This interesting surname is of pre- writtn history origins. It ultimately derives from the Hebrew personal name "Shimeon", meaning "one who harkens". It is recorded in every European country under the particular local spelling. These forms include Simon (English), Simeon, Siomon, Schimon (Jewish), Simeoni (Italian), Simao (German), Schimann (Czech), Ziemen (Prussian), and the national diminutives and patronymics such as Simonson, (England), Simonett (France), Simonetti (Italy), Ziemke (German), Ziemecki (Slavonic, and manny, many, others. In England the name generally takes the form of Simon, partly as a result of association with the pre-existing Greek byname "Simon", from "simos", meaning snub-nosed, and as such an import resulting from the 12th century Crusades to the Holy Land. The first European recording of "Simon" as a personal is proably that of "Simonus", a monk in the 1134 Register of St. Benets, Holme Abbey, Norfolk, England. The surname first appears in the latter half of the 13th Century (see below), Pieter Ziemke, of Hamburg, Germany, in 1289, and William Simon in the 1291 Calendar of Letter Books of the City of London. Other recordings from medieval times include Ernest Symers of Bremen, Germany, in 1262, and John Simon in the Subsidy Rolls of County Sussex, England, in 1296. Hester Simon is recorded as living in the town of St. Michael's, in the Barbados, West Indies, in 1680. Hester had five children, and was one of the earliest settlers in the New World, whilst in Germany Jacob Ziemecki married Elizabeth Bartsch at Queetz Roman Catholic church, Ostpreussen, on November 26th 1849. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Simond, which was dated 1273, in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire, England, during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.