HEBBORN FAMILY HISTORY & NEWS -  January 2005

RICHARD THURSTON EBBORN of Gloucestershire and New Zealand.

I am always hoping to come across information that helps to connect overseas Hebborns with the old country. I was thrilled when I came across an Internet reference to the marriage of Richard Thurston Ebborn of Alvington and Emma Osborn on 04 April 1864 at St Paul’s, Auckland, New Zealand. It is even more exciting when the overseas lead can be connected to a UK family.

I passed the reference on to John, who recognised ‘Thurston’ as a recurring name in a GLS family of Ebborns. The custom of giving the mother’s maiden surname as a given name can be very helpful when looking for the parent’s marriage. Be warned, the path of family history is strewn with red herrings, leading you down all kinds of blind alleys. That surname given at the font might correspond with that of a rich aunt or a godparent rather than a mother.

A look at the references collected from Alvington parish certainly contained Ebborns, but not our Richard Thurston Ebborn. The baptisms of Richard and a number of his siblings with the given name Thurston were found among references from the Gloucestershire parish of English Bicknor. They were recorded as the children of Richard and Sarah Ebborn:-
30 Dec 1832 Frederick William Thurston Ebborn [F703].
08 Mar 1835 Richard Thurston Ebborn [F704]. 
23 Apr 1837 Josiah Thurston Ebborn [F705].
The name Thurston was not bestowed on the later children of Richard and Sarah:
30 Jun 1839 Elizabeth Esther Ebborn [F706]. 
18 Jul 1841 Francis Charles Ebborn [F707].
09 Jul 1843 Mary Louisa Ebborn [F708].
29 Oct 1848 Henry John Ebborn [F709].
16 Mar 1851 Sarah Margaret Clifford Ebborn [F710].
She was buried at Alvington on 11 Apr 1864, as was her eldest brother Frederick William Thurston Ebborn age 29, on 07 Jun 1862.  The burials in Alvington suggest that the family had moved there some time after 1851, and would confirm the residence shown on Richard’s New Zealand marriage entry. The baptism of an earlier child of Richard and Sarah was found in Dymock GLS: 02 Jan 1831 Harriet Eleanor Thurston Ebboin. I think the surname Ebborn had been miscopied somewhere along the line. 

Richard, the father of these children, has proved very elusive. His baptism has not yet been located. He appears to be the brother of William Ball Ebborn [E707] whose baptism also evades me. There are a couple of valuable clues in the meagre information I have on William Ball Ebborn. The entry of his burial at Newland on 31 Jan 1851 gives his age as 59 years. Then there is that middle name “Ball”. It suggests that he was the son of William Ebborn [D715] and Eleanor Ball. William and Eleanor were married at Dixton Newton, MON on 31 Oct 1781. I have noted five of their children baptised at Alvington between 1782 and 1789. Then between 1797 and 1803 another four children of William and Eleanor are baptised at English Bicknor. This leaves a gap of over seven years between the known parts of their family. I think that William Ball Ebborn and Richard Ebborn, and possibly others, fit neatly into this gap. The evidence is purely circumstantial, but documentary evidence probably exists. Unfortunately, there is no central index where all baptisms are listed.

The search for the marriage entry of Richard Ebborn [E708] and Sarah (probably Thurston) still goes on. What I did find was the baptism of Sarah daughter of George and Harriet Thurston on 27 Sep 1807 at Dymock, GLS. I think the evidence suggests that this is Richard’s wife. Their first child was baptised in this parish and appears to bear the names of her two grandmothers – Harriet Thurston and Eleanor Ebborn.

I do not know whether Richard Thurston Ebborn [F704] and Emma Osborn carried the Ebborn name on in New Zealand, and decided to see how his brothers fared back home. Frederick W.T. [F703] died in 1862 age 29.  Josiah T. [F705] died in 1868 age 32, and Henry John [F709] in 1885 age 37. His brother Francis Charles Ebborn [F707] married Emma Pontifex at Llandogo MON on 21 Nov 1866. At the time of the 1881 Census they, and four of their children, were living at Awre, GLS. By this time Francis Charles who is described as a farmer has become ‘Charles’.  His eldest son Arthur Richard Ebborn [G711] baptised 25 Apr 1868 at Llandogo married Ellen Jenner in 1893. He is described in the 1901 Census as Arthur Ebborn. He is a farmer living at Flaxley GLS with his wife and three children: Elsie Hilda Ebborn [H707]. Arthur Ebborn [H708] and Ernest Ebborn [H709].  There I will end this trail.

The chance discovery of the marriage in New Zealand led me into a whole new field of investigation, revealing on the way generations of Ebborns settled near the Forest of Dean and the Welsh border. I have tried to tackle only a small part of this extended family. Even this limited study has not been without problems, many of which remain unsolved. I would love to hear from you if you have any information to prove or disprove my ideas about those undiscovered baptism and marriage entries.

Joan Williams.

Persons named in this article will be found on Family Tree Charts B701, C703, E707 and E708.
The numbers in square brackets after names are used to identify persons on the Family Tree Charts.