An Introduction
to the Duckmanton WebSite

An Introduction to the Duckmanton WebSite

My name is Melvyn Duckmanton. I was born in 1954 in the small village of Market Warsop in Nottinghamshire, England. I lived there on and off for about 37 years before I had to move with my job to Grimsby in N.E. Lincolnshire in 1991 where I still live today.

Duckmantons - Rarer than the White Rhino

While idling an evening away in 1999 searching through on-line phone books and 'white pages' I found just 170 Duckmanton households listed in the UK, thirty-odd in Australia, about the same in New Zealand, and less than 20 in the USA. That's about 250 Duckmanton households. Assuming a mum, a dad and 2.5 kids in each that's possibly just over 1000 Duckmanton individuals worldwide. According to the International Rhino Foundation there are over 11,500 white rhinos in the world. That's almost an infestation by comparision. We Duckmantons are clearly an endangered species so maybe we should make an effort to get to know each other and learn about our roots.  This Duckmanton Web Site is my contribution.  Here is how the site came to be and what it is about . . .

In the Beginning

In 1992, out of the blue, I received an unsolicited letter from a 'cousin', Terrence William Duckmanton, on the other side of the world in Australia.  He was investigating his family tree and wanted information about other branches of the Duckmanton family here in the UK where the name originated.  His letter inspired me to begin researching my own Duckmanton ancestry in my spare time.

The Archive

Terry already had a substantial archive of Duckmanton related information which he copied for me to help me get started.  Over the next few years we expanded the archive together as new material was added.

The End?

In 1995, having traced my 4 x great grandfather and identified most of his Duckmanton descendants and their spouses, over 750 people, my enthusiasm for the hobby waned and all the invaluable information that I had avidly collected over the years was carefully packed away in boxes and simply put in the attic to gather dust.

The Resurrection

So I ended up with a lot of potentially useful information about Duckmantons that I wasn't using and no one else had access to.  But in 1999 I was able to indulge a new hobby, namely web authoring, and use it to make some of that family history information available through this site to anyone with access to the internet.  And that's what this web site is all about.

If You're Curious

So, whether you are heavily into Duckmanton family history or if your are just curious to see if you or your great granddad Duckmanton gets a mention, or just plain curious, please feel free to browse the information in the Duckmanton family history archive.

Contact

And if you want to ask any questions or offer any suggestions, feel free - just drop me an e-mail. Or at least leave a note in the guest book just so I can see who's visiting.