This interesting name is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname deriving from the place in Lancashire called 'Wheelton'. The placename is recorded in the Lancashire Pipe Rolls of Circa 1160 as 'Whelton', and in the circa 1200 as 'Whelton'. The meaning is 'the settlement at or by the water-wheel or stone circle', derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century word 'Lweol', meaning 'Wheel', specifically a water wheel or, in a transferred sense, a circle, wheel, of stones. The surname is well recorded in Lancashire and Cheshire. John Wheelton was christened on the 2nd February 1694 at Manchester Cathedral in Lancashire, and William Wheelton married Ellen Shufflebothome in Prestbury, Cheshire, on the 5th April 1670. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Edward Wheelton, christened, which was dated 18th February 1610, St. Michael's, Macclesfield, during the reign of King James I of England and VI of Scotland, 1603 - 1625. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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