For several generations, my GARLAND ancestors mined copper and tin in the area around Mount Hawke in the parish of St Agnes, Cornwall (see map and photos of the area). The majority of GARLANDs in the parish appear to be descended from Thomas GARLAND and his wife Alice, who married in 1770. Thomas and his brother Charles leased agricultural land in the southern part of the parish since at least the 1770s, and these leases may well have been inherited from their parents (Peter GARLAND and Mary nee MEANE, married 1727) or even earlier generations. Like Charles, Thomas was probably principally a tinner - his sons certainly were.

Thomas's sons included:

Charles (b1777) - settled in the village of Mount Hawke where they remained for generations. One of his sons, James (b1820), became a successful local businessman and Captain of South Ellen Mine.

Peter (b1781) - died young, but his son James became manager of a lead mine near Aberystwyth. James' sons took various positions as lead mine agents in Wales and around the world, two of them settling in the Isle of Man.

John (b1785) - occupied a smallholding to the west of Mount Hawke, but his main occupation was as a copper miner. His son John (b1807) was an engine man at Wheal Ellen before moving with his family to work in lead mines on the Isle of Man; some of his descendants subsequently emigrated to the US. Another son, Joseph (b1814), became a mine agent - Joseph's sons managed mines in various locations over Europe and Wales. I am descended from another son of John, Richard (b1810), who remained in Mt Hawke as a copper miner and small farmer; two of Richard's sons became teachers, but one (my ancestor William) continued in mining and moved to Devon where my great-grandmother Thirza (pictured above) was born. Like so many other miners before him, William died early of lung disease, leaving his wife and children penniless.

For general information about the lives of copper and tin miners in the 18th and 19th century, please see the Cornish Mining website.

The surname GARLAND derives from the old English word "Gara" meaning triangular - so Gara-land indicates a wedge-shaped plot of ground, such as the land in the angle where two furlongs adjoin. There are various farms in south-west England called Garland, Garlandhayes or Tregarland - it seems likely that GARLAND families took their name from places thus named which they occupied. As such it is not possible to guess whether there may be any connection between the GARLANDs of St Agnes and the mine Wheal Garland or Gorland in the neighbouring parish of Gwennap - there is no evidence of a family link that I am aware of.

An outline of our GARLAND family tree is available here.

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updated: 11 September 2006