This history of the Reynard family is far from complete and should be regarded as “work in progress”. Over the years many new strands of the family tree will be revealed by diligent research. If anyone reading this document finds any error or can make a contribution to the tree they are more than welcome to do so by contacting pmarston@outlook.com.
A large number of the family connections have been deduced using census information and Births, Marriage and Death (BMD) registration pages. Only BMD certificates can totally verify family ties. Considering the number of relationships involved over six generations of the family it has not been financially possible to use BMD certificates in all but a limited number of cases.
Whilst there have been many different families of Reynards in the area, this document is dedicated to one particular family and its descendants. That particular family are the descendants of John Reynard. From that single beginning a large family has developed, first in Hampsthwaite then later spreading to Leeds, Bradford and even further afield.
The creation of this document has only been made possible by the inspiring work of several individuals. Principal amongst these individuals is Steve Gaunt the creator of the www.calverley.info web site. This truly remarkable web site contains not only the church and census records for Calverley, Farsley and Pudsey but even more importantly, the census and church records for the parish of Hampsthwaite. This single web site allows on line searches of records from approximately the years 1600 to 1800. This site has been and continues to be a major tool in developing the family tree.
There are a very large number of descendants. They have been catalogued by generation, with John Reynard (1771-) and his siblings defined as generation 1. In support of the main text there are transcriptions of censuses and BMD certificates in the appendices at the end. For readers who have the electronic version of the family tree, hyperlinks are included. Where name hyperlinks exist, the link can be followed between parent and child charts containing the individual named. Where dates are hyperlinked the date will take the reader to appropriate transcriptions of the supporting evidence. Multiple question marks in the text indicate unknown names or dates.
There is an overall tree available here.
