THE TIVEY FAMILY By Lawrence Francis Tivey

    There is no conclusive evidence available as to the origin of the name Tivey. It is mentioned in only one of the many dictionaries of surnames and this states that it is a personal name equivalent to the Irish Tavey or McEtavey. It has not been possible to ascertain on what basis the compiler inserted this entry and, indeed, the Irish origin is only one – and not even the most likely one – of three possible theories which have been put forward by members of the family. The name is almost certainly Celtic in origin, but this could mean that it came from Wales, Ireland or even from the residual Celtic settlements in England (Scotland can almost certainly be ruled out).

    The majority of Tiveys who have expressed views as to the origin of the name state that it comes from Wales and is derived from the river Teifi ( pronounced “Tie-vy”) which flows through Cardiganshire. Several members of the family talk of a “clan” living in the valley of the river Teifi who took the name of the river and members of which at some time migrated to England where the name became anglicised as Tivey. When this migration might have taken place and whether it took place over a short or a long period cannot be ascertained. Some Tiveys have expressed the belief that their ancestors came from Wales as late as the mid 18th century, but as there are records of Tiveys in England going back to the early 17th century, any migration must have started very much earlier. The anglicised form of Teifi now used in Wales is “Tivy” and there are families spelling their name in that way, though these are far less numerous than those who spell it “Tivey”. There is probably some connection between the Tiveys and Tivys, but it is interesting to note that the centre of the Tiveys in the 18th century was in Ireland, though the family could have moved there from Wales.

    Only a few Tiveys have expressed the view that the name comes from Ireland and this theory seems less likely than the Welsh one, in spite of the reference in the dictionary mentioned above. The names Tavey, McEtavey and another variation – McAtavy – are not common ones in Ireland, though the last two are mentioned in some glossaries of Irish surnames. As far as can be ascertained, there have never been any Tiveys in Ireland spelling the name as such, though there have been Tivys in Cork since at least the 17th century. It is perhaps worthwhile noting that none of the Tiveys, up to the end of the 19th century, were given Irish Christian names.

    The third theory, which also has little support from members of the family, is that the Tiveys are indigenous to the East Midlands of England, possibly the Charnwood Forest area of Leicestershire. Certainly most of the Tiveys in the 17th and early 18th centuries were in Leicestershire (though there were some elsewhere) and even as late as the early 19th century the family was concentrated mainly in a small area of the East Midlands. It is also noted that the Christian names used by the family in the 17th and 18th centuries were essentially English ones – George, Thomas, William and Edward predominating among male children.

    The earliest record traced of a Tivey is in 1603 in Ashby De La Zouch, Leicestershire, where the marriage of “Darothe Tyvy” is recorded. (Spelling at that time, and indeed up to the mid 19th century, was often at the whim of the parish clerks and entries in various registers almost certainly relevant to the Tivey family appear under Tivy, Tivie, Tivye, Tevey, Tive, Tivvy, Tivoy, Tivvey, Tievey, Teivey, Tyvey, Tyvy, Tyvie, Tiuey, Tibby, Tidey, Tovey, Tibey, Tirey and possibly other spellings). There are some other records in Ashby, thoughall of the records there in the 17th and 18th centuries are spasmodic and cannot readily be associated with one another. There was certainly a George Tivey, tailor, who died there in 1652, another George (possibly his son) born the same year, a third George born in 1686 and there was a George, basketmaker, who died around 1731 and who had a son also called George.

    It is believed by one branch of the family that there was a Tivey who fought in the Civil War and was left wounded in the Derbyshire-Leicestershire border area, but ther was no definite record of this, nor is it known from where he might have come.

    The next oldest records are in the Elm and March districts of Cambridgeshire, where there were marriages of male Tiveys in 1662 and 1663. Records of marriages of Tiveys in Cambridgeshire go on until 1745, but it is reasonably certain that by the end of the 18th century there were no Tiveys left in that area. It is possible that some of the Tiveys who were in London, Essex and Hertfordshire in the late 18th century came from Cambridgeshire. No connection has been established between the Cambridgeshire and Leicestershire Tiveys, but there was probably one, even going back to the 16th century or earlier.

    By the mid 18th century most of the Tiveys were concentrated in a comparatively small area of the East Midlands – South Derbyshire, North-West Leicestershire and East Staffordshire. In 1734 there was the first record of a Tivey in the small Derbyshire town of Melbourne, which, by the end of the 18th century, became the main centre of the family and it remains the only place where the name is a common one. It is likely that some of the Tiveys who settled in Melbourne came there from the neighbouring parish of Breedon on the Hill, which is in Leicestershire; records of Tiveys in that parish go back to 1678 and the villages of Worthington and Newbold are particularly mentioned in some of these. Apart from Ashby, already referred to, there were Tiveys in Swannington (around 1725), Swepstone (earliest 1773) and Markfield (1779 – 1798) in Leicestershire, in Newton Solney (1740 to 1773) and Ticknall or Tickenhall (earliest 1748) in Derbyshire and in Rolleston (from 1778) and Tutbury (earliest 1793) in Staffordshire. Outside this area there are isolated 18th century records of Tiveys in London, Middlesex, Essex and Hertfordshire, as well as Cambridgeshire, already mentioned.

    The Tiveys had become well established in Melbourne by the end of the 18th century and quite a number of Tivey children were born there in the last quarter of the century. Unfortunately, few of these births are recorded in any of the parish registers of the time, so that it is not possible to trace the ancestry of any branch of the family back further than to male Tiveys born between about 1775 and even as late as 1812. About three-quarters of the present Tiveys are thought to be descended from families living in Melbourne in the late 18th century.

    In 1841, the first year for which census records are available, there were about 220 Tiveys living in England, of whom 72 were living in Melbourne and a further 70 to 75 living elsewhere belonged to families from Melbourne. Of the rest, most stemmed from families in Leicestershire and Staffordshire and fewer than 25 could not be traced back to families living in the East Midland area; those were in London, Hertfordshire and York (though it is remotely possible that the York family stemmed from Leicestershire). By 1871, the latest year for which census records are available to the public, the number of Tiveys in England had risen to about 330 and several families and individuals had emigrated to America, Canada and Australia. Of those in England some 240 belonged to families from Melbourne and the number in Melbourne itself was 91. Though no actual returns are available, it is likely that in 1901 there were about 150 Tiveys in Melbourne, accounting for nearly 5% of the town’s population. This was probably a peak period; the number now has fallen to about 60.

    The present number of Tiveys in Britain (1973) can only be roughly estimated at between 650 and 700. There are perhaps 60 to 80 in the USA, some 30 or more in Australia and a few in Canada. The world total is thus somewhere around 800.

    Mention has been made of the likely connection between the Tiveys and the Tivys. Some records in the East Midlands – even up to 1860 – are in the name Tivy, but it is thought that all of the families who settled in that area eventually adopted the Tivey spelling. Tivey is very much more common in England than Tivy, but the latter appears more often in Ireland (where there are no Tiveys) and Canada, while the two spellings are perhaps about equally prevalent in the USA. There have been Tivys in Cork for at least 300 years and some (if not all) of the families now in England, as well as those in Canada and USA are probably descendants of the Cork Tiveys. It is, however, possible that some of the Tivys in Canada, and America might be derived from families which in England were, or have now become, Tiveys.

    The pronunciation of the name varies as between branches of the family, some using the long “I” as “Tie-vy” and some the short “I” as “Tivvy”. It is likely that “Tie-vy” was the original pronunciation but at present there are more who call it “Tivvy”, a pronunciation which may well have developed with usage. Most, but not all, of the descendants of the Melbourne Tiveys adopted the “Tivvy” pronunciation. Where it is known, the pronunciation is shown in the tables.

    The tables which follow give such details of the various branches of the Tivey family as can be ascertained. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to trace many records before about 1770 which can be tied up with later ones. Although records in Melbourne go back to 1734, there was a period, between about 1770 and 1820, when practically no records of baptisms of Tivey children can be found, although it is known that a number were born there during this period. This means that, except for three families where details are available from Baptist records, the parentage of Tiveys born in Melbourne in that period cannot be ascertained. Elsewhere, it has not been possible to identify all the parishes in which Tiveys lived in the 17th and 18th centuries and records are sparse up to 1770 and in some cases to as late as 1830. In the case of one branch the earliest record is as late as 1868.

    Concentration has been mainly on the male line and a number of Tiveys (mostly females and unmarried males) have not been allocated to the branches to which they belong, because it is either impossible or would be unduly expensive to do so. Similarly, no effort has been made to identify children who died in infancy, except in so far as information about them could be readily obtained without unnecessary expense.

Section I, which is divided into groups each allocated a letter, gives such details as are available from records up to 1837 (when registration of births, marriages and deaths was instituted in England) which cannot be tied up with later records.

Section II shows the various groups of the Tivey family going back in each case as far as possible. Groups in this section have been allocated numbers.

Section III shows records since 1837 not identified as belonging to particular groups of Section II, but excluding those children known to have died under the age of 6 years. There are four sub-sections, depending on whether the records available are of birth, marriage, death or inclusion in census returns.

An index is provided, divided into three sections – Males, Females born Tivey and Wives; this excludes all children known to have died under the age of 6 years, whether or not they are included in the tables.

FORMAT

The details of the families in Section II and also in certain Groups of Section I are set out in list rather than tree form; this is mainly for convenience of reproduction but also permits relevant notes to be inserted at the appropriate places.

A standard format has been adopted throughout whereby an entry is made for each male Tivey other than (a) those known to have died under the age of 18 and (b) those at present under the age of 18. Details for each entry are set out as follows :-

Man’s name When & where born When & where died
Occupation
Wife’s Christian & Maiden names When & where born When & where died
(Details of wife’s parents, where known)
When & where married

Children:

Christian Names When & where born To whom married When & where When & where died

All female Tiveys and those males who are known to have died under 18 or at present under 18 are shown only in the lists of children in the entries for their respective fathers. Other male Tiveys, except those in the first generation of each Group, thus appear twice – in the list of their father’s children and in their own entry. In some cases, information is given in less detail in the entry under the father than in the man’s own entry.

CODING

Each entry is given a code number showing (a) the generation within the Group and (b) the sub-Group to which the man belongs. Thus, if generation 1 had three sons all surviving to over 18, the eldest would be 2A, the next 2B and the third 2C. The sons of 2A would be coded 3A(1), 3A(2) etc. and thereafter small letters and small Roman numerals would be used for alternate generations in all cases where there is more than one son (e.g. 4 A(1)(a); 5A(1)(a)(i)), but if, for example, 3A(1) had only one son surviving to age 18 his entry would be coded 4A(1).

To trace descent back it must be remembered that only the generation number changes while an additional letter or figure is added where there is more than one son. All persons with an A in their coding are descended from the first person to whom that letter is allocated – e.g. 1A in some Groups, 2A in most Groups and 3A where 2 was an only son.


Thus, if we take the example of the entry in Group 9 of 6D(6)(a)(i), he is the only son of 5D(6)(a)(i), who in turn is the eldest son of 4D(6)(a), whose father was 3D(6) and whose grandfather was 2D.

The coding “X”, “(X)” or “(x)” is used either for illegitimate children or those believed to belong to the Group but whose parents cannot be definitely identified.