Q. Is there only one way of spelling our surname?
A. No and the reason for this is due to our early Ancestors not being able to read and due to Accent’s what the clerk of the day heard is in general what was written.
Secondly even if they could read in those days the Church was the Authority and one did not argue with Authority.
Q. Why did some of our family adopt the GRIMSHAW surname for example.
1 A. There are two possible answers to this, one is that the GRIMSHAW family of County Antrim where known as the Cotton Barron’s of Ireland and from what I have been told some of the GRIMASON’s adopted the surname in hope that some of the GRIMSHAW’s good fortune would come their way.
2 A. To hide from others as in Lancashire and Yorkshire for example the GRIMSHAW surname is just about as common as Smith and Jones.
Q. Are there any Famous GRIMASON’s.
1 A. Yes there are a few for example Elizabeth GRIMASON nee DEACON the wife of Henry GRIMASON,there is a Play on the supposed relationship between Elizabeth GRIMASON and Sir John McDonald the first Prime Minister of Canada, the play is called “Sir John Eh!”
2A. Bruce Caird GRIMISON of Australia has written a fine book called “Echoes Down the Years” it is about his Australian Ancestors and I consider it a well written Book., This Book is quite rare, a little like the GRIMASON surname, if you are lucky to have a copy please do treasure it and hand it on to the next Generation.
Q. What is a One name Study?
1 A. A one-name study is a project researching a specific surname, as opposed to a particular pedigree (ancestors of one person) or descendants of one person or couple). Some people who research a specific surname may restrict their research geographically and chronologically, perhaps to one country and time period, while others may collect all occurrences world-wide for all time.
2 A one-name study is not limited to persons who are related biologically. Studies may have a number of family trees which have no link with each other.
Q. Why use DNA?
A. DNA profiling as such can help identify people who are related where records no longer exist or records fail to show the relationship for example the Marriage certificates of England, Ireland and Wales fail to show either the Grooms or brides Mother or even her Maiden name only the father of the Groom and bride are shown which is not helpful when you have many Joseph’s for example with the father being John and the ages being shown as being full.
DNA can also prove connections /legends and possible surname corruptions as well, case in point, it is said by some that the GRIMESEY surname is a corruption of the GRIMASON surname, it would appear that only DNA tests will either prove this to be correct or find otherwise.
It is possible that we may find that our GRIMASON family surname is a corruption of the GRIMSTON / GRIMSTONE surname and again DNA testing will either prove the connection or find otherwise.
Q. What does Full of Age mean?
A. Full of Age means 21 years old or older where as Minor means under 21 years of age.
Q. Why is this surname registered with the Guild Of One Name Studies (GOONS)?
A. The reason this surname is registered with the Guild Of One Name Studies is to ensure that if anyone else is interested in researching the surname they contact me to find out what research has been done, also so that we can compare notes and where possible co-ordinate our research so that we avoid doubling up on researching the same source’s.
Q. Does our Family have a Coat of Arms?
A. Based on research so far I have found only one coat of Arms that is Authentic.
Coats of Arms also comes under Heraldry see my Heraldry page, as for the Family having a coat of Arms as such in short No,
Only individuals may hold a Coat of Arms, this Leeds on to the question have any of our family held a Coat of Arms and in this case yes, as to whom that I have not been able to find out yet as those records may be held in Germany.
Q. Do you know the Origin of our surname?
1 A. Our surname based on research appears to have originated from Norway (Vikings), it would also appear that our surname was patronymic.
2 A. A patronym, or patronymic, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one’s father, grandfather or an even earlier male ancestor.
An example of this is William Son of GRIMA equals William GRIMASON.
Q. How far back have you been able to research our family name?
A. The earliest occurrence of the GRIMASON name that I have found has been 1066 in Norway however, I have so far been able to trace individual lines in Ireland back to about 1798.
Q. Why is does this project concentrate on the male lines only?
1 A. To follow the female lines would prove to be rather expensive and would also mean that many other surnames would be included in this project that are not part of this One Name Study, females generally take the Males surname when they marry and thus become no longer part of this project in general.
2A. It would also mean wasted research that sends one down many rabbit holes as well.
Q. What spellings of our surname have been found?
A. I have found a number of Variants / spellings of our surname otherwise corruptions of the surname these are on my Our Surname page.
Q. Are there more records available than what is on any one website?
A. Yes there are, these are held for example by the Public Records Office Northern Ireland (P.R.O.N.I) and these records are on Micro film.
I hold transcriptions of some of these records as well.
Q. Why is it important to quote your source?
A. Do always record your source, this is for two reasons;
1. So at a later date you know where you found your information.
2. So another researcher can then find that same source and see for themselves what it recorded, it also proves that you have recorded the event correctly as well which then tells other researchers that what you have published can be relied on.
Case in point is that a number of online Family trees can turn out to be what could described as a wild goose chase due to the fact that the researcher has Assumed a connection that when researched turns out to be anything but correct, it does pay to check what is actually recorded as that can give clues to who the person is actually related to.
Recently on My Heritage I came across a record for one Thomas George Francis GRIMASON who was claimed to be the son of John GRIMASON and Ann BERRY, the researcher in this case has Assumed there was such a person, what they have in actual fact done is merged two brothers together, the Brothers actually are Thomas George GRIMASON and Francis GRIMASON, in my own research I have as yet to come across a Thomas George Francis GRIMASON.
Another researcher had claimed that Henry GRIMASON the son of John GRIMASON and Ann BERRY had married Frances (Fanny) WHITE however when you look at the actual Marriage certificate the Father of the Henry GRIMASON that married Fanny WHITE is William GRIMASON.