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The name RYBURN
originated in Scotland in medieval times, when my
ancestors acquired land formerly owned by the Knights
Templar, in an area
just north of Dunlop
Village in Ayrshire. The property was known as 'Temple
Ryburn'. The
earliest
Ryburn I have found, though, was
a 'William
de Ryeburne',
who in 1251 was fined by the Abbot of Byland
apropos an alder wood at Scackleton, North Yorkshire.
He probably came from the Ryburn Valley
in West Yorkshire. So
far, the earliest reference to an Ayrshire Ryburn was in 1496, when a Robert
Ryburn witnessed an 'Instrument
of Sasine given by a noble knight, Sir Adam Mure, of
Caldwell'.
Did you
know that a John
Ryburn, 1530, is in 'Foxe's Book
of Martyrs', or that two other John
Ryburns 'of
that ilk' were involve in two separate feuding
murders in Ayrshire in the late
1500s. The second victim was the Earl of Eglinton!
John
the elder was himself murdered in 1571.
In 1603 a 'Johne
Ryburne' was outlawed on what looks like a trumped-up charge
of adultery and child murder. He
fled to Ireland. The old Ryburn
Manor and lands near Dunlop were
sold by Neil
Ryburn in
1638, and in the 1650s another John Ryburn, probably Neil's son,
moved to the
Kintyre Peninsula, near Campbeltown,
to join the First
Marquis of Argyll's 'Plantation' Scheme. There
followed many generations of Kintyre
Ryburns.
Since those times, the Ryburns have spread far, first to other
parts of
Scotland, England and
Ireland, to North
America and the Caribbean, to New
Zealand, the abode of my immediate
forbears, and Australia,
where I and most of my family now
live. Only a few Ryburns remain in the British Isles.
The majority are in the USA.
My favorite explanation of the name Ryburn, told to me as a boy, is
that a 'rye' was a
river crossing made from stepping stones.
In Robbie Burns' song, "Comin
Thro' the Rye" a girl meets a
boy crossing a rye - not a field of grain. She
cannot avoid
being kissed without getting her petticoats wet. Of course, a
'burn' is
a stream. There is a 'Rye Water',
or 'Ryeburn',
at Dalry,
not far from
Dunlop.
The name Ryburn has endured many spelling
variations, but I have discovered that the name
'Raeburn'
seems
to have a separate origin from near Gretna Green.
The ancestors of Sir
Henry Raeburn, the famous Scottish
portrait painter, came from there. A pity about that!
My main contributions to this Web site are two
articles as
PDF files, Stewart & Donald Ryburn's list of Campbel- town
births,
and Kintyre trees as a PDF file and zipped GEDCOM file that can be
imported into
most family tree programs (e.g. Personal Ancestral File
- it's free)
Early
Ayrshire Ryburns PDF - 414
Kbyte 21 Aug 2010
Kintyre
Ryburns
PDF - 1.40 Mbyte 21 Aug 2010
Kintyre Births
PDF - 2.5 Mbyte ~1973
Mathew Ryburn's
Tree PDF - 17
Kbyte 7 Apr 2009
Kintyre
Ryburn Tree ZIP -
50 Kbyte 10 Aug 2008
These files are works in progress and will be updated as new
information comes to light. The Kintyre tree is
hypothetical in parts, but is
extensively annotated.
This Web site is dedicated to furthering knowledge about the
origins
and
history of the Ryburns. Like the Ryburns, this site has
humble beginnings, but it should expand and improve over time.
You can email me at rryburn@netspeed.com.au
I will try to include all relevant
information you care to send me, and I would
love to hear the sagas of North American Ryburns. Plenty
of room for more PDF files!
Roderick
James Ryburn, Canberra, Australia, 29/06/2008
PS:
The 1886 photo in the heading (click photo to enlarge)
is
the family of my great grandfather, Robert McNair Ryburn, who
migrated to New Zealand from Cambeltown, Scotland, in 1859.
Last
updated 21 August, 2010
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The
location of Dunlop & Campbeltown.
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Hapland
Farmhouse, near Dunlop, Ayrshire, 2007.
Called 'Ryeburn' on the 1858 Ordindance Survey Map.
Stepping
stones across the River Ryburn near
Triangle Village, Ryburn Valley, West Yorkshire.
Ford across the Rye Water, or 'Rye Burn', near Dalry, Ayrshire.
Photo by Roger Griffith, 2008.
Drumlemble Village, on
the 'Laggan' plain, Kintyre.
Several generations of Ryburns lived near there.
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