Peasants to Puddles
My Family History - By Nicky Rowberry

The Garnols/Garnons Family of North Herefordshire

Mary Garnols was one of my 6 x great grandmothers. She was born in 1739 in Eardisland, Herefordshire and married Thomas Badland there in 1763.

The name Garnols is one of those that seems open to interpretation by the vicars recording the baptisms, marriages and burials. Mary Garnols was baptised as Garnos but married as Garnolls. The name also gets spelled as Garnols, Garnalls, Garnors and Garnons - all as far as I can see referring to the same people. So Mary's parents were John Garnolls and Ann Bennett who had married in nearby Lyonshall in 1728. It's not easy to read but I think it says that John Garnalls was from Eardishland (Eardisland) and Ann Bennit was from Presteign.

I've not found a likely baptism for John in the immediate vicinity of Eardisland but there are a couple of possibilities in Kington which is about 8 miles away from Eardisland and only 3 miles from Lyonshall where they married. There is a John born in 1698 to Christopher & Elizabeth Garnols and a John born in 1702 to Richard & Elinor Garnolls. Both these couples also had children called Richard & Elinor as did John & Ann, so it seems likely that one couple is John's parents. Both the John's born in Kington in 1698 and 1702 seem to have survived infancy (at least I've not found burials for either of them yet), so at the moment it's not possible to tell which one I'm descended from. Fortunately the fathers of these Johns (Richard & Christopher) seem to be brothers. So at the moment I've put dotted lines on the tree below, from this generation to the next to indicate that I'm not sure which brother I'm descended from.

The Kington vicar was unusual for his time in that he often recorded the occupation of his parishoners in the records. So Richard Garnols was described as a yeoman - suggesting that he had some kind of small holding. His brother Christopher was variously described as husbandman, labourer, poor labourer and ultimately just poor! If they were indeed brothers, the older one seems to have done better for himself than the younger; perhaps Richard as the oldest son inherited a small piece of land from their father? The brothers' father, also called Richard, was described as Richard the younger at the baptism of his daughter Elinor in 1676, suggesting that either his father, or perhaps an uncle or other relative was also called Richard. I've yet to find anything in the records to confirm this yet though.

The family tree below summarises what I know about the above generations of the Garnols 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

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Peasants to Puddles - My Family History. By Nicky Rowberry