- My husband's paternal grandmother's maiden name was Cram. I was given
this history verbally by her, Verona Cram Skinner, and her son, my father-in-law,
James Louis Skinner, but am told that all this has been carefully reasearched
and is documented. She is in possession of the geneological research that
was done at great pains and expense and will someday provide copies to
the grandchildren at which time I will convert as much as possible to an
on-line form.
The name CRAM was originally VON KRAM. They were Teutonic Knights of the Hanseatic League formed in Palestine during the Crusades. From there, Ludolf von Kram went to England from Germany and went into the service of King Henry VIII as a hired knight (or mercenary). As a reward for fighting the Scots so effectively (in other words, killing great numbers of them) the King awarded Ludolf von Kram the Manor of Falling at Newcastle on the Tyne and Ware which is just south of the Scottish border. (I presume as a semi guardian.)
His son anglicized the name from von Kram to CRAM. Ludolf von Kram's grandson, John Cram, came to the Massachuset's Bay Colony in 1632 and founded the American line. By 1639, John Cram was in Exeter, New Hampshire.
This is all I know about the early Cram history and how they got to America.
More recent Cram geneological information:
Ken's grandmother, Verona Cram Skinner was born in 1912 and had one brother, Clifford "Gene" Cram (deceased) who was born in 1911 and one sister, Marilyn (also deceased), born in 1916 who married Ben Cutler. Their father was Frederick Whitmore Cram, married to Mary Lynn Barfoot. Verona's brother Gene, married and had children but all were girls so the Cram name died out after Gene in their branch of the family.
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