WITHELL from YORKSHIRE

It has been puzzling that although a large number of present day Withells are descended from the Yorkshire family of William and Rhoda Withell, occurrences with the spelling as Withell or close variants appear to be rare in early records for Yorkshire. Parish Registers currently transcribed have very few instances prior to the middle of the 18th century. It now seems likely that the earliest continual use of the spelling Withell as a surname in Yorkshire occurred at the beginning of the 19th century. Thus William and Rhoda are not only the progenitors of the Yorkshire line but also the "portal couple" through which all modern day descendants have their ancestry.

There is evidence in early records that this surname in Yorkshire may have derived from a locality, Whit(e)hill or Whit(e)well. The parish records of Elland, Kirkheaton, Rastick, Walkington and Grinton also seem to support this theory. Although the name Withell occurs in Elland Parish Register, the more common spelling has the initial 'wh' rather than 'w' and this may provide the link to an earlier or alternative spelling. It is suggested that the surname Whittell which occurred in Kirkheaton parish from the 17th century, had earlier links with Elland and Rastrick.

George Redmond lists the following

Variations with similar spelling were found across a wide area of Yorkshire as shown by records of the Yorkshire Poll of 1379, transcribed by Caroline Fenwicke.

Other early occurrences in East Yorkshire so far found include:-

By the middle of the 18th century the spellings Withell / Withill / Withel appeared in parishes near Bulmer and Slingsby. There is a village Whitwell on the Hill in this area and some references have also been found in the area near Campsall. At the same time a small number of apparently unconnected Withell, Whittell, Whittle and Whithell families were to be found in the registers of parishes in the vicinity of Goodmanham.

GOODMANHAM and BEYOND

Consistent spelling as WITHELL appears to have begun in Goodmanham at the beginning of the 19th century with the family of William Withell and Rhoda Stokes and this appears to be the only Yorkshire family line to use the spelling as Withell into the 21st century.

However the spelling WITHILL occurred in Goodmanham at the same time and it seems that some if not all present day WITHILL families may also be descendants of William and Rhoda Withell.

On 25th May 1791 William Withell of Goodmanham was married to Rhoda Stokes of Market Weighton by license in Goodmanham church. Marriage by license was usually used by persons of means for privacy or because one of the parties was from a distant parish. However at the time of his marriage William was a Wolds shepherd and it is noted that these men seldom moved away from the Wolds where the care of sheep was quite different from that on the plain of York.

Many of the descendants of these first families remain in England, but as with the Cornish Withells, it was groups from the next generation who were to seek a better life in far away places, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and US.

AUSTRALIA

Charlotte Withell, daughter of Philip, may have been the first to leave England. She and her husband Thomas Robson settled near Trentham, Victoria where their old home still stands.

In the late 20th century there has been emigration across the Tasman as some New Zealand Withells have moved to Australia

CANADA

Charlotte's brother John Raper Withell immigrated to Ontario, Canada with his wife Maria. They are buried in Perth, Ontario. There are now a number of their descendants living both in Canada and USA.

We believe that some of these early families kept in touch. John Withell born about 1860 in New Zealand was recorded as arriving in New York on 8 November 1910 on his way to New Zealand from Southampton on the Kronprinzessin Cecilie. He had paid his own passage, had 50 pounds and had previously visited US in 1904.

NEW ZEALAND

The New Zealand Withells were actively researching their heritage in 1978. In 1988 I met James Withell in New Zealand who told me of the research done by his family to find their origins in Yorkshire and the large gathering of New Zealand Withells. They had discovered that their ancestors were William Withell and Rhoda Stokes.

In 1864 several families migrated to New Zealand and other family members followed later. The achievements of the first two generations as sheep farmers have been recorded in the 'Cyclopedia of New Zealand'. F 405 p168-175

Link to New Zealand Newspaper records

This site has over 300 references to Withell