This most interesting and unusual surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is an English locational name from a place called Halberton in Devonshire, which was recorded as "Halsbretone" in the Domesday Book of 1086. The placename probably derives from the Olde English pre 7th Century "haeselbearu", a hazel grove and "tun", the Olde English word for settlement, enclosure, a common element in English placenames. The surname developed from the original spelling with the dropping of the initial "H" and became "Allabarton". During the Middle Ages when migration for the purpose of job-seeking was becoming more common, people often took their former village name as a means of identification, thus resulting in a wide dispersal of the name in many variant forms. Examples of the surname include one Agnes Holbarton who married Andrew Bowden, on May 31st 1661, at Yealmpton in Devon; the marriage of Robert Haliburton and Ann Chamberlain, on February 1st 1820, at St. Peter's, Worcestershire; and the marriage of Elizabelt Allabarton and Henry Slater, at St. Thomas's, Dudley, Worcestershire, on January 22nd 1846. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Holberton, which was dated May 21st 1599, marriage to Thomasia Foxe at Ugborough, Devon, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.