Thomas Babb is a member of the DNA Lineage known as the Potters of Staffordshire. He was born in 1841 in Staffordshire, England, but moved to the United States in 1860. Settling first in Ohio, where he was married, Babb moved to Mahomet, Champaign County, Ill., in 1861. Babb spent the next two decades acquiring and farming several hundred acres of land throughout the county, before starting a hog and grain business in 1880. These businesses flourished, and in 1897 Babb began splitting his time between Illinois and Texas, where he owned a cattle business. After his wife’s death, Babb traveled throughout the world until his own death in 1915.
These diaries document Babb’s daily life during his travels. Book A, dating from Aug.-Nov. 1905, describes a return trip to Great Britain, while Books B-D record a lengthy trip around the world from July 1908 through Apr. 1909. Books E-F trace Babb’s travels in Italy, Egypt, and the Middle East, Sept.-Nov. 1909, and a 1910 journey through Texas. Book G begins with a visit to England in 1911, and ends with a trip to Texas, where he remarried in early 1912. Finally, Book H is a record of a trip to the West Coast and back during Sept. and Oct. 1912.
Ann Gibbons of Champaign, Ill., and Ruth Cole of Hull, Ill., donated these diaries to the Survey in 2001.
To download them, click on any of the books below. This item is available to Archives Members Only.
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Designed for Researchers who want unlimited access to the collected papers of Jean A Sargent, who researched the Babb Families of America and Ian Henry Babb (who did the same for the Babb Families in England). In all 23,000 pages of documentation and correspondence. from their combined 60 year body of work. This collection forms the backbone of my book series “Babb Unabridged” and will include older editions of the books themselves as they become.