About Jecks
North Norfolk
South Norfolk
What: Jecks is a family name originating in the county of Norfolk, which was part of the old kingdom of East Anglia before the unification of present day England.
To be clear at the outset, "Jecks" is one of several common spellings of the name. Until the 19th century surnames were not spelt consistently, even within a single document or by a single writer.
This family name was most commonly spelt as Jecks, Jeckes, or Jex. Another variation used only in the early C16th was Jekkys. Except when quoting original documents I have used the form Jecks.
When and where: The earliest known occurrence of Jecks was in the 14th century, around 1350. Since then the Jecks are found most frequently in two regions:
Found first in C14th north Norfolk, from Hunworth to Reepham with Kerdiston (parishes 1-9 in the map).
Then, at least from the C15th, the Jecks established themselves in south Norfolk around Wymondham (parish 11); firstly in Aslacton, Bunwell and Carleton Rode et al (parishes 12-20), and secondly in Runhall, Crownthorpe, Wymondham itself and nearby (parishes 21-29).
Others of the Jecks name are found in early times in the ancient city of Norwich, and later in Great Yarmouth.
Map from "The Jecks Family: Yeomen Farmers of Norfolk, Third Edition" 2021 by Murray G. Jecks-Johnston.
Over forty years ago, long before the internet, I visited Norfolk several times, including the Norfolk Record Office (as it then was), county history organisations, and local churches with their registers at the time usually in possession of the local vicar.
I still have my handwritten copies of or extracts from wills, church registers and other documents, each made under the careful scrutiny of NRO staff, a vicar, or whoever, rightfully concerned about preservation. Many of these original documents are now not directly viewable by the general public, although excellent quality copies can be made by staff.
A key component in putting together this family history was The Jecks Genealogy. This was a history of the Jecks family written in 1795 by Isaac Jecks (1756-1841), my gt gt gt grandfather. Isaac's Genealogy was invaluable in providing genealogical details not otherwise known. His entire work is included in this family history, specifically in Part D.
This original research was first assembled into a book in the late 1970s, printed and privately bound in England in 1981. That went out to various members of the Jecks family - 13 numbered copies. Twenty or so years later, with new data and corrections, the book was revised into the "Second Edition". And after another 20 years, the "Third Edition" of the same book was finalized in July 2021, including yet more data and further corrections, with the benefit of research and various documents sourced, in particular, from NRO.
For each of the editions, information and stories from members of the Jecks family in England and North America contributed significantly to the book. My thanks to them all.
Nowadays, books are often not the most common way of passing on information of this kind ... the internet is. So this website was created.
Furthermore, organizations such as Ancestry facilitate the dynamic creation of family trees. The two Jecks families featured herein have been set up as Trees in Ancestry and can be accessed directly by subscribers or as a "guest". If any reader would like an "invitation" to be a guest, please contact me. The two Trees are named:
JECKS of south Norfolk
Jex and Jecks of north Norfolk
The Story
Jecks is one of the rarer names in England. My mother was a Jecks, and the origins of the name intrigued me early on. This story includes over 400 people born with the Jecks name.
The origin turned out to be South Norfolk, in parishes immediately around Wymondham. The earliest story of this family is set out in my book: The Jecks Family, Book 1: Yeomen Farmers of Norfolk. Incorporating Book 3: The Jecks of London.
That begs the question: what about Book 2? This ended up as a separate volume entitled The Jecks Family, Book 2: Isaac Jecks of Wisbech and Norwich.
Book 1: The first nine generations of Jecks in south Norfolk - from John Jecks c 1475 and his descendants until about 1820: includes 209 individuals born with the Jecks name.
Book 2: Isaac Jecks (of the ninth generation), from c 1780 to c 1980 - in Norfolk, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, USA & Canada: includes well over 100 of the Jecks name.
Book 3: The brothers Charles James Jecks and William Jecks (of the ninth generation), from c 1780 to c 1980 - in London, England, the USA & Canada: includes another 100+ named Jecks.
The Families
As noted above, way back as far as we are able to go, there were at least two branches of the Jecks family ... and I don't dispute that there may have been more.
One of the two branches - in south Norfolk - is the primary focus of this website.
The other family and arguably the first - in north Norfolk - is documented in summary only.