Kingsbury family
The Kingsbury family was an influential family in medieval England, and they continue to be an important part of American society today as well as in England. There is evidence to puport that the Kingsbury family are descendants of the Bracebridge family, whose ancestry is traced back as far as Sir Ralf of Bracebridge, an English Knight who was born in 975. This bloodline also includes the well known figure Lady Godiva whose husband Leofric, Earl of Mercia, was descended from the Saxon Kings of the lordship of Kingsbury.[1]
The surname
The present day Kingsbury family, of noble origin, has had many variants to their surname, including:
- de Kingsberry
- de Kingsbury
- de Kyngesburie
- de Kyngesbury
- de Kyngesburye
- Kingsberry
- Kingsbery
- Kingsbury
- Kyngesbury
There has been conjecture that the Kingsbury family also previously went by these surnames:
- Bracebridge
- de Bracebridge
History
900-1100
- The Kingsbury family's earliest known member is Sir Ralf of Bracebridge, who was born in 975 in Bracebridge, Lincolnshire, England.
- Kingsbury descendants, originally from Warwickshire, trace their ancestry to Leofric, Earl of Mercia and Lady Godiva.[2] the latter of which is well known for riding nude on a white horse through the streets of Coventry, the reason being to convince Leofric (her husband) to lower his harsh taxes on the people. The children of Leofric and Godiva include Ælfgār and possibly, Hereward the Wake. The Earl of Mercia is said to be descended from the Saxon Kings of Mercia.[3] He inherited their ancient seat.
1100-1300
- The Bracebridge family first appears in the town of Kingsbury, Warwickshire in circa 1115, when Sir Peter de Bracebridge and Amicia Arden were married in the town.
- The first known family member to bear the surname "Kingsbury" was Adam de Kingsbury, who was born about 1240 in Kingsbury, Warwickshire.
1500-1700
- It has been claimed that William Shakespeare was a descendant of the Kingsbury family. It has been written that Leofric's daughter married Turchil de Arden, one of William the Conqueror's Norman Knights and their granddaughter married Peter de Bracebridge, in whose family the Lordship remained until the time of Queen Elizabeth I. A daughter of this side of the family married Sir John Arden, of Arden, who was the grand-father of Mary Arden, Shakespeare's mother. At all events, Shakespeare made reference to this when he wrote the lines:
'When nightingales in Arden sit and sing Among the daintie dew-empearlèd flowers..' [4]
- Some members of the Kingsbury family emigrated to America in 1630, landing in Boston with the Winthrop Fleet. Among the party were Henry Kingsbury of Ipswich, his wife and sons Joseph and Thomas. Henry Kingsbury was a signer of the Boston City Charter and the Covenant of the First Church of Boston.Joseph Kingsbury, who may have been Sir Ralf of Bracebridge's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandson, is found in a search party of the Charles River in 1635. Sarah Kingsbury was the first family member born in the New World, and was born in 1635 in modern day Boston.
- The American politician Daniel Webster was a descendant on his mother's side of Henry Kingsbury of Ipswich.
- Ezra W. Kingsbury, a former Union Cavalry officer, defeated "Wild Bill" Hickock to become sheriff of Ellsworth, Kansas in 1868. He was also involved in the capture of confederate leader "Bloody Bill" Anderson during the Civil War.
References
- "Kingsbury Hall, the Genealogy of a Family" by Kenneth J. Kingsbury, Gateway Press 2005.
