In my new quest to research the Babb(s) of Hertfordshire, I have so far ingested about 150-years’ worth of records. The peculiar thing that draws my attention is the manifold way that our surname is spelled.

In other areas you see a distinct pattern of moving from Babbe to Bab and then to Babb. But here in Hertfordshire the world is turned upside down!

I’ve seen just about every combination of letters for our surname that I can imagine. They include Bab, Babs, Babe, Babb, Babbe, Babbes and Babbs.

To me this seems to be the perfect ancestral homeland of the Eastern Virginia and North Carolina Babbs (aka White Stags) or that of the Green Men of Maryland. It is on display from the earliest records from 1546 and the amount of variation throughout each person’s lifetime is astounding.

There is no simple way I can think of to demonstrate this in a blog post. Even a tree report won’t show all the variations associated with each person’s name. I’ve chosen to show the name on the Baptism record as the authoritative source. I consider a trailing “e” as a matter of the times and treat is as such, not concerning myself.

But, what is clear to me is that Babb and Babbs lived in harmony next to each other, as much as that is possible with any Babb(s).

One of the hallmarks of these two lineages is this peaceful coexistence between the singular and the plural with no concern about unifying them.

In the long run we need to find Babb(s) from Hertfordshire to Y-DNA test and help us render a formal decision. In the meantime, I’m plowing full steam ahead into this record set and thus far am up to 1708. I need to get the dataset up to the 1841 Census where the research starts to become clear with a full accounting of the members of the family. In the meantime, let me introduce you to the two longest lineages thus far. There is much work left to be done, but this will give you an early look at the tree as it takes shape.

Below you will find the first 150 documents from Hertfordshire. Remember this is still a work in progress. I can import as many as 30 such records a day, though that pace will pick up significantly once I get to the year 1800 when Ancestry’s resources for the Census will kick in along with a variety of other records that I’ve not even touched yet, such as estate records and deeds. As you peruse the documents, look for the red dot on the page which points the way to the pertinent record.

Enjoy!