A DUXBURY Family Website

Duxbury Hall in 1846

After two and a half years, Duxburymk.net is back

and is now working alongside Duxburyfamily.com to provide this web site

History and Family Tree over 1000 Years

The DUXBURY family, and their name, originated in Duxbury, near where Duxbury Hall stood, sometime between 600 and 900 CE (AD). Duxbury is near Chorley in the centre of the county of Lancashire in northern England.

The name Duxbury is believed to have been derived from Deowuc's Burgh, from the original settlement founded by Deowuc, an Angle.

From Duxbury the family slowly spread out, initially northeastwards within Lancashire, but as time passed, across the whole country (thinly) and many have migrated to other areas in the world.

It was estimated in 1995 that less than 2400 households worldwide bear the surname DUXBURY. Many thousands more can trace their ancestry to the DUXBURY line.

This website outlines some of the known family history from the earliest times through to the present day and contains family trees in a format that the viewer can manipulate.

The Duxbury Name

As Duxburys migrated they took their name with them and there are now many places with the Duxbury name.

The majority are in the United States with Duxbury, the historic seaside town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, as the place where the name is best known.

The area includes the Duxbury Beach and some cranberry bogs, no longer being used to grow cranberries, but now a 191 acre conservation area and. Of course, the area is well known for the Duxbury Oysters.

 

It is not only places which bear the Duxbury name as noted in a book by Joe Duxbury, The Ship Duxbury and other vessels. Follow the link for more details. Earlier research by Joe had previously led to the page on the Best Chance to California.

 

Courtesy to Joe Duxbury for the photographs of the signs to the beach and the bogs.

 

Are there any other places in the world with the Duxbury name? If so please let me know and how they became so named if that is known.

 

History of this Web Site

 

This "Duxbury" web-site was established by Peter Duxbury, my cousin, with the aim of including all those who bear a Duxbury name and those who are descended from a Duxbury.

 

Peter died in September 2005 while his aim was still being achieved; the tribute by his wife Margaret includes the help he received from others.

 

The Duxbury Families

 

Since 2005, work has continued on Peter's aim and more Duxburys have been added to the Duxbury trees and a number of corrections made to the listing which now has over 20,500 names of whom over 6,800 were born with the Duxbury name, or a derivative of "Duxbury".

 

The listing of those bearing the Duxbury name and those descended from a Duxbury can be likened to a forest with four main Duxbury Family Trees and 190 minor trees (saplings).

 

The roots of the four main trees are from Ulf de Duxbury (about 1120), Ralph Duxbury (1696) of Waterside, Colne, David Duxbury (1709) of Eldridge, Yorkshire and Richard Duxbury (1778) from Wigston Magna, Leicestershire.

 

There are a further 190 smaller Duxbury trees (saplings) many of which could be grafted onto one of the main tress given time and availability of records. These more extensive of these trees are those of Nicholas Duxbury (1532) of Great Harwood, Henry Duxbury (1770) of Blackburn and Ralph Duxbury (1770) of Blackburn.

 

In addition there is an extensive tree of William Ducksbury (1785) from Kendal which now encompasses the earlier five sapling trees headed by Ducksburys. Is he the William Duxbury who was baptised in St Peter and St Paul, Ribchester (RC) on 17 Nov 1791?

 

There are also a further 14 smaller trees of different spelling of Duxbury (Duxberry, Ducksbury, Dukesbury and Deuxberry); all are thought to have stemmed from the same Duxbury family. These include the Dukesburys from Buffalo NY and Ontario who trace their roots back to David Dukesbury (1805) from Leeds in Yorkshire.

 

With time, resources and access to records it is hoped to reduce the number of sapling trees by grafting them together of better still grafting them onto a main tree. A number of the smaller trees stem from the discovery of a record of a Duxbury name in registers, but without any connection to others outside the immediate family.

 

Peter felt that it was only a matter of time before links were found between the main lines of Duxbury. Unfortunately this was not to happen in his lifetime, but it would be a fitting memorial to Peter if the connections between these many lines could be found.

 

Much of the information for updating the site comes by e-mail from people like you; those who have entered the website. Particular thanks to Ruth Duxbury for the Ralph Duxbury of Colne tree, to Julian Duxbury of Leicester for the Richard Duxbury of Wigston Magna tree and to Joe Duxbury of Cheltenham for the Nicholas Duxbury of Great Harwood tree.

 

Meanwhile I have added a limited amount of details from the 1901 and 1911 UK census records and the 1939 register records which were not available to Peter when he first assembled the information. There is much more to be done, but I have not started on including information from the 1921 census which is now available. Althogh this page has not been updated for almost a year the trees were updated last December and again now (March 2022). These updates have added a further 200 Duxburys.

 

By virtue of this website I have been in contact with a number of close relations (second and third cousins) with whom our family members had lost contact, a number of not so close relations (sixth cousins!) and many who have no direct family connection. This goes to show that the Duxburys are really one large family!

 

Other Families on the Web Site

 

Additions to the website now include a Taylor family tree, my relatives as far as I know them, plus one for the Murphy, Johnson, Harrison and Mason families; my wife relatives. My Taylor roots include the Prestwich family and also included is a Prestwich forest aiming to include trees for all Prestwiches listed in the 1841 to 1921 census and other records. The root of the primary tree is from Thomas de Prestwich (1110) with branches through to the present day. Many more names have still to be added.

 

Please do get in touch if you have anything to add to the site and I will try and respond to all e-mails received. Some who have been in touch have given very sketchy details of their families and have not responded when asked for a few dates. As a result it has not been possible to help them find their roots or add them to the tree.

 

Ronald Taylor

 

February 2025

Updated February 2025

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URL:Either http://www.duxburymk.net or http://www.duxburyfamily.com. E-mail: RonaldDTaylor@gmail.com