Ducatus Leodiensis and The Bland Families
One of the unresolved issues from the original research about the Bland family has resurfaced in describing the James River Blands and the families connected to Farley Plantation. That issue is the relationship between the Blands of Bland’s Gill, Sedbergh and the Bland family of Orton.
Given the proximity of Orton to Sedbergh a family connection has seemed likely and this was strengthened by the knowledge that Adam Thomas Bland of Orton, an ancestor of the James River Blands, was said to have died at Bland’s Gill. Additional evidence of a family connection has been found in Ducatus Leodiensis, published in 1715 and in A History of Bristol Parish, published in 1879.
Ducatus Leodiensis
“Ducatus Leodiensis: or, The Topography of the Ancient and Populous Town and Parish of Leedes and parts adjacent in the West Riding of the County of York with the Pedigrees of many of the Nobility and Gentry and other Matters related to those Parts; extracted from Records, Original Evidences and Manuscripts” was published by Ralph Thoresby, F.R.S. (se image above) In 1715.
The title of Thoresby’s work makes it unnecessary to describe the scope of the book. It is worth pointing out, however, that while Sedbergh was never part of the West Riding, Thoresby gives details of the Bland families at Kippax Park and Beeston, both near Leeds, together with their ancestry and their known descendants up to about 1712. These ancestors include the Blands of Orton and of Bland’s Gill.
Thoresby recorded that, at that time, Mr Nathaniel Bland was Lord of the Manor of Beeston, a town about 3 miles south of Leeds. He traced the ancestry of this Nathaniel Bland to Adam Bland, the Sergeant Skinner to Queen Elizabeth I and son of Roger Bland, a farmer, from Orton formerly in the County of Westmorland. In addition, this Nathaniel Bland was the grandson of John Bland of Sythe Lane, London, the father of the first generation of James River Blands. Thoresby further traced the descendants of Adam Bland including the Blands in Virginia who were born before 1713. His work is almost certainly the source of much that has been written about this Bland family in the 17th and 18th centuries.
In the Appendix to his work, Thoresby updated the already printed pages with additional births, deaths and marriages as well as with further information. Of the Bland family he stated, “It is to be noted that this family of Bland of Gibard (which is the name of a House still enjoyed by one of the Blands) within the Parish of Orton, alias Overton, Com. Westmorland, derive their Surname from a place called Bland in Lonsdale, in the same County and were of considerable Antiquity there, as well as in Yorkshire.”
The reference to Bland in Lonsdale is a reference to the hamlet of Bland (or Bland’s Gill) in the chapelry of Howgill and the parish of Sedbergh. Lonsdale Hundred was a historic division of Lancaster and Sedbergh was at one time referred to as Sedbergh-in-Lonsdale. This usage of Lonsdale ceased around the mid C19th.
Thoresby doesn’t describe the link between the Blands of Orton and the Blands of Bland’s Gill, nor does he indicate when the Blands first resided in Orton, however his statement that the Blands of Orton derive their name from “Bland in Lonsdale” infers that the two families were from the same stock.
Thoresby recorded further information about the Bland family, stating that the information was “communicated to me by the no less Industrious than Ingenious Herald, Robert Dale Esq;”.
Thoresby goes on to describe the Bland coat of Arms and records details of a number of Bland individuals and families that bore the same Coat of Arms. These include the Blands of Kippax Park who were descended from Robert Bland of Leeming (Yorkshire) “a son of Bland of Blands Gill“.
A History of Bristol Parish – 1879
Bristol Parish was centred around Petersburg on the Appomatox River, also known as Bristol River, about 25 miles south of Richmond, Virginia. A number of Blands were living in the Parish in the C18th and Slaughter includes a Bland genealogy. Although Slaughter’s book was published over 160 years after Thoresby’s, there was still a Bland living at Gibard in Orton who Slaughter had contact with in Virginia.
Slaughter records that the earliest mention of the name Bland was in 1132 “Richard, son of Hugh Bland of Disford (Diceford), N. Riding of York, as a benefactor of the rich Abbey of Fountains. Bland’s Close still adjoins Fountains Abbey.”
He continues, “In 1337 the Blands of Sedbergh sent a branch to Gibard, an ancient patrimony belonging to them in the parish of Orton, Lonsdale, Westmorland. Orton is about 7 miles from Bland’s Gill. In 1874 Miss Fanny Bland, an accomplished representative of the family, resided at the family seat at Orton, whence came the founders of the family in Virginia.”
A footnote contains the following description of Fanny Bland;
In the same year Miss Bland, who is an enthusiast in all that pertains to her family and is strongly embedded with the true zeal of an antiquary, visited Virginia.”
Although Slaughter doesn’t reference his source for the date of the establishment of the Orton branch of the Blands, it would appear to have come from Fanny Bland, possibly as oral history passed down through the generations, on her visit to Virginia. He then goes on to state that the Blands have lived at Orton, “without intermission” since 1377. Whether he really meant 1377 or meant to write 1337, or perhaps vice-versa in respect of the earlier date, we cannot know. In either case it is perhaps extraordinary that Gibard was occupied by generations of Blands for about 500 years or more.
The statement in Slaughter’s book, that the Orton Bland’s were a branch of the Bland’s of Bland’s Gill, notwithstanding the possible confusion about the date (1337 or 1377), makes clear what was previously a supposition based on proximity and supported by Thoresby’s statement about the derivation of the name of the Blands of Orton and the knowledge that Adam Thomas Bland of Orton and London went to Bland’s Gill to die. In other words, the descendants of James Bland of Bland’s Gill, Sedbergh, among whom are the Morphy’s of Kerry, are from the same (C14th) stock as the James River Blands of Virginia. They are, therefore, cousins to the descendants of General Robert E Lee, probably 17th cousins to the General’s great great grand-children.
Sources:
Ducatus Leodiensis, Ralph Thoresby F.R.S. 1715, via google books.
A History of Bristol Parish, Rev. Phillip Slaughter, D.D., 2nd Edition, 1879, Richmond, VA via us.archive.org
Image of Ralph Thoresby From The Story of Leeds by J. S. Fletcher, available via Internet Archive
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