The records used to develop this set of branches start in Kirkby Malham in the West Riding of Yorkshire. They are some of the oldest I’ve found with several dating back to the late 16^th century, although I haven’t been able to look at all of the original records to check for transcription errors. I have though managed to link together a series of records for three groups of families linked to different locations in the parish of Kirkby Malham, which was once in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

The Serjeantson’s of Hanlith Hall form one branch starting with Robert Serjeantson (1520-1594). Much has been written about this family so the descendant report is limited in detail.

The second branch occupied Scosthrop in the parish of Kirkby Malham and is headed by Edward Sergiantson (1540-1600). This is a more unusual spelling of the surname.

The third group of five families can all be linked to the parish of Kirkby Malham. By far the largest group starts with Roger Serjantson (1595-1676). By the late 18^th century members of the family had started to move away from the area with some of them settling in Keighley. Also at this time the surname variants start to include: Sargison, Sargeson and Sergeson. For example, two brothers seem to adopt different surname variants. John Sargeantson (born about 1802 in Keighley) was an engineer in Bradford in 1851 where he died in 1861. By contrast, his brother Robert Sergeson (1808-1864) was a spindle and flyer maker in 1851. Another descendant also proved to be interesting: William Sargeson (1806-1886). He spent over 40 years working as a gardener at Trafford Park, Greater Manchester. His story is in my blog.

The other four families in this group are headed by: John Serjeantson (died 1556), Miles Sargeantson (1570-1633), Robert Sargeantson (1592-1664) and George Sargeantson (born 1600); for the last two there is limited information and no downloadable descendant reports.

I do also have a number of records for the late 16^th and early 17^th centuries which seem to relate to these families which I have not yet connected to them. There are records from Kirkby Malham, Long Preston and Gisburn which seems to suggest that this area of the West Riding of Yorkshire was a key starting point for the surname so I would like to develop these further. If you have any information which could help then do please contact me.

Whilst I make every effort to check the source records carefully, I am conscious that mistakes can creep in. Do please contact me if you have any information which can help me improve these trees.