GENERATION -9:
Surname: BODENHAM
For Antecedent(s) For Descendant(s)
see Page Ref. No(s) listed below:-
Parent(s):- Children:–
William BODENHAM (m. to Anne?Family?)
b. before 1589 (presumably the ‘Saylor)
d. ?
Husband’s Name: William BODENHAM John BODENHAM (P.R.No. BOD -8/1)
(P. R. No: BOD -10/1) b. before 1589 (c. 1555?)
b? d. (c) 15 Jun 1608 (Will)
at
d. before 1589 Nicholas BODENHAM (P R.No. BOD -8/2)
at Minsterworth? b. before 1589 (presumably the ‘Husbandman’)
married d. (c) 24 May 1619 (Will)
at Minsterworth (or Henley upon Thames?)
Thomas BODENHAM (P.R.No. BOD -8/3)
b. before 1589
d. ?
Wife 1 Margaret (?)
(Her P. R. No: ?)
b. estimated about 1530
at ?
d. (c) 13 Nov. 1589 (Will)
at Minsterworth, Gloucestershire.
NOTES.
Most of the information on this sheet is deduced from the Will of Margaret (1589) in conjunction with subsequent Wills and the beginning of Parish Records. She leaves possessions to her four sons, named above, plus various unnamed grandchildren. Therefore her approximate birth date has been estimated, i.e. death at about age 60 at least. She must have been old enough to have growing up grandchildren who were old enough to be given livestock to look after.
Although 4 sons are named, there are no daughters listed. There may well have been such daughters, but the eligible ones would have married off, and any others might not have warranted consideration or even mentioning in a Will.
Son William seems to perhaps have been married, but no apparent children.
Son Thomas seems to be living with a lady called Elizabeth (LAMPTON?), and to get his legacy ‘only if he marries her’. He has children, but nothing is known of them in later life. Perhaps they connect to Taynton/Huntley area?
The surname ‘LAMPTON’ is an attempt to read the writing in the attached Will of 1589, and may be wrong.
April 2005:- I discovered a property deed held in Gloucester Record Office, (Ref. No. D2957/206(3)) dated 8 August 1556, original in Latin, the gist of its transcription being:-
‘Quitclaim in possession, and counterpart
- William Bodnam of Henley upon Thames, Oxfordshire, son and heir of Thomas Bodnam, deceased
- William Grasyng
Title to a parcel of meadow in Corntham(?) called Pex acre; also a pasture in Hudleyns called Smalle Poole, 1 acre in Longbrook field called Clympley hill (exact positions specified)
Appointment of John Feyshe and Robert Grasyng as attorneys; note of livery of seizin endorsed’ (See BOD-10/1 for translation)
These field names are located in/near Minsterworth, Gloucestershire.
This clearly marks the presence of William Bodnam in Minsterworth, suggesting that, by default, he must be the husband of Margaret and that his deceased father was Thomas Bodnam, and also where the family supposedly came from immediately prior to Minsterworth, i.e. Henley upon Thames. The amounts of money mentioned in Margaret’s Will would seem to indicate no particular poverty. Inheriting from his father Thomas, (who is shown in 1522 without ‘property’ but owning ‘goods’), the above Quitclaim suggests that father Thomas had acquired land sometime after 1522, but before 1536, and that William was disposing of some to William Grasyng.
My earlier thoughts of a possible connection between this family and that of Jonas Bodenham, related by marriage to Sir Francis Drake, are now difficult to reconcile. If there is a connection then it is somewhat earlier than I at first thought.
The above children may not be listed in the correct chronological order (due to the fact that their exact birth dates are unknown). Logic says that William would be the eldest, and Thomas second, if named after father & grandfather.
So, with the above information the tentative bones of the earlier sheet, BOD -10/1 have been created.
Eldest son (?) William is not indicated as having any family in Minsterworth, and he is not shown as being buried there. He might, therefore, have lived elsewhere, perhaps where parish records began later, and he may well later have remarried to a ‘Jane’ who died in 1647, but he would have been very old by then, so if correct, she might have outlived him.