Thomas Hanks of Bearfield, Bradford on Avon (born ~1765)

4^th Great Grandfather – FFFMMF¹

Although I have no record of his birth, based upon his death certificate and burial entry Thomas Hanks was born about 1766. Thomas was the father of Mary Hanks my 3^rd great-grandmother who married Francis Fane Taylor.

I haven’t found anything about Thomas’s childhood, but on 10 Jan 1790² he married Ann Blatchley at Holy Trinity church in Bradford on Avon.

Over the next 20 years Thomas and Ann had 7 children, 5 of who lived to be adults. The youngest, named Thomas after his father, was born on 22^nd February 1791 and baptised at Holy Trinity, Bradford on 16^th March 1791³. Unfortunately he died young on 26^th October 1796⁴, being buried at St Nicholas, Winsley on 28^th October 1796⁵. Next was a daughter Ann, named after her mother, who was born on 2^nd August 1793 and baptised at Bradford on 28^th August 1793⁶. Ann survived to adulthood but died on 11^th March 1815, being buried at Winsley on 16^th March 1815⁷

A second son, also named Thomas probably as the earlier Thomas had just died, was baptised in Winsley on 8^th May 1797⁸. He also died young on 8^th March 1812, being buried at Winsley on 11”th” March 1812⁹.

My 3^rd great grandmother Mary was born 13^th December 1799 and baptised 5^th January 1800¹⁰ at Winsley. Mary was the first child to survive to adulthood and marry. As mentioned in the previous chapter, she married my 3^rd great grandfather Francis Fane Tayor in Winsley on the 1^st September 1825¹¹

Thomas and Ann had two more sons and one more daughter that also lived to adulthood. James and Eliza were baptised 7^th December 1808¹² and Moses was baptised 20^th July 1810¹³ all at Holy Trinity, Bradford on Avon.

Unlike Gloucestershire, the Wiltshire Land Tax returns are not available on one of the online genealogical sites, so I don’t have a lot of information on the property that Thomas owned. In the 1841 Census, Thomas was listed as a Yeoman¹⁴ so by them he had accrued a good deal of property. He and Ann lived in Upper Bearfield on the northern edge of Bradford on Avon with their son James.

Ann died on 23^rd April 1844, and was buried 30^th April 1844¹⁵ at St Nicholas Winsley. Thomas lived another 6 years. He died 3^rd January 1850 (see Figure 5) and was buried 10^th January 1850¹⁶ at Winsley, presumably with his wife, although I have not found their gravestones.

In his will¹⁷, he left his accumulated property to be divided equally between his three surviving children, Moses Hanks, Mary Taylor and Eliza Williams, with his son-in-law Francis Fane Taylor acting as one of the executors.

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