WELCOME

Welcome Abbs researchers! This page and the links below focus on the documented genealogy and family history of the Abbs family of England’s Norfolk coast, particularly the adjacent towns of Aylmerton and Runton.  Eventually, members of this family emigrated to other parts of England, Canada, the United States and Australia. 

RESEARCH DEPTH AND BREADTH

Over several years, I have spent countless hours tracing the Abbs lineage beyond the confining limits of the Runton and Aylmerton parish registers (which only go back to 1725 and 1699, respectively). This effort has yielded some wonderful results as far as the Abbs pedigree is concerned. However, while focusing on lineage and pedigree research, I have sometimes neglected distant, collateral relatives. As a result, you will find that my research runs deep but not particularly broad, as I have not covered all the collateral descendants of the various Abbs ancestors. This is something I hope to change, as stated in my goals for this website below.  For a sense of the Abbs descendancy lines that I have covered to date, click on the Abbs Charts links below to access Richard Abbs' Descendants Chart.

BRICK WALLS BREACHED: ANCESTORS OF RICHARD ABBS (1708-1791); ANCESTORS OF MARY PANK (1743-1798)

As you peruse these pages, you will find that I have broken through a few “brick walls." Of significance to many of you, I have identified several generations of ancestors of Richard Abbs (b. 1708 in Aylmerton; d. 1791 in Runton), the progenitor of many Abbs descendents, including Richard’s mother, the elusive Susan Abbs (nee Feazer) and her ancestors. Similarly, I have identified several generations of ancestors of Mary Abbs (nee Pank) (b. 1743 in Runton; d. 1798 in Runton), the wife of John Abbs. Click on the Charts link above to access Richard Abbs' Pedigree Chart to see how far back I’ve managed to go [please note that the pedigree chart commences with the Richard Abbs born 1766, so as to include the Pank ancestors]. Since parish registers are generally unavailable for this geographic area before 1700, I breached these brick walls by carefully transcribing wills and by tracing the disposition of certain Feazer and Wilson family lands through two centuries of manor court records from 1640 through about 1850. We are fortunate that the Abbs were farmers, and that, in addition to their crops, they sowed many land records from which future genealogists could reap benefits.

GENERAL GOALS

With this website, I hope to aid and connect with genealogists and family historians researching familial lines connected to the Abbs family of Norfolk County, England.  By sharing information and resources, I hope to broaden the scope of well-documented research on these pages to include more collateral lines of descent from the ancestral lines already covered here. By sharing information and resources, I also hope that we can collaborate to eliminate more brick walls in our common research. Of course, sharing is a two-way street; if you find this website helpful to your research, please reciprocate by offering me information or materials that I may be missing. If you have researched a collateral line that is not well represented here, please send me a genealogy report or tree so that I can confirm and add the information. If you have old photographs, memorabilia or ephemera related to persons or places on these pages, please send me scans so that I can include them in future updates. I consistently credit my sources for such material.

PARTICULAR GOALS

In the course of my research, I have identified several “island” Abbs families (families for which I have not documented a connection to other members of the Abbs family tree). Please take a look at the list of “Abbs Islanders” and let me know if you have further information that might help me make a connection to any of them.  I am aware of another pocket of Abbs in Buxton, Norfolk (U.K.) that may pre-date the Abbs family in Aylmerton and Runton; however, I have not yet identified a common ancestor – although certain names appear in both lines with startling regularity (i.e. Nicholas). I am also aware of Abbs in Cambridgeshire (U.K.) that likely post-dates the Aylmerton Abbs.  If you are researching the Abbs family of Buxton, Norfolk or Cambridgeshire, and would like to collaborate to identify a common ancestor, please email me (by clicking on my name at the bottom of this page).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

This website and my research are works in progress. Please visit often, as I am continually updating, correcting and expanding my family history data. If you incorporate any of my compiled information into your own research, please cite this website as your source. It is good practice to do so, and it might help direct other researchers to this site.  I encourage you to email me (by clicking on my name at the bottom of this page) with any additional information, corrections or questions that you might have. Images of referenced persons and places are particularly welcome. Again, please note that this website does not include all the information that I have compiled; so, if you are interested in particular people please email me to request further information.

DISCLAIMER

My research cites a wide variety of records, some more reliable than others. Your conclusions from such records may differ from my conclusions. Because of this, no information shown here should be taken as proof of accuracy without checking the original sources.

  • Abbs Family Charts Click here to access ancestor and decendency charts for the Abbs family
  • Abbs Family Index List of Abbs family members for whom I have genealogical data
  • Island Families Help me connect these families to the rest of my research by sharing any information you may have about them!