Saturday, January 9, 2010

Intereresting dates in Hubberstey history

As a starting point to learning more about Hubberstey history this compilation of "interesting" tidbits can give you a quick overview and introduce you to some of the key people or events in our story. Where there are links in the entries you can follow them to different pages in this blog.

1200's: We have the first written references to the Hubberstey/Hubbersty name - in 2 places. The first location was near where Hubbersty Head is today (near Underbarrow up near Kendal and not too far from Windermere). The second location was on the banks of the Condor river, near Nether Wryesdale, between Galgate and Garstang, close to Cockerham. Of course the key question is whether these two locations were related or whether this was a case of two different places coming up with the same name.

One of the things we know about the Hubberstey name is that it has gone through more than a few spellings. In the Condor river location we had Hobyrstad, Hubberstath, Hobyrstaih, Hobirstad and Hobyrstad.  In the Underbarrow area it was first referred to as Ubberstede. I guess then that both options could be possible. Either the two locations developed the name independently OR there was an earlier connection. 

The 1400-1600's: During this period we start to see actual birth, death and marriage records. Unfortunately not all survived so we have only a partial picture. What we see though are 4 clusters of Hubbersteys with a few others scattered elsewhere. The four clusters were near Wyresdale/Garstang, Lancaster, Yealand Conyers, and Underbarrow/Fallen Yew. This gives you 4 clusters in a pretty much straight line starting in Garstang and going up to Kendal. Again the interesting question is if and how these clusters were related. I suppose one could argue that the Lancaster/Garstang clusters were one group and the Yealand Conyers/Underbarrow clusters were another, or alternatively that they were all ultimately one group, if you went far enough back. Fun to speculate though.

One document that might be interesting to see from the period (1634)  is this:
YEALAND & WARTON -- warrant for arrest of Thomas Hubberstie of Lyndeth, George his brother, and Peter the bastard son of George, for lack of control of Peter
The oldest reference I can find is from 1485:

Grant from Brian Waller and Rolland Hubersty to Roger Strikland and Alice, his wife, of lands and tenements in Hellissell in the town of Strikland Ketill Strickland Ketel, co. Westmorland.  MS 3375/446740  14 June 2 Ric III 1485

In the History of Garstang we have a reference in about 1604 to a tenant John Hubberstie at the Mannor of Netherwiresdale / Remayninge (current spelling Nether Wyresdale). They also mention that the parish records were in reasonable shape (in the 1870's when the book was written that is). One early entry mentioned is a Rychard, son of Robert Huberstie born March 1567.

Finally we also have a strange collection of Hubbersteys in the 1550-1600 time frame down at Kingston Upon Thames, which is a fair distance from the other clusters. We start with 2 marriages in 1553, one of a Annys Hubberstye to Rychard Sheppey and one of a Xofer Hubberstye to a Joanne Fletcher. We get as far as a Robert Hubberstye leasing the Red Lyon in Kingston in 1592, but unfortunately shortly after that the trail goes cold.

During this period, in addition to the Hubberstey and Hubbersty spellings, Hubberstie was a very commonly used spelling in all the regions.   

Mid-to late 1600's. During the mid -1600's the area around Yealand Conyers became associated with the persecuted Quaker movement led by George Fox. A number of Hubberstys in the area assisted the movement and two, Miles and Steven Hubbersty, were part of the original Valiant 60. We also know that a Robert Hubberstey was heavily involved with the Quakers. He was apparently imprisoned once for 9 weeks, committed to Lancaster Castle with 4 others another time and imprisoned for 5 years at yet another before preaching throughout the land. 

1656: This looks to be the first case of a Hubbersty link to America. There is a court case (Hubbersty v. Bell) for which I found the following note "Margaret Hubbersty alias Holland, was the owner of a plantation in Maryland. She was a recusant who, during the Civil War in England, assigned her property to her brother-in-law, a Member of Parliament, to save it from confiscation". Further research found that the plaintiff in the case was a Robert Hubbersty. I am still looking for more information on this.  I am assuming that as it was a plantation, the Maryland is Maryland in the USA. At the time Maryland was one of the few places in the British Empire where Catholics held high positions of political authority. Of course maybe Margaret just owned the plantation and never went there. Or... Robert Hubbersty was the Quaker Robert Hubbersty above as at that time in London "there were well-known Puritan families in Hendon as the Haleys, Hubberstys and the Paul Nicolls." 

1700: Hannah Hubberstey marries Joseph Bispham. Hannah was the daughter of Robert Hubberstey and Ann Backhouse. Joseph was the son of John Bispham. Both families were prominent in the early Quaker movement. Hannah was born in 1675 and lived to the ripe old age of 88. She had 8 children (2 of whom died in infancy). Two of her children (Benjamin and Joshua) went to America in the 1730's. Joshua has descendants to the present day.

Late 1600's early 1700's: At this point we can start to follow direct lines from the old records all the way to the present. We have one line from Underbarrow/Fallen Yew, one line from Yealand Conyers, and one line from I suspect the Nether Wryesdale/Forton area just north of Garstang (although we only actually pick it up with the marriage of Robert Hubberstey and Mary Culcheth at Samlesbury, near Preston in the early 1700's). 

June 15th, 1826: Nathan Hubbersty went with a young Charles Darwin on a walking tour in North Wales including climbing Snowdon. Nathan at the time would have been only 23, Darwin just 17. Darwin was born in Shrewsbury where Nathan later became headmaster of the school. They appear to have kept in some contact as Darwin was informed of Nathan's ill health in 1881. Darwin himself died in 1882.

June 9, 1828 and January 17, 1831: The marriage dates for John Hubberstey and Alice Bamber and James Hubberstey and Margaret Bamber. It appears likely that this was a case of two Bamber sisters marrying two Hubberstey brothers. The John Hubberstey - Alice Bamber line has male descendants to this day (and is what I call Line 2). It is also still remotely possible that there are James Hubberstey - Margaret Bamber descendants, though this is really quite unlikely. So if you are a Hubberstey today you are either from the Robert Hubberstey - Mary Culcheth line or from the John Hubberstey - Alice Bamber line or you are someone I want to hear from right away (because there is a hole in my research). 

1860's and 70's: We don't have many instances of Hubbersty's serving overseas before WW1. Nathan Hubbersty was the first that I have found. There is  quite a good write-up of his time in India and New Zealand in the 1860's and 70's HERE (scroll to the bottom).  

February 3, 1894: The joining of the Hubbersty coat of arms with the Cantrell one - (picture), plus it's not often that Hubberstys get mentioned in proclamations out of Whitehall.
 THE Queen has been pleased to grant unto Albert Cantrell Hubbersty, of Felley Abbey, in the union of Basford, in the county of Nottingham, Esquire, late Major and Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel, 3rd Battalion, Derbyshire Regiment, Lieutenant - Colonel Commanding and Honorary Colonel (1892), 1st Battalion, Nottinghamshire (Robin Hood) Rifle Volunteers, in the Commission of the Peace for the counties of Derby and Nottingham, Her Royal licence and authority that he and his issue may take and henceforth use the surname of Cantrell in addition to and before that of Hubbersty, and that he and they may bear the arms of Cantrell quarterly with their own family arms
1898 and 1901: Rose Alice Hubberstey had 2 sons born out of wedlock before she married Thomas McCann in 1907. She then had two more children (Thomas and Margaret). The interesting part is that despite having the "Hubberstey" surname, her first two sons were given the "Hubbersty" surname. Her third son and daughter were of course given the McCann surname. It turns out that after all the twists and turns and Hubberstey spelling issues that anyone today with the "Hubbersty" spelling looks to have been a direct descendant of Rose Alice Hubberstey and her first two sons. 

1900-1920: This was the period that saw the most instances of Hubbersteys emigrating to North America. We had Robert Hubberstey and Susannah Hubberstey separately going off to Canada (Canada Link). We also had John Hubberstey arriving in New York in 1910 and James Hubberstey likely arriving at roughly the same time. A little later on in 1921 Richard Hubbersty and his wife Jane and son Wilfrid arrived first in Canada and then moved on to the US.(USA Link) 

1991: Francis Stephen Hubbersty passes away. He was the last male member that I can find of either of the two lines of Hubberstys that extended out from the Kendal area.





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