The Pither family is a small localised group. The name is apparently of West Country origin arising from the name "Peter". There are variants, namely Pether, Pyther, Peather as well as Pethers and Pithers. There were pockets in North Petherton (is this where the name originates?), Somerset and around the Bristol area in the 15/1600s. The bulk of the clan were, however, located in the South Berkshire and North Hampshire areas in the 1600s. They appear to have migrated East into Middlesex and London. The concentrations and lines of migration would appear consistent with cattle traders driving herds from South Wales and the West Country to the Berkshire/Hampshire border where they would be fattened before the final drive into Smithfield in London. My wife is a Pither born in Barnes (SW London) in 1936. We have gathered a considerable amount of information and have just started to enter it onto Family Tree Maker in an effort to make sense of it all. The results will be published here in due course.
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