Dr John Frederick Nembhard (1711-1777)
Connections: Europe/St Mary/St Ann/Kingston
The history of the original Nembhard of Jamaica began with Doctor John Frederick Nembhard (born 18 July 1711) who arrived in the island in the mid 1700s possibly from another Caribbean island but it is not known which. Mabel speculates that it may have been the Dutch west indies island, St. Eustatius. It was thought that Dr Nembhard was of noble European, Dutch or German descent, and the natural son of the famous General of the Imperial Austrian Army, Prince Eugene. (A picture of Dr Nembhard is in the gallery section).
"In August 1745 in the parish of St Mary a patent of British naturalisation was granted to Dr John Nembhard “an alien born”." He was 34 years of age. The following is taken from a Patent of George II in 1758 – “in consideration that Dr John Nembhard hath transported himself with his servants and slaves into our said island do grant unto him 300 acres in the parish of St George (now St Mary) at a rent of 12s 6d and 1/20 of the yearly profits of all base mines." Here Dr Nembhard established his plantation which he called Koningsburgh. In later years the estate was known as Koningsberg. The estate produced sugar, rum, and livestock.
Eight years later, Doctor John Nembhard aged 42 married 16 year old Anne Peyton Hamilton in November 1753 and together they raised eight known children, four boys and four girls. The children acquired wealth from their father’s estate at his death in 1777, aged 66. And, they grew up to become wealthy and of noble landed gentry. Two of his daughters married young into the very wealthy Hibbert family and raised children while the sons had distinguished careers in the military and the civil service, as well as being absent landlords of plantations and owners of vast tracts of land across Jamaica. These second generation Nembhards in particular became very wealthy proprietors and travelled between Jamaica and England where they also owned stately second homes.
Anne Peyton Nembhard (nee Hamilton) was the beloved niece and heir to the estate of Daniel Peyton her uncle, a land owner of 1,379 acres of land in the parishes of St George and St Mary, Jamaica, and 43 slaves (in 1757). His Will stated "All my personal moveables, chattels and effects that shall remain after payment of just debts and legacies to my nephew William Orgill the younger and my niece Anne Nembhard to be equally divided."
Anne was 21 years of age when her uncle died in 1757 in England. She inherited his mansion house and land at Peytons Cope, furniture and library of books. She also became the owner of slaves named; Duke, Marquis, Cola, Isaac, Mulatto Will, Mulatto Alexander, Nicholas, Phillip, Charles, Amy, Betty, Dinah, Rachell, Dorinda, Quasheba, Zilpar, Esther, Cretia and Nanny along with their children.
To Anne's husband Dr John Nembhard, Daniel Peyton bequeathed his tract of land known as Tobarts Ridge to be sold with monies to cover his debts and legacies. William Orgill the elder, and Dr. John Nembhard were executors to the Will which was proved in London by William Orgill the elder in 1757. (Source: Legacies of British Slave-ownership, UCL project)
In 1777 at Doctor Nembhard’s death his estate Koningsburgh and property including certain slaves (named in his Will) were passed on to his wife and children, including a mulatto woman who was passed on to his eldest daughter, Ann. At the time he made his Will his sons Ballard, William and Edward, were all under the age of 15 years, and so their inheritance was put into a trust until they each became of age, at 21.
"In 1790 by order of the court the plantation Koningsburgh was sold. Mrs Nembhard and her children were parties to the sale." After her husband’s death Anne went to live in Liguanea, Kingston for a while before she left Jamaica with her youngest daughter Charlotte Rose to reside in England" around 1799. She died in Middlesex, England in 1806. Her estates and slaves in Jamaica were passed on to her children and grandchildren.
Children of Doctor John and Anne Nembhard
b. 1755 Mary Elizabeth died 1756 age 1
b. 1756 Ann Peyton Nembhard: connections with Jamaica, St. Mary/ England
b. 1758 John Frederick Nembhard: connections with St. Mary/England
b. 1761 Ballard Beckford Nembhard: connections with St. Mary/St. Elizabeth/Kingston/England
b. 1764 Mary Orgill died 1773 age 9 (the Orgill name comes from her mother's side)
b. 1765 Letitia Hamilton Nembhard: connections with St. Mary/Hanover/England (married Robert Hibbert snr)
b. 1768 Elizabeth Jane Nembhard: connections St. Mary/Hanover/England (married Robert Hibbert jnr cousin of the above)
b. 1769 George Seaton died 1770 age 1
b. 1771 William Ellis Nembhard: connections with St. Mary /Clarendon/England
b. 1773 Edwards Lynch Nembhard: died aged 6, connections with St. Mary/Kingston, Jamaica
b. 1774 Charlotte Rose Nembhard: died age 34, connections with St. Mary/England
(Charlotte was likely named after Queen Charlotte of Great Britain at the time)
Ann Peyton Nembhard - St Ann/St Mary/England
Born 1756 married at aged 15 to Edward Edwards who died around 1796 aged 40. Following his death she went to live in England leaving her assets and property (including slaves) to her mother Anne (who was still in Jamaica at that time), and nephews (sons of her brother Ballard). Ann died in England aged 44.
John Frederick Nembhard – St Ann/St Mary
John Frederick Nembhard born 1758 in St. Ann was a surgeon to St Ann’s militia in Jamaica, in 1795. He was married to Sophie Anne Edwards in 1793. He died in Jamaica in 1797 aged 39 and is buried at Hermitage, St. Ann. (They had a son called John Frederick Nembhard born 1796). Several years after her husband's death Sophie re-married to a Mr Milne. She owned land and slaves in Pedro River, St Ann. She died in Paris in 1822.
Ballard Beckford Nembhard - St. Mary/Kingston/St Elizabeth/England
Dep. Adj. Gen. for Surrey, Lt Col Hon.
Born in 1761 Ballard became an attorney-at-law in Kingston and a Council member in 1808. He was the most established and distinguished of Dr John Nembhard's children. He acquired wealth through inheritance and his career and became an established land owner residing between Jamaica and England. In England he lived at All Saints in Southampton. In Jamaica he purchased 450 acres of land in St Elizabeth around 1787. The land in St Elizabeth was known as Hounslow (formerly Comma Penn). At aged 40 he married Ann Brooks born in 1767, daughter of Christopher Brooks who also owned much land in St. Elizabeth. By the time of Ballard's death of internal gout in 1821 he had become Lt. Col. Hon. Ballard Beckford Nembhard, and affectionately known as 'old Ballard'. He was buried at Catacombs, All Saints Church, Southampton, Hampshire, England. At his death his estate and slaves were passed down to his wife and sons. His wife Ann died in 1818 in Harley Street, London, aged 51. He stated in his Will that it was his wish and that of his wife Ann upon her death, and upon the death of their eldest son Ballard Jacques that certain named slaves were to be freed.
Letitia Nembhard
Born in 1765 married Robert Hibbert of Chalfont, Buckinghamshire and Birtles Hall, Cheshire, JP for Kingston, St. Georges and St Mary, Jamaica 1785. Robert was also High Sheriff of Cheshire in England in 1798. He died in 1835. Their son John Nembhard Hibbert, joined the 1st Queens Dragoon Guards British military. (A number of his personal diary entries during the Napoleonic Wars is kept in the collection of the 1st Queens Dragoon Guards). Letitia died at her home in Hyde Park Square, London in 1854. She is buried with her husband in the Hibbert vault, Chalfont St. Peters, Buckinghamshire, England.
Elizabeth Jane Nembhard
Born in 1768 married in 1792 in Jamaica to Robert Hibbert of Georgia Estate, Hanover, Jamaica and East Hyde near Luton Beds, England. Eliza Jane died in 1853 and is buried with her husband in a crypt under the Chapel in Kensal Green Cemetery, London.
Following her death The Hibbert Trust was established, as instructed in the Will of her late husband Robert Hibbert (Founder). The Hibbert Trust still exists today, and seeks to 'promote public interest and private scholarship in 'Christianity in its simplest and most intelligible form'.
William Ellis Nembhard
Born 1771. Adj. Gen. Jamaica Militia 1807. Assist. Judge of the Quorum for Clarendon and St Marys and M of A for Clarendon 1810. Married Julia Cobb in 1824 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Died 1829 at Bognor, buried in Chichester Cathedral. There is a letter in Mabel's publication between his sisters Letitia and Eliza Jane implying that the Nembhard family were not happy with this marriage (Julia was illiterate). William was shut out from the Nembhard family for several years, until by chance he met with Robert Hibbert in London on business and was invited back to Chalfont where he and his sister rekindled. When William died the Nembhard family planned to contest his Will not wanting Julia to inherit his £45,000. However, with the emancipation act in force and losses from their estates in Jamaica, they abandoned the idea. Julia received the inheritance, and disappeared. She contacted the Nembhard family 50 years later following a second marriage and once more a widow expressing her wish to give them the money she inherited from William through her own Will. But again, the Nembhard family were suspicious and were planning to contest the Will (his nephew William). It was however, eventually settled out of court with Major General William Nembhard receiving the lions share.
Nembhard connection with the Hibberts of Jamaica
Two of the Nembhard sisters were married into the Hibberts family. The Hibberts were extremely wealthy merchants and proprietors of several estates during the period of the slave trade. They too lived and travelled between England and Jamaica. The Nembhards were so well connected that the Hibberts were also executors of Wills to a number of Nembhards at their death including Dr John Nembhard who died in 1777. The Hibberts had their own merchantile fleet of ships and a London base in West India Dock. Robert Hibbert Snr and Letitia (Nembhard) Hibbert in particular were very well connected and associated themselves in high society circles. Letitia also seemed to have a decent relationship with her elder brother Ballard as he would send his sons across to her home in England when they were young boys for the summer holidays.
The Hibberts owned land and several hundreds of slaves in Jamaica during the slave trade from which they built their empire. A history of the Hibberts of Jamaica is also available on the internet.
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The history of the original Nembhard of Jamaica began with Doctor John Frederick Nembhard (born 18 July 1711) who arrived in the island in the mid 1700s possibly from another Caribbean island but it is not known which. Mabel speculates that it may have been the Dutch west indies island, St. Eustatius. It was thought that Dr Nembhard was of noble European, Dutch or German descent, and the natural son of the famous General of the Imperial Austrian Army, Prince Eugene. (A picture of Dr Nembhard is in the gallery section).
"In August 1745 in the parish of St Mary a patent of British naturalisation was granted to Dr John Nembhard “an alien born”." He was 34 years of age. The following is taken from a Patent of George II in 1758 – “in consideration that Dr John Nembhard hath transported himself with his servants and slaves into our said island do grant unto him 300 acres in the parish of St George (now St Mary) at a rent of 12s 6d and 1/20 of the yearly profits of all base mines." Here Dr Nembhard established his plantation which he called Koningsburgh. In later years the estate was known as Koningsberg. The estate produced sugar, rum, and livestock.
Eight years later, Doctor John Nembhard aged 42 married 16 year old Anne Peyton Hamilton in November 1753 and together they raised eight known children, four boys and four girls. The children acquired wealth from their father’s estate at his death in 1777, aged 66. And, they grew up to become wealthy and of noble landed gentry. Two of his daughters married young into the very wealthy Hibbert family and raised children while the sons had distinguished careers in the military and the civil service, as well as being absent landlords of plantations and owners of vast tracts of land across Jamaica. These second generation Nembhards in particular became very wealthy proprietors and travelled between Jamaica and England where they also owned stately second homes.
Anne Peyton Nembhard (nee Hamilton) was the beloved niece and heir to the estate of Daniel Peyton her uncle, a land owner of 1,379 acres of land in the parishes of St George and St Mary, Jamaica, and 43 slaves (in 1757). His Will stated "All my personal moveables, chattels and effects that shall remain after payment of just debts and legacies to my nephew William Orgill the younger and my niece Anne Nembhard to be equally divided."
Anne was 21 years of age when her uncle died in 1757 in England. She inherited his mansion house and land at Peytons Cope, furniture and library of books. She also became the owner of slaves named; Duke, Marquis, Cola, Isaac, Mulatto Will, Mulatto Alexander, Nicholas, Phillip, Charles, Amy, Betty, Dinah, Rachell, Dorinda, Quasheba, Zilpar, Esther, Cretia and Nanny along with their children.
To Anne's husband Dr John Nembhard, Daniel Peyton bequeathed his tract of land known as Tobarts Ridge to be sold with monies to cover his debts and legacies. William Orgill the elder, and Dr. John Nembhard were executors to the Will which was proved in London by William Orgill the elder in 1757. (Source: Legacies of British Slave-ownership, UCL project)
In 1777 at Doctor Nembhard’s death his estate Koningsburgh and property including certain slaves (named in his Will) were passed on to his wife and children, including a mulatto woman who was passed on to his eldest daughter, Ann. At the time he made his Will his sons Ballard, William and Edward, were all under the age of 15 years, and so their inheritance was put into a trust until they each became of age, at 21.
"In 1790 by order of the court the plantation Koningsburgh was sold. Mrs Nembhard and her children were parties to the sale." After her husband’s death Anne went to live in Liguanea, Kingston for a while before she left Jamaica with her youngest daughter Charlotte Rose to reside in England" around 1799. She died in Middlesex, England in 1806. Her estates and slaves in Jamaica were passed on to her children and grandchildren.
Children of Doctor John and Anne Nembhard
b. 1755 Mary Elizabeth died 1756 age 1
b. 1756 Ann Peyton Nembhard: connections with Jamaica, St. Mary/ England
b. 1758 John Frederick Nembhard: connections with St. Mary/England
b. 1761 Ballard Beckford Nembhard: connections with St. Mary/St. Elizabeth/Kingston/England
b. 1764 Mary Orgill died 1773 age 9 (the Orgill name comes from her mother's side)
b. 1765 Letitia Hamilton Nembhard: connections with St. Mary/Hanover/England (married Robert Hibbert snr)
b. 1768 Elizabeth Jane Nembhard: connections St. Mary/Hanover/England (married Robert Hibbert jnr cousin of the above)
b. 1769 George Seaton died 1770 age 1
b. 1771 William Ellis Nembhard: connections with St. Mary /Clarendon/England
b. 1773 Edwards Lynch Nembhard: died aged 6, connections with St. Mary/Kingston, Jamaica
b. 1774 Charlotte Rose Nembhard: died age 34, connections with St. Mary/England
(Charlotte was likely named after Queen Charlotte of Great Britain at the time)
Ann Peyton Nembhard - St Ann/St Mary/England
Born 1756 married at aged 15 to Edward Edwards who died around 1796 aged 40. Following his death she went to live in England leaving her assets and property (including slaves) to her mother Anne (who was still in Jamaica at that time), and nephews (sons of her brother Ballard). Ann died in England aged 44.
John Frederick Nembhard – St Ann/St Mary
John Frederick Nembhard born 1758 in St. Ann was a surgeon to St Ann’s militia in Jamaica, in 1795. He was married to Sophie Anne Edwards in 1793. He died in Jamaica in 1797 aged 39 and is buried at Hermitage, St. Ann. (They had a son called John Frederick Nembhard born 1796). Several years after her husband's death Sophie re-married to a Mr Milne. She owned land and slaves in Pedro River, St Ann. She died in Paris in 1822.
Ballard Beckford Nembhard - St. Mary/Kingston/St Elizabeth/England
Dep. Adj. Gen. for Surrey, Lt Col Hon.
Born in 1761 Ballard became an attorney-at-law in Kingston and a Council member in 1808. He was the most established and distinguished of Dr John Nembhard's children. He acquired wealth through inheritance and his career and became an established land owner residing between Jamaica and England. In England he lived at All Saints in Southampton. In Jamaica he purchased 450 acres of land in St Elizabeth around 1787. The land in St Elizabeth was known as Hounslow (formerly Comma Penn). At aged 40 he married Ann Brooks born in 1767, daughter of Christopher Brooks who also owned much land in St. Elizabeth. By the time of Ballard's death of internal gout in 1821 he had become Lt. Col. Hon. Ballard Beckford Nembhard, and affectionately known as 'old Ballard'. He was buried at Catacombs, All Saints Church, Southampton, Hampshire, England. At his death his estate and slaves were passed down to his wife and sons. His wife Ann died in 1818 in Harley Street, London, aged 51. He stated in his Will that it was his wish and that of his wife Ann upon her death, and upon the death of their eldest son Ballard Jacques that certain named slaves were to be freed.
Letitia Nembhard
Born in 1765 married Robert Hibbert of Chalfont, Buckinghamshire and Birtles Hall, Cheshire, JP for Kingston, St. Georges and St Mary, Jamaica 1785. Robert was also High Sheriff of Cheshire in England in 1798. He died in 1835. Their son John Nembhard Hibbert, joined the 1st Queens Dragoon Guards British military. (A number of his personal diary entries during the Napoleonic Wars is kept in the collection of the 1st Queens Dragoon Guards). Letitia died at her home in Hyde Park Square, London in 1854. She is buried with her husband in the Hibbert vault, Chalfont St. Peters, Buckinghamshire, England.
Elizabeth Jane Nembhard
Born in 1768 married in 1792 in Jamaica to Robert Hibbert of Georgia Estate, Hanover, Jamaica and East Hyde near Luton Beds, England. Eliza Jane died in 1853 and is buried with her husband in a crypt under the Chapel in Kensal Green Cemetery, London.
Following her death The Hibbert Trust was established, as instructed in the Will of her late husband Robert Hibbert (Founder). The Hibbert Trust still exists today, and seeks to 'promote public interest and private scholarship in 'Christianity in its simplest and most intelligible form'.
William Ellis Nembhard
Born 1771. Adj. Gen. Jamaica Militia 1807. Assist. Judge of the Quorum for Clarendon and St Marys and M of A for Clarendon 1810. Married Julia Cobb in 1824 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Died 1829 at Bognor, buried in Chichester Cathedral. There is a letter in Mabel's publication between his sisters Letitia and Eliza Jane implying that the Nembhard family were not happy with this marriage (Julia was illiterate). William was shut out from the Nembhard family for several years, until by chance he met with Robert Hibbert in London on business and was invited back to Chalfont where he and his sister rekindled. When William died the Nembhard family planned to contest his Will not wanting Julia to inherit his £45,000. However, with the emancipation act in force and losses from their estates in Jamaica, they abandoned the idea. Julia received the inheritance, and disappeared. She contacted the Nembhard family 50 years later following a second marriage and once more a widow expressing her wish to give them the money she inherited from William through her own Will. But again, the Nembhard family were suspicious and were planning to contest the Will (his nephew William). It was however, eventually settled out of court with Major General William Nembhard receiving the lions share.
Nembhard connection with the Hibberts of Jamaica
Two of the Nembhard sisters were married into the Hibberts family. The Hibberts were extremely wealthy merchants and proprietors of several estates during the period of the slave trade. They too lived and travelled between England and Jamaica. The Nembhards were so well connected that the Hibberts were also executors of Wills to a number of Nembhards at their death including Dr John Nembhard who died in 1777. The Hibberts had their own merchantile fleet of ships and a London base in West India Dock. Robert Hibbert Snr and Letitia (Nembhard) Hibbert in particular were very well connected and associated themselves in high society circles. Letitia also seemed to have a decent relationship with her elder brother Ballard as he would send his sons across to her home in England when they were young boys for the summer holidays.
The Hibberts owned land and several hundreds of slaves in Jamaica during the slave trade from which they built their empire. A history of the Hibberts of Jamaica is also available on the internet.
Next page
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