Peasants to Puddles
My Family History - By Nicky Rowberry

The Badland Family of North Herefordshire

Sarah Badland was one of my 5 x great grandmothers. She was born in 1772 in Eardisland, Herefordshire and married Thomas Wall in nearby Shobdon in 1792.

Sarah and Thomas Wall had 4 children together before her untimely death aged just 31 in 1803. Sarah's parents were Thomas Badland and Mary Garnos or Garnols who had married in Eardisland in 1763.

Sarah was the third of at least 6 children and both her parents outlived her. Her father Thomas Badland was born in Pembridge in 1739, the second of 5 children to Thomas Badland and Eleanor Thomas.

Thomas & Eleanor had married in Pembridge in 1737.

I've not found a likely birth/baptism for Thomas Badland, but I have found a set of parents that seem plausible. Thomas Badland named his first daughter Olive - a fairly unusual name in Herefordshire around that time. There was a couple called John & Olive Badland who had a daughter Ann in Staunton on Arrow in 1715. Both this couple died within 2 years of this baptism, but they may have had other children before Ann. Staunton on Arrow is only 2 miles away from Pembridge where Thomas Badland married some 20 years later. The proximity and the use of the name Olive makes me think Thomas may be a child of this couple. I've denoted this on the tree below with a dotted line as I can't be sure at the moment.

Assuming for the moment that John & Olive were the parents of Thomas Badland, I've taken the tree back a further generation. I can't find a marriage for John & Olive, but it seems likely that he was the John Badland born in 1680 to John Badland and Elizabeth Hill who had married in Staunton on Arrow in 1676. There are quite a few earlier Badlands in Staunton on Arrow prior to 1676, but as yet I've not managed to piece them all together, so I'll leave the tree at that for now.

The Badlands in Northwest Herefordshire seem to have been a fairly prosperous in the 17th and 18th centuries - there are several wills for early Badlands. Unfortunately I haven't managed to connect up my Badlands to these early ones. They're all in the same part of Herefordshire, so I'm sure there must be a link somewhere, I just need to find it.

The family tree below summarises what I know about the above generations of the Badland family. It is hopefully reasonably accurate, but if you spot any errors, or any relatives, please feel free to E-mail me

Please click on one of the red links on the tree to move to a different page.

If any of the above is of further interest, please feel free to contact me at: n.rowberry@btinternet.com

© Nicky Rowberry 2023

Thank you for visiting my site. You are visitor number:

Peasants to Puddles - My Family History. By Nicky Rowberry