Below is a short biographical sketch of the Washbournes in England. See the chart at the bottom of this page.

Roger Washbourne
Roger de Washbourne was born in 1227 in Little Washbourne, Gloucestershire. THenry III was King of England. It was the time of Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham. Richard the Lionheart had died less than 20 years before. The names of his forbears are lost in antiquity, but what is known is that the original founder of the Washbourne line was knighted on the battlefield by William the Conqueror in 1066 and endowed with the lands of the Little Washbourne and Great Washbourne in the county of Gloucestershire. Little Washbourne (sometimes called Knight’s Washbourne).

They also had lands and lived in the Worcestershire towns of Wichenford (near Worcester), Bengeworth at Evesham and Stanford-on-Teme (near Stourport-on-Severn).

Sir Roger married Joan in about 1258. They had one child, John, who was born about 1259 in Little Washbourne. He was known during his father’s life as John de Dufford, taken from the name of his estate. After his father’s death in 1299, he became known as John de Washbourne (1259-1319).
All Washburns in America descend from Roger Washbourne

John Washbourne
Sir John De Washbourne was the son of Sir Roger and Lady Joan De Washbourne of Knight’s Manor Washbourne in the area of Little Washbourne, England. He later resided in Stanford, England. The date of his birth was approximate 1259.

This Sir John De Washbourne was recorded under the name of John De Dufford prior to the death of his father, Sir Roger De Washbourne. This Dufford name was connected to the name of lands that he purchased in 1280 while his father was still living. Ada C. Haight in the book The Richard Washburn Family Genealogy (1937), states that Sir John is mentioned in the Lay Subsidy Roll of 1280. Sir John married Lady Isabella Kassey.

In 1312, this Sir John De Washbourne was Knight of the Shire. In the year when Sir John is recorded as holding this high office, King Edward II sat on the throne in England.

In 1316, he confirmed to his son, Sir Roger De Washbourne, and Sir Roger’s wife, Margaret, all his manor of Washbourne.

Sir John died about 1319-1920. He is buried at Saint Laurence Church in Wickhamford.

Roger Washbourne
Sir Roger De Washbourne was born in 1291 in the area of Stanford, England. His parents were Sir John De Washbourne and Lady Isabel De Washbourne. He married his wife, Margaret (maiden name unknown) as early as 1316.

This Sir Roger succeeded his father as Lord of Washbourne and Stanford in the thirteenth year of the reign of King Edward II in 1320. He was recorded as a Knight.

Sir Roger and Lady Margaret had two sons named John. It was often customary in those times to give the same name to two sons; a custom that continued down to the seventeenth century.

The elder son, John De Washbourne I, married Katherine Thromwin and died around 1319 without children. His widow, Katherine, married Sir John Musard and they had a daughter whom they named Joan Musard. This daughter later married the son of Peter Washborn, John Washborn, each of whom will be described later in this paper.

The younger son, John Washbourne II, evidently made the first recorded change in the family surname and was later recorded as having spelled the surname as Washborn. In later generations, the spelling of the name reverted back to the original spelling.

Sir Roger died in either 1358 or 1360 and is buried at Saint Laurence Church in Wickhamford, England, where his wife, Margaret, is also buried.

John Washbourne
There is little recorded information about John Washbourne including a lack of an accurate date of birth and date of death. OHe is believed to have been born in Stanford or Little Washbourne and have died in Worcestershire, England. John Washborn’s wife’s name was Isabella.

Peter Washborne
Peter Washborne, the son of John Washborne and Isabella Washborn, was believed to have been born in 1329 in Little Washbourne, England.
Peter married Isolde Hanley in 1355. Isolde was stated to be the daughter of John De Hanley, of Hanley William in Worcestershire, but the pedigrees gathered for Heralds’ College state that her father was Thomas Hanley. The Hanley family was an ancient and distinguished family residing in Worcestershire, England.

Peter and Isolde had two sons, John and William. All Washburn’s in America are believed to descend from one of these two brothers.

John Washbourne
John Washboune, the son of Peter Washbourne and Isolde Handley, was born in 1356 in Worchestershire, England and was a knight of the shire, escheator, and vice-comes. He was the last of the name to own Sanford, and the first in Wichenford and was living in July, in the firth year of the reign of Henry VI.

Norborne Washbourne
Norborne Washourne was the elder son of Sir John and Lady Margaret (Le Poher) Washbourne. He was born in Wichenford, Worcestershire, England. His wife was Elizabeth Kniveton, daughter of Henry Kniveton. The Kniveton name was derived from the family’s lordship of Kniveton, a parish in Derbyshire. Sir Norman’s name signals the Norman blood of each of his parent’s, Sir John Washburn and Margaret Le Poher, and demonstrates that the English Washborns held in high honor their Viking ancestors.
In the fifth year of the reign of King Henry VI (in the year beginning September 1, 1426, and ending August 31, 1427 as this King’s reign began on September 1, 1422), Norborne received Knights’ Washbourne from his father, John Washbourne, who mentions himself as a Knight and as Lord of Washbourne, which he names his manor of Knights’ Washbourne, in the County of Worcester.

Norborne Washborn was Sheriff of Worcestershire in 17 Henry VI, 1438-1439. He died before Edward IV’s reign, which began on March 4, 1479, and ended on March 3, 1480. Norman was also vice com of Worcestershire in the reign of Henry VI.

During his lifetime, Norborne was involved in litigation with Humphrey Salway, who had claimed Stanford through his mother, the half sister of Noborne. The controversy was finally referred to George, Duke of Clarence, “the false, fleeting, perjured Clarence” of Shakespeare, and the brother of King Edward. Norborne confirmed his property by deed in the eleventh year of Henry VI.

Sir Norborne’s heir was his eldest son, John.
John Washbourne was the heir of Norborne Washbourne. He was born in 1451 in Worchestershire, England and died May 6, 1517 in Witchenford, Worchestershire, England.

John married Joan Milton. John and Joan had three sons: Robert, John, Walter and one daughter, Ann.

John Washbourne
John Washbourne was the second son of Sir John and Lady Joan Mitton Washbourne. He was born in January 1478.

There was apparently a break in peaceful family relationships after Sir John’s (this John’s father) marriage to Elizabeth Monington, although the trouble may not have been directly caused by the marriage. When Sir John made his will in 1517, he mentioned only three of his six sons in the will. This son, John, along with the fourth son, Francis, and the fifth son, Anthony, were not mentioned in the will. Francis may have died before the date of the will as there is no evidence that he was alive after the death of his father.

John Washbourne moved from his father’s home, Wichenford, by 1538, to Bengeworth, Worchester, England, doubtless because of the break in family relations. Bengeworth lies on the south side of the River Avon, in the southeastern part of the County of Worcester, about eighteen miles from Wichenford, which is in northwestern Worcestershire. It is across the River Avon from Evesham. The Parish of Bengeworth Saint Peter is included in the Borough of Evesham. Located here is the famous Grammar School, where the boys of the Washburn ancestors in England received their education. The Grammar School still exists.

Formerly in a window of the chancel of Saint Peter’s Church in Bengeworth was the coat of arms of the Washbourne family. The coat of arms was mentioned in the book History and Antiquities of the Abbey and Borough of Evesham, (William Tindal, A.M., 1794) as being located in the west window on the south aisle and listed two benefactors of Saint Peter’s Church, “John Washbourne and Richard Cowie.”

John Washbourne was living in Bengeworth by 1538. He farmed and raised livestock in Bengeworth and was rather well off for the times. He made his Will there on December 27, 1546, and was buried on January 8, 1548. In his Will, he bequeathed his soul to Almighty God and directed that his body be buried in the Church Yard of Bengeworth, after Solemn Mass. He appointed his wife Emme to be sole Executrix and named Thomas Shreve of Hampton and his son, William Washbourne, to act as Overseers of the Will. Legatees were his sons, William and John; the two sons of each of the sons; the three children of Robert Martin, his son-in-law; the child of Daniel Hyde, his son-in-law and husband of his daughter, Katherine; and left the remainder of his estate to his wife, Emme.

The maiden-surname of John Washbourne’s wife is not known. He called her “Eme” in his Will. However, in her own Will dated May 1, 1547, she is named “Emme.” Her baptismal name may have been Emma or Amy. She did not live long after her husband and was buried on May 13, 1547 in Bengeworth. They were possibly married on May 6, 1516, in Bengeworth, England.

John Washbourne
John Washborne, eldest son and heir of John Washborne, of Bengeworth, Worcestershire, England, was born around 1518, probably in Bengeworth, and married Jone Bushell on 27 Apr. 1542 in St. Peter’s Parish, Bengeworth. Her father’s name has not been discovered. She died in 1557, and was buried on 4 Apr. 1557 in Bengeworth. He remarried to Jone Whitehead on 8 March or May 1561 in Bengeworth. She was probably the daughter of John Shepey, of Bengeworth, and widow of William Whitehead, who died testate in 1559 in Bengeworth. She died in 1567 in Bengeworth, and was buried on 23 Apr. 1567.

John Washborne died intestate in 1593 in Bengeworth, and was buried on 13 Oct. 1593 in Bengeworth. His eldest son, John Washborne, was granted administration of his estate. The inventory of his estate was dated 20 Sept. 1593, and was appraised by John Dacle, Thomas Ordway, John Hall, and John Smythe, and was valued at £132 4 s. 10 d. From other baptisms in St. Peter’s Parish, Bengeworth, it is apparent that the Washbornes were close friends with the Ordways, Dacles, Hydes, Martens, Smiths, Shorthasells, Phelpes, and others in Bengeworth, to whose children the Washbornes sometimes appeared as godparents of. The Martens and Hydes were presumably of John Washborne’s sisters’ families. Some of the others may have been related to Emme Washborne or Jone Bushell. In addition, John Washborne was an appraiser, with John Dacle and Edward Phelps, of the estate of Robert Ordway, Sen., of Bengeworth in 1580.

John Washbourne
John Washborne, son and heir of John Washborne (Jr.), was; born in Bengeworth, Worcestershire, England, in ca. 1551, married 1.) (Unknown), in ca. 1577, and 2.) Martha (Timbrell) Stevens, widow of (___) Stevens, and sister of John Timbrell and Edward Timbrell, of Offenham, Worcestershire, on 5 July 1596 in Bengeworth. He had 3 children baptized in Bengeworth in the period of 1579-1584, but his wife is not named, and no burial record was found for her in Bengeworth.

John Washborne was one of the 12 Capital Burgesses mentioned in the Charter of Incorporation granted by King James I in 1605 to the borough of Evesham, Worcestershire, which included the parish of Bengeworth. On 26 May 1608 and on 2 Oct. 1610 John Washborne signed the Corporation Minutes. He resigned the Council on 30 Aug. 1614, probably because of his health, and his resignation is recorded in the Corporation Minutes: “Also att the same tyme Mr. John Washbourne one of the Comon Councell and a Capitall Burgesse of the said Burrough being willing did resigne his said place for many causes and impedyments unto the said Maior Aldermen and Burgesses to the end there may be one other able and sufficyent man to be elected for supply of the said Company in the Roome of him the said John Washeborne.”

Edward Timbrell died testate in 1614, and mentioned his sister Martha Washborne, and her four children in his will, dated 1 Apr. 1614. Martha Washborne received 20 shillings in his will. No probate records were found for John Timbrell in Worcestershire.

John Washborne died testate in 1624, and was buried on 5 Aug. 1624 in Bengeworth, Worcestershire, aged about 73 years, “old and blind.” His will was dated 4 Aug. 1624, and probated on 26 Feb. 1624/5. He mentioned his loving wife, his son-in-law Isaacke Averell, his daughter Joane Wasborne, his brother-in-law John Timbrell, his son William Wasborne, his son and principal heir John Washborne, whom he also appointed as executor, and his granddaughter Jane, daughter of Isaacke Averell. It was witnessed by John Balam, John Tymbrell, and Joseph Phelps. His inventory was appraised by Joseph Phelpes, John Tymbrell, and Thos. Ordway, and was valued at £215, 3 s.

Martha (Timbrell) (Stevens) Washborne died testate in 1625, and was buried on 29 Sept. 1625 in Bengeworth.[86] Her will was dated 19 Sept. 1625, and was probated on 9 May 1626. She mentioned only her daughter Jone Washborne and her brother John Tembrel, and it was witnessed by Ales Watsone, Ales Orwaye, and Annes Hale. Her inventory was appraised by John Timbrell, Richard Moore, and Richarde Haye, and was valued at £24, 13 s., 8 d. John Timbrell, of Naunton, Gloucestershire, died testate in 1626, and left a will, dated 30 Sept. 1626, which mentioned John Wasborn, his brother William Wasborne, and his sister Joane, among others.
John Washborne had 3 children by his first wife, and 4 more children by Martha (Timbrell) Stevens.

John Washburn
John was born the son of John and Martha (Timbrell) Washborne. Martha was the widow of Mr. (__) Stevens.John was baptized at Bengeworth, Worcestershire, England, on 2 July 1597.John married Margery Moore about 1618 in Bengeworth, Worcestershire, England. John and Margery Moore imigrated to America and died in Bridgewater, Plymouth Colony, Massachusets. Washburn appears to have been used as the spelling of the surname starting with John.

John Washburn
John Washburn was born in 1620 in Bengeworth, Worcestershire, England, the son of John Washburn and Margery Moore. His wife, Elizabeth Mitchell was born in 1620 in what is now Plymouth County, Massachusetts. John  and Elizabeth had eleven children including seven sons. It is estimated that 90% of all Washburns in American descend from the seven sons of John and Elizabeth (Mitchell) Washburn. Elizabeth Mitchell’s grandfather Francis Cooke came to American from Holland on the Mayflower. For more information click here.