Baber Origins

"Baber, an old English name, dates back to the Hundred Rolls of the year 1273, where can to be found the name of Henry Baber. Only the best families or those of royal birth were entered in the 'Hundred Roll'. The name Baber in England has its main history beginning in Somerset. Although other spellings have been seen the Surnames of Baber and Babers are the only ones featured on this website.

Many American Baber families' folklore maintains that the first Baber to come to America was Edward Baber, from Somerset, England. Edward Baber was a stockholder in the London Company. The London Company was an association of 'noblemen, gentlemen, and merchants.' In 1606, King James I of England granted the association for settlement in North America. It founded the Jamestown colony in 1607. Edward Baber of Somerset County was a subscriber to the Third Charter of the Virginia Company of London in 1612. Edward Baber's name appears on the 1611 Virginia Colony census.
Most stockholders did not want to make the long voyage to the colonies themselves. It is said that they assisted the poorer relatives and friends to make the harsh journey. Some seem to have gone to represent business activities of the Baber family.

The founders of the London Company believed that precious metals existed in the Americas. They spent about ten thousand dollars to send three groups of emigrants to America. By 1608, King James threatened that if the colony did not make money, the colonists should be 'left in Virginia as damaged men.' Two new Charters one in 1609, and one in 1612, reorganized the company, but it still failed to make a profit.
King James had no sympathy for the hardships of the unsuccessful colonists. The swampland, the "