GENERATION -10:
Surname : BODENHAM
For Antecedent(s) For Descendant(s)
see Page Ref. No(s) listed below:-
Parent(s):- Children:-
Husband’s Name: Thomas BODENHAM William BODENHAM P.R.No. BOD -9/ 1
His Page Ref. No: ? b. ?
b. circa 1500/1530? d. circa 1589?
at ?
circa 1560? ?
at ? b.
married ? d.
at ?
Wife 1 ?
Her Page Ref. No:
b.
at
d.
at
NOTES
This sheet is deduced from:-
- a property deed (D2957/206(3))held in Gloucestershire Record Office, dated 8 August 1556, wherein the disposer of land in Minsterworth, Glos. is said to be ‘William Bodnam* son & heir of Thomas Bodnam, deceased, of Henley upon Thames Oxfordshire’ (The deed is in Latin, but a translation of it in English is appended herewith*). There is no known history of any ‘Bodenham’ presence in Henley, so they may have been transitory from elsewhere.
- the Will of widow Margaret Bodenham dated 1589 (appended behind BOD -9/ 1) seems to record what is known of the subsequent family which I believe can thus be attributed to the above ‘William, who must have been her husband.’
At about this time, the name ‘Thomas Bodenham’ is to be found on the genealogy of the Bodenhams of Rotherwas, but there is no recorded son called ‘William’ to that family. Were there other candidates for the father? Was William the product of an extra-marital affair? Was there some other ‘Thomas’ perhaps on the fringe of the family somewhere?
We may never know the answer to these questions, but the search goes on. The genealogy of the Bodenhams of Rotherwas is to be found on sheet(s) prior to this, for reference purposes only.
The name Thomas Bodnum appears in ‘Gloucestershire Military Survey, 1522’, copy of entry appended, which is self- explanatory. However, it all suggests to me that this must have been just about the first recorded appearance of the surname in Gloucestershire, and that subsequent progeny in this immediate area should all be mutually connected somehow to this source.
*’To all those faithful to Christ to whom these present writings should come, greetings from William Bodnam of Henley upon Thames in the county of Oxfordshire, lately son and heir to Thomas Bodnam, deceased. Know that I, the aforementioned William Bodnam remit and relax and do quit-claim for myself and for my heirs in eternity unto the present William Graysing and into his whole and peaceful possession and to his heirs and assigns in eternity, my whole right, title, claim, interest, demand that I have, had, or might have had in whatever way in both that area of meadow lying in the (?) called ‘Pex Acre’ in Mynsterworthe aforementioned in the county aforementioned and also a pasture without rights of pasturing lying in Hydleyns called ‘Smallepoole’, stretching from above the common highway in the south to a bove the land of Richard Holidaye in the north and from above the stream running to (?) called ‘Smalpoolesbrooke’ in the west to the land of the Lord Dannet(?) in the west. And also in one acre of arable land in Longbrookesfeld called ‘Clymperly Hill’ and stretching from the land of William Baret in the west to the common highway in the west and from the land of John a Breylly, commoner, in the south to the land of John Hooper in the north. Thus neither I, the aforesaid William Bodnam, for my heir nor any other through us or in our name may sell, claim or expel others from either the aforementioned area of meadow and pasture without rights or from the one acre of arable land with all their parts. And I, the aforesaid William Bodnam, and my heirs do present to the aforesaid William Graysing and all the heirs, assigns and others he shall bear and descend to in eternity the aforementioned parcel of meadow and pasture without pasturage rights and also the one acre of arable land with all their parts. In witness of all these things I have attached my seal to this my present writing, given the eighteenth day of August in the third and fourth years of the reigns of Phillip and Mary (18/8/1556), by the grace of God King and Queen of England, Spain, the Two Sicilies, Jerusalem and Ireland, Defenders of the Faith, Archdukes of Austria, Dukes of Burgundy, Milan and Brabant, Counts of Habsburg, Flanders and Tirolia.’ (Translation courtesy of Tom Graham, Oxford student, 2009)
This Page Ref No. BOD -10/ 1