Author Topic: Scandal of the illegitimate daughters of Lord Russell?  (Read 16193 times)

Offline Haninger7

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Re: Scandal of the illegitimate daughters of Lord Russell?
« Reply #9 on: Tuesday 11 October 11 14:19 BST (UK) »
Definitely, DNA testing is the way to go.  William Hubbard had a son named Robert Hayne Hubbard (presumably named after the politician Robert Young Hayne) who in turn left sons.  So far as I've been able to trace their descendants via the US Census, William Hubbard's Y chromosome remains living.

His other son Arthur Paul Hubbard left no children who survived infancy.

Offline Redroger

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Re: Scandal of the illegitimate daughters of Lord Russell?
« Reply #10 on: Wednesday 12 October 11 18:01 BST (UK) »
A caveat about DNA, I am one of eleven people with the same or similar rareish surname in UK, Canada and USA, who have taken a Y chromosome DNA test. So far we have 11 separate lines.
Ayres Brignell Cornwell Harvey Shipp  Stimpson Stubbings (all Cambs) Baumber Baxter Burton Ethards Proctor Stanton (all Lincs) Luffman (all counties)

Offline Haninger7

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Re: Scandal of the illegitimate daughters of Lord Russell?
« Reply #11 on: Tuesday 01 November 11 22:16 GMT (UK) »
It turns out that one of the Lords Russell who would later become the Duke of Bedford (I assume John, the 6th Duke) sold Chesham-Woburn manor to a Rev. Mr. Hubbard...was this to keep Mr. Hubbard quiet about an affair he was having with Mrs. Hubbard or his sister Miss Hubbard?

William Hubbard, supposedly the son of William Hubbard (1761-1858) and Jane Reeder, was born at an odd interval from their other children and well after their marriage, which has led me to doubt that he was their son at all (you would think they would give the name William to an older son).  It seems more likely that William was their grandson.  Or he may have been illegitimate.

A sister of the senior William Hubbard, Christina, is thought to have had at least two children out of wedlock.

Offline Haninger7

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Re: Scandal of the illegitimate daughters of Lord Russell?
« Reply #12 on: Monday 16 April 12 18:56 BST (UK) »
I have spent the past couple months investigating the family rumor.  The Hubbards who purchased the Bedford property were most likely the family of Rev. John Hubbard who married Anna Maria Chippendale in England, 1788, and had several children.  These do not appear to be related to my Hubbards who were in America as early as 1762.

But I did find evidence, based on a few birth records, that a certain Ann Parsons had a child with a certain William Middleton in the mid-1780s.  I have searched for a marriage record for William and Anne, but have not found one, which leaves open the possibility that they were not married.

It is well-known that the courtesan Nancy Parsons began an affair with Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford in 1784, about the same time that this William Middleton was producing children with an Ann Parsons who does not appear to have been his wife.

The Nancy Middleton I descend from was apparently the mistress of Mr. Waddell and the wife of Rev. Isaac Wells.  If so, US Census records indicate she was born about 1784.


Offline Haninger7

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Re: Scandal of the illegitimate daughters of Lord Russell?
« Reply #13 on: Tuesday 24 April 12 18:03 BST (UK) »
Finally found the marriage record of William Middleton and Ann Parsons.  It indicates, to me, that this is not Nancy Parsons, Viscountess Maynard.

Back to the drawing board.

Offline Haninger7

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Re: Scandal of the illegitimate daughters of Lord Russell?
« Reply #14 on: Thursday 07 June 12 23:46 BST (UK) »
There were two Martha Wises born near the same area in the early 1840s.  One was the daughter of Thomas Philpott Wise and Martha Wells Epsley.  The other was the daughter of a different Thomas Wise and Martha, whom I suggest could be Thomas Wise and Sarah Hubbard who married in Buckingham in 1837.  Sarah in the marriage record is given as a daughter of John Hubbard.

Martha Sarah Hubbard was christened 29 Oct 1805 as a daughter of John Hubbard and Ann.

Rev. John Hubbard, married to Anna Maria Chippendale, occupied the mansion house at Chesham-Woburn.  This house was the property of the Dukes of Bedford.

I think it is not at all unlikely that Anna Maria Chippendale was the mistress of a Russell who sold her husband Chesham-Woburn to pacify him.

Rev. John Hubbard and Anna Maria Chippendale had a large family.  Their children were, as far as I know:

Anna Maria, 1789
Clarissa, 1790
John Ladbrooke, 1792
Augustus Ladbrooke, 1793
Henrietta, 1794
Arthur, 1795
Henry Alexander, 1797
Caroline Matilda, 1799
Francis, 1800
Henry, 1803
Martha Sarah, 1805
William Frederick, 1809
Frederick John, 1810
Selina Amelia, 1810

I have yet to find any record of the family after 1810 until the marriage of Sarah.

Offline Redroger

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Re: Scandal of the illegitimate daughters of Lord Russell?
« Reply #15 on: Friday 08 June 12 18:13 BST (UK) »
A caveat about DNA, I am one of eleven people with the same or similar rareish surname in UK, Canada and USA, who have taken a Y chromosome DNA test. So far we have 11 separate lines.

Update, we now have 12 people but breakthrough still 11 separate lines. Amazing for my lot!!
Ayres Brignell Cornwell Harvey Shipp  Stimpson Stubbings (all Cambs) Baumber Baxter Burton Ethards Proctor Stanton (all Lincs) Luffman (all counties)

Offline Gills

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Re: Scandal of the illegitimate daughters of Lord Russell?
« Reply #16 on: Tuesday 10 July 18 08:26 BST (UK) »
It appears I am not alone in being told the story of a Duke of Bedford. Although I can find no evidence. I have long line of Russell’s all living in Edinburgh. Did the Dukes have any connection to Edinburgh? I’m currently at the end of the 1600s. The only outstanding thing so far is that they were clearly sticklers for registering everyone’s birth, marriage etc and for that time I think that is pretty impressive.

Many thanks in advance for any input