Early Bland Family Vital Records at St Paul Hammersmith Chapel

 These records, from the Chapel of St. Paul in Hammersmith, are out of order chronologically.  I am recording them in the order in which they appear in the record books on Ancestry, and  while some of the records go from early to late dates, as one would expect, occasionally some go from late to early. Also the records are largely organized so that all like categories (birth, marriage or burial) are listed together, which means that a certain baptism, for example, could appear in the records earlier than the marriage which preceded it, if baptisms are placed before marriages in the listings.  The first record book available (1671-1689) has no entries for the Bland family, which suggests that they perhaps came from elsewhere. The following are from the record set of St Paul Hammersmith from 1690-1728. There are very few marriages listed in this register, and none at all for the Bland family.  

Baptism.  June 12, 1700.  Mary d. Of Edward Bland & Mary. 

Burial.  February 19, 1697. Edward Bland buried S of Edward & Mary. 

Baptism. November 12, 1699. John Corles Bland S of Tho (Gardener) & Elisa. 

Baptism. March 23, 1697/8. Elisabeth Bland baptism, d of Edward and Mary.

Baptism. February 23, 1695/6. Thomas Bland baptism. S of Edmund (sic) and Mary.

Baptism. January 28, 1692. Edward Bland baptized Son of Edward and Mary, died age 5 (see above). 

Record book 1707-1717:

Burial. May 8, 1714. Elisa wife of Tho Bland.

Baptism.  January 1, 1709/10.  John S of Edward Bland & Mary.

That's it for this record collection.  There were some marriages recorded for the Hammersmith Chapel, but interestingly, they were all for people who came from other parishes.  I have no idea why.  The next record set is 1717-1723. 

November 28, 1722. John son of John Bland & Elisa. Could be John Eland?

Burial record. December 29, 1721-22. Hannah wife of Edward Bland. There are no records that show children born to this couple anywhere in London, but I did find a record of their marriage. It was in a sneaky little database that I don’t check very often called “London Clandestine Marriage and Baptism Registers 1667-1754”. Hannah was a spinster when they married but Edward was a widower, so this was at least his second marriage. There’s something odd about this marriage which I’ll get into in another post. 

January 14, 1719.  Edward Bland of Hammersmith (sic) Gard…Hannah Evry ditto. W. Sp. 

Burial record. March 22, 1718/9. Mary wife of Edward Bland. 

The record group 1723-1727 has nothing on the Bland family except the baptism of Edward, son of Edward and Frances. No John Highlord Bland anywhere.