I’m moving on to Devon for a while. I had intended to search through the Babb Baptism, Marriage and Burial records for the cities in Western Devon County to see if there was a correlation that could be found with the Babb Families in Eastern Cornwall.

I downloaded the index for over 4000 records from the earliest days of church recordings in the County through 1840 (the year before the first English Census).

I went through these records quickly just looking at place names. Not being a native of Devon I am unfamiliar with most of the names and had to look them up. This is what evolved.

The map as you see it belies an important fact. While there are a number of locations in Western Devon on the map, they don’t appear for about 200 years into the records. Even then they are sparse and quite spread out.

Had I stopped my search at 1750 you would still see the giant cluster along the South Eastern Shore near Teignmouth. This is the clear origin of the Babb Surname in Devon. You can see a slow and steady progression as families struck out into neighboring towns to raise their families.

How many of these lines emanate from Hennock, Kenn, Ugborough, Totnes, Coffinswell and Newton Abbot is still up in the air.

Yes, I said Totnes! This little town has a proud Babb History dating back centuries. Though we only know a little about them at this time, there is a significant trail of births from 1558-1926 in these records that was previously unknown to us. It will take some time to unravel, but perhaps the descendants of the towns early leaders still live in this village that is a staple of Babb Reunions in England.

I am only beginning to unlock these secrets and am so pleased to take this research to a new level.

Devon is the cradle of Babb history in England spawning at least 3 unique genetic lineages. Only time will tell what stories are yet to be told. I stand at the precipice an am base jumping into the Babb Garden of Eden.

Will we finally unlock the secrets of the family of Phillip Babb of the Isles of Shoals, or of the North Carolina/Eastern Virginia Babbs, or of the Babb Families of Maryland? I have no idea, but I can promise you this.

Nothing will ever be the same!

Here we go!