This grouping of TABERNERs is deeply tied to the Wigan area of Lancashire, including the villages of Orrell, Pemberton and Upholland (a parish in its own right from 1822 and named Up Holland from 1954).

As with the CHARLESWORTH families, I have data that covers more than one line. The various families are highly likely to be related and there is also a correspondingly high chance that the order I have them in is wrong. This is what happens when families like to go for traditional names! I'm going to present the lines that I have the most information on and the most interest in. It's always worth asking me if I have more information, however, as I do have data on a few individuals that are currently "unattached".

For those of you who want to quick-jump to the individual lines, please use the list below. For those of you new to this mess, please read the information common to all lines that follows the list first.

1. The Ancestral line that I am descended from.
    
2. (Currently) Unconnected families:
   • The Ralph Line
   • The Peter Line
   • The Alternative Line
   
   

Sources of Information

One great source has been the Record Society for the Publication of Original Documents Relating to Lancashire and Cheshire volumes, which I found in Chester library on a rainy day. Serendipity is a wonderful thing. Please note, as records these references may not be totally reliable, being taken from a tertiary source, but they do give a good guideline.

TABERNER mentions are as follows:

TABANER, Richard of Orrell, 1615 (Probate)

Vol II: Wills at Chester, 1545 to 1620 (1879)

TABENER, Henry of Orrell, yeoman, 1635 (Probate)

Vol IV: Wills at Chester, 1635 to 1650 (1881)

TABERNER, Ralph of Orrell, yeoman, 1690 ("Infra" Will - worth less than £40)

Vol XVIII: Wills at Chester, 1681 to 1700 (1888)

TABURNER, Ralph of Orrell, yeoman, 1717 (Probate)

Vol XX: Wills at Chester, 1701 to 1720 (1889)

TABERNER, Ralph of Orrell, 1729 (Probate)

Vol XXII: Wills at Chester, 1721 to 1740 (1890)

TABERNER, Katherine of Orrell in Makerfield, Parish Wigan, Lancashire, 1616 (Deposition)

Vol XXXIII: Wills, Inventories, Administration Bonds
and Depositions at Chester, 1487 to 1620 (1896)

TABERNER, James, Pemberton, weaver, Oct 1823 (Will)

Vol CVII: Wills in Chester, 1821 to 1825 (1961)

TABERNER, John, Pemberton, farmer, June 1827

Vol CXIII: Wills in Chester, 1826 to 1830 (1962)

HENRY TABERNER (of Pemberton) Webster that was lent him 1st Oct 1675 thirty shillings ... £1 10s 0d
(The said Henry Taberner paid to the Exec 3rd May 1678 in pt of the said debt fifteen shills, and promiseth to pay the rest within Twoe months after, but instead of performance hee is runn out of the country and is to be discounted from the inventory and he being a poore lame man in one or both his hands)

RALPH TABERNER for a Swarme of Bees put forth to him 21st June 1673 foure shillings
(Ralph Taberner came 14th Decbr 1677 and Affirmed to the Exec that the said Bees were divided betwixt him and Mr Robt Markland and Mrs Dorathy Markland with all the profitt of the Stocke and Mr Robt Markland had one Swarme about Michaelmas 1677. Soe the said 4s must be discounted from the Inventory.)

Vol CIX: A Lancashire Miscellany (1965) from the Will,
Inventory and Accounts of Robert WALTHEW of Pemberton

TABERNER, Thomas, Wigan, victualler, May 1837

Vol CXX: Wills in Chester, 1834 to 1837 (1980)

As you can see, certain names are well used.

It's only going to get worse...

A London Gazette Appearance

I found the following in the Gazette Online [External link] database. It is from the London Gazette, Issue 21818, 23 November 1855:

COURT FOR RELIEF OF INSOLVENT DEBTORS.
See Notice at the End.
The following PRISONERS, whose Estates and Effects have been vested in the Provisional Assignee by Order of the Court for Relief of Insolvent Debtors, and whose Petitions and Schedules, duly filed, have been severally referred and transmitted to the County Courts hereinafter mentioned, pursuant to the Statute in that behalf, are ordered to be brought up before the Judges of the said Courts respectively, as herein set forth, to be dealt with according to Law:
...
Before the Judge of the County Court of Lancashire, holden at Lancaster, on Friday the 7th day of December, 1855, at Eleven o'Clock in the Forenoon precisely.
...
James Taberner, formerly of Lamberhead-green, Pemberton, near Wigan, in the county of Lancaster, then of Robin-lane, Ends, Pemberton, near Wigan aforesaid, afterwards of Scot's-lane, Pemberton, near Wigan aforesaid, then of Castle-hill, Hindley, near Wigan aforesaid, afterwards of Scot's-lane, Pemberton, near Wigan aforesaid, and late of Marsh-green, Pemberton, near Wigan aforesaid, Labourer at a Colliery.

(Electronic Page 74 of 76)

At the moment, I haven't linked him in with my tribes, but I can almost guarantee that he'll fit in somewhere. The most likely candidate for a match is the son of John and Martha (nee PENNINGTON) christened in Wigan in 1801. I shall be looking for this James in the censuses, soon, to see if he does match up.

Alternative Spellings

Some other ways of (mis-)spelling TABERNER that I've come across.

TABANER,
TABBERNARE,
TABBERNER,
TABBRNER,
TABENER,
TABERNAR,
TABERNOR,
TABINER,
TABNER,
TABORNER,
TABORNOR,
TABRONER,
TABURNER,
TAVERNER

In an effort to make some of the spellings make sense, it might be useful to know how the name has been pronounced. My dad and I tend to say it like: TAB-uhn-uh. His mother, the true TABERNER among us, used to say: tah-BURN-ur. Now you have some idea why there are so many spellings.

The work that resulted in the TABERNER descent given in the file below has been done by four researchers including myself - David GARVIN, Peter IVES and Eric WINSTANLEY. Our work is bound to also borrow from other people's but I'm just not in a position to name drop them all.

History

Tracing the family back has got us into a knot on a number of occasions. We have previously identified our own ancestor - Thomas TABERNER who married Elizabeth RIGBY (Wigan, 1817, and Elizabeth was previously thought to be a WOOD) - with the wrong christening. We had connected him to Thomas TABERNER, son of John and Martha nee PENNINGTON (Wigan, 1793) (the Alternative line).

There is another loose link with Thomas's grandfather, Peter TABERNER who married Margaret HOLLAND (1754, Wigan). There are two potential christenings (so far) that can be matched up. The one I use who was christened in 1735 and one from the Peter line who was christened in 1721. There is nothing in the evidence to point surely one way or the other, but I believe the age at marriage is a better fit with the connection I have made. Also, Peter and Margaret named their second daughter Johanna or Joanna, possibly after the mother of the 1735 candidate! At least I can discount the cousin of the one I use, a Peter Simon TABERNER, who was also christened in 1735 but was not usually referred to as just Peter in the records.

Incidentally, this doesn't affect the connections between David, Peter, Eric and myself. Our interests are all descendants of "our" Thomas.

After some digging, I have now traced our line back to a Peter TABERNER (christening of daughter, Alice, 1702, Upholland). My research matches with that of David GARVIN, although David and his wife Mary have gone back a bit further, placing our origins in Ormskirk, through the Peter TABERNER who married Margaret ATHERTON. A further alternative identifies Peter (father of Alice, above) as one from the Ralph line, instead. I haven't included any of this in the file, simply because I don't have the records to prove it.

Confused yet?

As you know, I tend to just use the internet. With a little luck, one of our fellow researchers will be able to check it all out or I will eventually get to Wigan in something more than a work capacity and do it myself. I am still too lazy to do so at the moment, however. Records available / willing, we may at some point prove all the lines related.

My Connection

My great grandfather James TABERNER, moved his family to Askern in South Yorkshire to work at the colliery there. His only child, Beatrice, married William John THOMAS there in 1935.

Files

• Descendency Narrative [PDF]
  Last updated 09/01/2010

Related Families

Families who married into, or were married into by, the TABERNERs:

ASCROFT,
ASHURST x 2,
ASHTON,
ATHERTON x 2,
BARON,
BROWN,
CORLESS,
CUNLIFFE,
EDWARDS,
EVANS,
FARRIMOND,
FAIRHURST,
FLOOD,
GARVIN,
GORNER,
GRIMSHAW,
HEWITT,
HIGHTON,
HITCHEN,
HOLLAND,
HURST,
JOHNSTON,
LEIGH,
LOWE,
MACKENZIE,
MCINTYRE,
MOLLINEUX,
PARKINSON x 2,
PINNINGTON,
RIGBY,
ROBY x 3,
THOMAS,
WINSTANLEY,
WRIGHT (x 2)

What follows is somewhat messy. At some point, each of the lines given below has been connected with the one given above - from my research point of view. From a biological point of view, we're probably all related but I can't prove it! The history as given is as likely to be the history of the research as the actual line.

The Ralph Line

Ralph or Raphe is a common name for a few linked generations of one particular line, although you're just as likely to find them referred to as Richard.

History

I have been given a copy of a will and an inventory of goods by fellow TABERNER researcher, Ian JOHNSON. The will (dated Feb 1729) can be easily matched up to the youngest of a chain of Ralph TABERNERs. He is, after all, the father of a Jeremiah, the husband of a Mary TAYLOR, and the brother of an Elizabeth. This cleared up a few knots and added a few more people to the tree. but it also separated the Ralphs, as they stand, from the alternative line, as they had previously placed, because it would appear that Ralph's son Thomas did not live past infancy.

The inventory (dated 5th May 1729) is part of the probate for another Ralph TABERNER, death dated 27th Jan 1728/9 (old calendar). This is the last probate record of the three mentioned in the Chester records mentioned above. I had previously associated the record with the youngest Ralph, but the dating must be wrong (if he wrote a will in between) and I've shifted each probate record up a generation. I can't guarantee, of course, that the inventory is his father's but it's the best fit / guess under the circumstances.

Shifting the probates up a generation added a fourth Ralph / Raphe to the chain. There is no evidence in my records to connect the Ralph who married Margery SMALSHAW in 1640 to the next Ralph, but I believe it to be a good guess. However, I have found evidence of a son, Henry (1641, Wigan). Incidentally, this wedding (1640) and christening (1641) are the oldest records available online for the lines given here.

Peter TABERNER, the grandson of the first Ralph and who was christened in Wigan in 1674, may be the Peter who starts my ancestral line. He (probably) married Ann GASKILL in 1693, also in Wigan.

Files

• Descendency Narrative [PDF]
  Last updated 14/11/2009

Related Families

Families who married into, or were married into by, the TABERNERs:

GARSTANG,
GASKILL,
RUTTER,
SMALSHAW,
TAYLOR (x 2)

The Peter Line

Peter is one of those names that gets used at regular intervals in the TABERNER families, making it difficult to be sure if the pieces have been put together properly.

History

Only four generations are included in the file at the moment.

The first record for this line is the marriage of James TABERNER to Ellin STANFEILD in Ormskirk in 1656. Their son, Peter - for whom the line is named - was christened in Upholland in 1663. He married Marg(a)ret ATHERTON in 1688 in Wigan.

This line has been put forward as an alternative origin / background to my ancestral line at two different points of divergence.

1. Peter TABERNER, christened in 1663.
2. Peter TABERNER, christened in 1721.

Peter (1663) and Margaret have been put forward as the parents of the Alice (1702), William (1705) and Peter (1709) christened at Upholland, making Peter (senior) the starting point of my ancestral line. Circumstantial evidence suggests that this may not be the right option: Peter and Margaret had children christened in Wigan on earlier dates and there are further children of a Peter TABERNER christened in Wigan in years that overlap with the Upholland three.

As for the later point of divergence, Peter and Margaret's grandson Peter was christened in 1721, making him (about) 33 at the time of marriage if he's the Peter TABERNER who married Margeret HOLLAND (see above). The proof over which is the right option will most likely be in the burial records - somewhere.

Files

• Descendency Narrative [PDF]
  Last updated 14/11/2009

Related Families

Families who married into, or were married into by, the TABERNERs:

ATHERTON,
HASELDEN,
PEEL,
STANFEILD

The Alternative Line

This line was first added / developed due to a descendant of this line having been best man to a descendant of my own line. It rapidly became the "alternative" line because of an overlap in names and dates.

History

The history of this line is very similar to that of my own - and probably that of the other two lines given here - in that the families involved have moved backward and forward between the various villages in and around Wigan parish. Typical work was as a weaver until the 1800s brought more mining jobs. The two uses of the name Jeremiah might indicate a link to the Ralph line but timing points more towards coincidence.

The line appears to start with John TABERNAR's marriage to Margret STANFIELD in 1722 in Eccleston. Their only (known) surviving son, Thomas, was christened in the same parish in 1727 and went on to marry Margaret DARBISHER in Wigan in 1752.

The James (1823, Vol. CVII) and John (1827, Vol. CXIII) mentioned in the sources section may be in this tree - I've added the details to the appropriate candidates in the file.

Files

• Descendency Narrative [PDF]
  Last updated 09/01/2010

Related Families

Families who married into, or were married into by, the TABERNERs:

ADAMSON,
ASPEY,
ATHERTON,
BIRCHALL,
BURROWS,
DARBISHER,
HASLESDEN,
LETHERLAND,
MOSS,
ORMER,
PENNINGTON,
SHARROCK, (x 2)
SHAW, (x 2)
SILCOCK,
STANFIELD,
STOCKLEY,
TAYLOR, (x 2)
WATERWORTH,
WINSTANLEY