Edward Garland Sr (abt. 1665 - 1720)

Born about 1665 in Colony of Virginia

Husband of Jane (Jennings) Garland — married 1683 in Virginia

Descendants

Died 1720 at about age 55 in Hanover, Virginia

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Biography

An excellent biographical sketch of Edward Garland has been created at 'Bob’s Genealogy Filing Cabinet' website, citing primary sources for every statement. To see the full text, go here.

Following is a summary:

Edward Garland (c1665 – 1720) was the first of that surname in the New Kent – Hanover area, apparently arriving in the area sometime in the late 1690s. He owned vast quantities of land in what became Hanover County. After 1704, Edward Garland’s name is among the most frequently mentioned in the vestry book of St. Paul's Parish. He served as a vestryman and one of the two churchwardens.

He was still alive on 3 July 1720 when he was present at a meeting of the vestry, but apparently had died by the next vestry meeting on 29 October 1720 when his son Peter Garland was elected in absentia to replace him.

His will was recorded in New Kent County and subsequently lost in the burning of the county courthouse in 1787, but a legislative act passed shortly after March 1752 on behalf of Edward’s grandson, David Garland, states that Edward Garland Sr. made a will dated 14 March 1719 and recorded in New Kent County. His will mentions his wife, Jane Garland, his son Edward Garland Jr, "the other brother" (indicating a second son), and his grandson (the eldest son of Edward Jr.), David Garland. It appears from later records that Edward Sr. devised his land to four sons.

Although his wife Jane is widely reported to have been “Jane Jennings”, there is no evidence for that claim in the records. In fact, this claim appears to result from a misunderstanding as to the wives of Edward Sr. and Edward Jr. See the sections “Was Edward Garland’s wife Jane Jennings or Jane Hensley?” and "The Real Garland-Jennings Connection" for details.

Four sons of Edward Garland are identified in the records beginning in about 1719, one who is provable (Edward Jr.) and three others with an acceptable degree of certainty -- Peter, John, and James. There are no records which identify any daughters, although at least six daughters are claimed, without proof, by descendants of other families. The records concerning the four sons are detailed in the article.

A further section discusses whether Edward Garland was a son of a Peter Garland who came to Virginia in about 1650.

Sources

• "Some Background on the Garlands of New Kent and Hanover." Bob's Genealogy Filing Cabinet website

• The Vestry book of St. Paul's Parish, Hanover County, Virginia, 1706-1786. Richmond: The Library Board, 1940. At Ancestry.

• Cumberland Parish Vestry Book, Lunenburg County, Virginia, 1746-1816, p. 218. Google Books.

• Virginia, U.S., Marriage Records, 1700-1850 - Peter Garland marrying Martha Garland in 1767, Lunenberg, Virginia (not sure whose son this was) At Ancestry

• Records of GARLAND marriages -- Torrey, Clarence A. New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Baltimore, Maryland, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004. At Ancestry

• Garland family at Early Colonial Settlers website. The site attempts to reconstruct a family tree of early British Colonial Settlers [pre 1776] of Southern Maryland and Virginia's Northern Neck Counties along the Potomac and Rappahannock River Valleys and is a work in progress.

• Maryland, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1772-1890 At Ancestry

• New England Garland family -- Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire Libby, Charles Thornton. Portland, Maine, USA: The Southward Press, 1928 At Ancestry

• Some Garland history at Rootsweb

• Genealogy . com page on Edward Garland, unsourced. Edward Garland

• Edward Garland family tree at Geneanet.com (unsourced, but interesting) Garland tree