, (no official records mention him until May 10, 1643), and died in 1693 in Chelmsford.
• Thomas, who also came to Massachusetts in about 1635 but moved on to become one of the founders of Southampton, New York. The first mention of Thomas is in 1643 and the last is in October of 1657 concerning his death.

The Hildreth Name

Meaning of the Name

One theory is that the name was originally from an Anglo-Saxon, pre 7th Century personal name, "Hildraeth" comprised of the elements "Hild" meaning "battle" and "raed" - "counsel." This name died out but was reintroduced in about the 14th century. Another theory is that the name Hildreth came from Northern England and may be a variant of the first name "Eldridge," which comes from a completely different Anglo-Saxon root: "Aedelric", a personal compound which translates as "noble ruler."

Distribution of the Name in America

In 1840, the US Census showed that most Hildreths were concentrated in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York, with a number also in Ohio. By 1920, the US Census shows that Hildreths were concentrated in Massachusetts, New York and California, although there was a substantial number in the Midwest, Texas and Alabama.

Related Surnames and Surname Variants

Spelling of this name can sometimes be "creative." The name, just in the records of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, has been spelled: Heldreth, Heldrith, Heldereth, Heldreath, Helldreth, Hildretch, Hildreth, Hildrith, Hilldereth, Hilldreath, Hilldreth, Hilldrith, Hildrick. In other places, it also appears as: Hildred, Hildich, Hildrak, Hildre, and Huldreth, and probably many others. The name has also been spelled Hildret, especially in New York and the South. The moral of the story is, if you are searching for this name, use very loose parameters or include wildcards.

Hildreth Notables and Hildreth Places

Notable Hildreths

• Hildreth Meière, an American artist, architectural artist, muralist and mosaicist, Wikipedia
• Alonzo Carleton Hildreth, Broadway actor, writer, Wikpedia
• Ellen Hildreth, Professor of computer science at Wellesley College, co-inventor with David Marr of the Marr-Hildreth algorithm, Wikipedia
• Horace Augustus Hildreth, 59th Governor of Maine 1945–1949, Wikipedia
• James Hildreth, English cricketer, Wikipedia
• Lee Hildreth, English footballer, Wikipedia
• Mark Hildreth, wrestler, known as Van Hammer, Wikipedia
• Mark Hildreth, Canadian actor, Wikipedia
• Paul Hildreth, first settler in Lewiston, Maine, in the fall of 1770
• Richard Hildreth, journalist, historian, abolitionist, United States consul at Trieste in 1861, Wikipedia
• Samuel Clay Hildreth, Thoroughbred racehorse trainer, Wikipedia
• Samuel Hildreth, (American Revolution) (1750–1823), a surgeon in the Massachusetts militia and aboard Massachusetts naval privateers during the American Revolutionary War, Wikipedia,
• Samuel Prescott Hildreth, (1783–1863), a pioneer physician, scientist, and historian in Ohio and the Northwest Territory, Wikipedia,

Places Named Hildreth

• Hildreth California
• Hildreth Nebraska
• Hildreth Cemetery, Lowell Massachusetts
• Hildreth Elementary School, Harvard, Massachusetts
• Hildreth-Jones Tavern, Amherst, NH; NH State Register of Historic Places; a center for county business, political discourse, news, entertainment and commerce in the 18th and early 19th centuries, a time when Amherst was the county seat and among the largest towns in New Hampshire.

The Hildreth DNA Study

There was a DNA study underway for Hildreth and related names, including: Heldderick, Heldreth, Heldrick, Hilderick, Hildreath, Hildreth, Hildrith, and Hyldreth. The DNA project objectives are:

(1.) To determine if Richard Hildreth b. 1605 in England, d. 23 Feb 1693 in Chelmsford, MA, and Thomas Hildreth b. unk. in England, and d. 1657 in Southampton, LI, NY are closely related, and the time to their most recent common ancestor(MRCA).

(2) Permit those with the surname Hildreth, or a variation thereof, to ascertain if they are descendants of either Richard or Thomas Hildreth, or if they descend from another Hildreth branch with a common ancestor (CA) perhaps further back in time.

Its status is unknown.

Research Resources

General Resources

Hildreth Family Association Publications

Hildreth Meière

Massachusetts Vital Records

Maine Vital Records

Helpful Links

The Hildreth family association.

Hildreth query page at GenForum.

The Hildreth Family Association: Facebook and website.

Hildreth Burials in Southampton Twp., New York in the Southampton Twp. database

As of November, 2014, there were 5,517 Hildreth burials in the United States in Find A Grave. Here is a link to the main search page.

To Do List

These are the maintenance projects at the moment.

1. Work on Errors on the Hildreth Error List
   
2. Connect Hildreth profiles to earlier generations and to the WikiTree. Here is the list of Hildreths who are not currently connected to the WikiTree: Unconnected Hildreth Profiles
   
3. Ensure that all Hildreth profiles have sources for information included. Here is a list of currently Unsourced Hildreth Profiles.

Special Projects

1. Hildreths in Washington State:

• Add Hildreths living in Washington State, United States, in 1950 and connect them to earlier generations.
• Add Hildreths born in Washington.
• Add Hildreths who died in Washington, from official records and newspapers.

There are several interesting studies being conducted as part of the Hildreth Name Study. Please see the Discussion and To Do List Page for more details and more projects.