If so your ancestors may have lived in Roeburndale to the north east of Lancaster. In 1668, Thomas Benison was an attorney living at Scamble. In about 1720 he married Anne Winder Dowbiggin, daughter of John Dowbiggin who died in 1738. Thomas Benison, owner of a minor estate in Roeburndale, and his wife had an only child, Anne.
Anne Winder Dowbiggin had, as a recusant, registered her house in Hornby which was worth £9 per annum in 1717. After her marriage she had the house rebuilt and named Hornby Hall. At her death the house descended to her daughter who married John Fenwick of Barrow. In about 1750 she had a discussion with Bishop Petre about the Moreley Trust which had been founded in 1712 by Cuthbert Thurnham to provide for the maintenance of priests at Leighton Hall and Rober Hall. She suggested that the fund should be applied to the maintenance of a chapel at Hornby. She retained Hornby Hall for life and built a chapel at Claughton. Before her death in 1777, she endowed the Hornby Mission by the purchase of land adjoining her house.
Another branch of the family were living at High Winder in the 17th century1. Thomas Dowbiggin, who died in 1695, left a son, Lancelot, and a daughter, Elizabeth, who in 1719 married Henry Faithwaite of Littledale in Caton. Lancelot was living in 1735-36 when it was recorded that he paid a rent of 10s-4½d to the steward of Frances Charteris for High Winder.
In 1722 another Thomas Dowbiggin was a churchwarden at Tatham Church when the steeple was erected2, and a century later another Thomas Dowbiggin was the owner of Kirkhouse at Bolton-le-Sands3.
(caption at the bottom, above a sketch of the crest):
ARMS OF DOWBIGGIN: --
Vaire or and azure a crescent gules. The background consists of interlocking shield shapes in gold and blue and the crescent is red.
(To see what the Dowbiggin coat of arms looks like, click here to go to the images page.)
Webmaster's notes:
1This family contains the ancestors of the previously described John Dowbiggin and Anne Winder Dowbiggin.
2There is a stone plaque inside Tatham Church, at the base of the bell tower, listing this fact. I took a picture recently, but won't be able to put it up here until it is developed and I can scan it -- I don't have a scanner, so this could take a while.
3I don't believe that I have this Thomas identified yet, so any help with this one would be appreciated.
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