I
am indebted to a large number of sources for the inform-
ation contained in the following pages
and have personally
collected matter of importance, both in
this country and in
England.
There
are undoubtedly, some errors which have crept in,
which I am ready to correct, but I am
confident that John of
Broughton was the ancestor of nine-tenths
of the Beebe family in
this country.
The line
is replete with patriotic men who were instrumen-
tal in the founding and building up of
our country.
Cromwell
was at the zenith of his fame when the immi-
gration began, and many restrictions were
placed against leaving
the mother country. Further investigation
may develope the
causes that impelled the exodus. I am
sure we can con-
gratulate ourselves on the fact that the
name of Beebe was an
honored one at the time and that it reflects
credit because of the
services rendered to our country by its
bearers in those early days
of the 17th century.
9th Lineal Descendant from John(1)
BEEBE GENEOLOGY
-------------------------------------
Some tradition and facts concerning the
origin of the name
of Beebe.
-------------------------------------
It may please
the ultra-enthusiast to know that the name
apprantely appears in records of remote
intiquity, as seen in the
following memorandum:
One of the Kings
of the Second Dynasty in Egypt-date,
something like 3000 B.C. was:
Bebi, whose hieroglyphic
is given in the table of Sakkarah,
a monument discovered by M.Mariette in
Egypt. This table
represents a priest named tounars, rendering
homage in the
name of Rameses II, to a series of 58
kings belonging to the first
six dynastys.
Again, in book
21 of the history of Rome, by Livy, is re-
lated how one Quintus Baebius, a man of
advanced years, was
sent as an ambassodor to Hannibal, and
to the Carthagenian Sen-
ate, to demand peace or war-date, year
of Rome 534.
Coming to later times,there is a
tradition of French origin
which is very plausible. Ancient family
papers, said to be in the
archives of Aston Hall, Warwickshire,
England, show that this
family descended from the two Norman Knights,
Richard, and
William de Beebe, who were of the Royal
Guard of William the
Conqeror and passed over to England at
the time of the conquest
and were by the King granted manors in
Warwickshire, where
the family lived up to the close of the
Commonwealth.
During one of my visits to England
in 1893. I took the op-
portunity to copy a portion of the ancient.
Norman Rolls, which
are kept in the Tower of London, and which
date from the reign
of King John. I found there the name Willelmus
Babbe, Prac-
positus, A.D., 1204. He, with four other
jurors, adjudjed the
values of property.
One of the earliest authentic records
of the family name I
have found in Bridge's History of Northamtonshire,
England,
printed in 1740.
Under the heading of
Town of Brackley,Sutton Hunfred,
occurs the following:-"Here was formely
an Infirmary or Hos-
pital for the sick, dedicated to St. Leonard.
From 1297 to 1417,
it aws governed by masters, one of which
was Joh. Beby, Feb-
ruary 10,1403".
At East Farndon, Joh.
Beby was incumbant of the church
of St. John the Baptist, sometime between
the years of 1398 and
1411. At Castre is a church dedicated
to St. Kyneburga. With-
in the porch of this church, Around the
moulding of the south
door is cut in wood, this inscription:
Ricardus Beby, Rector
Ecclesie DeCastre,
Fecit Fieri,
To those interested
in knowing that one branch of the family
has the right and title to a Coat of Arms,
below will be found
a description of same as found in Burkes
Encyclopedia of Heraldry:
A blue shield with golden Chevron and three
gold bees.
Crest:-A golden Beehive indicative of
industry, vigilance
and persistancy of purpose.
Motto:So Defendendo.
Arms:Dilley(willey)Court,England.
The founder of this
family was a Non-Comformist Chaplain
to the regiment of Colonel Knight in (Geo.)Monk's
(i.e. Duke
of Albermarle) army about A.D.,1640.
The church register
of St. Andrews, in the village of
Broughton,Northamptonshire,England dating
from 1560, verify
the names of John Beebe 1, and his children
who emigrated to
this country about the year 1650, as stated
in his will, on
file in Hartford,Ct.
Probably ninety nine
per-cent of the family in this country
descended from the three sons of this
John 1, to wit: John 2,
Samuel 4, and James 9.
They were probably
all puritans and were known in England
as Husbandmen, or yeomen. They landed
in Boston Harber and,
working there way westward, were influential
in the settlement of
New London, Ct. From this place the family
branched
out in all directions.
Individuals of
the family were prominent in King Philips
War,especially John 2, who with his men
marched through
the wilderness and relieved the soldiers
of Major Talcott on the
Connecticut River.
The Family of
Samuel 4, became large land owners and inter-
married with well-to-do families. T he
name is found among the
Minute Men of '76, and in the Armies of
the Revolution, as
officers, and enlisted men. Special services
under General Wash-
ington were rendered by a descendant of
John 2.
The pension rolls of
the Revolution Contain a number of
names of the family, Bezaleel Beebe was
especially prominent in
that war, and James a descendant of James(2),became
a mem-
ber of the Order of the Cincinnati.
In 1775, a descendant
of John(2),(Martin, prepared with
others a memorial to Congress, recommending
the passage of a
Declaration of Independance.
The name is variously
spelled in the same document:
BEEBE,BEBY,BEEBY,BEEBEE.
John Beebe, who
immigrated to this country in 1650, died
on shipboard and left a will in which
mention is made of his
children, and of the fact that he came
from Broughton,Northamp-
tonshire England. I had the pleasure of
visiting this quaint old
English village in June 1893, and verified
from the church rec-
ords the names of John,his wifes Christian
name Rebecca, and
those of his children, as well as the
dates of their birth.
To reach Broughton
from liverpool the train must be taken
to the city of Northampton, where cars
are changed for Kettering,
the principal town of the district in
which Broughton is situated.
At Kettering the name of Beebe is still
a familiar one in the neigh-
borhood. The village of Broughton, a few
miles from Kettering,
is a large, straggling, old fashion one
situated partly in hol
lows and partly on elevated knolls. There
were probably not more
than two or three of its hundred houses
which were not thickly
covered with thatch. The church of St.Andrew,
an Ancient Build-
ing, was naturally the most prominent
to the view, situated in the
center of the village, and surrounded
by the luxuriant foliage.
Approaching it the roadway is actually
embowed by the trees
on either side. The church combines the
Norman< early deco-
rated and perpindicular styles. It includes
chancel,nave,aisles,
and north and south porches. It also has
a town clock and a
chime of five bells. The church was rebuilt
in 1828,and the
whole church restored in 1854. It contains
a beauti-
fully carved stone front, of the perpindicular
period, 1600. The
aving is the gift of the Duke of Buccleuch.
The Church Registers
date from 1560. The surrounding church-yard
is replete with moss-
grown memorials of the past. The Registers
are kept securley in
an iron box in the crypt of the church.
They are in a bad state
of preservation and crumbling with age.
Abstracts of wills from the
Archdeaconry Court at North-
ampton indicate that the Beebes mentioned
were not conspic-
uous people, but were styled "Yeomen","Labourer"
and "shoe-
maker". Little Addington, in Northamptonshire,
furnishes its
quota of Beebe's. The registers of its
church commences about
1588, and an early record is the marraige
of Henry Bebe with
Millicent Rands, May 13,1641.
The name Beebe may
have had its origins in Two Norman
Knights, who originally spelled the name
de Boebe. The "de" was
evantually dropped after coming to England,
the name being
Anglicised to its present spelling Beebe.
From the learned researches of John
Thorpe, an old authori-
tative chronicler and Herald of Duddeston,
Warwickshire, Eng-
land, we have a clear account of the relation
and history of this
family from their ancient home in the
Valle de Saive, Normandy,
France, up to 1669 in Warwick County,England,
when John,
Nathaniel, and Eli Beebe emigrated to
the colonial province of
York. Ancient Family papers in the archives
of Aston Hall show
that this family descended from the Norman
Knights Richard and
Guilliaume de Boebe who were of the Royal
guard of William
the Conqueror and passed over to England
at the time of the
conquest and were by the King granted
manors at Bordesley in
the county of Warwick,England where the
family lived from
the time of the Norman conquest up to
the close of the common-
wealth.
During the Parlimentary
wars John Beebe, of Duddeston
Hall,county of Warwick, with two sons
having ardently stood
by the popular cause against the tryanny
of the royal Stuarts fight-
ing first under Essex and Hampden, subsequently
with desperate
resolution through all of Cromwells campaigns
were at the
restoration of the monarchy exposed to
persecution by the court
officials. They were summoned by the King's
governor of War-
wick to take an oath of allegiance to
the regime, but such being
a military court they denounced it's right
there, defiantely refusing
to be bound by any oath commanded by an
unlawfully constituted
perity of the Beebe Family and others
who had fought for con-
tumacy in money and estate, three cadets
of the family with John
Beebe and the yeomen, Richard Rathbone
Thomas Clifton and
Henry Clinton at once emigrated to the
province of York and
settled upon estates within the royal
demense. Subsequent to the
settlement within the royal province of
York another branch
settled in Roxbury, Mass. They held correspondance
with the
noble and liberal lord Stanley and Henry
Fairfax of Durham,
two noblemen who felt a deep interest
in the welfare and pros-
perity of the Beebe family and others
who had fought for con-
stitutional freedom during the great struggle
of the Parlimentary
wars.
These letters and the
manuscript of the Beebe family, colonial
and home, were preserved by William Watt,Esq.
lord of the
manor of Aston in the archives of Aston
Hall, Warwickshire.
The motto of the family,
granted by Henry V, to
Sir John Beebe for distinguished gallantry
at the seige of Har-
fleur, and presented by the King upon
a Gold Shield, is in Norman
French: Fidele et Brave-Faithful and Brave.
;JOHN BEEBE(1)
It is a fact that John
Beebe left England for this country in
the month of April or May 1650. From all
the data at hand he
was accompanied by his five children,
viz: Thomas(4), Na-thaniel(6),James(9),Rebecka(3),and Mary(7), and that
his two sons, John(2), and Samuel(5),
had preceded him to
America a few months. His daughter Hanna
(8), and his wife ,
Rebecka, are not mentioned in his will
which was written and
signed on shipboard. The eldest son, John(2),
was but 22 years of
age, and the youngest, Mary, 13 years
of age at this time. It is
presumed that John(1) died on the same
day as that on which
the will was made,viz: May 18,1650. Below
is a copy of this
will, given as nearly as possible verbatim: