It's been quite a while since I've posted here. I've been busy with other commitments, and I also tried creating a new website on WordPress, but I got all tangled up learning how to use it and in the end, I decided I'd better stick to what I know. Lately I've been working on the Bland family. As a reminder, we are descended from Stephen Bland, sexton at Hammersmith, London, England, and his wife Eleanor Whitfield. They are the parents of Ann Bland, who married Robert Elliot in 1794 and moved to Canada with him and their family.
We know that Stephen Bland had at least two siblings. One, John Highlord Bland of St. James, Westminster (c. 1732-1791), was a sword cutler who worked in London and although married seems to have had no children. John Highlord Bland left a will, proved August 4, 1792, in London, in which he connects himself to other members of the Bland family:
- His wife Harriet Bland
- His brother "Stephen Bland of Hammersmith" and Stephen's children Edward (referred to as the eldest son), Ann, Harriet, Thomas, and James
- His sister-in-law Mrs. Gwyn Bland, her daughter Gwyn, two other unnamed daughters, and her son Thomas Bland, whom John Highlord Bland disinherits and "cuts off with a shilling"
This will establishes John Highlord and Stephen as brothers and establishes that there is one other brother who is probably deceased at this point, but had a wife named Gwyn, three daughters (one also named Gwyn) and a son Thomas. I believe this is a Thomas Bland, dates unknown. We have no marriage record for Thomas and Gwyn Bland but we do have baptism records for five children (Gwyn, Sarah, Mary, Elizabeth Catherine, and John) naming both parents. Elizabeth Catherine dies two years after her birth, leaving only three daughters for Thomas and Gwyn. I can't find a birth record for a Thomas, but with a father named Thomas, it is not unlikely that there is a son named Thomas whose birth record has not survived.
So, the core of the Bland family that we have documented so far includes:
John Highlord Bland of London, cutler, c. 1732-1791
Stephen Bland of Hammersmith, sexton/gardener, c. 1733-October 7, 1810.
Thomas Bland, occupation and dates unknown but probably died between the birth of his youngest child (1770) and his brother John Highlord's will (1791).
as well as Stephen and Thomas's children.
There are a handful of other people who are connected to core group but about whom we know less. For the most part it is their wills which establish the connections.
Elizabeth Bland, a spinster in Hammersmith, leaves a will proved 1780, in which she names two sisters, Lucy Paget and Sarah Watts. She also mentions a nephew, Edward Bland, who I believe could be Edward the son of Stephen Bland of Hammersmith, and two nieces, Elizabeth and Ann Watts. Her burial record gives her age as 82, which would put her birth circa 1698.
Lucy Paget, of Fetter Lane, London, also leaves a will proved in 1780, in which she names her loving son Thomas Paget, four nieces whom she names as Sarah Bland, Sarah Brooks, Ann Watts and Elizabeth Watts, and also her own daughter Mary Jones, the husband of George Jones. She has two death records, one which puts her age at 74 and another which puts her age at 78, giving her an estimated birth of circa 1702-1706.
Sarah Bland, a spinster of Harrow on the Hill, London, leaves a will proved in London on May 5 1803. Her will names "my loving cousin Stephen Bland of the Hamlet of Hammersmith in the County of Middlesex" as executor and the "sons and daughters of the said Stephen Bland" whom she identifies as "Edward, John Thomas, and James Bland, and Ann wife to Mr. Robert Elliot and Harriott wife of Mr. Daniel Pontifex". She leaves one guinea to Peers Watts but does not specify a relationship. She leaves small bequests to her "dear cousins Ann and Elizabeth Watts and Mrs. Mary Jones". She leaves small bequests to a Mr. John Armstrong, Frances his wife, and Frances their daughter. In her codicil she mentions a Thomas Bland who is working as a journeyman to Daniel Pontifex. Unfortunately her death record does not give her age, which would have helped us find a birth record.
The Watt family feature heavily in the wills of these Bland family members. The Watt family patriarch, Peers Watts (c.1684-1771), married a Sarah Bland of Hammersmith/Fulham in 1720. The marriage allegation tells us her father is Edward Bland, gardener (Peers is also a Gardener).
London and Surrey, England, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1597-1921.
The text reads, in part:
6 Septembris 1720. On which day appeared personally Peers Watts of the Parish of Fullham in the County of Middx widower and alleged that he intendeth to marry with Sarah Bland of same parish and upwards of sixteen years and a spinster with the consent of Edward Bland her father now present..."
I believe that the bride's father only had to consent if she was under 21 years of age, which would make Sarah Bland's year of birth between 1699 and 1704.
Peers and Sarah had seven children baptized in St. Paul Hammersmith Church between 1722 and 1734, but by 1772 when Peer's will was proved, the remaining family consisted of Peers Jr, Ann, Elizabeth, and Sarah (who married a James Brooks). The baptismal records for Sarah and Ann Watts are missing.
So we now have three sisters, Elizabeth Bland born c. 1698, Lucy Paget, and Sarah Watts born between 1702-1706. Their father is Edward Bland and their mother is unknown. They are aunts to Stephen Bland of Hammersmith, which would make his father, currently unknown, a son of Edward Bland as well.
Another interesting will by a Bland I can't immediately place is that of William Bland of St. Andrew, Holborn. His will reads:
In the name of God Amen I William Bland of the Parish of St. Andrew Holborn in the County of Middlesex Innholder being of sound mind and memory do will and bequeath unto my aunt Ann Watts spinster of the parish of St. Andrew Holborn aforesaid in the said county of Middlesex all my goods money plate rings watches horses and all my worldly goods and every thing I dye possessed of And I make and appoint my said aunt Ann Watts the executrix of this my last will and testament in witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this seven and twentieth day of December One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty. (London, England, Wills and Probate, 1507-1858. 1751-B-Bland).
The will was registered in February of 1751. Again the dates are a bit of a squeeze. If Ann Watts was born in the 1720s or 1730s like her siblings, in 1751 she would be 20-30 years old. Surely a bit young to have a prosperous adult nephew who is an innkeeper and on his deathbed.
This family is like a big scrambled-up puzzle and I know there are pieces missing. I keep hoping the next piece I discover will connect the whole puzzle, but so far no luck. More research pending!
No comments:
Post a Comment