AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR JOHN GIBSON, 1655. INTRODUCTION. Sir John Gibson of Welburn, near Kirkby Moorside, in Yorkshire, was born 20th January, 1605/6 at Crayke, being the eldest son of Sir John Gibson of Welburn, High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1630. He was educated at York and Cambridge, and on the 18th June, 1629, married Penelope, daughter of William Woodhall, Registrar of the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury, by whom he had issue twelve sons and three daughters. Many of his children, with their mother, were dead before 1655. He was knighted at Dublin, 3rd April, 1636, by Lord Wentworth, Lord Deputy of Ireland. In the Civil War he was Captain of the North Riding Horse on the King's side, but surrendered to the Parliament in 1645 or 1646. Although he took the Covenant and lived quietly, his estate was sequestrated for his delinquency, and he was fined in two sums together amounting to 1,000l. On his agreeing to settle the tithes of Welburn, worth 1007. a year, upon the incumbent of Kirkdale, in which parish Welburn is situated, the sum of 400l. was ordered to be deducted from his fine. His troubles were not at an end, for he was subsequently cast into prison, and confined to the old gaol of Durham, which spanned the roadway leading into the Bailey, where he spent much of his time in writing, the keeper of the gaol at that time being John Jopling. Several of his MSS. are in the British Museum, e.g. transcripts of sermons, attempts at versification-chiefly devotional-copies of letters addressed to unnamed friends, epitaphs, etc. Obtaining his release apparently at the Restoration, certainly before 30th September, 1662, he died on the 13th June, 1665. The Editor's attention was directed to Sir John Gibson's autobiography by Dr. Gee. An excellent pedigree of the Diarist's family may be found in Mr. J. W. Clay's edition of Dugdale's Visitation of Yorkshire, vol. II. p. 387. AUTOBIOGRAPHY.' 1 1655. Crake it had my infancye, Welburne my carefull time had all Death tooke awaye my children deare, And at the last my ioye, And left me full of care and feare, My only hopes a Boye. Ireland to me honor gave, By makinge me a knight. But England did me much enslave, My daylye crosses still appeares, And comes with too swift haste. The fatal griefe falne in my lurtch, The same to you I saye, Is to be banisht from the Churche, And my owne Ithica. The Decimation of my 'state, 'Tis not worth valuation. I feare 'twill prove a common fate, 1 British Museum. Additional MS. 37719, folio 167. Can I expect freedome to have, When hee is banisht like a slave Into a farr Countrie. My glasse is run, my time is spent, As plainely you may see, Then learne, fond man, now to repent, Since 'twill noe better bee. In infoelicitate fœlix. Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum Suprema hora When cruell Atropos doth cut my fatall thred, Now I expect the Poets common lot, [DRAFT OF EPITAPH.] Sr John Gibson, Kt. of Welburne, Captaine This marble square doth his dead ashes presse, Suprema hora, O gentle Reader doe not him molest; Who ne're in Life had ease; in Death let rest. [HERE FOLLOWS A SKETCH OF A COFFIN.] Quisquis es, es pulvis, cineres modò perspice nostros : [Several sentences, and quotations chiefly from the Bible, concerning death, occur on the preceding page and the two pages following.] JACOB BEE'S CHRONICLE OF BIRTHS, MARRIAGES AND MORTALITY. INTRODUCTION. When the extracts from the Diary of Jacob Bee of Durham were printed in Six North Country Diaries it was known from references and quotations by Mr. Surtees in his History of Durham that they represented selections made from a larger document then believed to have perished. That MS. has been discovered at Mainsforth, and by Colonel Surtees has been placed at the service of the Surtees Society. As the selections already printed are represented to have provided information of interest to those who are conversant with the civil, parochial and home life of the city of Durham, it has been decided to print in full Bee's Chronicle or register of births, marriages and mortality. The Editor has been confirmed in this resolution by the generosity of his friend, Mr. H. M. Wood, who has not only made the transcript but has provided the invaluable proofs from the Parish Registers of Durham and elsewhere which, set out in the foot-notes, so amply confirm the accuracy of the Diarist. The admirable foot-notes of the late Mr. Edward White, F.S.A., which enrich the Registers of Durham Cathedral, printed by the Harleian Society, have been suggestive as well as useful. Since Jacob Bee's Diary was printed some details respecting his family have been recovered, and it may be permissible to re-present his pedigree: I. Nicholas Bee, of the parish of St. Margaret's, Durham, married first at St. Margaret's, 12 June, 1621, Jane Haslebe; and secondly at the same church, 15 June, 1624, Barbara Ussie, widow; by the last named, he had issue: Ralph, baptized at St. Margaret's, 31 Oct., 1627, buried, 30 Nov., 1636. Jacob II. Margaret, baptized at St. Margaret's, 22 Jan., 1624/5. Barbara, baptized at St. Margaret's, 5 Mar., 1629/30; buried, 29 Jane, baptized at St. Margaret's, 15 May, 1633; buried, 14 Sept., II. Jacob Bee, the Diarist, baptized at St. Margaret's, 17 June, 1636, married Elizabeth Rabbet, their banns having been published in the Market Place, 28 Jan., 1657/8, and registered at St. Margaret's. She was buried at that church, 27 Sept., 1710, and he was laid beside her, 15 January, 1711/2, having had issue : Nicholas III. Thomas, baptized at St. Margaret's, 4 Aug., 1661; buried 29 May, 1671. Jacob, baptized at St. Margaret's, 24 April, 1664; buried, 21 Feb., 1670/1. John, baptized at St. Margaret's, 1 Nov., 1670; buried, 2 April, Margaret, baptized at St. Margaret's, 7 May, 1667; buried, 28 III. Nicholas Bee, baptized at St. Margaret's, 22 July, 1658, of Durham, afterwards of Garrigill in the parish of Alston; married, first, at St. Margaret's, 5 July, 1681, Elizabeth Harason, who, dying in child-birth was buried, 10 April, 1684; the name of the second wife has not been ascertained. Jacob Bee died at Garrigill, 7 May, 1694, having had issue: : Anne, baptized at St. Margaret's, 25 June, 1682; married, 25 Jacob, of whom his mother died, died in infancy and was buried Jacob, son of the second marriage, baptized at St. Margaret's, 28 May, 1689. Elizabeth, born 29 May, 1690. Margaret, baptized at St. Margaret's, 23 Oct., 1692; married there 7 June, 1720, John Robinson. The entries to which an asterisk* is prefixed have already been printed in Jacob Bee's Diary in Six North Country Diaries, to which the student's attention is directed as the foot-notes are not repeated. *When the name in the entry and the note differ the latter is in italic. The Registers mostly quoted are of churches in the city of Durham. |