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Hi Lizb, I forgot to mention that when Elizabeth's brother John, my ancestor, came to London he married in a church but afterwards baptised and, sadly, buried his children at the nonconformist (Wesleyan?) Ebenezer Chapel in Stepney. Were Elizabeth and Samuel nonconformist? The early south London Liffens (Robert and Henry, c 1790) were Weslyans. I think they originated from the Beccles Liffen branch. 

By the way, I notice that on your list of names you mention Hacon in Berkshire/Wiltshire, have you connected Saran or Isaac to there?

I really must read up on nonconformity in Norfolk and Suffolk, I don't know how popular it was...people seemed to switch from CofE to nonconformity then back to CofE again...maybe it was only to get their details recorded in the parish registers so that they or their children could in future claim parish relief or settlement rights.

Hello again Lizb, thanks for your offer, but yes, I have indeed been to Acle, its a very nice place and the church is lovely. I made sure I had my photo taken by the font! My old scanned photos are currently lodged on my deceased PC, so I can't upload or share them at the moment. If you get the time try to visit nearby Thrigby where I believe our Liffen ancestors came from, the earliest I have is c1539.

I've amassed quite a lot about the Liffen family in Norfolk but as yet no direct connection between them and our Henry (born c1765) nor his sister Susannah (chr 1767 at Acle), the children I assume, like you, of Robert (born c1730) and Elizabeth Liffen. Robert may have had a sister Mary (chr 1725 at Acle). If so, then their parents were pdobably William (born c1700) and Mary Liffen.

From what I've tracked back it seems the Liffen surname was originally (de) Lyston from Essex..a parish on the Suffolk border. That transmuted into Liston and then Lifton. I found a will of a Lifton who was named in the parish register as Liffen; and in a different will I found a 'Lefen alias Lifton'. Also, the Lowestoft Liffins were originally in the registers as Liftons.

Runham, Filby, Thrigby, Ormesby, Scratby, etc are the nearest villages to Acle with early Liffens. However the christian names Robert and Henry are more commonly used by the Burgh St Peter/Wheatacre/Beccles Liffen families. I think the main reason for losing track of them is the proximity of Norwich, with its multutude of parishes! 

As far as I can tell we are not descended from the Lowestoft/Yarmouth Liffens, they themselves are descended from the Burgh St Peter/Wheatacre Liffens, via Edmund Lifton/Liffin who was chr c1714 at Burgh. He was the great, great grandson of Edmund Lifton and Katherine London ( or Lemon) who married in 1634 at Wheatacre.

This Edmund Lifton junior had a brother William who married a Mary (He must have died around 1741 as she married his brother Henry, named after their father). Whether these are our Robert's parents I don't know. This branch of the family used the names Henry and Robert - their father and grandfather respectively. They also had a connection going back to Ashby in the late 16th to early 17th centuries...the village where the Quaker Hacons lived.

I've actually searched mostly Norfolk registers for Liffen and Hacon, but it seems that before the late 18th century they were living in Suffolk more than I anticipated, and I've barely scratched the surface of that county.

Regarding your descent...I don't have it to hand at the moment, but I think my great, great grandfather John Liffen signed (badly) as a witness at his sisters marriage to Samuel Howe? Do you know anything about their elder sister Mary's marriage to John Howes in 1830 at St George The Martyr in Camden, London. 

My John's family must have kept in close touch with their Norfolk relatives as his daughter Ann Liffen married Samuel HASE of Norwich in 1876 at Mile End, but they lived in London and had no children.

The Hacon family were long established in Norfolk and Suffolk, I believe they were Danes originally, for instance, the Lord of the Manor of Swaffham was a Dane named Hacon. But I think there is also a connection with Lincolnshire in the mid medieval period.

I'm not sure whether the Isaac Hacon who married Ann Bayes is the same man who married Sarah Bayes some years later. It's not impossible, though, of course it could be his son. Ann was buried at Ashby by Loddon in 1761, so Isaac could have remarried in 1764 to Sarah. Ann was the daughter of Thomas and Ann Bayes, she had a brother named Thomas, living in Salhouse. Isaac was 'of Acle' when they married in 1748. When I was visiting the Norfolk & Norwich FHS Library I was given the advice that Isaac and Sarah's allowed move and settlement from Acle to the parish of Salhouse meant that he was probably a key worker and that I should research the local lord of the manor for estate records.

At Acle there are burial records for Isaac Hacon died 1805 and his widow Elizabeth who died in 1807, so did he marry for a third time, or was this his son?

I wish more Norfolk parish information was online as I can't get up to Norfolk to do research. I did find a little info in the Society of Genealogists holdings: I found Isaac Haykin (brn c1725) with wife Ann at Ashby. This is Ashby by Loddon where Quaker Hacons lived, and the earliest Hacon baptism I have recorded is in 1620 of Robert, son of Robert and Rebecca. They have links too with Norwich and Sco Ruston. It seems that there were three Hacon brothers Robert, William and George. Possibly the sons of Edward who was an inhabitant of the village in 1603. As a note to that, the first name 'Edward' isn't used at all by other Hacon families in Norfolk.

I own a document dated 1725 which shows a connection between the Ashby family and cousins (I assume) in Roughton, Yelverton, and thence back to Gawdy Hacon (and his wife Bridget Gosling) at Topcroft, whose line goes back in that parish to c1491.

Our Sarah Hacon married Henry Liffen in 1791. Her sister Mary married Samuel Barber (or Barker) in 1786 and I believe she remarried in 1817 to John Rix at Upton. The other sister Ann married Peter Browne in 1796 but I find no more references to them....they may have moved away or she died. Browne is too common a name to be sure of anyone. Sarah Liffen died in 1852 at Old Catton by Norwich where she lived with her daughter Sarah Lambert (wife of Edward) and her granddaughter Mary Anne Liffen.

My ancestor is Sarah's younger brother John who moved to London and married there in 1826.

Have you researched the Liffen line at all?