Mark your calendars for July 22, 23 and 24, 2009 (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) for the next Lillibridge family reunion at Warner Springs Ranch, just 70 miles northeast of San Diego, California. The ranch provides an excellent venue for reunion events, and it's only an hour's drive from the desert, mountains and beaches.
The reunion at Warner Springs Ranch includes two nights' lodging, five meals and use of all the grounds, including the mineral pools, recreation rooms, saunas, gyms, and trails for hiking and biking. Final pricing and event details will be announced soon.
Those who are currently on the reunion mailing list will automatically receive registration information in the coming weeks. If you would like to be proactive and contact the event organizers at any time, please e-mail Amy Cassube with your questions and comments.
Every reunion includes opportunities to learn more about the fascinating history of the Lillibridge family, from the earliest immigrant record of Thomas and Sarah Lillibridge in late-1600s Rhode Island to the present. Find your place on our large geneaology chart!
Everyone is welcome, from newborns to our honored elders. Events for children and young adults are also part of the package. More information on the event schedule will be posted here soon.
An important part of family heritage is honoring the memories of those who pioneered a new path in a new land. The Lillibridge clan is fortunate to have an ancestral cemetery dating from the early 1700s.
Located in Richmond, Rhode Island, this family plot is the burial ground for at least 22 of our first, second and third generation family members.
This cemetery was once part of a 1000-acre tract of land purchased by Thomas Lillibridge and has remained in family hands until 1913.
In 1999 and early 2000, area family members did an extensive cleanup of the cemetery and restored many of the headstones. At the 2006 family reunion in Carlisle, PA, a number of family members made donations to the cemetery restoration fund, enabling the restoration and rebuilding of the cemetery's south wall by a qualified stone mason. Much work still needs to be accomplished, and donations to this effort are very welcome.
Please have a look at the most recent newsletter, which contains more detailed information on the cemetery's status and an assortment of current photos. It's in PDF format (2MB).
For further information on the Lillibridge ancestral cemetery, please contact:
From the very first national Lillibridge reunion in 1982, there has been substantial interest in a complete genealogy of the Lillibridge family as it has expanded from its traditional English roots to nearly every state in the USA and other areas of the world. After a decade of research and an ever-growing genealogy database, the first Lillibridge family reference book, The Lillibridges of the World, was published in 1994. It numbers 1068 pages and is fully indexed.
Following soon after this first book, Supplement One was published in 2003, adding a further 664 pages of fascinating Lillibridge family information. Both volumes include expanded entries for many family members, including photos and brief biographical stories.
The most recent addition is Supplement Two, available on a print-on-demand basis from lulu.com at this link. This 667-page book can be downloaded free as a PDF document or ordered as a hardcover book to match the previous genealogies. Both of these supplements reference entries in the first genealogy, The Lillibridges of the World, so for a complete picture of the Lillibridge family all three volumes would be the most useful for detailed research. The current challenge is how best to offer all this information on demand and online, so that Lillibridge family members can most easily find their own place in the big heritage tree.
For more information on these genealogical reference books, please contact their primary author:
This section of Lillibridge Family News features a look at noteworthy ancestral family members. It's a look back to an earlier era in Lillibridge history, with examples pulled from the Lillibridges of the World genealogy. Look for further stories in the coming weeks.
It's probably fair to say that Captain Robert Lillibridge experienced more excitement and danger before his 35th birthday than most of us will in our entire lifetimes. The final decade of the 18th century was particularly active for ship captains, with slave uprisings throughout the Caribbean and the 1793-1801 British-French war. Add to that the threat of the privateer, a private warship common throughout colonial times and engaged in what is often described as state-sponsored piracy.
It was in this environment that Capt. Lillibridge commandeered a number of vessels, including the brigadeers Jane and Ruby and the schooners President and Fair Lady.
It was during his service on the Fair Lady that Capt. Lillibridge encountered the privateer Hope, commanded by David Foggo. According to a 1794 article in The Pennsylvania Gazette regarding the September '93 adventure, Foggo enticed Capt. Lillibridge onto the Hope, and immediately sent ten men to board the Fair Lady and take charge of her. The next day, Foggo ordered the Fair Lady to Bermuda, which had throughout the 18th century become a center for piracy.
In Bermuda, the schooner was raided for valuables, the passengers taken for prisoners, and the vessel's entire cargo condemned. Capt. Lillibridge was ordered to stand trial and was beaten by the Hope's agent, requiring three days of recuperaton with the help of a physician. Thankfully, he returned safely to New York by December 30th of that year.
The Gazette has also reported Capt. Lillibridge sailing from L'Anse-a-Veau (Haiti) on the President, to San Juan (Puerto Rico) on the Ruby, from Philadelphia on the Jane, and on a schooner "to L'Acul (Haiti), with the intention to bring off some cannon and stores deposited there."
The image of Capt. Lillibridge above is owned by the Smithsonian Institute and is watercolor on ivory. Special thanks to John Lillibrige for sharing it for this story.