DIBBLE Genealogy - Part 1: Introduction

Preface
Much of the History of the Dibble Family is the work of Van Buren Lamb Jr. of Old Lyme, Connecticut. Mr. Lamb spent decades on this project, compiling a vast library of Dibble research, and publishing his results in “Your Ancestors”, a National Magazine of Genealogy and Family History. Mr. Lamb’s work has become the basis of other Dibbles who have expanded upon his original research, which only goes to about 1950. Mr. Lamb’s research was interrupted by World War II, and unfortunately many of the churches that harbored family records were destroyed. Therefore doing research on old Dibbles has been extremely difficult, if not impossible.

A lot of the earliest work is conjecture – it is like putting together a giant jigsaw puzzle when you don’t have all the pieces. Some pieces fit, others don’t. Those that fit have a high degree of probability of being correct. When something doesn’t fit, it is indicated as being a possibility only.

Making things a little more difficult is the fact that there is no consistent spelling of the surname. In researching old records one comes across Dibble, Deeble, Deble, Dible, Debel, Deyble, Dibell, Debbell, Dobell, Dable, and Dyble. There are no doubt other permutations.

Spelling was pretty arbitrary probably because most folks were either illiterate or just didn’t care. Records are sparse as well, because unless you were a person of note, you really didn’t leave much behind save a birth, death, or baptismal record in the local church. Given that plague, disease, war ravaged the land on a regular basis, church records would have notable gaps in them adding to the difficulty in doing research of this period.


Origins
“Dibble” is an English surname, originating in the southern counties of England. The following map shows a distribution of the Dibble surname in England (1998):



The name Dibble comes from a planting tool used to put holes in the ground. This is consistent with English origins – the practice of naming people after their occupations or tools used – such as Baker, Farmer, Smith, etc.
























Here is a partial list of Dibbles found by Mr. Lamb during his research (no relationships have been absolutely established)
DIBBLE in America
Mr. Lamb has found that the first member of the family in the New World is a Robert Deeble. Exactly where Robert is from is in question. One source has him from Somersetshire, England. Another indicates he is from St. Germain. Proof of this seems lacking. The reality is that the southern counties of Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset were, and still are, heavily populated by Dibbles with almost as many variations of spelling. Hundreds of Dibble Wills were preserved in the Bishop of Exeter's files which sadly were all destroyed during the Blitz of World War II.

Robert lived in Glastonbury, Somerset, at least between 1605 and February 1610, when his son John (1605), and daughters Joanna (April 1609) and Frances (February 1610) were baptized at the church of St. John Baptist. Where he lived prior to this is unknown. Given he was married and having children in 1605 one can surmise he was born sometime around 1585. It is likely that he moved shortly after the last event because there is no record of his son Thomas’ baptism anywhere, and Thomas (calculating from his age at emigration) must have been born in 1612 or 1613. We assume that we have the right family because Frances’ age at emigration tallies with her baptismal date. The probability is that Thomas was baptized elsewhere after the family moved, but there are no records to prove that.

Robert and his wife were early settlers of Dorchester, MA. It is recorded that he was made a freeman on the 6th of May 1635. Robert and his wife (known as "Goody Deeble") evidently became members of the Dorchester Congregation which was formed in 1629 at the New Hospital in Plymouth, England, under the leadership of the Rev. John Warham of Exeter. Some members of this congregation sailed from Plymouth and others from Weymouth, to America.

The ship in which Robert and his wife sailed on is not known, but they possibly arrived the 24th of June 1633 with 78 others of their congregation. The names of the passengers were not recorded. Son Thomas and daughter Frances sailed from Weymouth on the 20th of March 1635. Other Dibble surnames appear around the same time: Robert Dabyn (his son Robert?) aged 28 listed as a servant to Joseph Hall (Hull?); Abraham Dibol of Haddam and Simsbury, CT; John Deble and family of Springfield, MA, who appears in close association with Thomas Deble.

Robert and Goody Deeble may have returned to England, leaving some of their sons and daughter(s) behind, as there is no further record of them in New England (the only mention of Robert Deeble in New England is in the records of Roxbury, MA, 1635-1642). There was apparently some dissatisfaction in the congregation, and several members moved to Windsor, CT. Others returned to England. The last mention of their being in Dorchester, MA, was in 1642, when he was bailiff, or tax collector. It is supposed that he returned to England, and he may be the same Robert Deeble whose will was probated in Exeter, Devonshire, in 1666.

DIBBLE In England
I have also been working on another Dibble line – Henry Dibble (1622) of Somerset. This branch of the family still exists in Somerset and surrounding counties today. I have Robert Dibble of Australia and his grandfather Wilfred Dibble of Somerset to thank for supplying me much of the work on this family line. This line is still in skeletal form. I have produced a partial map of historical towns where Dibbles have lived, and are still living. It is a work in process:


Mr. Lamb has since passed on, but all his original work has been scanned and compiled onto a dual-layer DVD by George Dibble, III of Sacramento, California. Mr. Dibble makes these DVDs available to anyone who wants one, for the cost of postage and DVD blank only. A copy can be requested by emailing Mr. Dibble at gadibbleiii@gmail.com.

As I “flesh out” different branches of the family I shall post the updates to this blog. Stay tuned...