Date: Sat, 30 Oct 1999 13:50:37 0100 
  To: ghurlbut@usa.net 
  From: Jeremy Hulbert <jeremy@hulbert.co.uk>     
  Subject: A Present Day UK Connection 
 
  You asked me which John Hulbert I have as an emigrant to the US.
  Unfortunately I did not record any salient information at the time as 
  I was not then interested in emigrees. My notes show that he was 
  Lieutenant John Hulbert and that he emigrated to the USA but no other 
  information is recorded by me; dates, source of information etc.

  With regard to the Henry Carlton Hulbert Genealogy, I have seen only 
  the version retyped by Arthur C Hurlbut of "The Hulbert Family  1305-" 
  and have not yet formed any firm opinion of its contents. In addition 
  to the derivation of the name "Hulbert" and variants there are a number 
  of other possibilities not mentioned by the author. There are early 
  records of the name "Hulbert" as a Norman surname imported by the 
  successful invasion of England in 1066.  However, the Norman race 
  contains a large amount of Viking stock, the Vikings under their Jarl, 
  Thorfinn Rollo, having invaded France about 940 AD. Rollo became the 
  1st Duke of Normandy (the territory of the Northmen) and Duke William 
  of Normandy who led the invasion of England in 1066 was a descendant 
  of Rollo.  Many of the Norman knights in William's army were Viking 
  descendants. The English were defeated at the battles of Hastings and 
  Stamford Bridge in a two-pronged attack and many Norman families 
  settled in England after this invasion.

  The earliest document showing our surname that I know of is dated 1168 
  and refers to HOLBERTUS VENATOR. (Is this old man Hulbert?).  There is 
  also mention of a JOHN HOLDEBERT in a document dated 1205.  Since 
  surnames did not really exist as such until the middle of the 15th 
  century it will never be possible to trace our ancestry back further 
  than this without involving a great deal of supposition and subjective 
  judgement. Surnames changed also depending on a person's occupation or 
  where he was born for example JOHN who lived by an ash tree in a village 
  may come to be called JOHN ASH to distinguish him from the other 
  Johns in the village.  However, if he took up the occupation of 
  blacksmith he might later come to be known as JOHN SMITH and if he then 
  moved away from say the village of Ditchingham to the village of 
  Redenhall where they already had a blacksmith he might then become 
  known as JOHN DITCHINGHAM. Furthermore friends and relatives from 
  Ditchingham might still continue to call him JOHN SMITH or even revert 
  to JOHN ASH! Very few written documents were kept since the literacy 
  rate was very low.  The higher up the social scale a family moved the 
  more likely it would be that they would be mentioned in documents. 
  This is why the Wiltshire derived Hulberts figure in most genealogies 
  because they were a comparatively wealthy family for a long period of 
  history. Because of this information I think that the Wiltshire 
  Hulberts' family name derives either from the Norman line or from 
  before the Norman invasion as the original Anglo-Saxon name 
  HOLDBEORHT (meaning Gracious and Bright). Other Hulbert family names
  probably did derive form local prowess as HURLBATS on the hurling 
  field, but village hullbatters were less likely to have their names 
  recorded in documents.  Consequently, we are left with records only 
  from the noble or landowning HULBERTS or those with official positions 
  in politics, local government or religious organizations.

  As for Scottish HULBERTS, I have no known connection with them. 
 Before   the Vikings invaded France they had already invaded the Orkneys and 
  Northern Scotland in about 870 AD under the command of Stirgud the 
  Stout so may well have introduced the HULBERT name directly to 
  Scotland and not via France and England several years after.  
  However, it is also possible that Norman HULBERTS who were heavily 
  involved in English politics after the battle of Hastings may have 
  moved to Scotland during the 12th century along with other Norman 
  families as followers of Earl David of Huntingdon who would become
  King of Scotland. Of course, later, in the 16th, 17th and 18th 
  centuries, England and Scotland were ravaged by religious and 
  political conflict.  The Monarchy, the Church and Parliament fought 
  for supremacy and these conflicts and pograms were the catalyst for 
  many to emigrate to the USA.

  I live in the County of Norfolk, about 5 miles outside Norwich, which 
  was the capital of England for many centuries before London took over 
  that mantle and I have traced my family tree back through the Counties 
  of Essex and Surrey to Chippenham in Wiltshire where Thomas Hulbert 
  was born in about 1813. If the information contained in the Henry 
  Carlton Hulbert paper is accurate then I am most likely descended from 
  the same line but the time needed in finding the evidence is in 
  conflict with my busy work schedule!  

  Kind regards,


  JEREMY HULBERT