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| Hebdens.com |
- The origins of the Hebden Family
- The Yorkshire Dales
- William Hebden b.1783
- Wanderings - the early years
- The Brighton family
- The flight to the North
- The Burnley family
- The end of the Brighton line
- New beginnings - Australia
- New beginnings - America
- The Great War
- The Second World War
- The Swinging 60's
- My Hebden family today
The Hebden family today certainly enjoys a rich mixture of bloodlines, including Saxon and Viking, and the ancestry is complicated and incomplete. Spelling variations of the name include: Hebden, Hebdon, Heberden, Hepden, Habton, Habdon, Hibdon Ebdon and many more. What follows is a considerable simplification of the lineage, but online sources are available and the lines of descent can be traced reasonably quickly even if understanding them takes a little longer!
The origins of the Hebden family name pre-date the Norman Conquest and go back to Aldhun, the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Durham, who held the post from 995 to 1018AD. The bishops were immensely powerful, and were usually wealthy landowners in their own right, and Aldhun was no exception. His daughter Ecgfrida married Uetred or Uhtred, Earl of Northumbria, and they had a son Aldred, and from a subsequent marriage Ecgfrida produced a daughter, Sigrida (born 1015).
Sigrida married three times and from one of these liaisons she produced a son - Gospatric De Rigton, born between 1040 -1045AD. He married Matilda (perhaps also a descendant of Uetred) around 1065, and produced four sons, one of whom, Uetred jnr, inherited the estates owned by Gospatric and became the first Lord of Hebden of Burnsall and Conistone.
The list of Rectors and their patrons in the Church at Burnsall shows that the Hebdens were pillars of the local community. The Hebden name has been linked to the area ever since, and over the years identifiable offshoots of the family have been founded in Burnsall, Conistone Cracoe, Appletreewick, Stalling Busk, Hebden, and most of the towns and villages in the area. Most of the Hebdens living today can trace their origins back to one of these ancient family groups.
Hebdens were early settlers in the New World. Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were: John Ebden who settled in the Barbados in 1670; Thomas Ebdon settled in Boston Mass. in 1716; Thomas Hebden settled in Virginia in 1634; John Hebden settled in Virginia in 1651. They were followed by many others...