Worcestershire and Gloucestershire

This family, of Norman origin, can be traced through the lands in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, namely the little hams of “Little Washbourne” and “Great Washbourne”. Little Washbourne, historically in the parish of Overbury, and the manor thereon, eventually becoming known as “Wasseburne Militis” or “Knyghtes Wasshebourne”, for the many from this line that bore that honour.

In the Herald’s College, London, Vol. I., page 54, is given: Washbourne. “A name of ancient Norman descent; the founder was knighted on the field of battle by William the Conqueror and endowed with the lands of Little Washbourne and Great Washbourne, Counties of Gloucester and Worcester”.

The name may have come from the Saxon for “from the flooding brook,”[1] with “wash” meaning “swift moving current of a stream,” and “burn” referring to a brook or a small stream. It may have originated from the River Isbourne, which flowed near Little and Great Washbourne.

The surname has several origins in England:

• from Waseborne in Devon, a small settlement on the River Wash, a tributary of the River Dart
• from Washbourne in Gloucestershire, now known as Great Washbourne, or its neighbour Little Washbourne (now in Gloucestershire but formerly in Worcestershire)
• from the River Washburn in Yorkshire, i.e. referring to someone living on the banks of the river.

The Washburn name and variations

The name was anciently “Wasseburn” or “-born”. C. W. Bardsley’s Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames states that “Wasse” was anciently and still is a common surname in Yorkshire. It is a place name derived from the various river and sea beaches subject to overflow by floods and tides, hence known as wasses and now as cashes. “Wasseburn” signified a flowing stream. The little ham that stood upon its banks took its name from the stream, and the proprietor or lord of the village was so and so de Wasseborn, just as the parson was the most important person in the parish. The form “Wasseborn” is the form first met with about 1100; and “Wasseborn” or “-burn” continued in common use by the family with the occasional addition of a final “e” until about the middle of the 17th century when the family wrote the name “Washbourne”, a form which still prevails in England.

Through all the first two periods, writers of public documents, even of wills, felt themselves at liberty to suit their own convenience or taste in spelling the name, so that great varieties of spelling are found in public documents and varieties in the same document. Thus in the will of John Washburn of Bengeworth, it is “Wassheburns”; in his wife’s “Wasborn”; in his son’s “Wasburne” and in the inventory “Wasborne”; in the burgess’ will “Washborne”; in his wife’s “Wasburne” and “Washborne”; in the public registers of Bengeworth pretty uniformly “Wasborne”. John the emigrant wrote his name “Washborn”. In America three forms of spelling have prevailed – the most common “Washburn”, “Washborn”, and “Washburne”, with even a greater variety of spelling of the name than is found in England, and not always by outsiders.

The Family seated at Little Wasseborne

Early writer’s have suggested that the first to use it as a surname, was Sir Roger d’Wasseburne, ancestor of the American immigrant Washburns’ of Plymouth Colony.

Washbourne Manor at Little Washbourne, was the ancient seat of the family, shown in Doomsday for that of Urse d’Abitot, and held of him by William son of Samson, and later recorded for Sir Roger d’Wasseburne in the 1200s. Roger is shown as “of Washbourne, Stanford and Little Cumberton”. His son Sir John d’Wasseburne, is recorded as “of Washbourne, Bretforton & Orleton in Estham”. This Roger and John of the 1200s, are suggested as having been the first to use the surname.

Descendant in the male line of the “Knights Washbourne”, the first American colonist of the family, being that of John Washborn (Sr.), b. 1597 in Bengeworth, England, came to Plymouth Colony in c. 1631. His son, John Washburn (Jr.), b. 1620, also in Bengeworth, sailed to New England in 1635 on the Elizabeth & Ann, with his mother Margery and brother Phillip. He married in 1645, Elizabeth Mitchell, daughter of Experience and Jane (Cooke) Mitchell, of Duxbury, Plymouth Colony. She was the granddaughter of Francis Cooke, who came to America on the Mayflower. They settled first in Duxbury and had eleven children, including the first notable set of Seven Brothers in the American Washburn line. It has been suggested that a likely 90% of the American Washburns hail from one of these “Seven Brothers”.

Another contributor to the American Washburn line, a younger brother of John Sr., William Washburne, the immigrant ancestor to Connecticut Colony, and later Hempstead, Long Island, did not join his brother John Washburn in Plymouth Colony. He remained in England, where he raised a large family, and finally sailed with his in-laws to New England. They settled first in Stratford, Connecticut Colony, with the Nichols’, eventually settling in Hempstead. He and his wife, Jane Nichols, had 9 or 10 children.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, there were 19,505 Washburns in the United States, making it the 1,685th most common name in the country. There are also a number of Washburns in Canada, many of whom are descendants of United Empire Loyalist Ebenezer Washburn.

[Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washburn]