It is the design of this author to bring together the vast amount of material he has collected over the last thirty years about the Hansard and Hansford Families of England and America. The intent of this writing is not to present genealogy, as numerous genealogies have been published on each of the above families, but to present interesting and meaningful documented information concerning these families.

This writer had little interest in family history until 1965 when as a young medical student he was contacted by a descendant of the Virginia Hansford family. She telephoned the writer and said "Are you a descendant of that aristocratic and illustrious Hansford family of Virginia and England?" The writer's response was, "No one in my family has ever been aristocratic or illustrious." Needless to say, this did stimulate his interest in where his Hansford family came from and who they were. Medical school did not allow time for genealogical research and all he knew was that his grandfather had come from Georgia and that his great grandfather had been born in Georgia.

In 1969, while visiting a friend in Savannah, Georgia the writer stopped by the Savannah Historical Society and learned that there was a very prominent Hansford family in Georgia, and that this family immigrated to Georgia from Virginia. In 1975 William Meggs Hansford of Altha, Florida contacted the writer. Mr. Hansford was an avid genealogy researcher and had previously engaged a Virginia genealogist to research his family line, and indeed he descended from John Hansford of York County, Virginia. Mr. Hansford made the writer very aware of the prominence of his line, of his royal descent, and of his connection to Thomas Hansford, the first martyr of American liberty. The writer assumed that he was of the same line and he started work, as time allowed, trying to connect his great-grandfather to Benoni Hansford, the Virginia to Georgia immigrant from whom Mr. Meggs Hansford descended.

In 1976 Mrs. Winnie Hansford Garrett, who was researching her Georgia Hansford line, contacted the writer. She discovered another immigrant to Georgia, and this immigrant's descendants used the names Hansard and Hansford. When the writer told her the name of his great-grandfather she said "You have just hit pay dirt! Your ancestor is the same as mine." She had proven her lineage to William Hansard/Hansford who came from Virginia to Wilkes County (later Elbert County), Georgia. Mrs. Garrett soon organized a large group of descendants who began work on the genealogy of William Hansard /Hansford. Later this writer discovered that William Hansard/Hansford of Virginia and Georgia was the son of William Hansard/Hansford and his wife Bathsheba of Henrico County,Virginia. When Mrs. Garrett was informed of this she immediately engaged researchers at the LDS Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, in Virginia, and later in North Carolina, and England, to do extensive record searches in an effort to establish if William Hansard/Hansford was a first generation immigrant to America and, if so, from where did he come? After considerable research, she concluded that he emigrated from England and that his name was Handford (Hansford). In 1984 she published her work, THE HANSARD-HANSFORD FAMILY OF AMERICA.

After publishing her work she told this writer, "Now it is your job to complete the English genealogical background on our Hanfords/Hansfords." The writer promised to do just that when time allowed. In 1986 the writer engaged genealogists in England to research the Hanford/Handforde Family. He engaged three genealogists in London, and one in Lancashire who contacted the English Records Offices in Warwickshire, Cheshire, Worcestershire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, and other parts of England. The writer went to England on several occasions and met with General Rex Withworth, the last of the lineal Hanfords who lived in the Hanford Manor of Wollashull (now Woollas Hall), and with Lady Lavinia Cholmondeley, the Marchioness of Cholmondeley, the Hanfords of Wollashull, the Handfords of London having descended (according to the pedigree accepted by The Royal College of Arms in London) from the Cholmondeleys (pronounced Chum'ley). He contacted Mrs. Margaret Handford who wrote THE HANDFORDS OF EAST CHESHIRE, deposited at the Cheshire Record Office. The book traces Mrs. Handford's husband's line to the Manorial de Honforth family of Cheshire. The de Honforths were residents of Cheshire in the 12 th century. The writer found much interesting information, many records, and many photographs on the families of de Honforth of the manor Honforth-cum-Bosden, Cheshire, Hanford of Manor Wollashull, Worcestershire, and Handfordes of London. The intent of this writer is to present this material for the benefit of anyone interested.

When Winnie Hansford published her books, it appeared rather definite that William Hansard/Hansford of Virginia descended from the Handforde merchant tailors of London. The writer developed many personal ties to the Handford Family (various spellings) of England while meeting and visiting with them in their houses, and their places of worship. His children became quite proud of their connection to the very illustrious Handford Family of England.

In 1999 the writer's son was married at Saint John the Evangelist Church, Manor Shobdon, Herefordshire, England. The Archbishop of Canterbury gave special consent for the wedding. Later the British Broadcasting Corporation inquired about doing a television program repeating the wedding of an American Handford descendant in the Handford ancestral manorial church. (The program was never done.) Manor Shobdon was the manor owned by Lord John Handford. The writer's daughter was married in London and has been accepted as a Handford. Though married, she retains the name Hansford.

Over the past few years, some Hansard / Hansford researchers have questioned the claims of Winnie Garrett which link William Hansard / Hansford line to the illustrious Hansfords of London. This writer would like to make any Hansard or Hansford descendants reading this material aware of this doubt which has surfaced. In future research perhaps someone will find information to substantiate the work of Winnie Hansford Garret.

The writer presents these materials to you Hansards, Hansfords, kinsmen, and especially to his children Anne Hansford, Amy Hansford Underwood, and William Casson Hansford, Jr.

With my warmest regards to all readers of this research.

William C. Hansford

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