It is thought that Robert's father was William FURBOROUGH, a weaver, of Frolesworth and the author of a 1725 will in which he left £120 to his five children: Anne, Elizabeth, William, Richard and Robert. The ordering of the names implies that Robert was the youngest and therefore born 1722-1725. William died shortly after writing his will in June 1725.
The 1732 will of his uncle Robert FURBORROW, weaver of Frolesworth, left money to only two of the children of his deceased brother William: Elizabeth and Robert, perhaps indicating that they were the only survivors by 1732 (but there are no matching burials for Elizabeth and Robert's siblings to confirm this). Uncle Robert's will bequeathed the remainder of his estate to his sisters Elizabeth (later Elizabeth BODINGTON) and Esther.
No christening for Robert has yet been found, however his marriage bond of 1 Jan 1745 reports his age as twenty six, implying a birth year of 1718. Robert was described as a weaver of 'Throllsworth' on the marriage bond, although spelling was fluid and his name was also given on that document as FURBOROUGH, THIRDBOROUGH and FURBROW. He signed his own name as FURBROW.
There is circumstantial evidence to support Robert being the father of Thomas FURBOROUGH who died in Cosby in 1844 and who was the father Dinah FURBOROUGH, including:
- Cosby and Frolesworth are just 4 miles apart
- Robert and Jane christened a Thomas at approximately the right time in Frolesworth in 1768 which would make Thomas two years younger than suggested by his burial record.
Robert and Jane appear to have had up to 11 children although there are reasons to suspect that there were two Robert and Jane FURBOROUGH/FURBOROW families being raised in Frolesworth including:
- 11 children over a 24 year period from 1747 to 1771
- 3 sons called Robert - #1 only appearing as a burial, #2 baptized with a twin (Richard) just 8 days after that burial, #3 baptized two years later (but no burial for Robert #2 unless #1 and #2 were the same child but with misrecorded dates in the original records)
- 2 sons called Richard with no burial for the first
- the use of both FURBOROUGH and FURBURROW, but there is no pattern so it is likely a result of the clerk's choice of spelling on any particular day, indeed even contemporaneous transcribers changed the spelling when copying the registers, e.g. the burial of Mary, wife of James, in 1766 is recorded as both FURBOROUGH and FURBORROW in two different documents.
Infant mortality, multiple local churches with variable record retention and/or poor record keeping may be sufficient explanation; so until some other more concrete evidence is found I will leave all the children under a single Robert & Jane FURBOROUGH.
Based on the other FURBOROUGH (or variant) baptisms, marriages and deaths in Froleworth my previous best guess was that Robert was the son of William FURBOROUGH who baptized three children in Frolesworth in 1717, 1718 and 1721 with Robert being one of the next in sequence, but if his brithyear was 1718 then this would not work.
Other FURBOROUGHs recorded in Frolesworth (or nearby where stated):
1539 Agnis daughter of Edward FURBOROUGH
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(Family of unknown FURBOROUGH)
1603 Elias baptized
1603 Robert baptized
1604 Vincent baptized
1620 Will of Robti FURBURROUGH: Margareia FURBURROUGH given probate (parents of Elias, Robert, Vincent and possibly Katherin?)
1627 Katherin married Richard TOWERS
1669 Vincent buried
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(Family of Sanckclare)
1673 William the son of [Zank? (possibly Sanckclare)] FURBOROUGH widow buried
1697 Sanckclare buried (a possible corruption of St Clair ?)
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(Family of Robert and Elizabeth)
1676 Robert married Elizabeth HANDS
1678 Thomas son of Robert baptized
1679 [?as?] the son of Robert FURBOROUGH was baptized [?] 4th 16[90?]
1682 William son of Robert and Elizabeth baptized
1687 Elizabeth buried
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(Family of Robert and Esther)
1688 Robert married to Esther HENARD
1689 Robert the son of Robert and Esther baptized
1695 Elizabeth the daughter of Robert and Esther baptized
1698 Esther the daughter of Robert baptized
1698 Esther buried (wife of Robert?)
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1703 Robert buried (husband to Elizabeth and Esther?)
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(Miscellaneous)
1683 Rebecca Furborough buried
1692 Edward married Martha Judd
1694 Rebecca married Samuel SHARP
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(Family of William and [blank] - why was William's wife's name left blank in the church record?)
1717 Elizabeth the daughter of William and [blank] FURBOROUGH baptized
1718 William the son of William and [blank] FURBOROUGH baptized
1721 Richard the son of Will and [blank] FURBOROUGH baptized
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1732 Ann FURBOROUGH buried (was Ann the [blank]?)
1735 Elizabeth married Francis CORDALL (second marriage after William deceased?)
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(Miscellaneous)
1726 Mary, of Frolesworth licensed to marry Andrean PARNEL, weaver of Frolesworth
1730 Katarine married John BROWN
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(Family of James and Susannah/Mary)
1730 James married Susanna BURDELL
1732 Thomas son of James and Susannah baptized
1736 Robert son of James and Susannah baptized
1741 Susanna the daughter of James and Susanna baptized
1744 Susannah the wife of James FURBROUGH buried
1744 James married Mary LOKYER
1757 Mary (widow) married Willm BIRCHALL (was this Mary LOKYER widow of James?)
1766 Mary - buried - wife of James?
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1751 Robert - buried - possibly Robert born 1736------------
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(Family of Robert (this page))
1747-1771 the 11 children of Robert and Jane FURBOROUGH baptized
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(Family of Thomas baptized 1732)
1761 Susannah daughter of Thomas and Mary FURBOROUGH baptized
1763 Thomas son of Thomas and Mary FURBOROUGH baptized
1764 John son of Thomas and Mary FURBOROUGH baptized
1765 James son of Thomas and Mary baptized
1767 Elizabeth daughter of Thomas and Mary baptized
1769 William son of Thomas and Mary baptized
1772 Mary daughter of Thomas and Mary baptized
1774 Jane daughter of Thomas and Mary baptized
1777 Eleanor daughter of Thomas and Mary baptized
1780 Jemima daughter of Thomas and Mary baptized
1780 Robert - base born (baptized with Jemima...was this a son of one of Thomas' older daughters, e.g. Susannah?)
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(Family of Susannah baptized 1741)
1764 Thomas base born son of Susanna FURBORROW baptized
1768 Susannah - married Samuel SMITH (in presence of Thomas FURBORROW, likely her eldest brother then aged 36)
NEARBY PARISHES
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1687 Eliz. married Edward [M?]ILLION (Lutterworth)
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1687 Dorothy the wife of Rich FURBORROW buried (Lutterworth)
1723 Richard FARBOROUGH buried (Lutterworth)
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1692 Mary the wife of Edward FURBORROW buried (Lutterworth)
1697 Martha the daughter of Edward FURBORROW baptized (Lutterworth)
1699 Dorothy the daughter of Edward FURBORROW baptized (Lutterworth)
1701 Dorothy the daughter of Edward FURBORROW buried (Lutterworth)
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1716/17 William the son of John and Mary baptized and buried (Misterton)
1718 Ann the daughter of John and Mary baptized
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1722 Robert married Katherine FOX (Aston Flamville)
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1722 Richard the son of Ed FARBARROUGH baptized (Lutterworth)
1725 Edward the son of Edward FORBROUGH Jn baptized (Lutterworth)
1729 Martha the daughter of Edward FURBOROUGH junear baptized (Lutterworth)
1731 Samuel son of Edward FURBOROUGH junear baptized (Lutterworth)
1734 Joseph son of Edward FURBOROUGH junear baptized (Lutterworth) - This Joseph may have been the founder of FARBOROUGH & DAWSON (1802-10) of 51 Borough Road, London, shoe and leather wholesalers who died in Walworth in 1810 aged 76.
1736 Mary the wife of Edward FUROROUGH buried (Lutterworth)
1738 Martha wife of Edward FURBORROW buried (Lutterworth)
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1756 William - buried - Wolvey, Warwickahire (6 miles from Frolesworth)
1766 Esther - buried (Lutterworth)
From these we can see that we have Robert, James and William FURBOROUGH all of a previous generation.