Dear List, Is anyone else researching or does anyone have any early information relating to the Yeme/Yemm family of the parish of Walford. They held the estate of Howle for several centuries. There is a monument to this "ancient" family on the altar wall in Walford parish church erected after the death of the 'last' in the male line of this family, Edmund Yemm, (died 1708). He may not actually have been the last in the line because the neighbouring parish of Ruardean (from which my Yemms originate) also had (and still has) a very old family of Yemes. This purely local surname is very rare and I think that all the Yemes in this area share common ancestry. The arms unofficially used by the Walford Yemes who were minor country gentry are the same as those used by the even older family which held the Barony of Kyme (this family died out in the 1330's). I'm wondering if Yeme derives from Kyme. Indeed, Thomas Yeme (d. 1667) of Walford was a Cavalier during the Civil War and is listed as Capt! ain Kemes in one source so I think the Kyme/Yeme connection is certain. Yemes etc. are known in the Ruardean/Walford area from the middle of the 1400's certainly but I'm curious as to their earlier origins and whether they are one and the same family. Best wishes James Phillips-Evans