Not only my own name but a rare surname. I was told by my father when I first got interested in my family tree (c. 1977) that all Goathams were related. All of this has led to me having a particular interest in the Goatham family.

From my research I would confirm this to be the case, at least as far as English Goathams living now are concerned.

Gothams

Obviously names were spelt in various ways in the past, and so there were Goathams in Devon and the Staffordshire area, but  all of these ended up as Gothams.

Foreign Goathams

Whilst I know that Goathams in the USA are quite closely related, and know of Kentish Goathams emigrating to Australia who could well be the ancestors of Goathams living there now, I am aware of Goathams elsewhere who may or may not be related. It could be that descendants of members fo the Devon / Staffs. lot ended up with the spelling Goatham.

Of course, we could be related to the Devon / Staffs. lot but I have no evidence of this, and at present have no plans to research this. Having traced the Goathams in Kent back the when the PRs began in Chartham any such research would be extremely difficult. With both Kent and Devon being on the south coast there was regular travel between the two counties in the past, but if a Devonian Go(a)tham had settled in Kent there may well be no evidence now. Even if his father had mentioned him in his will, he may not have mentioned his location (not normally mentioned – would it have been if he had moved some distance? – I don’t know). In addition, many Devon wills were destroyed in WW2.

Lots more to add here – “when I have time …”