However, possibly the earliest Leeds resident of the Hebden name was RICHARD HEBDEN.
Richard lived at Call Lane, Leeds with his wife Margaret. Richard died in 1564 (age unknown) but his wife remained at that address till at least 1576.

That year, ALEXANDER, one of their sons was also resident there with his wife, an ELIZABETH ATKINSON.

ROBERT married twice, the first time to an ALICE MERTYMAR ( MORTIMER ?) and then, in 1585, to an ELIZABETH HARRISON. ROBERT’s address was, in 1580, Vicar Lane Leeds.

Vicar Lane lies today at the heart of the shopping area of Leeds and presumably it was similar in those days. Perhaps Robert was in trade of some sort.

Robert had two known children. The eldest was Jennet who was born in 1580 and was a product of his first marriage to Alice. About nine years later he had a son Robert with his second wife Elizabeth. Young Robert was baptized at St Peters Leeds in 1589.

The third son of Richard and Margaret had been GEORGE who was resident in 1586 also at Call Lane in Leeds. Whether this was the same house or another address on the same Lane is unknown. George’s wife is unknown but there is a record of his son JOHN being born but also dying in 1586.

There is then a gap of 100 years or so but then some Hebdens appear in the same Call Lane location in Leeds. Whether it is coincidence or whether they are the same family has yet to be determined.

However, the information that has been found, so far, is as follows……

About 1696 a JEREMIAH HEBDEN was born, probably in Leeds. He died young at the age of 45 (1741), leaving a widow, Hannah(Ripley) who he had married in 1718 at St Peters in Leeds.

Jeremiah died in Kirkgate Leeds and may well have been a descendant of the early Leeds family. Nothing is knwn for sure but He had been living at Call Lane in Leeds, which coincidentally was the same street upon which the early Leeds Hebdens had lived a hundred years before.

Jeremiah and Hannah had at least four children, the eldest being a James Hebden who had been born around 1718, dying very young in Call Lane, Leeds at the age of 26.

Then came Joseph, born in 1719, followed by Hannah in 1724 and, finally, Jeremiah jnr. born 1725.

Nothing more is known of Hannah but of the two boys there is further information. Details of Jeremiah will follow further on, after the details of Joseph and his descendants.

The above JOSEPH was born in 1719 in Kirkgate, Leeds and went on to to marry a MARY WESTERMAN in 1743 at Leeds Parish Church, raising his family in the Call Lane/Kirkgate area before he finally died at the age of 84. Mary died in 1774 in the workhouse in Leeds and was buried in the same church at which Joseph had been baptized and in which they had married.

Joseph and Mary had at least four children. Hannah (b1743) who later went on to marry a William Blackburn, Elizabeth (b1747) of whom no more is known, Jeremiah and Eleanor. The latter three children were both born in Quarry Hill in Leeds in 1750 and 1755 respectively, so presumably the famly moved there in 1745/6 shortly after Hannah was born.

Nothing more is known of Eleanor but Jeremiah lived till 1806, only two years longer than his father, dying in the Woodside, Meanwood area of Leeds and being buried in Chapel Allerton. His wife had been Elisabeth Mawson and they had married in 1776 at Leeds Parish Church.

Jeremiah and Elisabeth had started off their married life in Meanwood, Leeds where their eldest son THOMAS was born in 1777. He was baptized in Chapel Allerton and later went on to marry twice, first to a Mary Barker and then secondly to Sarah Peacock.It is not known if there were any children of either of these marriages.
There were three other children for Jeremiah and Elisabeth Mawson:, JOSEPH (b1779 in Meanwood) and then almost ten years later, James was born in 1787. The fourth child was Mary who was born in 1789 and who died at the young age of 6.

JOSEPH (b 1779 in Woodside, Meanwood, Leeds) married ELIZABETH SEATON on September 28, 1801 in Whitkirk, Leeds. He had been baptized in Chapel Allerton though his wife would appear to have been a Rothwell girl as that is where she was baptized in 1780

Their children were firstly JOHN who was born in 1802 and he married a Maria Tinker around 1820 though he had died by the time of the 1881 census. This census shows Maria living in Wortley in Bramley, Leeds and working as a dressmaker.
The next child was another JEREMIAH b. 1804, in Halton, Whitkirk Parish, near Leeds. His marriage was to an Elizabeth Jackson in 1825 before he died in 1878 in Halton, Whitkirk
Then came MARY ANN b. 1816, Halton, Whitkirk Parish, near Leeds and she went on to marry a WILLIAM WILSON. There clearly could have been quite a few other children between those years but either they did not live or their baptisms have not been found yet.

Jeremiah and Hannah’s son JEREMIAH junior was born Abt. 1725 in Leeds and whilst details of his wife are not known, it is thought that he had at least two surviving sons – Jeremiah and James. The dates of birth of these two are unclear but would probably have been sometime around 1750.

JEREMIAH the third, lived in the Chapel Allerton area of Leeds as that is where his eldest son JOSEPH WAS born. in 1779.

JAMES brother of Jeremiah, is shown living in Boar Lane, Leeds in 1771 and that is the year that he had a son ( another James).

There is still work being done on the Leeds Hebdens, trying to untangle the Jeremiahs and Jameses but it is possible that they could all be descendants of the early Leeds Hebdens.

There are also strong indications that the descendants of the Halton Hebdens above ended up in Garforth, Tadcaster and Harrogate.