The surname “Whigham,” along with its variants is one of the earliest recorded English surnames with the name first mentioned in the year 955 AD. It is first recorded in Scotland in the fifteenth century, though it is not believed to be native to Scotland but introduced over the border. The name went through a number of changes in Scotland until George Whigham in the early 1700’s changed the spelling to “Whigham.” It is believed that these Whigham Scots were part of the Scots who went to Northern Ireland when James I sent a large number of Scots to Ireland in an effort to wrest control of the land there from their Irish landlords.  The earliest mention of the name “Whigham” in County Down, Ireland, seems to be for a William Whigham, a tenant of the Meade estate in Moneyslane, in 1740.  Whighams continue to live in Moneyslane, Drumgooland Parish even today.

A small number of Whighams came to America from Northern Ireland in the years prior to the American Revolution. Among them were John Wigham of Kentucky; John and William Whigham of Pennsylvania; and Thomas Whigham of Georgia. These intrepid adventurers were later joined by three cousins from Ireland – Dora, Sarah and Richard Whigham who would establish the New York and Iowa branches of our clan.

John Wigham’s family eventually settled in Kentucky before spreading through the rest of the United States.

William Whigham settled in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania and later fought in the Revolutionary War.  His family prospered there, and many of his descendants live there today.

While we lack definitive knowledge of how each of those who came to the colonies arrived on our shores or exactly why they came, we do know that Thomas Whigham lived in the Irish town of Queensborough, St. George County, Georgia, in 1773, when his cattlemark was registered there. Some confusion exists as to the relationship between the early documented Whighams who lived in pre-revolutionary Georgia. One report indicates that a William and a Thomas Whigham were on a ship said to have arrived at Savannah, Georgia, in December 1768. An exhaustive search by many of us has failed to identify such a ship or the existence of William and Thomas on any ship’s roster we have thus far found. Records do exist that there were three Whigham’s listed on the 1790 Tax Lists of Burke County, Georgia – Alexander, John and William, thus it is concluded that Thomas had died by that time.

Our strongest indication of the order of Thomas’ descendants comes in an article contained in the book, A Memorial and Biographical History of McLennan, Falls, Bell and Coryell Counties, Texas, published in 1893, in an article about J. B. Whigham, a grandson of Alexander Whigham, which states that Alexander’s parents came to this country from Ireland and that Alexander reared a family of five sons and one daughter. Based on this information, this book includes a listing of descendants from the original Thomas from three sons, William, John and Alexander. All other of the southern Whigham’s identified in this book descend from one of these brothers.

By 1820, the Whigham family was well established in Jefferson County, Georgia (Burke had been split into two counties – Jefferson and Burke). Not content to stay in one place, two young first cousins, Thomas William (son of William) and William (son of John), moved westward from Jefferson County to Decatur County. The town of Whigham, Georgia, would later be named for Thomas William’s son, Robert E. Whigham.

Further movement west by members of the Whigham family occurred when two of Alexander’s sons, Thomas and Joseph, took their families to Macon County in the 1830’s, then to Barbour County, Alabama, in 1848, settling in Blue Springs. While Thomas remained in Barbour County, Joseph would move southwest to Washington County, Alabama, with his sons, Thomas Marcus and Richard Nathan, in 1857. In 1878, Joseph moved again, this time across the line to Jones County, Mississippi, where he died in 1883.

The move to the west continued after the Civil War as children of Thomas and Joseph left Alabama, settling in central Texas. The first of these was Margaret, daughter of Thomas, who moved to Gatesville, Coryell County, Texas, in 1863, with her husband, Andrew Jackson Smith. Other of her siblings followed, during the next ten years, as two of her brothers, James B., and Thomas Galloway, also brought their families to Texas. Joseph’s daughter, Susan Amanda, who married Pleasant Worsham, came to Texas with their family.

While the majority of the early southern Whigham’s were farmers, reflecting the major occupation in the South at that time, that is no longer true.  Whighams are listed among all major professions today, as these early ancestors continued to educate their children. Their descendants became business owners, doctors, teachers, actors, musicians and political leaders, as well as serving their country in the military in both times of war and times of peace.

Today, branches of the Whigham family are scattered throughout the country, but the majority of Whighams live in four states in the southeastern United States – Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi.

Those Whighams left in Scotland continued to prosper, some of them rising to positions of high prominence.  Among them were General Sir Robert Whigham who played a major role in World War I and later served as ADC General to King George V. His younger brother, Walter Kennedy Whigham, served as a director of the Bank of England.

A number of Whighams have continued to emigrate from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland settling throughout the United States.  Regardless of their country of origin, those who bear the name “Whigham” are or are descended from someone and who share a common ancestry.