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Adkins family

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Tim Boddington Webmaster

I am always interested in your

These pages are for the benefit of the Adkins family - if you're an Adkins, no matter where in the world, then these pages are for you! The simple objective is to bring together in one place all deceased Adkins', their genealogy, history, and achievements, and for the living to meet each other through the wonder of modern communications and to share in each others genealogical interests.

This page will provide the focal point for all people with the family name of Adkins, as well as those ladies who were brought up as Adkins but lost the name on marriage.

This page is provided by Tim Boddington - that's me on the right. My mother was a member of a large family of Adkins. As a result of extensive research undertaken by my aunt, Evelyn Goodman née Adkins, I have become aware of a large number of Adkins and their descendants. Most that I know of are related to me. Evelyn has drawn the family tree back more than 300 years. 

Adkins is a moderately frequent name. The possibility exists that many family groups are related - some of the recent discoveries in DNA analysis might even prove it one way or the other. It should be possible, if we all pool our family information, to build up a family tree that really shows who we are and are not related to.

Adkins in the United States of America

My personal trees are mainly UK and New Zealand families.

Adkins is a very common name in some parts of the US, particularly West Virginia and Kentucky and PA is similar I think. It will be a very big job to record all these families and build the family trees. There are also many other web sites that have information on US Adkins families.

There is little doubt that the US Adkins families came from the UK. Adkins is a very old and well established name in the UK. As there are so many Adkins in the US I have for a long time believed that it is probable that the emigration from the UK was a very long time ago - 1600s or even earlier. This belief has been confirmed with the discovery by Jim Adkins in the USA of a book researched and written in the 1980s. It is called Adkins of Eastern Kentucky and Surrounding Areas by Joseph T. Daniels; it was a private publication. I have now obtained a facsimile and I am entering the names on the web site database - for more on what this book tells us go to the page!

There are several websites that concentrate on US Adkins. One of the best is www.adkins.ws.

Another book that may be of interest and assistance is The Complete Book Of Emigrants In Bondage From 1614-1775 by Peter Wilson Coldham - many thanks to Helen H Holmes for notifying me of this one.

In the UK at least there are also associated names such as Adkin, Edkins, Edkin, Atkins, Atkin, Atkinson (son of Atkin) and so on. These variations were caused by census takers, clergy and other officials writing down the names of people who were illiterate and did not know how their own names were written, so the official used his best judgement after listening to the person speak his name. When you realise what variations and acute accents people had in different parts of the country in those days one can understand why so many variations arose. Trying to link these people together in a family tree is a pretty impossible task.

 
If your name is Adkins, or, ladies, if your maiden name was Adkins, or your mother was an Adkins, then I would like to hear from you - please send me an email right now just to introduce yourself or use the Feedback button above.

My branch of the family has a registered heraldic Arms. They are described on a separate page.

Major improvements

The database and the associated display system has been subject to regular updates with the addition of new features designed to enhance the usefulness of the site. The site dates from 2000 and has been re-written twice since then, in 2006 and 2017-2021, to bring it up to date with internet technology.

Security Policy

I reviewed the security situation in 2006 and concluded that it was no longer safe to publish any information on living persons. This was due to the upsurge in identity theft. I continue to maintain information on living persons in my database but this is not visible online. In the absence of specific information a person will be assumed to be deceased approximately 95-100 years after their known or presumed birth. Where the individual is deceased I will try to publish as much information as is available in order to complete the genealogical record. In the case of persons having living children the children will be listed as Child #1, etc.

Where I find a relationship between individuals who do not know of each other I will obtain agreement from each to disclose their identity and contact information to the other. The same will apply to those found to be researching in the same family line. So, if you are researching any of the lines shown on the site do please let me know so that I can introduce you to anyone else doing the same.

Help

I am frequently asked for help on starting out on the search for ancestors but there are far better sources than I. Try looking for help pages on the web such as Genealogy Learning CenterExternal link which is full of practical advice on the subject.


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