The Bamber connection - the other Hubberstey line

Based on tracing all the Hubbersteys I could find through all the censuses I have come to the conclusion that every Hubberstey can trace their roots to either the Robert Hubberstey/Mary Culcheth line (link) or the John Hubberstey/Alice Bamber line. This post will set-up the discussion of the John Hubberstey - Alice Bamber line which will be continued in the next post.

We start the story with three weddings that happened in the early 1800's in North Preston involving three Hubbersteys and three Bambers.

1. At Goosnargh (St. Francis Catholic church, pictured above) on Feb 22, 1819, Betty Hubberstey married Thomas Bamber.

2. At Goosnargh on June 9th, 1828, John Hubberstey married Alice Bamber

3. At Goosnargh on Jan.17, 1831 James Hubberstey married Margaret Bamber.

I have not been able to absolutely confirm that all the Bambers and all the Hubberstey were related, but there is plenty of circumstantial evidence for at least some interrelationship.

We will start with the Bamber side. (William Bamber (1735-1819) married Alice Lancaster (1731-1811) and they had at least one son, need to confirm this) Ralph Bamber (b.1762) married Mary Ribchester (b.1766). Together they had plenty of children (13 by my count from the records) starting in Chipping then moving to Goosnargh including a Thomas (b.1792), Alice (b.1793) and Margaret (b.1797). The census records from 1841 do not show birthplaces, and by 1851 Alice had died. However Margaret's 1851 record shows her age at 54 and birthplace as Chipping. We also see the name "Ralph" used in both Alice's and Margaret's families later on. This definitely looks like the most possible scenario.

And ... just to make things even more interesting (or confusing) we have a birth of an Alice Bamber to William and Elizabeth Bamber in Claughton in 1799 with one of the witnesses being a Bridget Hubberstey. If nothing else it shows a link between the families.

The Hubberstey side is a little trickier because there are some holes in the records. I can find no record of the birth of a Betty Hubberstey, however we had a James Hubberstey marrying an Alice Billington and having a son James on May 18th, 1800 in Cottam. This is after having previously had a son John in 1793, christened in Fernyhalgh. This would provide a John and a James at about the right ages, and in the proper order, to match with the Bamber girls.

As for Betty the best I can find is an Elizabeth Hubberstey (Betty being short for Elizabeth) born to John Hubberstey and Isabella Weaton (Robert and Mary line) and christened March 29, 1792 Saint Mary Newhouse-Rc, Newsham, Lancashire, making her the same age as Thomas Bamber - so not impossible.

We can at least infer that the families (James/Margaret and John/Alice) must have been close from the naming of their children. The order and names of the first 5/6 children are almost identical.

Here are the children of James (Cotton Weaver, b.1795?) and Margaret Bamber (b.1795):

James b.1831
Mary b.1832
Ralph b.1833
John b. 1835
William b.1837
Alice b.1840
Joseph b.1842

Here are the children of John and Alice Bamber:

James b.1829
Mary b.1831
Ralph b.1833
William b.1835

Alice b.1838 


In the 1841 census we have Alice as a Cotton Weaver living with 5 children. They are living very close to James and Margaret in Whittingham. Although the census records do not show an exact address, they are on the previous census page to James and Margaret...so basically just a few doors down. James and Margaret are themselves living next door to another family of Bambers. So it looks like a lot of all in the family.


So we have two families to follow. One of them, the James and Margaret family, eventually seems to peter out (although there is still one possibility outstanding), while the other carries on to today. Now actually tracing the two families was a bit of a challenge as both families gave their children similar names and the birth dates too were similar, but I am pretty sure that I have now separated them correctly.



James and Margaret post


John and Alice post



...more to come