Bedford is a large county town in Bedfordshire.
John Worland married Alice Northfielde at Bedford, Bedfordshire, on 20 March 1639. This may be the same John Worland who was married and had children at Bolnhurst, including a daughter Alice? - see below.
A group of families with the Worland surname was located in the area from Bolnhurst to Eaton Socon from the early 1600s.
Bolnhurst is a small village in the so-called 'Stodden Hundred' which also included Little Staughton.
John Worland of Bolnhurst, Bedfordshire (possibly the one who married Alice Northfielde at Bedford, Bedfordshire, on 20 March 1639 - see above) appears in Bolnhurst from 1641. The following children are recorded under his name:
Robert Worland was buried on 7 December 1654 at Bolnhurst, Bedfordshire.
Jamesing/e [sic] Worland was buried on 13 December 1656 at Bolnhurst, Bedfordshire.
Eaton Socon is an area about 2.5 kms to the east of Little Staughton.
William Worland was buried on 11 January 1641 at Eaton Socon, Bedfordshire.
Richard Worland married Jane Wolstenholme (baptism details not yet found) on 2 November 1641 at Roxton, Bedfordshire, a few kilometres south of Eaton Scoton. This may be the same man as Rici Worland (see possible death in 1665 below) who married and had at least two children at Eaton Socon:
Note that a Cicely Worland was buried on 30 October 1644 at Eaton Socon.
An unnamed widow Worland (Jane, nee Wolstemholme?) was buried on 30 October 1643 at Eaton Socon, Bedfordshire.
Richard Worland was buried on 24 April 1665 at Eaton Socon.
Richardi [sic] Worland (possibly the Ricus born in 1642) married Susannae (surname not known, likely died in 1705 - see below) by 1668 and they had several children:
An Elizabeth Worland married Solomon Pratt at Ippollitts (St Ipollyts) on 2 October 1677. This person may be connected with (possibly the daughter of) Abraham Worland (possibly born Warland) who died in Ippollitts in July 1661 - see this page for more information.
Little Staughton is midway between Bolnhurst and Eaton Socon, in an area north of the main road between those two villages, and about 7 kilometres north of Bedford. The first recorded Worlands appear in 1660, strengthening the current speculation that they may be the family (and likely the extended family) of John and Alice Worland who married at Bedford in 1639, then moved to Bolnhurst where they had at least four children. This idea is further strengthened by the fact that John and Alice had two sons, Thomas and Edward; and two men with that name appear in Little Staughton. John Worland's family may have originally come from Marston Moretain, Bedfordshire (south of Bedford), where the Worland family is recorded from July 1612.
Agnes Worland, was buried on 13 June 1660 at Little Staughton, Bedfordshire. Marie Worland was buried at Little Staughton on 25 June 1661. These two may have been daughters of John and Alice Worland, or one may have been his mother or sister. Or possibly John's wife who died (perhaps it was not Alice).
John Worland married Elizabeth Write on 2 November 1663 at Little Staughton. This may be a second marriage.
At least one child was born in Little Staughton after this date:
Elizabeth Worland (was this John's second wife, who died after giving birth?) was buried at Little Staughton on 12 November 1664. William Worland, was buried on 30 July 1667 at Little Staughton.
A Thomas Worland is understood to have been born at Little Staughton in 1670 but no record of this has been found; he may be the person with that name who was born at Bolnhurst to John and Alice Worland - see above.
John Worland (quite possibly the father of the children above), likely in his mid to late 50s, was buried on 28 November 1676 at Little Staughton.
John Worland, likely the son of John Worland who died in 1676, married Mary (surname not known) by 1684/1685 and they had the following children:
Thomas Worland married Elizabeth Gore (possibly the girl with that name born in Yelden in either 1664 or 1668) on 20 February 1687 at Shelton, Bedfordshire, a few kilometres north west of Little Staughton. Thomas and Elizabeth (also 'Elizbet') Worland had the following children, first at Little Staughton and then at Keysoe just to the west of Little Staughton and north of Bolnhurst.
Jane Worland was buried on 14 December 1677 at Eaton Socon.
Eden Worland was buried in Eaton Socon on 14 March 1683.
Richard Worland was buried on 1 November 1683 at Eaton Socon.
Edward Worland, likely Thomas Worland's brother and also born in Bolnhurst, married Ann (surname not known) by 1688 and they had children:
Josephi [sic] Worland (possibly the Joseph born in 1669) married and had at least one child:
Joseph Worland (could be the father or son above) was buried in Eaton Socon on 28 September 1693 - see also below.
Anna Worland married Henricus Boston on 13 November 1694 at Eaton Socon.
John Worland was buried on 19 April 1697 at Little Staughton. It is not known which John this is; it may be Thomas and Elizabeth's son.
Mary Worland married Edward Scarborough on 24 December 1701 at Little Staughton.
An unnamed Worland was buried at Little Staughton on 8 May 1703.
Jacobus Worland married Elizabeth Wildbore on 4 October 1699 at Eaton Socon. There are two baptisms for Elizabeth Wildbore in Roxton in 1672 and 1673, either of which seems possible.
Anna Worland married Johannes Page on 11 October 1702 at Eaton Socon.
Amicia Worland married Thomas Church at Eaton Socon on 21 September 1703.
James Worland was buried at Eaton Socon on 12 April 1705.
Susannah Worland, possibly the wife of Richard above, was buried on 22 April 1705 at Eaton Socon.
Ann Worland married John Cook at Keysoe, Bedfordshire, on 5 July 1704.
Thomas Worland (possibly the one born in 1681) married Anne Drable in Roxton, just south of Eaton Socon, on 6 May 1714 (BDM record). They had the following children all born in Eaton Socon:
Joseph Worland (who may have been the one born in Eaton Socon in 1669 to Richard Worland) was buried in Eaton Socon on 31 January 1714.
Sarah Worland was buried on 14 August 1717 at Little Staughton.
Thomas Worland was buried at Little Staughton on 8 October 1717. Could this have been Thomas Worland who had moved to Meldreth, returning home? It is understood that he died in 1714 at Meldreth, but perhaps these records are not yet online.
Elizabeth Worland was buried on 26 November 1727 at Little Staughton.
Robert Worland married Margaret (possibly the Margaret Worland who was buried on 3 December 1736) and they had children:
John Worland was buried on 12 September 1718 at Little Staughton.
Mary Worland married Robert Killingworth on 7 February 1723 at Eaton Socon.
William Worland was buried on 4 June 1725 at Eaton Socon.
Another William Worland was buried on 17 April 1732 at Eaton Socon.
Mary Worland was buried on 18 April 1736 at Little Staughton.
Robert Worland (possibly Robert and Margaret's son or Margaret's husband) was buried at Little Staughton on 23 August 1736.
Another Robert Worland was buried on 13 November 1737 at Little Staughton. Margaret Worland (likely Robert's wife) was buried on 3 December 1736 at Litle Staughton. If correct, this would have meant that their younger daughter Jane was only three.
John Worland was buried on 23 January 1737 at Little Staughton.
Thomas Worland and his wife Elizabeth left Eaton Socon for Meldreth during 1737. Their son Joseph Worland (born 1703) married Elizabeth Pike there on 9 October 1737. See the Cambridge page for more information and continuation of the story.
There are no Worlands recorded in Little Staughton after 1737. Three deaths are recorded in Meldreth from 1744 (death of Richard Worland) followed by 1754 (death of Sarah Worland), then 1759 (death of Mary Worland).
For details of the Worland family in Cambridgeshire from the mid 1600s, see this page.
Page created 9 September 2018, updated 24 March 2023. Copyright © Andrew Warland. (andrewwarland(at)gmail.com)