The Bobbitt Family In America

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"It is surprising to find a "baptismal" name such as this one, largely confined to one county, in this instance Somerset."

"The earliest reference to Bobbett traceable in available records is from the Great Card Index of the Society of Genealogists, London, being the first, in 1608, of a series of marriages in the parish of St. Mary Magdalen, Taunton, Somerset. Sarah Bobett married Thomas Marks.

"In 1650 William Bobbett was a witness to the will of William Perry of Bridgewater, Somerset. This will was proved in Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury, as was the will of William Bobbett of Creech St. Michael (which is three miles east of Taunton). William Bobbett was a merchant in 1661."

It is easy to imagine that the William Bobbett who was a merchant had a son named William who would be old enough and have enough wealth to have paid for his journey to America in 1673. There is not enough circumstantial evidence to prove that there was any connection between the two William Bobbitts.

None of the surname Bobbett appear in the records of Suffolk, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, or Gloucester, but in Somerset there are no less than eleven:

David Bobbett of North Curry           4 acres

George Bobbett of Stoke St. Gregory    10 acres

J. Winter Bobbett of Bristol           41 acres 

Maria Bobbett of North Curry           3 acres 

Mary Bobbett of Lyng                   4 acres

Robert Bobbett of Worth, Wookey        1 acre 

Robert Bobbett of North Curry         11 acres 

Sarah Bobbett of North Curry          13 acres 

William Bobbett of Creech             36 acres 

William Bobbett of Winscombe          59 acres

Robert Bobbett of Worth, Wookey        7 acres

Interesting records and information but nothing we can draw any related family history from. For these reasons, our family history is best when it begins with William Bobbitt and his wife who came to American soil in 1673. In 1973 there were only two of the surname listed in the London telephone directory.