Although not Earls or Dukes, the Holcombes seem to have survived the Norman invasion 
of 1066.  Symon de Holcombe was born at Farringdon near Exeter in Devon, he was a 
bowman at the Battle of Hastings, but unlike his other compatriots, although he was 
booted off his lands at Farringdon, he was not made a serf and moved to Branscombe 
where the family lived until the 1600s when his descendant Gilbert Holcombe, born in 
1565, sold Hole House to the Bartlett family, who have been in possession of it ever 
since.

Gilbert then moved to Wales and his son Thomas, who would not have been entitled to 
inherit his father's estate, sailed to America on the Mary and John and was one of 
the founding fathers of Windsor, Connecticut.

The Holcombes are an interesting family, from their arrival in America, they have 
become lawyers, ministers and doctors.  A number of them fought in both the American 
Revolutionary war in the 18th century against Britain and also in the civil war, 
where Lucy Petway Holcombe Pickens made her name as "Queen of the Confederates" by 
selling some the jewels given to her by the Tsar of Russia, where her husband had 
been the American Ambassador, in order to raise funds for the Confederate Army.  
Unfortunately the Confederates lost.

Those who returned to England are just as interesting.

Enjoy your visit to the website, where you will find just how interesting this family 
is.