Edmondson Disambiguation Pages

Southwest Virginia Project

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Contents 1 Disambiguation 2 Variants 3 Cognates 4 YDNA

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Disambiguation

The following table provides links to disambiguation pages for both the "Edmiston" and "Edmondson" variants of the surname. Both of these variants were in common use in the 18th Century, though "Edmiston" tended to prevail in Southwest Virginia. By the middle to late 19th century the Edmondson spelling became more prevalent. This may be because of differential outmigration of persons using the "Edmiston" spelling, but it seems more likely that it reflects a shift in spelling preference. Note that disambiguations for certain other surnames related to this family (e.g., Buchanan) are included here for convenience

Variants

There are a number of spelling variants for the "Edmondson" surname in records of Southwest Virginia. The following tabulates usage in limited sample of records for the area prior to about 1778 (See SWVP Register 1769-1778). Also shown are the frequency of occurrence of each variant in Washington County in the 1930 census.

*As of 23 January 2008.

Current data suggests that the "Edmiston" spelling was more common in area records during the 18th century. The "Edmondson" variant was selected for the title of this article because it seems to be used by descendants of these early family lines in Southwest Virginia.

Cognates

See Talk:Edmondson Disambiguation Pages for caveats covering the ideas expressed here.

These surname variants probably derive from the given name "Edmond" /"Edmund"/"Edmand". Ancestry.com gives two main lines of development:

A patronymic derived from the father's given name, e.g., "Edmonds Son" or "Edmondson".

A toponymic derived from "Edmonds Town", eg. "Edmondton"

In all cases, the 'd' may be elided to leave variants such as "Edmonson", and "Edmonton". In some cases the suffix seems to have been elided, leaving the surname as simply the root "Edmond" or "Edmonds".

Other variants have less clear lines of development. "Edmondstone" is occassionally encountered in colonial records, and may have arisen either through "Edmondson" or "Edmondton".

"Edmiston" is also in common use, both in colonial times, and today. Its origins are not obvious, but some family lines using this spelling are known to have adopted one or another the Edmondson variants towards the end of the 18th century. Members of the Edmiston family in Washington County Virginia, for example, gradually adopted the Edmondson (or just "Edmond(s)") abandoning their original "Edmiston" spelling by the middle of the 19th century. Emiston itself may have evolved from "Edmondstone" but this evolution is not clear, and the surname may not be a cognate of "Edmond" at all, having arisen from some other unrecognized root.

YDNA

Family Tree YDNA results

As of 28 January 2009 , 22 persons had taken Family Tree DNA for YDNA tests. Most (14 out of 22) represented independently and unrelated lines. Three haplogroups were present among the test subjects: r1b1, r1b2, I1, though some test subjects fell into somewhat finer subdivisions