New England Families Genealogical and Memorial: Third Series, Volume IV, Page 1971-1974
WASHBURN The surname Washburn is identical with Washbourne and Washborn, and the family derived its name from two small villages of Washborn or Washbourne, Little Washbourne or Knight's Washbourne, in Overbury, in the southern part of Worcestershire, England, and Great Washbourne, in the same neighborhood, county Glocester. The word itself is from two Saxon words--wash, meaning the swift-moving current of a stream, and burn or bourne, a brook or small stream. The authentic history of the family begins before the adoption of surnames. Washbourne's Book of Family Crests states that the founder of the family was of Norman ancestry, was knighted on the field of battle at the time of William the Conqueror, 1066, being endowed by him with lands and the manor of Little and Great Washbourne, counties of Glocester and Worcester. That statement is not authenticated, but practically all of the knights and nobles of the time in which the known pedigree of the family begins, had a similar origin. As early as the reign of Henry II. we know that William, son of Sampson, was Lord of Little Washbourne. The armorial bearings of the family indicate descent from the houses of Zouche and Corbett. The ancient coat-of-arms: Argent on a fess between six martlets gules three quatrefoils slipped bendways of the first. Later the family at Worcester modified this slightly: Argent on a fess between six martlets gules three cinquefoils of the field. Crest: A coil of flax surmounted with a wreath argent and gules thereon flames of fire proper.
(I) Sir Roger De Washborn is the first known authentic ancestor of this family. He is mentioned in an Inquisition of 1259, concerning William de Stutevil, and in the Lay Subsidy Roll of 1280 he is described as of Little Comberton and of Washbourne, as well as of Stanford. Stanford was on the other side of Worcestershire from Washbourne, about twenty-five miles in direct line. He was living in 1299. His wife's name was Joan. His son and heir was Sir John.
(II) Sir John De Washborn, son of Sir Roger De Washborn, was known during his father's life as John de Dufford, from the name of his estate, as his father was known from the Washborn estate. After his father's death he became Sir John De Washborn, and is mentioned in the Lay Subsidy Roll of 1280. In 1316 he confirmed to Roger, his son and heir, and Margaret, his wife, all his manor of Washbourne. He died before Michaelmas, 1319. His wife Isabella is thought to have been of the Casey family.
(III) Sir Roger (2) de Washbourne, son of Sir John De Washborn, married Margaret (???) as early as 1316. He had the property of Washbourne and Stanford, and his name is on the rolls of birthplaces in 1327; also in the roll of 1332-33, under Stanford, and in the Nonarum Inquisition (1340) he joins in the declaration as to the church at Overbury (Little Washbourne). His name is found on the rolls under Stanford in 1346 and 1358. He was the patron of the living at Stanford and appointed three incumbents to the church--Thomas de Wasseborne, May 30, 1349; John Arches, July 16, 1349, and William de Edynghull, July 2, 1353. His mother, Isabella de "Wasseborne" appointed Petrus de Wasseborn, September, 1316, to the same living. Sir Roger died after 1358. He had two sons named John.
(IV) John (2) Washborn, younger son of Sir Roger (2) de Washbourne, succeeded to the estates as heir of his elder brother of the same name, John Washborn. This custom of giving the same name to two sons was not uncommon down to the seventeenth century. His wife's name was Isabelle.
(V) Peter Washburn, son of John (2) Washborn, married, in 1355, Isolde, daughter of Thomas Hanley, of Haley William, according to both the College of Arms pedigrees, but other good authorities give the name of her father as John Hanley. They had sons, John and William.
(VI) John (3) Washburn, son of Peter Washburn, was a distinguished man. He held various offices of trust and honor; was on the commissions of the peace for Worcestershire in 1404 and 1405; vice-comes, described as of Washborne, in Overbury; knight of the shire in 1404; escheator. His tomb is the oldest of the four which were formerly in the chancel of the Wichenford church, and is described by Thomas Habingdon, to whom much of the knowledge of the Washborn family is due, written before 1633, the date of Habingdon's death: "In the north of the Chauncell is an auncient Tombe of Alabaster on the ground, A man armed all savinge his heade, vnder which lyethe hys helmet with a wreathe, and theareon a flame of fyre within a band, mantled and doubled, at hys feete a Ly. On his ryght hand his wyfe with a littell dog at her feete. Between them Washborn armes impalinge a cheueon." John Washburn married (first) Jane, daughter of Sir John and Katherin (Thromwin) (Washborn) Musard. Her mother was the widow of John Washborn, elder son of Sir Roger. He married (second) Margery Poher (Powre), of Wichenford. Only child of first wife: Isolde, whose descendants have had the manor of Stanford. By second wife: Norman, mentioned below; John; Elinor.
(VII) Norman Washborn, son of John (3) Washburn, was involved in litigation with Humphrey Salwey, who had Stanford through his mother, half-sister of Norman. Salwey claimed Little Washbourne and Norman Washborn claimed Stanford. The controversy was finally referred to George, Duke of Clarence, "the false, fleeting, perjured Clarence" of Shakespeare, and his award assigning Stanford to Salwey and Little Washbourne (subject to a payment) to John, son of Norman, was accepted by the parties and ratified by deeds dated October 2, nineteenth year of Edward IV. John Washborn also had the Wichenford property that came to him through his grandmother, heiress of the Pohers, and for ten generations Wichenford was the home of the family. Norman Washborn married Elizabeth Knivton. He died before 1479. He confirmed his property by deed in the eleventh year of Henry VI.; was vice-comes of Worcestershire in the seventeenth year of Henry VI. Children: John, mentioned below; Eleanor, married (first) Sir Richard Scrope, (second) Sir John Wyndham; Anne, married Thomas Cower; daughter, married John Vampage; Elizabeth, married Nicholas Folyotte; daughter, married John Hugford; Thomas (?), "of Stanford."
(VIII) John (4) Washborn, son and heir of Norman Washborn, was born as early as 1454. His name appears among the commissioners appointed under acts for raising subsidies of the years 1496-97, 1513-14 and 1514-15. His will was dated May 3, 1517, and he died May 6, 1517, and was buried in Wichenford church and the inscription has been preserved, though the monument itself has disappeared. In 1640 his tomb was on the opposite side of the chancel from that of his grandfather. He married (first) Joan, daughter of William Mitton, lord of Weston, a village of Staffordshire, on the borders of Shropshire. Her ancestry is found in the Visitations of Shropshire, 1623. He married (second) Elizabeth Monington, of Butters, Herefordshire, Children of first wife: Robert, through whose son John the elder male line continues in England; John, mentioned below; Walter; Francis. Children of second wife: Anthony; Richard.
(IX) John (5) Washbourne, son of John (4) Washborn, settled at Bengeworth, a few miles from Little Washbourne, probably at the time of his father's death in 1517. His will, dated December 27, 1546, bequeathed to his two sons and daughters and grandchildren. He was buried January 8, 1548. He married Emme (???), who was buried May 13, 1547. Her will was dated May 1, 1547. Children: John, mentioned below; William, died 1588; Katherine, married Daniel Hyde; Alice, married Robert Marten.
(X) John (6) Washbourne, son of John (5) Washbourne, also lived at Bengeworth. He died intestate in 1593, and was buried October 13. His son John administered the estate. He married (first) April 21, 1542, Jone Busell (Bushell?), buried April 4, 1557. He married (second) May 8, 1561, Jone Whithead, who was buried April 23, 1567. He seems to have had a third wife, mother of the three youngest children. The parish register of Bengeworth begins in 1538. Children, born at Bengeworth; Margaret, 1543, baptized June 12; Johanne, baptized October 5, 1544; Agnes, baptized August 6, 1547; William, born August, 1556; Radegonne, daughter, baptized February 21, 1579; Daniel, baptized June 17, 1582; Mary, baptized December 7, 1584.
(XI) John (7) Washbourne, son of John (6) Washbourne, was perhaps the unnamed son baptized August 1, 1566. He was one of the twelve principal burgesses mentioned in the charter granted by King James to Evesham and Bengeworth in the third year of his reign (1605) constituting them a borough. He married, July 6, 1596, Martha Stevens, who died in 1625 or 1626. Her will was dated September 29, 1625, and proved May 9, 1626. His will was dated August 4, 1624, and the inventory was dated December 11, 1624. He was then an old man, and as stated in the will was unable to sign his name on account of blindness, authorizing his "Brother John Tymbrall" to sign for him. Children: John, mentioned below; Jane, baptized December 2, 1599; William, baptized, November 9, 1601; Jone, baptized April 11, 1604, buried in 1636.
(XII) John (8) Washburn, son of John (7) Washbourne, was the immigrant ancestor. He was baptized July 2, 1597, and settled in Duxbury, Massachusetts, in 1632. He was secretary of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and with his two sons, John and Philip, was able to bear arms in 1643. He and his son John were among the original fifty-four persons who became proprietors of Bridgewater, Massachusetts. They bought the lands of the old sachem, Massasoit, for seven coats of one and a half yards each, nine hatchets, eight hoes, twenty knives, four moose skins, and ten and a half yards of cotton cloth. The transfer was signed by Miles Standish, Samuel Nash and Constant Southworth. He married Margery (???). Children: John, mentioned below; Philip, born in England, 1624; probably others.
(XIII) John (9) Washburn, son of John (8) Washburn, was born in England in 1621, and came to this country with his parents. He married, in 1645, Eliza, daughter of Experience Mitchell. A letter to her from her nephew, Thomas Mitchell, dated at Amsterdam, has been preserved. John Washburn sold in 1670 the house and land given him by his father, at Green Harbor, Duxbury. His will was dated 1686. Children: John; Thomas; Joseph, mentioned below; Samuel, born 1651; Jonathan; Benjamin; Mary, 1661; Elizabeth; Jane; James, 1672; Sarah.
(XIV) Joseph Washburn, son of John (9) Washburn, married Hannah, daughter of Robert Latham. He resided in Plymouth and Plympton, Massachusetts. Children: Joseph, mentioned below; Jonathan, Ebenezer, Miles, Ephraim, Edward, Benjamin, Hannah.
(XV) Joseph (2) Washburn, son of Joseph (1) Washburn, was born about 1700. Children: Elijah, Joseph, Seth, mentioned below; Ebenezer.
(XVI) Colonel Seth Washburn, son of Joseph (2) Washburn, was born in 1723, died February 20, 1794. He removed to Middletown and thence to Leicester, Massachusetts, before 1745. He married (first) in 1746, Mary Harrod, (second) in 1788, Sarah Sargent. He was a leading citizen in Leicester, holding many offices of trust and honor and was prominent during the revolution. Children: Seth, born 1751, married Susannah Rood; Joseph, 1755; Asa, mentioned below; Mary, 1759, married Samuel Saragent; Hannah, 1762; Sarah, 1764; Ann, 1767, married John Hayward; Lucy, 1769; Elizabeth, 1771.
(XVII) Asa Washburn, son of Colonel Seth Washburn, was born in Leicester in 1757, died October 6, 1834. He was a soldier in the revolution from Leicester in 1780-81, in Captain Mathew Chambers' company, Lieutenant Calvin Smith's regiment, and also in 1782, in the Sixth Company. After 1783 he removed to Putney, Vermont, where he became a leading citizen and magistrate. He married Sarah Upham, of Spencer. His children, as far as known to the writer, were: Judge Reuben, born 1781, in Bridgewater, a very prominent man; Levi, 1783; James, mentioned below; Seth, lived in Randolph; Jacob, lived in Chelsea; Asa, lived in Putney.
(XVIII) James Washburn, son of Asa Washburn, was born about 1790, and came with the family to Bridgewater, Vermont. He married Nancy Jane (???). Children: Charles, Jane, Samuel, mentioned below.
(XIX) Samuel Washburn, son of James Washburn, was born in Bridgewater, Vermont, in 1812, died at Goshen, Vermont, in May, 1896. He had a common school education. He was a stage driver and teamster and for many years carried goods and passengers from Rochester, Vermont, to Whitehall, New York. He married Sophia Lockwood, born in Pennsylvania, January 1, 1813, died in 1884. Children: Henry, lives in Springfield, Massachusetts; James, deceased; Julia, married (first) (???) Vaughan, (second) (???) Welch; Jane, married Sardus Manley, of Pittsford, Vermont; Huldah, died young; George; Charles; Samuel F., mentioned below; Selden, lives in Brandon, Vermont; Nellie, married H. C. Bronson, of Rochester, Vermont.
(XX) Samuel F. Washburn, son of Samuel Washburn, was born in Goshen, Vermont, October 4, 1849, died in Bethel, Vermont, May 3, 1904. He attended the public schools of his native town and resided there until he was twenty-five years old, following the occupation of teamster. Afterward he learned the trade of millwright and became a skillful mechanic. He resided in Brandon, Rochester, Barnard and Bethel, Vermont, where he spent his last years. He had many contracts for erecting and operating steam mills in those towns. He continued in active business to the time of his death. He married, December 31, 1874, Alice Newton, of Brandon, born June 8, 1850, daughter of Alexander and Sylvia (Hack) Newton. She is now living in Bethel. Children: Jessie, born October 19, 1875, married David Smith, of Lowell, Massachusetts; Grace, April 22, 1878; Alexander Newton, mentioned below; Roy S., November 23, 1881; Walter, August 28, 1885; Nellie, June 11, 1888, married George Burrell, of Bethel.
(XXI) Alexander Newton Washburn, son of Samuel F. Washburn, was born in Brandon, Vermont, January 14, 1880. He attended the public schools of Rochester, Barnard and Bethel and graduated from the Bethel high school in 1901. Since 1907 he has lived in Bethel. He bought the saw mill and business of C. D. Cushing in 1905 and has since then manufactured lumber on a large scale. He is also a dealer in flour, grain and feed. In politics he is a Republican, and in religion a Methodist. He is a member of White River Lodge, No. 90, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Bethel. He married, September 14, 1904, Lydia Ann Atchinson, of Morrisville, Vermont, daughter of Julius Henry and Abbie Violetta (Gordon) Atchinson. They have one child, Alice Louise, born August 5, 1912.
(+)David was of the Davis family going to Farmington,
Maine, from Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard,
after 1700.