Well...first of all, if you have found this page looking for research on the SNAILHAM surname for geneology info..WELCOME! doing research of my own, I have had little luck with it myself. While I have just started my research, it may take awhile, so if  I find anything out, I will gladly post it here. likewise, I would appreciate ANY info that you find on the web or elsewhere concerning the snailham family origins. if you have any please E-MAIL me! thanks!

As there have been a few messages in my guestbook regarding research of the snailham family history from people from around the world, this page has been created as a result of that, to at least inform anyone who is looking what I do know about my history to try and help you out in whatever geneology search you may be involved in.

Obviously, all routes of the snailham history lead from England. as it was a english name. So far, I have turned up little of the origins of my family in England, though, talking to relatives, it is believed that origins go back to Lancashire, England, though I cannot verify it at this time. It is also believed that William Snailham Sr, my grandfather, was from a large family in England with numerous brothers and sisters..but again, details are sketchy. I guess I have my research cut out for me, but ANY help will be appreciated.I have encountered very little information with regard to my english origins throughout the years, to the extent that until the internet, very little was known of anyone named snailham outside my own immediate family here in Canada. Indeed, It was very surprising to find a Joe Snailham residing in the Netherlands, ANOTHER William Snailham living and working in Gibraltar, a Stephanie(Snailham)Worrall in San Antonio Texas USA, and her brother,  Martin Snailham in Durban South Africa. To ALL Snailham's out there.....GREETINGS!!, and HELLO!!!and I'm glad you could stop by!!! enjoy the site!!!!!

SNAILHAM GENEOLOGICAL INFO

PLEASE NOTE:

This section will be updated when information is provided to me, hence why the dates are included in the updates. Obviously, it is sometimes months before anything new is known, and unfortunately, my current work schedule does not allow me to do much on my own, so ANY and all infomation is appreciated. please feel free to E-MAIL ME DIRECT thanks!!!!

INFO UPDATE February 4th, 2008

Well, as you see, it's been sometime since I have updated this page. The main reason is little info has been forthcoming to me regarding the Snailham name. I haven't talked to Garry Snailham in quite sometime, and last I heard he has been working on a Snailham family tree. It seems that he has completed his research. His geneology page is HERE I encourage anyone curious about the history of the Snailham name to visit the site and share any information you may have to Garry. The contact info is on his page.

It is with sadness that I report that my father William Roy Snailham, passed away on November 17th 2005, due to stomach cancer. His focus was always his own family more then his own past, but was still and very loving father and devoted husband and even now is still loving missed by my mother and myself. He will never be forgotten!

INFO UPDATE March 22nd, 2004

Garry Snailham sent me the pic of the george snailham pop bottle, but I haven't had a chance to put it here, until now. download the picture by right clicking HERE or left click to view in your browser

INFO UPDATE January 26th, 2004

Colin, apparently a collector of antique bottles, wrote to me about a month ago, with some fascinating information that both Garry and I didn't know a thing about (which makes it even more valuable.) He writes:

Hello Scott,

With regards your family history page ( I haven't the time to read it all, so I may be giving you info you already have).

I collect old Victorian and Edwardian bottles from my hometown of Blackburn ( Lancashire UK ). Among my collection of glass bottles, I have three with the name George Snailham embossed onto them. They date from the late 1870's -- early 1880's.

Are you aware of this man ?.

Have any of the other Snailham's come across him during their research ?

Two of the bottles are the same and just have 'George Snailham - Blackburn' embossed on the front with a Trademark in the middle ( the trademark is a plume of 3 feathers, like the Prince of Wales's emblem )

The other bottle is what bottle collectors refer to as a Codd, they have a 'marble' stopper trapped in the neck ( Hyram Codd held the patent ). This bottle has embossed on the front 'Albion Soda Water Works' and again the trademark of 3 feathers ( a little more primitive than the design on the other bottle(s). On the reverse it has 'George Snailham - Proprietor' I know from research that I have done in the past, that the Albion Soda Works was in the Ewood area of Blackburn ( near the football stadium ). I also remember that when I was researching one of these 'Snailham' bottles in the local reference library, that I came across another Snailham, he/she ( but probably he ) was a dentist.

Briefly scanning through the articles on your 'Family History' page, I noticed that Lancashire and Preston are mentioned ( Preston is approx ten miles from Blackburn ), so I think it pretty likely that these people were related to the Preston Branch of the Snailham's.

I don't have the facility for sending photos yet, but when I do, I'll send a photo or two of the bottles.

Regards

Colin"

Thanks Colin. Garry and I are baffled by this new "branch" of the Snailham Tree. Looking forward to this pics.

INFO UPDATE January 12th, 2002

Thanks to Laura Snailham for tipping off her father Garry Snailham about this page, one of the few with any Snailham history on the net apparently. Garry has gathered a wealth of info relating to the name and it seems this site has also helped him as well and he's more then happy to contribute. HERE'S GARRY'S PAGE he writes:

Hi Scott,

So excited to explore all the info on your site, especially the two letters of census info. Doris letters 1 & 2 would seem to tie us all together which is the first major link to living Snailham's that I have found. Outside of my own family from the Watford Hertfordshire area. I have a brother living in Cleveland Ohio USA and his daughter lives in Florida, he has two sons here in England carrying on the name, I have one son and my younger brother also has two sons so there are a few from our side carrying on the name.

Sorry Chris you are not the only ones in the South! Grandfather Thomas set up home in Watford a butler to the Gentry and a descendant as you will see from my pedigree chart, links him back to my gt, gt, gt grandfather Christopher born 17 Aug 1800 Christopher married a Nancy abt 1818 who ties up with the Nancy on the census forms Doris posted in both letters 1&2. More exciting still there is a Nancy shown on my XL spread sheet (I knew all that effort would come in handy one day) death recorded Dec 1881 aged 82 from Preston. I will order a copy of the Death Certificate which could reveal more info. I wait with bated breath, this is so inspiring!

Just to put you all at ease, I have the marriage certificate for Thomas Snailham (No8) on my pedigree chart, his father is listed as Christopher and that is quite un-common in the Snailham line. Great you are carrying on a rare part of the family name (Chris from South!) You will see this from the Births and death list how few there are.

If all my assumptions from the info at hand from you (Cousins) are correct, we all jump back an important generation to Henry Snailham! As you will see from Henry's descendant chart, Christopher was the youngest child born 17 Aug 1800. I don't have his death date! It would seem the fact that Nancy is a widow in 1851 and Christopher is not on the Death register that began in 1837, he died prior to this date. I guess the only other chance we have of narrowing this is the first census of 1841, depending what we find from this, his death must be between 1827 after John Snailham was conceived and 1841 or 1851 for certain.

I have found one definite link to the name being corrupted in Breatherton where on tombstones it is spelt Snailam and in the records it is definitely Snailham. it would seem phonetic spelling is more than likely the cause of several others derivations of the name, hence why I have included as many of the nearest pronunciations on my chart as possible.

A big thank you to All for your input Eric C Apperley, Dorothy Duckworth, Doris Kelley, Esmond Jenkins and especially Scott for posting the web page for you're input and giving another link to the Christopher and Nancy line. It would make Henry the second child being born Abt 1828 and my gt, gt grandfather Thomas the first child born 10 Dec 1820. Lastly I am thankful to my daughter Laura for finding the page.

I would dearly like to find the Maiden name of Nancy wife of Christopher and Alice the wife of Henry. I am happy for anyone to e-mail me directly, but all info collated needs to published via Scott's web page for ease of access for all and it will build up a wonderful picture.

There is one other contact that has done quite a lot of research into the Snailham's from Bretherton, however I have not had the joy as YET of tying into that line. The contact is www.pellis.force9.co.uk he has listed and linked to a Margaret O'Hanlon and Glenys Ball who have a site too, I met them a couple of years ago and we shared what we have but the link as far as we could deduce must be prior to our Henry Snailham.

Onwards and upwards, or Backwards in the case of family search!

Kindest Regards to All and a Happy New Year!.

Garry Snailham

Thanks Garry...the charts he mentions are both MS word and MS excel files and are packaged in a downloadable zip file HERE also, feel free to e-mail garry direct RIGHT HERE though please REMOVE THE NOSPAM within the e-mail address. Posting a e-mail on a web page can often bring spam to a person's account, and this is one way to deter it. thank you for your cooperation.

INFO UPDATE Oct 28th, 2001

Two People Recently e-mailed me, Kim Connolly in the UK, and John Connolly, I believe in the USA...Kim Writes:

"I have been researching my family history, all links are in Lancashire, England. The family name is Sawyer. In 1826 a Betty Snailham was baptised at St. Michaels On Wyre near Preston - parents were Henry and Mary Snailham. In 1847 Elizabeth Snalem was married to William Sawyer in the same church. Note the different spellings. Love your site - hope this information is of interest. Best wishes, Kim Connolly (nee Sawyer) PS I live in Chester England - was born in Lancashire"

While John Writes:

"Hello there, just been reading through your snailham family history and found it very interesting. I have only recently started exploring our family history, but have found some pretty interesting information - perhaps there is a link between our two families, given the documents that are on your site, i think that there is a good chance that there is a link somewhere. Snailham is an extremely rare name in England, as you have no doubt realised. My family come from Lancashire, originally from the Preson area. Our family name is Sawyer, in 1847 William Sawyer a blacksmith married Elizabeth Snailham at the parish church of St Michaels on Wyre in the county of Lancaster. Her father was Henry Snailham a butcher. Elizabteh (christened 'Betty') was baptised on 19th January 1826 at the Copp chapel in St Michael on wyre. At this time her father henry decribed himslef as a Labourer. Elizabeth signed her marriage certifcate with a 'x' . This would suggest her familt could not read, which may account for the fact that the family surname was written as 'Snailham' on Betty's baptism certificate, but 'snalem' on the marriage certificate. William Sawyer her husband came from a family that remained in the preston area until my sister was born in the mid 1960's. To give you an idea of the geography involved, the Pemworthy is a few miles away from the places i have mentioned above - aroind 10 to 15 at a guess. Hope you find this information of use, if you have any records of a Betty/Elizabeth Snailham/snalem, i would be very interested and appreciative of you letting me know. Best regards John Connolly

Can anyone help john??? Unfortunately I have lost john's e-mail address, so john, can you e-mail me again with a e-mail address I can post here??

INFO UPDATE April 1st, 2001

Chris Snailham, living in the south of England, really hits the nail on the head with the origins of the Snailham name, which is much older then I ever thought...he writes:

"Many years ago at college, I researched the Snailham name and came up with the following information: I discovered that the name originated in the South of England near Rye in East Sussex. Snailham was the name given in Saxon times to a small hamlet near the river of snails and people from that hamlet or small village were called Snailham. There was a small railway stop called Snailham Halt which fell into disrepair in the 1950's. Up until the time of the Industrial revolution in England it appears that the Snailhams lived on the land, but many decided to go north for work in the towns and factories during the late 18th or early 19th century. My father died in January 2001 aged 87. His father died during the first world war. My father had 4 brothers and one sister. I am the only male left of the South Shields Snailhams apart from my son, Matthew. I hope this is of interest to you. Best wishes. Chris Snailham. (UK)"

Indeed it is Chris, as who would of thought we would be named after a river of snails???? interesting indeed, and thank you for dropping me a line on this one.

INFO UPDATE Jan 1st, 2001

Esmond Jenkins in the UK, found this page, and e-mailed me with some rather interesting info:

"I am sorry I couldn't find your christian name.I am Esmond Jenkins,my Grandfather was William Snailham who died in 1975, reported by Doris Kelley. In fact he was the last surviving Snailham male on our side, my mother is one of his twins, named Hannah.

The link between the families,is that my Grandfather had 4? cousins,one went to Canada, one South Africa, one Australia or New Zealand, and one South Wales, around the time of the Great War. I have heard stories of one cousin being killed in a plane crash with a Nobel prize winner??.

Much of the detail provided by Doris was actually provided by Dorothy Duckworth(my mothers cousin?)my mother,or my aunt Evelyn.

From research we have undertaken,the Snailhams or Snaylams all seem to originate from a Lancashire village close to Pemwortham which is an area of Preston, in the county of Lancashire.

Regards Esmond

Thanks Esmond. My whole philosophy is to post any info given to me here, in a effort to help out other "snailham's" wandering around the net looking for family history. If it contradicts info already given to me, so be it, as it seems there is some confusion with a lot of people, likely due to the rarity of the name, as very little documentation seems to be out there, compared to more common sirnames.

INFO UPDATE April 10, 1999

Doris sent me a letter regarding her family's efforts in tracing the Snailham family origins. She writes:

"A second cousin, Eric C. Apperley, grandson of Margaret E.(Snailham) Greenslade, had researched the same in 1991 and he sent me his data. Included was a copy of the census returns for 1851, 1861, 1871, and 1881. I am enclosing a copy for you" CLICK HERE for the actual document (49k) "All Towns shown are in Lancashire, and near the larger city of Preston."

"You will note that a William, age 1 month, is listed in 1861, and again at age 10 in 1871. This could be your great-great grandfather. Since he is not listed as residing at the same address in 1881, he could have been married at age 20, or moved away. The Thomas, and John Thomas listed are the same, and he is my grandfather. Nancy could be the mother of the first John listed in 1861 at age 33. if so, that John would be your great-great-great, and the name unknown born about 1800 would add another great. I am enclosing the revised, but still very preliminary update after adding the new info" CLICK HERE for the actual document (44k)

I do believe you will agree that all of this negates your previous info that the name originated during the Boer War. The corrected dates for my grandparents, John Thomas Snailham, and Hannah Richardson Holmes Snailham, have been obtained from their tombstone in Blackburn (Lancs) cemetary."

Also in the letter, Doris brings up a possible explanation to the star of david which sits on my grandfathers grave in Fairview Cemetary:

"Robin's Mother Edna (my sister) told me that on a TV program "Providence" about two weeks ago (note: this would have been early February 1999) a story evolved about a Star of David on a child's bith record, but the child had been brought up Catholic. The reason given was that in Europe, during World War I, infants and small children had been "hidden" in catholic homes or orphanages and some not reclaimed by their own parents. Of course this could be a writer's license and actually have happened in WW II. Interesting."

Thanks again Doris...keep the info a comin when it's available, and I will get the mentioned pages scanned for posting ASAP.

INFO UPDATE August 1, 1998

All data contained in letters previously posted here from Doris and her niece Robin E. Weber, dated June 13 and August 1,1998 has been compiled in separate page devoted to:

JOHN THOMAS SNAILHAM

Doris said she had gone through the Mormon genealogy listings and was amazed at the number of Snailhams there - a name we always thought rare.

KEEP the info a comin in folks!!!

The more here, the better...it is GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!

William Snailham Sr. Origins and the Banting Crash that took his life.....

William Snailham Sr. my grandfather, immigrated to Canada just after WORLD WAR I, and settled in Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada...a town about 10 miles outside of Halifax, and now part of the recently amalgated "Halifax Regional Municipality" William Snailham Sr. was a radio operator by occupation, having worked on numerous ships, and for a short time in the military. He also worked for the CNR as a radio operator, and at the time of his death in late february 1941, was a civilian aboard a transport plane (actually a Hudson Bomber, built in California) carrying one of the discoverers of insulin "Sir Frederick Banting". William Snailham Sr. was a radio operator aboard the plane, apparently a friend of the captain of the plane, Joseph Mackie of Kansas City, Kansas USA. Mackie was a perfectionist, and considering the importance of his passenger, wanted the best crew he could find, which included my grandfather. The plane,was flown from Winnipeg, and on to St Hubert, near Montreal. At this point, the crew, including Snailham, took control of the plane and Banting joined them in Montreal. They flew to the Newfoundland Airport, now presently called Gander. Because of weather, their departure was delayed for several days.

The weather eventually improved, and the crew and Banting as a passenger, took off on the early evening of the 20th of February 1941. Shortly after take off, as they were out over the pond, the right engine started to fail. Mackey immediately turned back, He asked Snailham to get bearings to return, which he did. Mackey was unable to feather the prop, so there was a lot of vibration. Mackey started dumping fuel. The radio quit probably due to the vibration. then the second engine quit, and they became a big glider. Mackey then ordered the crew to throw everything possible out of the plane. they blew the rear door and did what they could to lighten the plane. Mackey put the landing light on and when he knew they were over land, he ordered the crew to jump. He then became very busy with the controls and felt a weight shift, assuming the crew had jumped. He picked a long frozen lake to crash land the warplane. He almost made a perfect landing, but the left wing stuck a tree, and the plane hooked into the tree at the edge of Seven Mile Pond, which has been renamed Banting Lake. The craft stopped abruptly, with the crew and banting being thrown around inside the plane. Mackey discovered that the crew did not jump after all.

William Snailham Sr, and William Bird, also aboard the plane died instantly, with Snailham working on the radio at the time of the crash, and Bird was trying to jump and had a parachute on and it was open. Banting survived the crash, and the impact, by bracing against a bulkhead in the plane. He died about a day later in the snow 20 feet from the plane before help arrived."

Hunters who were in the area rescued Mackey, and took him to Musgrave Harbour. Another group of people from musgrave Harbour arrived later and took bodies to the Orange Hall within the town.

The Halifax Herald dated February 25th, 1941, which takes a report from the Canadian Press wire service, reported on a front page story that the plane "crashed near Musgrave Harbour on Newfoundland's East Coast, about 20 miles northwest of Cape Freels" at Seven Mile Pond. The pond has since been renamed "Banting Lake".

William Snailham Sr, a widower, left behind 3 children, who, at the time, were, William Snailham Jr, my father, age nine, and sisters Viola, age 7, and Gloria, age 5. The care of the children was now given to Annie Adams, the sister of William Snailham Sr's wife, Viola. Gloria is now deceased, and is survived by her daughter, Diane, and granddaughter Wanda, and currently resides in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. Viola is currently residing in British Columbia Canada. William Snailham Jr, Married in April of 1964,Living in Halifax, NS Canada, had a son in May of 1967 (YEP, That's ME!!) who is also currently residing in Halifax, NS Canada.

Here's a link to the SNAILHAM FAMILY PICTURES PAGE which includes some rare photos of William Snailham Sr.