Archive for January 2018

A Tale of Tragedy

Category: Ancestors Corner

Matthew Hibbit was born in about 1735, the second son of my 6 x great-grandparents, and he married Frances Penruddock in St Peter & St Paul's Church, Exton, Rutland, on 13th November 1758. I decided to take a look at Frances' family and, not for the first time, I stumbled across a great deal of tragedy.

Frances was the sixth of eight children born to Richard and Dorothy Penruddock between 1722 and 1737 in Pilton in Rutland. Richard died in December 1739 when Frances was barely six years old.

Her mother remarried in January 1741. Her second husband was a farmer called John Deacon who I discovered was dead two months later. Dorothy must have been pregnant with John's child when they married as John junior was baptised on 29th April 1741. Worse still, Dorothy was buried on the same day. What a start in life for that poor baby and all of his half siblings.

Snow Scene
Photo by Myeongseon Song on Unsplash

Much of Europe suffered severely cold weather during the winter of 1739/40. This became known as the Great Frost in Ireland which was particularly hit. The streets of London were clogged with snow and ice and the River Thames was frozen for about eight weeks. This was followed by more cold weather and severe gales affecting shipping and one of the worst dry spells of the 18th century which resulted in famine and disease.

The period 1740-1743 has been shown to be the driest period of the last 280 years, with the year 1740 the coldest recorded over the British Isles since comparable records began in 1659. One can only wonder whether the Penruddock/Deacon families living in Rutland were affected by these adverse conditions too?

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How long have we been in Rutland?

Category: General

The Rutland Psalter
Illumination in The Rutland Psalter produced c. 1260 in England

I've found some interesting names in the Rutland Lay Subsidy Roll of 1296/7. I'll never be able to prove my connection back this far but this may offer circumstantial evidence for perhaps some of my family having been in the area for a long time.

Place, Name

Empingham, Richard Hobburd

Teigh, William Hubert

Teigh, Richard Hubert

Seaton, William Tubbe

Glaston, William Tubbe

Teigh, Henry de Neubold

Teigh, Richard de Neubold

Oakham, William de Neubold

Oakham, Richard de Neubold

Clipsham, John Le Neubrid

Tickencote, Richard Neubrid

Ketton, William de Neubotle x 2

Ketton, Juliana Neubotle

Ketton, Henry de Neubotle

Ketton, Marg' de Neubotle

Could Hobburd and Hubert be a variant of Hibbitt? Maybe stretching it a little, who knows?

My 6 x great-grandmother was Ann Tubbs who married John Hybit in Exton in 1732. Could either of the Tubbe men be my ancestor?

Mahala Newbold was my 3 x great-grandmother. She married Amos Hibbitt in 1830. Her grandfather, John Newbold, was located in Exton in the late 18th century. I have seen the spelling written as Neubold and Newbolt too. Could any of these people be my forbear?

Source: Names from Rutland Lay Subsidy 1296/7. Created by Douglas Galbi - http://www.galbithink.org/names/engb1800.htm

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Latest on our Hibbitt Y-DNA kits

Category: DNA

My dad's Y STR test has recently been upgraded to 111 markers. However, as I thought might be the case, he doesn't yet have any matches at this level. This would be because the right men haven't yet taken the test. Hopefully we shall have some men who are descended from John Hybit of Exton, Rutland, testing in the future and then we may begin to discern which markers are related to which branches of the family.

Z36747 men on The Big Tree
Z36747 men on Alex Williamson's 'The Big Tree'

In the meantime, Alex Williamson has begun updating 'The Big Tree'. Initially dad's kit was placed with another kit whose ancestor was called Doggart. However, a new Big Y kit (Chism) has recently arrived and formed a new subclade below Z36747 with Doggart. Dad now sits alone at Z36747 until any closer matches appear.

Note: I've updated my 'Tracing Annie Hibbitt's Deep Ancestral Roots Through Her Dad's Y-DNA' page with these changes.

[Note: All content on the Hibbitt & Barnes Family History website and blog is copyrighted. Click here for conditions of use.]