Hamer Families  in Wales

According to our subscriber, Margaret, the 1881 UK census lists 1054 Hamers  in Wales. Most of these individuals were in Montgomeryshire (456) and Radnorshire (328) , with 270 being found in other parts of Wales. There were a total of 17 Hamars, 12 in Radnorshire, and no Hamors.

This distribution supports the finding that the great preponderance of HAMER genealogical records in Wales can be found in present-day Powys Co, which includes both Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire, the "old" county names prior to 1974. Since this region borders England, a case can be made that the HAMER families may have come from England, specifically Lancashire where the surname has a long history.

Andrew Hamer provided this concise account of the history of the Hamer surname.

 Some HAMER families are being researched in "the Marches" - border counties like Shropshire. 

The traditional boundary between Wales and England was Offa's Dike, which has an interesting history. While no longer the official boundary, the Offa's Dike path can still be walked today.

Two good sources of maps for the UK can be found at Streetmap and Multimap.

In the eighteenth century, some HAMER families emigrated to North America

Research is going on in the following areas (click on the locations to learn more about each). Researchers can be contacted directly, if linked, or through our Hamer mailing list.

Another list of area researchers can be found here.

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