After more than a year of working on our family tree, I have found more branches and interesting information:
This web site and blog may or may not explain everything in simple terms.
It has a very long list of famous descendants of Edward III, King of England who is my 21st GGF.
This is from Wikipedia regarding William de Botreaux who is from the Thomas Gardner/-Elizabeth White branch. Following Elizabeth White's branch whose great-great grandfather, John White (1422-1469) was married to Eleanor Hungerford (1430-1480) whose father , Robert Hungerford, 2nd Baron (1409-1459) was married to Margaret Botreaux who is mentioned below. So we have common ancestors who were important English Barons. They fought in wars and were members of the English parliament of the time. Robert's father, Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford was Speaker of the House of Commons. His father, Thomas Hungerford (died 1397) was also Speaker of the House of Commons.
Another common ancestor mentioned in Wikipedia
Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester, Count of Meulan (between 1040 and 1050 – 5 June 1118) was a powerful English and French nobleman, revered as one of the wisest men of his age. Chroniclers speak highly of his eloquence, his learning, and three kings of England valued his counsel.
He accompanied William the Conqueror to England in 1066, where his service earned him more than 91 lordships and manors. When his mother died in 1081, Robert inherited the title of Count of Meulan in Normandy, also the title of Viscount Ivry and Lord of Norton. He did homage to Philip I of France for these estates and sat as French Peer in the Parliament held at Poissy.
At the Battle of Hastings Robert was appointed leader of the infantry on the right wing of the army.
He and his brother Henry were members of the Royal hunting party in the New Forest, when William Rufus received his mysterious death wound, 2 August 1100. He then pledged alligience to William Rufus' brother, Henry I of England, who created him Earl of Leicester in 1107.
On the death of William Rufus, William, Count of Évreux and Ralph de Conches made an incursion into Robert's Norman estates, on the pretence that they had suffered injury through some advice that Robert had given to the King; their raid was very successful for they collected a vast booty.
According to Henry of Huntingdon, Robert died of shame after "a certain earl carried off the lady he had espoused, either by some intrigue or by force and stratagem." His wife Isabella remarried in 1118 to William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey.
In 1096 he married (Isabel) Elizabeth de Vermandois, daughter of Hugh Magnus (b. 1053, d. 18 Oct 1101) a younger son of the French king and Adelaide de Cleremont (b. 1050, d. 23 Sep 1120). Their children were:
He accompanied William the Conqueror to England in 1066, where his service earned him more than 91 lordships and manors. When his mother died in 1081, Robert inherited the title of Count of Meulan in Normandy, also the title of Viscount Ivry and Lord of Norton. He did homage to Philip I of France for these estates and sat as French Peer in the Parliament held at Poissy.
At the Battle of Hastings Robert was appointed leader of the infantry on the right wing of the army.
He and his brother Henry were members of the Royal hunting party in the New Forest, when William Rufus received his mysterious death wound, 2 August 1100. He then pledged alligience to William Rufus' brother, Henry I of England, who created him Earl of Leicester in 1107.
On the death of William Rufus, William, Count of Évreux and Ralph de Conches made an incursion into Robert's Norman estates, on the pretence that they had suffered injury through some advice that Robert had given to the King; their raid was very successful for they collected a vast booty.
According to Henry of Huntingdon, Robert died of shame after "a certain earl carried off the lady he had espoused, either by some intrigue or by force and stratagem." His wife Isabella remarried in 1118 to William de Warenne, 2nd Earl of Surrey.
Family and children
He was the eldest son of Roger de Beaumont and Adeline of Meulan, daughter of Waleran III, Count de Meulan, and an older brother of Henry de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Warwick.In 1096 he married (Isabel) Elizabeth de Vermandois, daughter of Hugh Magnus (b. 1053, d. 18 Oct 1101) a younger son of the French king and Adelaide de Cleremont (b. 1050, d. 23 Sep 1120). Their children were:
- Emma de Beaumont (born 1102)
- Waleran IV de Beaumont, Count of Meulan (born 1104)
- Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester (born 1104)
- Hugh de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Bedford (born c. 1106)
- Adeline de Beaumont, married two times:
- Aubree de Beaumont, married Hugh II of Château-neuf-Thimerais.
- Maud de Beaumont, married William Lovel. (b. c. 1102)
- Isabel de Beaumont, a mistress of King Henry I of England. Married two times:
- Gilbert de Clare, 1st Earl of Pembroke;
- Hervé de Montmorency, Constable of Ireland
Sources
External links
Another of my common ancestors found through the Gardner branch is the Widdringtons who I followed through 1371 to Northumberland, England. They lived in one of those English castles we all dream about living in with ghosts and all. Apparently both the family name and castle petered out by the eighteenth century. (See following)
Ralph Widdrington was married to Felicia Claxton whose branches connects all the way back to English Kings and go all the way back to Emperors of Rome especially Constantine in 250 AD in the fog of time. This is quite a stretch but who knows?
They are the common ancestor of both Lady Di and Prince Charles according to the following family trees.
Another interesting possible common ancestor is Lady Godiva who is considered by most people to be mythical, but apparently was a real person and being related to her is very problematic but who knows.
See the following:
Another family tree that I found useful with some good information regarding the original English settlers in our family tree is the following:
I have found out more about the Hubbell family. The brother of John Niles Hubbell was William N. Hubbell (1841-1864) who was born in Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio, USA on 1841 to Noble Bates Hubbell and Harriet Dunlap. He passed away on Aug 1864 in Andersonville, Sumter, Georgia, USA. Which means he probably died a Union prisoner in one of the most notorious prisons of all time.
Recently, my computer broke down, and I had to put it in the shop for repair. So I went to the Library to use the the computer, but I also checked out some books. One was very fascinating, called the The Isles: A History by Norman Davies that gave a different take on British History. It had a lot of family trees for the royalty and lots of interesting information. Its basic idea was that British people are both descended from common ancestors both home grown and European. My family tree agrees with him.
