The Tudgay (Tudgee, Tudgey) Family

A compilation by Brian Taylor
greatly aided by Martin Taylor and many correspondents

This site is dedicated to the memory of my late mother, Aileen Taylor (neé TUDGAY), who traced us back to the Somerset diaspora, and her father, Frank Tudgay, who inspired me to become a scientist.

So far, we can trace our branch back to Isaac Tudgee, who left the Bath-Frome area of Somerset ca 1846 for the Abersychan area of Gwent (in the former Monmouthshire county area), South Wales. His father was William Tudgee, or Tudgdy (curiously possibly Tudgay), who was born in 1777 in Leigh on Mendip, Somerset (to the west of Frome). Prior to that there is a gap in the knowledge but we now (January 2010) feel quite confident that William was the son of James Tudgay, ca 1752-1812, probably of Marston Bigot, near Frome, Somerset and that he was the son of James Tudgay, ca 1728-1762, and his wife Mary Wheeler, 1730-1761, both also of Marston Bigot.  On Mary's side, we go back two generations to William Wheeler, b 1684, of Marston Bigot.

The spelling of the name as "Tudgay" seems to have been a corruption of "Tudgee", at least as far as it concerns our family, and that in turn seems to have been a corruption of "Tudgdy". Another version is almost certainly "Tudgey", although our direct family link remains to be proved. In the Census records for 1881 and 1901, people living in and around Kingston Deverill, Wiltshire, are listed in one or other of the spellings or even both in apparently one family.

None of the Etymologies of Surnames that I have come across include the name in any of its forms, so the origin and interpretation of the name is a mystery.

Searching the Web and considerable information collected by "cousins" of various time-removed, has shown that the family origins probably lie somewhere in deepest Somerset and across the County boundary in the Deverill Valley of Wiltshire, to the south of Warminster.

Jumping forward to the present, searching the on-line UK telephone directories shows at least 44 Tudgays, one Tudgey and one Tudgee. The Tudgays are still in two main clusters - the Abersychan/Pontypool area of South Wales, and Somerset.

In the United States, the name appears as follows - eight in Pennsylvania; two in Texas; one or two in Osage County (Kansas); and one each in Florida, California, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
There appears to be three separate groups -
John C. "Jack" Tudgay, 1855-1935, was recorded in the 1880 United States Census as living in Osage County, Indiana. His birth place is unknown to me but one of the Deverill villages seems the most likely.
The Pennsylvania folk are all descendants of two sons of Isaac Tudgay of Talywain, South Wales. Thomas Tudgay, 1840-1907, who emigrated in about 1869, and Isaac Tudgay, 1847-1923, who emigrated to join his brother in 1881/2. Both settled in Warrior Run Mining Village, Pennsylvania.
Henry John Tudgay, 1891-1977, and his brother Herbert Tudgay, 1895-83, both emigrated from Lydford-on-Fosse, Somerset, to De Kalb, Illinois, in 1910-1911. A third brother, Harry Tudgay, 1904-1977, joined them later. The family can be traced back to Monkton Deverill
The California residents are from a mid-1950's emigration.

There is also a Tudgey family group in Australia, possibly descended from Jeremiah, eldest son of William Tudgee of Leigh on Mendip. Others live in New Zealand and are descended from John, the second son of William. This may be incorrect as a William Tudgee died in Bath in 1852.

Recently my brother, Martin, told me he had a DNA test by Oxford Ancestors of his Y chromosome. That reveals, not unsurprisingly, that the Taylor lineage links with the 75% of the British population who have links to ancient Britain, "Celtic"?

My apologies go to any whose names I have got wrong and whose genealogy I have assumed wrongly. Please let me know of any corrections or further information. For privacy, I have not given full information on those alive today but, if that is what you wish, please get me to remove your names or details from this site.

In 2002, I have revised and added to the site. This is due to the tremendous amount of information gathered by -

• Elaine Price, with whom I share a great-great-grandfather, Isaac, third son of William Tudgay (1777-1824) of Leigh on Mendip.
• Barbara DeLong whose husband's great-grandfather was Isaac, who emigrated to Warrior Run, and was the son of my great-great-grandfather.
• Lawford Thomas, whose great-grandmother was Peninah, daughter of Isaac.
• Jenny, of Australia, and Val, of New Zealand, are descendants of the second son, John, of William Tudgay (Tudgey) (1777-1824) of Leigh on Mendip.
• Zillah Williams, of Australia, has her origins in the Longbridge Deverill families and her records were pulled together by Jeff Tudge - from an entirely different family, or so it seems.

In 2003 I have added records from a basic search of the UK 1901 Census and more from the 1881 Census. Further family members have came up with information -

• Hilary Gadsby, whose grandmother was Sarah Alice Tudgey, who married at South Stoneham in Hampshire.
• Rod Clarke, of Whitby, Ontario, Canada, and his wife, Marie, a great granddaughter of Isaac John Tudgay, whose information linked several families from the 1901 Census back through the Deverill villages to John Tudgay, born Warminster ca 1785.
• Jane Tudgee, also in Canada, but whose parents and other family are in Southampton, emailed me in August, and we have established they are descendants of the eldest son, Jeremiah, of William of Leigh on Mendip.

In 2008 More comes from the efforts of my brother, Martin, and his visits to the Bath area and the Records offices, etc.

Now, 2017, I have used the extensive listings of UK Births, Marriages and Deaths compiled by https://www.freebmd.org.uk to add a great deal of information covering the years 1837 to around 1983. This has helped clarify many of the origins of the modern day families (such as those whose locations I show on the map I compiled for 2001, link below).

Note: The BMD Records also include a number of "TUGDAY" names. The earliest being a Tugday female b 3Q 1837, Mere. The name mostly overlap with the Tudgay families, so may well be a misspelling, and sometimes clearly is.

• Summary illustration of the mainstream lineage, male names only
• Summary illustration of the descendants of William Tudgey, 1777-1824
• Map of the Tudgee/Tudgey/Tudgay Country in Somerset/Wiltshire
• Earliest Records
• The Wiltshire mainstream and Longbridge Deverill Families - from 1579 through to present day
  

• Family descended from John Tudgay, born Warminster, ca 1785, resident in Longbridge Deverill by 1871

• Map of the Deverill Valley Villages in 1889 (a large file)
• Diverse descendants of the Longbridge Deverill families

• Frome, Somerset - 1654 on
• Other early Somerset records - nineteenth Century on
• Frome Selwood, Somerset - 1881 & 1901 Census
• Other Somerset families in the 1881 Census and thereafter
• West Lydford, Dorset - family of Henry Tudgay, b ca 1850, of Monkton Deverill
• Frampton, Dorset - all sisters - 1750-1775
• Further Dorset family - ex Wiltshire (David Tudgay b 1846 & issue) and later to Woking, Surrey & Haselbury Bryan, Dorset
• Fareham/South Stoneham, Hampshire - (Tudgey) family (possibly ex Broad Chalk, Wiltshire)
• South Hayling, Hampshire - (Tudgay) - later to Bristol
• Walton on Thames - later to Durham and Worcestershire and back to Walton (Tudgy/Tudgey/Tudgay)
• London families - including the renowned marine artists Frederick and John L Tudgay
• Gloucestershire records (transient) - Dyrham & Hinton in 1881 and Othery, Somerset in 1901
• Soldiers killed in the First World War
• Clitheroe, Lancashire family
• Reigate, Surrey family
• Miscellaneous records

• Tudgays of Osage County, Kansas family of John C. Tudgay, 1855-1935, went from England
• Other Tudgays who emigrated to North America, mainly in 1900-1920, includes the De Kalb, Illinois group

• Family of William Tudgdy/Tudgey/Tudgay, 1777-1824, and Sarah George of Leigh on Mendip - 3 sons & 3 daughters - descended from James Tudgay, 1728-1762, of Marston Bigot, Somerset

• Family of Jeremiah Tudgdy, 1806-post 1881, of Bath Abbey - three possibly four sons (the eldest may be the William who went to Melbourne, Australia - below); the third, Charles, lived in Bath, with descendants there in 1901

• Family of William Tudgey of Melbourne, Australia
• Family of Charles Tudgee, of Bath, and (now) Southampton

• Family of John Tudgay, 1810-post 1881, coachman to the Earl of St Germans, Cornwall - 7 daughters & 2 sons

• Family of William George Tudgay, 1842-1910, of Romford and Paddington

• Family of Isaac Tudgay, 1816-1889, moved to Abersychan, South Wales, ca 1846 - 8 sons & 6 daughters

• Maps of the Abersychan & Talywain area
• Narrative of the Tudgay family of Abersychan, South Wales
• Extracts of Tudgay family reports in the South Wales Press, 1854-1919
• Family of John Tudgay, 1837-1894, of Nantyglo, Gwent
• Family of Thomas Tudgay, 1840-1907, of Warrior Run, Pennsylvania, USA
• Family of Edwin Charles Tudgay, 1842-1909, of Abersychan, Gwent
• Family of James Tudgay, 1845-1890, of Abersychan, Gwent
• Family of Isaac Tudgay, 1847-1923, of Warrior Run, Pennsylvania, USA
• Family of Charles Tudgay, 1851-1939, of Abersychan, Gwent

• Frank Tudgay, 1888-1979, of Abersychan (fourth son of Charles Tudgay, 1851-1939, the fifth son of Isaac Tudgay, 1816-1889)
• Narrative and tree of the Evans family of Abersychan, South Wales

• Map of the Wilkes Barre area of Pennsylvania
• The Tudgays of Warrior Run into the 20th Century

• Results from search of the http://www.familysearch.org of the United Kingdom Census for the year 1881 - Tudgay, Tudgey, Tudgee, Tudgy
• Results from a basic search of the United Kingdom Census for the year 1901 - Tudgay, Tudgey, Tudgee, Tudgy
• Map of UK Tudgay family members in 2001 AD, with comparison of the distribution in 1891, and listing of Tudgays alive in BMD up to ca 1983
  
• Possible early ancestors - The Tuggie, Togy or Toggy, families of eastern Wiltshire and Berkshire

©2001, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2017, 2018 - Brian Taylor BTech PhD CBiol FRSB FRES
11, Grazingfield, Wilford, Nottingham, NG11 7FN, U.K.

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