Now I can trace the Hobart line further back than Edmund, but there isn't a lot to tell other than birth and death dates. The reason I have substantially more information on Edmund is because he was a puritan pilgrim (a very well documented group) and because Edmund's son Peter was extremely well educated (Cambridge graduate in the 1600s level educated) for the time and he became a reverend and did a whole lot of writing and recording keeping and what not.
I do know that the Hobart line was pretty wealthy. Depending on what source you look at Edmund is often referred to as Sir Edmund Hobart. Once of the verified documents pertaining to Edmund was the Last Will and Testament of Thomas Hubbarde, Edmund's father. In this document Thomas leaves his lands in Great Snoring to his first son Andrew, and his lands in Hingham to Edmund. So obviously wealthy enough to own land in two places. However, Edmund ended up leaving his land and the majority of his wealth behind for his religion. And in case you did notice, Edmund was born as Edmund Hubbarde. Hubbarde was changed at some point to Hobart after Edmund migrated to the America's with the pilgrims apparently.
Edmund Hobart was born on January 1st, 1571 in the parish of Great Snoring in Norfolk, England. Great Snoring is a small little village in East England, pretty close to the sea. In 2001 the population was 168. It used to be much bigger, in 1841 the population was 556. In fact the population only dropped to the 100s when World War One broke out and all the men left to fight, and then never came back (sad face) and the population hasn't gone back up since. It's pretty much the cutest little town I've ever seen. It looks like it came straight out of a BBC Midsommer Murder's set. I totally would live here. Here's a link for a little more information on Great Snoring.
Now there isn't like...any information on Edmund's childhood or early years. And nothing on Margaret other than she was born in 1574 in Norfolk. The only thing noted is in a copyhold claim filed by the Hobart family, Edmund is listed as having "received the family crest on the 19th of May, 1575 in Hingham, Norfolk."
We do know that Edmund married Margaret on the 7th of August, 1600. Together they had at least 8 known children, many stillborn are never recorded: Nazareth (1601-1658), Peter (1604-1678), Thomas (1606-1689, Joshua (1607-1682), Edmund Jr (1609-1686), Anthony (1609-1609, twin of Edmund Jr. Died at birth), Edward (Stillborn), and Rebecca (1611-1679).
Edmund was a puritan separatist, and we can assume he faced the same persecution that other puritan separatists faced in England during that time. According to his son Peter: Edmund, seeking religious freedom emigrated to Charlestown, Boston with his son Thomas and several others (I'm assuming some of his younger kids). Edmund sailed in 1633 aboard the Elizabeth Bonaventure, the second ship to bear that name. Edmund was admitted to full communion in the "1st Church of Christ" in Boston in either August of 1633 or 1634 (water damage to record). If I lived in Boston I could visit the Massachusetts Historical Society and view the actual church records from 1631-1768 where Edmund's record can be found. Unfortunately, despite an hour long phone call and the nicest man from the society, the digital versions of these records, including paintings and some old sketches, could not be found.
Anyway, moving on. Margaret died just a few weeks after coming to America with her husband, not even long enough to join Edmund's church. Shortly after her death and after being admitted to his church, Edmund moved his family to the Bare Cove Common, north of Plymouth. Two years later, Edmund's son Peter sailed and landed in Hingham where he became the first minister/reverend of the town and it was renamed Hingham, after their hometown in England. But Peter's story is for later. Links: Hingham & Hingham. In 1634 Edmund married Sarah Ann Oakley, they are not known to have any kids together.
At some point between 1634-1636, Edmund was named the Constable of Hingham. He was part of some old committee that decided "only certain desirable persons should be allowed to "sit downe and dwell in the towne." So like...if you wanted to live in Hingham you needed to be approved and deemed desirable.
In 1638 Edmund was named Commissioner of Hingham. Which as I understand it is pretty much the same thing as a court judge. He was able to do marriages and whatnot. Also in 1638, like the most horrible thing happened. Edmund was fined 40s (Which I think means shillings) for "leaving a pit open in which a child was drowned." Always nice to know that criminal negligence is only worth 40 bucks.
Now I don't know what sort of horrible pilgrim criminal Edmund was but in 1639 he was sued by Thomas Hamond for "trespassing in his Indian corn since planting time till now to the value of 50s..." Whatever that means. Note that in 1639 Edmund was 67 years old. Who sues an old guy for walking around in some corn!? Also note that this corn was more valuable than that poor kid who drowned.
And on March 8th, 1645 or 46 (more damage to records) Edmund Hobart passed away. His death is noted by a single sentence in his son Peter's journal: "Father Hubbarde dyed."
No comments:
Post a Comment