If your family name is Wimbish you are probably an American. As far as we can discover, there is no-one left in Britain called Wimbish although there are still English folk with names that may have the same source (Wimbush etc).
According to www.houseofnames.com :
"Spelling variations include: Wimbishe, Wymbishe, Wimbyshe, Wymbyshe, Wimbush, Wimbish, Winbush, Winbisse, Winbiss, Wimbis and many more.
First found in Lincolnshire where they were anciently seated as Lords of the Manor. Some of the first settlers [in the USA] of this name or some of its variants were ... from the mid 17th century in the great migration from Europe. Migrants settled in the eastern seaboard from Newfoundland, to Maine, to Virginia, the Carolinas, and to the islands."
Here in the village of Wimbish, NW Essex, we have no knowledge of any links between the name of our village and the migrants who left Lincolnshire for the USA. If anyone researching their family history should find any links of this kind, please let us know - email: davidcorke@wimbish.org.uk
You can read what we have discovered so far about your name in our history section /wimbish-the-surname.html
Much of this information was provided by Connie Wimbish ( cwimbish1@verizon.net ) who wrote recently:
The Wimbish family in Sarasota County Florida is fine and growing, we now have 3 granddaughters! The Wimbish family of Mississippi now has 3 granddaughters and 2 grandsons! Carlyle Wimbish of Virginia contacted me and told me his son had come to your town of Wimbish and had a grand time while there. I'm so glad a Wimbish could come and visit. I have finally stopped searching for Wimbishes in America as my family history is now 500 pages and I know I certainly could add more!
I visit the Wimbish Village website from time-to-time and am glad to see you still have the Wimbish family of America still there. Thank you again for all your help
Connie welcomes contacts from those who share her family name.
Viola (whose maiden name is Wimbish) wrote:
Thank you for sending my request to Connie. I am so excited...... I have information where John and James Wmbish came over on a ship in 1690. I have James all the way back to that but still would like to find John. I am trying to go back even more if I can. I just wish I had asked my Daddy more questions when he was alive. He was George Wimbish born 1895. Once again Thank You
Carlyle Randy Wimbish ( tech87@comcast.net ) and his family were the first Wimbishes known to have set foot in the village since the 15th century,
Bronwen Woods reports: "Randy, Gill and their three sons came for a day in the summer, they spent some time with Max Parker of Geoffrey Parkers and got the feel for a local business, they then went to the local primary school, where they were shown round, in comparison to their own schools in the US, our primary school is tiny! They then went for a meal in The White Hart, after which they were shown round All Saints Church by Janet Swan, it was after this that I met them at Graces Fruit Farm to take them to one of our thatched houses for a cream tea. It was great to meet them and I think that they had had a lovely day, they certainly packed in a lot and no doubt they were "Wimbished" out by the end but I know that their visit to Wimbish was one of the highlights of their trip to Europe. Randy said, "Everyone was so gracious and hospitable that we really felt right at home". It was very nice to meet them"
Photo (by Anne Wordsworth) taken in the garden after the cream tea!
Sally Wimbish from Atlantaa, Georgia ( SallyWimbish@Comcast.net) visited us in November 2006 and would like to make contact with others who share her family name. Sally wrote:
I'm still pinching myself and basking in the wonderful memory of my trip to Wimbish.. Seeing the Elizabethan Manor house [Broadoaks] and peeking at the other one [Tiptofts] was such a treat. I've never seen anything quite like that.
I have already called the other cousins and told them of my journey. Everyone is so envious..
Sally Wimbish at Howlett End
(photo: David Corke)
Sally Wimbish learns about the Wimbish Church from Janet Swan, the Church Warden
(photo: David Corke)
