Meghan Markle’s New Hampshire Roots

Did you know that Meghan Markle’s paternal grandmother, Doris Mary Rita Sanders (born about 1920), daughter of Fred George Sanders and Gertrude May Merrill,  was born in New Hampshire? She has a New Hampshire lineage that goes back for another ten generations in New Hampshire!

I won’t give her entire family tree here, since it is easily seen online at the resources listed below, and also since it would be enormous!  But I will tell you a little about Meghan’s New Hampshire ancestors.   The newspapers recently were all aflutter about Meghan’s Wentworth and Hussey shared ancestry with her husband Harry, but that goes back more than fifteen generations before they share an ancestor.  You might be even more closely related to the new royal bride if you match some of this New Hampshire ancestry.

From the lists of surnames below, I can see that I share common ancestors with Meghan through BURNHAM, PAGE, BATCHELDER, SANBORN, TAYLOR, SWETT, STACY and GODFREY, and kinship with a few other New Hampshire surnames.

Are these surnames in your New Hampshire family tree?  If so, you might be a cousin!  I’ve listed the surnames in Meghan’s family tree, and the immigrant ancestors of those surnames.

SMITH from Center Harbor, Meredith and Hampton (immigrant ancestor John Smith abt. 1616 – 1674)

MUDGETT  from New Hampton and Brentwood  (immigrant Thomas Mudgett abt. 1640 – 1701)

DRAKE from Holderness and Hampton (Abraham Drake 1623 – 1709)

MERRILL from Plymouth and Holderness (untraced before 1768)

HUCKINS from Gilmanton, Madbury and Durham (Oyster River) (Robert Huckins 1620 – 1694)

BICKFORD from Newington and Dover (John Bickford 1607 – 1677)

PAGE from Hampton  (Robert Page 1604 – 1679)

HOBBS from Hampton (Morris Hobbs 1615 – 1706)

SHAW from Cambridge MA and Hampton, NH (Roger Shaw 1600 – 1661)

BATCHELDER from Hampton (Rev. Stephen Batchelder 1561 – 1656)

DOW from Hampton (Henry Dow 1605 – 1659)

TAYLOR from Hampton (Anthony Taylor 1607 – 1687)

GODFREY from Hampton (William Godfrey d.1671)

HUSSEY from Hampton ( Christopher Hussey 1598 – 1685)

SANBORN from Hampton (John Sanborn 1588 – 1650)

MEAD (untraced before Hannah Mead m. Joseph Mudgett b. 1731)

SCRIBNER from Dover  (John Scriven (1623 – 1675)

SWETT from Hampton (Benjamin Swett 1624 – 1677)

THOMAS from Durham (Oyster River) (James Thomas (1642 – 1718)

GODDARD from Durham (Oyster River)  (John Goddard (1608 – 1666)

TIBBETTS from Dover (Jeremiah Tibbetts 1631 – 1677)

BENMORE from Dover (Philip Benmore 1630 – 1676)

ADAMS from Durham (Charles Adams (1621 – 1694)

WEARE from Nantucket and Hampton (Nathaniel Weare 1605 – 1681)

ROBIE from Hampton (Henry Robie)

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Some of Meghan’s Essex County, Massachusetts ancestors:

LEE from Manchester

KILHAM from Wenham

LUNT from Newbury

BROWNE from Newbury

EATON from Salisbury and Haverhill

ROWLANDSON from Lancaster and Salisbury

WORTHEN (untraced)

TILTON from Lynn

BURNHAM from Ipswich

FRENCH from Salisbury

STACY from Salisbury

CARTER from Woburn

WHITCHER/WHITTIER from Salisbury, MA and Chester, NH

ELLSWORTH (untraced before Jeremiah Ellsworth 1692 – 1779 m. Hannah Tenney of Rowley, MA)

Some of the many online sources for Meghan’s ancestry:

From NEHGS    https://www.americanancestors.org/Royal-Ancestry-of-Meghan-Markle.aspx  

from Fame Chain  http://www.famechain.com/  

A chart of Meghan and Harry’s shared ancestry:

https://www.americanancestors.org/uploadedfiles/content/features/meghan-markle-chart.pdf

Famous Kin   https://famouskin.com/family-tree.php?name=80923+meghan+markle

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Meghan Markle’s New Hampshire Roots", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 4, 2018, (https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/06/meghan-markles-new-hampshire-roots.html: accessed [access date]).