Dowbiggin Family History Society

and Surname Resource Center

Click here for a new list of stuff I am trying to locate.

(PDF Adobe Acrobat file)

Please also visit the site where I keep many of my files for public access:
http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/m/a/i/Diane-E-Main/

Coat of Arms

The Dowbiggin family coat of arms is described as "vaire or and azure, a crescent gules."
The family motto is "Post Nubila Pheba."
This has been translated to mean "after clouds, the sun" or "after adversity, prosperity."
(There are more images of the Coat of Arms here.)

Who we are

The DFHS has nearly 75 members, many of whom are not online. Our members are in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. We basically help each other keep up with our Dowbiggin research and attempt to trace our lines to the earliest recorded DOWBIGGINs in England.

History

For generations, the DOWBIGGIN family have been farmers and yeomen in the area, now in southern Cumbria, Lancashire, and North Yorkshire, where the pre-1974 counties of Westmorland, Lancashire, and Yorkshire meet. Now, most of the British Dowbiggins live in Lancashire or Cumbria, though some have moved south. There was a branch in London for some time.

An article in an 1889 issue of the Lancaster Observer, a local newspaper, detailed some of the life of Dowbiggins who lived at High Winder, an estate in the Forest of Bowland, to the southeast of Lancaster. Most Dowbiggins can be traced back to this place or the general area, to the family of Thomas Dowbiggin (1530) and Elizabeth Marton.

New!
There are now some articles (which I have typed from copies sent to me by DFHS members) available to read here.
What is available so far is:

The Dowbiggins (article from The Dalesman, 1976)
History of the Dowbiggin surname (from an unknown source)
Is Your Name DOWBIGGIN? (from Lancashire Life magazine, December 1982)
Dowbiggin Manuscripts with the James Bibby Collection

Surname Meaning and Variant Spellings

The name DOWBIGGIN has its origins in a place just to the east of Sedbergh, England. It used to be in the West Riding of Yorkshire, but when county boundaries were changed in 1974, the Sedbergh area became part of the new county of Cumbria.

Apparently, there is some confusion as to the meaning of the name. Kevin Lancaster, who lives at Dowbiggin outside Sedbergh, told me that despite oral history that claims the name means "gathering of buildings (Biggin) near the dovecote (Dow)," the name really means "gathering of buildings near the cave." Apparently Dowker may have been the first part of the place name originally.

I have found or been told of the following surname variants.
(It seems the only letters they have in common are the D, the B, and the N!)
This list is arranged alphabetically:

Dabkin, Dalbikin, Daubigan, Daubiggin, Daubigin, Daubikin, Dawbigen, Dawbiggan, Dawbiggin, Dawbigin, Dawbikine, Dewbiggin, Dobacan, Dobbakin, Dobbakins, Dobbigin, Dobbikin, Dobbikine, Dobbinkin, Dobbykin, Dobbykyn, Dobekin, Dobiggen, Dobiggin, Dobikin, Dobikine, Dobykine, Doubekin, Doubigan, Doubiggin, Doubigin, Doubikin, Doubinghin, Dowbacakan, Dowbaken, Dowbakin, Dowbeggin, Dowbegin, Dowbekerkin, Dowbekin, Dowberkin, Dowbickin, Dowbiggan, Dowbiggen, Dowbiggens, Dowbiggin, Dowbigging, Dowbigin, Dowbiken, Dowbikin, Dowbygin, Dowbykyn, Dowfbyging, Dowkin, Dubiggin

*New!* Reunion		Information about the Dowbiggin Reunion (July 2003)
*New!* Wills		Wills for people named Dowbiggin (mostly English)
Images		Pictures and graphics related to the DOWBIGGINs
Queries		A form you can use to submit your own questions or information about the Dowbiggin surname
Dowbiggin Links		Links to other webpages that provide information related to Dowbiggin research
Dowbiggin Researchers		A list of some of the other people who are researching the Dowbiggin surname
Surname Web		The central location for SRCs (Surname Resource Centers)
Online Searchable Database		The RootsWeb WorldConnect database of all my information, including hundreds of Dowbiggins
Contact DFHS		How to contact the Dowbiggin Family History Society