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Thursday, August 7, 2014

Who Was Ann Bland's Mother?

Ann Bland, who married Robert Elliot and moved to Canada with her family, including her son and our ancestor William Elliot, was the daughter of Stephen Bland:  he is named in several places, including the birth record of their son Josiah Elliot; also, his will names Ann the wife of Robert Elliot as his daughter.  But who was Ann's mother?  That's harder to figure out, as Stephen's will does not name a wife.  I have a candidate for the position, but I don't have definite proof.

I believe that Ann Bland's mother may have been Eleanor Bland (birth name unknown).  Here's my evidence: there is an Eleanor Bland who was buried at St. Paul's Church, Hammersmith, on August 16, 1810.  This was the church which Robert and Ann attended.  Just a few weeks later, on August 21, 1810, Stephen Bland of Hammersmith writes a will in which he leaves his estate to Ann and Robert (he also mentions their children John and Robert Jr.), his other daughter Harriott (sic) Pontifex, wife of Daniel Pontifex, and his son John Thomas Bland "son of my first wife Elizabeth Bland" (the implication being that Ann and Harriot are children from a second wife).    He also leaves property to two other sons, Edward and James Bland.  A few months later, on October 7, 1810, Stephen Bland dies and is also buried at St. Paul's Church in Hammersmith.  I wish I could see their gravestones;  they would probably definitively answer the question of their relationship!  The book The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Hammersmith by Thomas Faulkner (London, 1839) lists the following Blands buried in the St. Paul's yard:  E. Bland, 1741, E. Bland, 1764, John Bland, 1791, Stephen Bland, 1810, and James Bland, 1832.  No female members of the Bland family are mentioned.

According to the website British History Online, the churchyard also contains a tombstone for "John Highlord Bland, late of St. James's Street, sword cutler and belt maker to the King, Prince of Wales, ye army, etc. 3 August 1791. Aged 59".  

Suggestively, Robert and Ann name one of their daughters Eleanor.  Eleanor Elliot was born in 1804, and died in 1809 at the age of five.

None of this consitutes definite proof, however.  I have yet to find a marriage record for Stephen and Eleanor, or birth records for their children.  I will keep looking.

UPDATE:  Another researcher kindly sent me some marriage records for Stephen Bland.  On August 3, 1755, Stephen Bland married Elizabeth Parker in Fulham, Middlesex, England.  Elizabeth must have died since on May 18, 1769, Stephen married a second wife,Elianor Whittfield, again in Fulham.  These records come from the West Middlesex Marriage Index, provided by the West Middlesex Family History Society. So it looks like Ann Bland's mother was Elianor or Eleanor Whittfield.

This brief obituary was found in the European Magazine and London Review, Volume 9, Spring 1786, under the article title "Monthly Obituary, April 1786".  This must be for the second Mrs. Bland, Eleanor Whittfield.  



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