Hello all,
There had long been a rumour in my family that when my ancestor Matthew married a Phoebe Dawson Lambton in 1829 that their children were related to the Earls of Durham and Biddick Hall. However, the story I uncovered so far has left me a little confused.
It appears my ancestry were originally Dawsons and in the employ of a Mary Lambton of Biddick Hall, Durham. When she died the whole estate to John Dawson who then took on the name Lambton. He seems to live a life of luxury getting himself painted and handing out large sums of money and property in his will but died after a short while putting his children under the guardianship of a William Donkin of Sandhoe, Hexham. Soon after the estate was sold to the current Lambtons who are now the Earls of Lambton. Lambton as a middle name was passed down through my family
Several questions arise from this:
1. How common was it to give people in your employ the whole estate and would they be servants or something else?
2. How common was it to take your mistresses last name and why would you do it?
3. What happened to the property that meant it wasn't passed to my ancestry or was it?
If anyone can throw some light on these questions or the conundrum in general I would appreciate it greatly.
Thank you for taking the time to read it.
There had long been a rumour in my family that when my ancestor Matthew married a Phoebe Dawson Lambton in 1829 that their children were related to the Earls of Durham and Biddick Hall. However, the story I uncovered so far has left me a little confused.
It appears my ancestry were originally Dawsons and in the employ of a Mary Lambton of Biddick Hall, Durham. When she died the whole estate to John Dawson who then took on the name Lambton. He seems to live a life of luxury getting himself painted and handing out large sums of money and property in his will but died after a short while putting his children under the guardianship of a William Donkin of Sandhoe, Hexham. Soon after the estate was sold to the current Lambtons who are now the Earls of Lambton. Lambton as a middle name was passed down through my family
Several questions arise from this:
1. How common was it to give people in your employ the whole estate and would they be servants or something else?
2. How common was it to take your mistresses last name and why would you do it?
3. What happened to the property that meant it wasn't passed to my ancestry or was it?
If anyone can throw some light on these questions or the conundrum in general I would appreciate it greatly.
Thank you for taking the time to read it.
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