Walter and Mary (Marie) Tybbot were some of the first ancestors I discovered, in spite of the fact that they are my 10X great grandparents. They have been in my family tree since the 1980s, but until very recently, no progress had been made on finding the ancestral home, thought to be in Wales.

Thanks to new research by Chase W. Ashley just published in the Fall 2021 issue of The New England Historic Genealogical Register, the Tybbot family has been placed in their ancestral home.

First, a bit of background:
The Tybbots are said to have arrived in the colonies, first at Plymouth with the Rev. Richard Blinman, in 1640. Walter Tybbot, with some others, were “propounded” or put forward, e.g. nominated, to be made freemen on 2 March 1641 in Plymouth. Shortly after, Rev. Blinman and his party left Plymouth for Marshfield, Massachusetts, but after only a year or so there, there was a disagreement leading to their removal to Gloucester, Massachusetts.

The distance from Plymouth to Marshfield is only ten or eleven miles. The trek from Marshfield to Gloucester, though, is another seventy miles. No records exist to explain whether they made the move by land or by sea.

Rev. Richard Blinman was pastor of a church in Chepstow, Monmouthshire, Wales. It was long assumed, but not proven,  that those in his party were all parishioners at Chepstow.

Walter Tybbot wrote a will on the 5th day of the 4th month in 1651 (5 June 1651) and died on 14 August 1651 in Gloucester.

His will was probated in October of the same year. His unnamed wife, called Mary since the 1800s, was named the executor. Daughters Agnes and Mary were both named, along with their husbands and several grandchildren.

Walter was born about 1584, reportedly in Monmouthshire, Wales. I have no years of birth or death for purported wife Mary.

Walter had two daughters, Agnes and Mary.

Agnes was about ten years older than Mary, born about 1611. She married (1) Mr. Dike, before the family emigrated and (2) Edmund Clark. Her daughter “Elizabeth Dick” was named in her father’s will. Second daughter Mary was born about eleven years later in 1622.

Mary married William Haskell on 6 November 1643 in Gloucester. They were the parents of nine children.

Both Agnes and Mary have many descendants today.

 

Chase Ashley has done an excellent job sleuthing out further details about Walter Tybbot and his family that places him not in Wales at all, but in Bristol, England! He has also corrected several errors in print for  more than a century and a half, about Walter’s wife and extended family.

1. There is apparently NO primary source document that names Walter’s wife. He didn’t name her in his will and when she remarried in 1652 to John Harding, she was called the Widow Tybbot. It is thought that some researcher through the years might have mistaken a reference to Walter’s daughter Mary as his wife.

Parish registers of St. Philip & St. Jacob Parish in Bristol, England were examined for Tybbot entries with a number of new records found:

2. The burial record for Walter’s first wife: Agnes Tybbot, wife of Walter Tybbot was buried on 22 March 1630.

3. The marriage of Walter Tybbot & Joan Hill of Bedminster took place on 23 May 1630.

4. Henry Dike of London, merchant & tailor, married Agnes Tybbot on 9 February 1631.

Furthermore, baptismal entries were found for three children of Henry Dike, including Elizabeth, on 3 February 1632, and two sons.

Therefore, it is possible to significantly update facts known about Walter Tybbot and his family:

Walter Tybbot, born c1584, was living in Bristol, England during the early 1630s. It is likely he was born in or near Bristol because many other Tybbots have been found living in the area in the same time period.

Walter married (1) Agnes (MNU), who was buried 22 March 1630, Bristol, England. Agnes was likely the mother of his daughters Agnes and Mary. He married (2) Joan Hill of Bedminster, 23 May 1630, Bristol, England. Joan married (2) John Harding

Children of Walter & Agnes:
1. Agnes, born c1611; death date unknown; married (1) Henry Dike, a merchant & tailor of London, 9 February 1631 and (2) Edmund Clarke, after 1642
2. Mary, born c1622; died 16 August 1693, Gloucester, MA; married William Haskell, 6 November 1643, Gloucester, MA

Children of Agnes Tybbot, by her two husbands:
1. Elizabeth Dike, born c1630; married  Zebulon Hill
2. Henry Dike, baptized 18 October 1637; no further record
3. Richard Dike, born c1640; married Rebecca Doliver, 7 August 1667, Gloucester, MA
4. James Dike, baptized 9 January 1642/43; no further record
5. John Clarke, born c1647; died 2 January 1681/82, Gloucester, MA; unmarried
6. Joseph Clarke, 16 November 1650, Gloucester, MA; married Hannah Davis, 27 March 1682, Gloucester, MA

Children of Mary Tybbot and William Haskell:
1. William, born 26 August 1644, Gloucester, MA; died 5 June 1708, Gloucester, MA; married Mary Browne, 3 July 1667, Gloucester, MA
2. Joseph, born 2 June 1646, Gloucester, MA; died 12 November 1727, Gloucester, MA; married Mary Graves, 2 December 1674, Gloucester, MA
3. Benjamin, born c1648; died c1741; married Mary Riggs, 21 November 1677, Gloucester, MA
4. Mary, born c1653; married William Dodge, c1673; no further record
5. Ruth, born c1654; died 26 November 1714, Beverly, MA; married Nehemiah Grover, 2 December 1676, Gloucester, MA
6. Mark, born 8 April 1658, Gloucester, MA; died 8 September 1691, Gloucester, MA; married Elizabeth Giddings, 16 December 1685, Gloucester, MA
7. Sarah, born 28 June 1660, Gloucester, MA; died 4 March 1690/1, Gloucester, MA; married Edward Harraden, 5 February 1684, Gloucester, MA
8. John, born c1662; died 2 February 1718, Gloucester, MA; married Mary Baker, 20 May 1685, Gloucester, MA
9. Eleanor, born 28 May 1663, Gloucester, MA; married Jacob Griggs, 12 November 1685, Gloucester, MA

I have two lines of descent through Walter Tybbot & Agnes (MNU) through their daughter Mary and her husband, William Haskell – son William who married Mary Browne and son Mark who married Elizabeth Giddings.

There is much more information to be found  in “The English Origins of Walter Tybbot of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and His Wives and Daughters” by Chase W. Ashley in The Register, Fall 2021, pp. 330-341, including a possible clue to Walter’s father! You’ll have to read the article for yourself to learn more about Walter Tybbot and his English origins.

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