My research initially started with the Damyon family in Melbourne, Australia. This branch of family has led me along a very interesting path with many very colourful characters along the way.
The family left London in 1854 and went to Australia. Joseph Golden Damyon started off in the goldfields as a carriage builder before later settling in Melbourne with his large family. Three of his sons went on to set up a workshop as Carriage Builders in St Kilda. The workshop continued when cars came along in the early 20th century and the business pivoted to the new technology. However it was not sustainable or competitive in the long term with mass production and the car industry as we know today.
Although this branch of the family were early arrivals to the young colony, another branch of the family were even earlier. James Damyon arrived in Melbourne in 1842 along with his half brother. They also came with the Philpot family and James later married one of the daughters. They are considered among the ‘founding fathers’ of Melbourne, although by no means the first inhabitants of the area.
Both branches of the family emigrated from London to Australia, however the Damyon family name has its roots in Essex. Before moving to London, the families were in Willingale Spain and Writtle near Chelmsford in the early 1800’s. Prior to this, the family came from parishes much closer to Colchester such as Marks Tey, West Bergholt and Fordham.
The Damyon name is uncommon. A wide general search finds few records for the family compared to other surnames. Even so, there are records that date back hundreds of years – well into the 1700’s and earlier. This one name study looks to connect these records to one family tree and ideally discover the origin of the family name. My own family line has been the focus of research to date. However, over the years I have gathered information on any Damyon I have come across, safe in the knowledge that they would all ‘be related somewhere’.
If you have an interest in the family name, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. I can be contacted via the Guild of One Name Studies and searching for Damyon.
Sandy