The Broughalls were yeoman farmers from Shropshire. There are many more Broughall families in the area than you would think, but for the time being I’ll start with William Broughall of Hindford, born 7 March, 1761. In typical fashion I have no indication where this date comes from, so there is a “To Do” for me!
He was married to Elizabeth Birch, and the Birch family features in a number of documents available through the National Archives. He is “of Park, and Hindford Grange”, and died in 1814. I have a copy of his will that I got from Dick Broughall when I was in England in 1984. I stayed with Dick and June for a few days and he got some old documents from the vault of the bank in Oswestry. So fascinating. This will is I think a copy of the original, as the handwriting is fairly easy to read, not at all like the usual hand that the wills from the PRO are usually written in.
I think the will had been recopied at some point because the will spelled out a number of trusts that eventually became an issue, one way or another.
At the time that William Broughall died there were nine living children: seven girls and two boys, John, the eldest, and William. As the eldest, John was a major beneficiary, but unfortunately he died the following year in 1815. He is the one that as legend has it, “died in a thrashing machine”. So the terms of the will all had to be sorted out again. One thing I haven’t checked is to find out if John Broughall had a will himself or not. Possibly not, as he certainly didn’t plan to die at 28 years old. Don’t think he was married, as I’m sure that information would have been passed down over the years as well.
Of the nine children only three had offspring, and here it eventually gets complicated. Mary married an Edward Dickin, and was the grandmother of Ellen Christina Dickin.
She died in 1851, and again I don’t seem to have done a very good job of recording the source of my information.
They had 9 children, but only three of them had any offspring, Mary, who married Edward Dickin, Sarah, who married Walter Broughall of Evenal, and William Broughall (1801-1867). The other children were John (1787-1815), Betsy (1791-1871), Jane (1799-1863), Martha (1806-1825), Harriet (1808-1832), and Ann (1810- ). All sisters, except for John. The tradition that I was told about John was “He died in a thrashing machine.” [Note to self: When were thrashing machines invented? What is the history of them? What kind of a contraption would it have been?] It looks as if none of the sisters married, and it would be an idea to check wills to see if there were any provisions made for them.
Sarah married Walter Broughall, of Evenal. Another fact to check! I’d be interested to know what the relationship was. Were they cousins? She lived a considerable number of years after Walter died, at Bryn Villa, Whittington. They had two children, Sarah Elizabeth, and William Broughall, of Penybryn. Not sure what happened to William Broughall of Penybryn.
Sarah Elizabeth married Rev. Robert McClure Woods, of Bangor, Co. Down, Ireland. How he came to meet and marry Sarah Elizabeth is a big mystery. Don’t have a clue on that one. In any case he is usually listed in the census as a priest without a cure, or some variation of that. They had 7 children, and only one of them, Walter Thomas Broughall Woods, had any offspring. He married Laura Shipton, and they had 4 children. Of those 4 children, 2 married other Broughall cousins, so we are all so interrelated it is amazing we have any brains at all. Denise and Audrey Broughall-Woods are two of the four, and I have a feeling that Joyce married but didn’t have children. That leaves Paul Broughall-Woods and I’m not sure what happened to him.