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HEBBORN FAMILY HISTORY & NEWS - August 2003.
HEBBORNE OF HEBBORNE
The ancient family of Hebborne of Hebborne in Northumberland is mentioned in documents going back to the reign of King John [1199-1216]. It is easy to claim descent from an ancient family, but a very different matter proving it. In this case, the evidence shows that the direct line died out with the death of an heiress in 1806. Of course, there would have been umpteen cadet branches of the family to carry on the name.
I first became aware of the family from a family tree printed in ‘Genealogist’ vol. 1. p.303. It was presumably derived from the Herald’s Visitation. The lack of dates and the gaps in generations make it quite difficult to interpret. Then I managed to locate a copy of Archaelogia Aeliana, volume XVIII second series published in 1896. This contained an article by J. Crawford Hodgson entitled “Notes on the Family of Hebburn of Hebburn. Although he spells the name “Hebburn” throughout the article, it is the same family. The name of the place where the family lived was called ‘Hebborne’ later ‘Hebburn’ and now ‘Hepburn’. For me this article is still the most comprehensive piece I have seen on this family.
The family held considerable amounts of land and a substantial fortified house at Hebborne. It was the kind of family that would have been mentioned in many records. In his article, Rev Crawford Hodgson takes references from a number of sources and puts the pieces together to create a family tree and history. He refers to wills, deeds, marriage settlements, herald’s visitations, parish records, etc. The result is like a jigsaw with pieces missing; you have a good idea of the picture, but would love to know what the missing pieces showed. Some of the detail will have been lost forever. Some may still be around but were not readily available to him. We should bear in mind that when the article was written the author did not have the benefit of modern technology, or the all the microfiche, CD-ROMS and publications devoted to family history currently available.
I wonder what he would make of the “Access to Archives” website (www.a2a.pro.gov.uk). This facility provided by the Public Record Office currently lists 4.7 million catalogue entries from 326 record offices. It contains some additional references to the Hebborne family. They do not add new genealogical material but provide interesting detail.
The Records of the Northumberland Quarter Sessions [held at the Northumberland Record Office] show that Arthur Hebbourne [sic] of Hebborne was a member of the Grand Jury in the reign of King James I [1603-1625]. In 1615, the Sheriff of Northumberland ordered Arthur’s son Edward with others, to distrain the goods of Alexander Ridley to the value of £20. What they took sounds a little excessive: 50 beasts. viz., cows, bullocks and heifers. As a result of this, a riot ensued.
A presentment to the court states that Alexander Ridley, Marmaduke Rydley, Nicholas Crayne, Anna Craine, Margaret Craine and many other unknown persons to the number of 40 men and women at Whitsheils, assaulted Edward Hebborne, and others, taking from them 50 cows, bullocks and heifers, and Nicholas Crayne said “that Talbot and all the rest of the justices should kiss his a**e, and the justices should come with a thousand men to drive awaie those goods that he had but one howers warneing he did not care one pine for them all”. I bet that remark endeared him to the Court! I wonder what happened to him.
Edward was a younger son of Arthur Hebborne and was bequeathed £100 by his father’s will proved in 1638. His elder brother Ralph inherited the estate, and Edward is not mentioned again. Perhaps he married, had children and started another cadet line of the ancient family.
The number of references on Access to Archives will continue to grow as years go by. At the moment, they only represent a very small percentage of the material held in archives throughout England. I am currently working my way through a large batch of ‘Hebborn’ references found at the Public Record Office by Tony Heybourn. Some I am sure refer to the Hebborne of Hebborne family. None of these have yet appeared on A2A, a warning not to rely too heavily on the Internet. John Hebborn.
AUGUST 2003
FROM THE EDITOR
Regular readers of HFH&N will have come to expect this page to change on the first of each month. My apologies if you are inconvenienced by finding ‘August’ appearing early. Richard, our Webmaster, who burns the midnight oils improving and maintaining this site is taking a well earned holiday with his family. Typical of his dedication to this unpaid job he has decided to put the August page up early rather than keeping you all waiting until he gets home again. If you missed July 2003 you can view it by clicking on ‘Resources’ then ‘Archives’ then the July 2003 page.
It is difficult to know how many visitors to this site are new to family history, or are seasoned genealogists. I hope we can be useful to either. What is apparent from e-mails received is that we have attracted lots of folk who have found a Hebborn (or similar name) in their family tree. I am always delighted to hear from you.
If you are just embarking on your family history you may be disappointed to find that most references to events in the last one hundred years are missing from the databases. This is because some information found in public records could prove embarrassing or stressful to living members of a family. The regular contributors to HFH&N are all very happy to help newcomers in their research. If you are having difficulty tracing Hebborn (or similar name) ancestors born or married after 1902, please send me an e-mail at editor@hebborn.org.uk If I can’t help I might be able to refer you to someone who can. Remember, this is NOT a commercial organisation and we will not be charging you fees for any information.
Genealogy is currently enjoying a lot of interest. I found family history a frustrating activity when I started on the trail nearly fifty years ago. I remember that before tracking down my great grandfather’s baptism entry, I had the much more difficult job of tracking down the register! Now, like most parish registers, it is safely and stored and preserved in a county record office, and accessible with a reader’s ticket. This is but one instance of how public records have become a lot more accessible. Modern technology means that a huge amount of information is now available on micro-fiche, CD-ROM and on the internet.
I first attempted to trace my ancestry nearly fifty years ago. It proved a daunting task and I did not get very far. I could not find my great grand parents marriage entry in the records of the General Register Office, which was then in Somerset House. So, it was up to the Public Record Office in Chancery Lane for the latest available census at that time. This was taken in 1851, but had no index. I found my great grandfather, who was single and living with his mother and a maiden aunt called Catherine Baker. This was a major breakthrough as I had my great grandfather’s age, birthplace, his mother’s name and maiden name. The big revelation was that he was recorded as “Ebborn”. Back to Somerset House where I searched for the marriage of a William Ebborn under the letter E from 1851 onwards. I could not find an entry.
The next step was to try and find an entry of baptism for William Ebborn in Cowley, Oxfordshire, where was his stated birthplace in the 1851 Census. First, I had to track down the register. The Vicar of the ancient parish church, told me that the old registers had been handed over to a more modern church which had better facilities for safe storage. An appointment was made with this vicar who arranged for the register to be made available. I was able to view the actual entry made in October 1825. The big surprise was that my great grandfather was recorded as “William Hepburn”. A further trip to Somerset House, and at last I found his marriage registration recorded as “William Hepburn and Ann Gardner”.
To get this far with my ‘Hebborn’ ancestors had required quite a lot of effort. I hope my story it will not put newcomers off the challenge. Things have changed so much
What has changed immensely over the past fifty years has been the increasing availablity of records and information.
What a nightmare those visits to Somerset House were. I loved the architecture, including the beautiful galleries that housed the public search rooms, but they were totally inadequate for the number of people using the service. I have heard a few moans about The current Family Record Centre in Middleton Street, but I can assure you it a great improvement on what went before. Likewise, the Public Record Office at Kew
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