In the last post I mentioned the suggestion by my fellow researcher Penny Gay that William Bushell, the father of both Edward Bushell of Bath and Tobias Bushell of Fladbury, Worcestershire, might be the William Bushell of Wells, Somerset, whose name occurs in the Bushell family pedigree in the record of the 1634 Visitation of Worcestershire. This would seem to make sense, since we know that another of William’s sons, Thomas, was a resident of Wells, where he made his will in 1669/70.
Manor house at Cleeve Prior, Worcestershire, home of the Bushell family (photograph by Peter Harnwell via http://www.pastscape.org)
If this theory is correct, then William Bushell of Wells was the son of Sir Edward Bushell of Cleeve Prior in Worcestershire, a colourful figure who was caught up in both the Earl of Essex’s rebellion of 1601 and the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, as well as being connected by marriage with the family of William Shakespeare. I’ll write about ‘Ned’ Bushell in another post, but for this post I’ve developed a timeline of this branch of the Bushell family, in an effort to clarify the connections between the Bushells of Wells and Cleeve Prior, and the Bushells who appear in my own family tree.
The timeline is based on information gleaned from the Visitation records, family wills and parish registers. The question marks (?) indicate an approximate date, or some uncertainty about the date supplied.
1600 ? Marriage of Edward Bushell (1) of Cleeve Prior and Margaret Delves
1601 ? Birth of William Bushell, son of Edward and Margaret
1604 Edward Bushell (1) knighted by James I
1617 Death of Sir Edward Bushell (1)
1622 ? Marriage of William Bushell and Frances
1624 William Bushell holds lease on Wells Manor
1625 Birth of Edward Bushell (2), son of William and Frances
1635 ? Birth of Tobias Bushell, son of William and Frances
? ? Birth of Thomas Bushell (1), son of William and Frances
? ? Birth of Anne Bushell, daughter of William and Frances
1655 Marriage of Edward Bushell (2) and Hester Chapman
1661 Marriage of Tobias Bushell and Sara Sanders
1663 ? Birth of Samuel Bushell, son of Tobias and Sara
1665 Birth of Thomas Bushell (2), son of Tobias and Sara
1665 Birth of Elizabeth Bushell (1) , daughter of Edward and Hester
1668 Birth of Elizabeth Bushell (2), daughter of Tobias and Sara
1670 Death of Thomas Bushell (1), son of William and Frances, Wells
1675 ? Death of Tobias Bushell
1675 ? Marriage of Elizabeth Bushell (1) and David Landick
1676 Samuel Bushell apprenticed
1676 Birth of Posthuma Landick, daughter of David and Elizabeth
1691 Marriage of Elizabeth Bushell (2) and Peter Boulton
1696 Death of Samuel Bushell, Bath
1697 ? Death of Elizabeth Boulton, née Bushell
1699 Marriage of Peter Boulton and Posthuma Landick
1700 Death of Edward Bushell (2), Bath
