** the HIGSON family name of south Lancashire, England **

the HIGSON family name of south Lancashire England

updated 25 March 2012 - Norse explanation for the name origin

Not strictly the HIGSON coat-of arms but the coat-of arms allocated to the HIGSON brewery chain of Liverpool.

Over the centuries, from it's beginnings around 1559 (marriage of Agneta HIGSON to Wilhelmus LETHUM 18 Feb 1559 in Gisburn, Yorkshire, Eng reference IGI(BI) on Family Search web site) the HIGSON family have spread throughout the north-west of England and to some small degree, around the rest of England and the world.

This website is the beginnings of an attempt to correlate the spread of the name (dare I be so bold as to use the words 'one name study'?)

In a attempt to bring order into what could quickly become chaos, I am attempting to allocate all records a reference number based on a modification of the Henry System of genealogical descendent numbering.

HIGSONs of Bury - descendent tree - complimentary information to the link below.
Another website on the HIGSONs of Bury & Radcliffe, Lancashire - with data on the origins of the name - please note, as this is a separate web site, it will open in a new window to keep navigation easier - please close the new window to return to this HIGSON index - thank you.
Bolton
Deane, Bolton
Westhoughton & Blackrod (Bolton)
Chorley (Bolton) with Baldock, Hertfordshire
Gorton (branching to Droyslden, and Lees (Oldham), near Manchester and eventually to Liverpool
Preston
Colne - please note, as this is a separate web site, it will open in a new window to keep navigation easier - please close the new window to return to this HIGSON index - thank you.

A possible origin of the family name HIGSON

I came across this explanation on a page of Garen Ewing's website in 2011 (see 'Name Notes' at the bottom of the web page). While it could simply be a romantic flight of fancy by someone, to my mind its the only explanation I have ever seen that includes a possible reason why the family name is so prevalent in South Lancashire. Basically (without wishing to steal Garen's copyright) thus suggestion is that the name originates from the Western Norse for the god Thor or Thurnor (Hig, Hegg or Hygg) (still in use in Icelandic as an alternative name for Richard or Eric. The South Lancashire link is to the Norse settlement of Salford early in the 10th century.

The Will and Codicil of John HIGSON, saddler of Heywood, Lancs. 05 Apr 1856 - no idea if this gentleman was related but certainly some of my HIGSON's were connected to Heywood.

the HICKSON variant

www.hicksons.org covers the variations on the name HICKSON, which many people believe is the root name for HIGSON, HIXON etc

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