Background—The research on my immediate branch in America is almost complete.  Over the last 10 years, I have made several trips to the UK in attempt to trace “Scarbrough” footsteps before John Scarbrough’s journey to America in 1682.

Notes from the Nov trip to the UK.

I was tracing the steps of John Scarbrough b:1639 (notice the spelling.) John lived on Hosier Lane, London. His son John Scarb(o)rough was christened at St Sepulchre, Holborn Parish, London. The parish is only about two blocks from Hosier Lane. John Scarb(o)rough started our Bucks County line.

This part of London is considered the “old” part of London today. London castle is considered the center of old London. Hosier Lane is about a mile north of London castle. In 1600, that would be considered the newly expanded neighborhood that was a combination of fields and growing suburb.

Hosier Lane has been completely destroyed twice since. In 1666, it was destroyed during the Great Fire of London. Since the area had to be rebuilt, the housing would have been a new development during 1682, when John left for America. During WWII, the entire “old” London was again destroyed. All housing and buildings are recent time. Even Sepulchre Parish was partially destroyed and rebuilt after the war.

It is documented that John came from Bedfordshire (Woburn) which is 30 miles SW of London. On my next trip, I will continue my research for proof.  The “Society of Friends”  records in London did not have that documented (that I could find.) I was trying to link Scarbrough from Woburn to Yorkshire (around Leeds.) As you can imagine, records are very poor at best. What I do know is John b:1639 is buried in Burnhill, Chequer Alley, London. The burial grounds dates back to 1400. Today, there is the primary cemetery that has grave markers. These were member of the Church of England and as such, were permitted to have headstones. They built a street along the primary cemetery (the street is on top of the unmark graves.) On the other side of the street is a school house and playground for children. The school and playground was built on top of the graves. This section is where John and his family are buried. Since John was a Quaker, he was considered a nonconformist. In other words, he was not a member of the Church of England and therefore had to be buried without a marker. This portion of the cemetery is the final resting place for 1000s of “Society of Friends” commonly known as Quakers. George Fox, who founded Society of Friends is also buried in this section of the cemetery.

Through the records, I was able to determine  Scarbrough came from Yorkshire.   The problem is Yorkshire is a very large county. Some major towns in Yorkshire include Scarborough, York, and Leeds. I could not find any link to our line in the township of Scarborough. What I did find was several family lines in and around Leeds that spell their name SCARBROUGH – the same as John Scarbrough b:1639. I have not been able to directly tie any of these families to our line, but they are good candidates. What was interesting was the same SCARBROUGH spelling in Leeds but in town of Scarborough, there were no records of SCARBROUGH that I found.

The search continues….