George Bissell left a will Probate, Worcester, 26 Jun 1739 in which he describes himself as a gentleman. He names his children as John, Joseph, Thomas, Mary and Sarah. His will would suggest his wealth was probably based on ‘iron’ and ‘ironmongery’ interests.
It is pretty certain that his son Thomas Bissell, named here, is indeed Thomas Bissell who dies in 1764, the father-in-law of Thomas Roades Showell. There are a lot of Bissells in Yardley and Sheldon and they are very difficult to disentangle. The son Joseph is named as the executor of the will and appears to be the favoured heir – a fact borne out by the PCC will of Joseph in 1777. However, the parish register of St Edburgha’s Yardley, would suggest that Thomas is the older son – Thomas being baptized in 1699 and Joseph in 1704. Both these sons left wills.
George’s wife is named as Elizabeth and she probably lives through to a recorded burial on 1 Nov 1752. In a will of a further George Bissell of Yardley dated 1754 the relatively young testator mentions his late grandparents George and Elizabeth Bissell. It has to therefore be presumed that this George is possibly the son of the missing and oldest son, John Bissell, who does not appear to have left an extant will and probably died shortly after 1735.
There are two documents in the Birmingham archives that mention two George Bissells, the older and the younger, both of Yardley. This points to the probability that George’s own father was also a George and leads us to a baptism of George son of George on 16 Apr 1666 at St Edburgha’s. The ironmongery connection would also suggest that George Junior’s brother was just possibly Thomas Bissell of Halesowen (bap Yardley 21 Apr 1672) who leaves a will in 1726. This Thomas is also an ironmonger and has property still in Yardley.
Of all the burials of George Bissells the only one in the St Edburga’s register that fits George Bissell, the elder, is that of 14 Aug 1701. There is no will. Another putative son, and brother to our George, is William Bissell of Bilsley, Yardley who leaves a will in 1704. He must have been considerably older than George and Thomas – possibly baptised 1649. This would imply that George Bissell the elder had two wives, the first being Catherine Adams. The surname of the second wife Mary, mother to George and possibly Thomas cannot be placed.
George’s daughter Mary Fitter must have married before 1735 when the will was written as she is named as such in the will. The daughter Sarah married Joseph Lee on 23 Sep 1740 in St Laurence, Northfield . Sarah Lee and her two surviving brothers, Thomas and Joseph, are the witnesses on the will of the later George Bissell, a grandson, who wrote the will Probate 21 Jul 1755.
George Bissell is recorded as being buried on 3 Jul 1738.
Sources and Notes
- Will of George Bissell, Probate 26 Jun 1739, Worcester
- His father George Bissell has the tentative dates (bap 29 Mar 1624, buried 14 Aug 1701)
- Will of George Bissell, Probate 21 Jul 1755, Worcester (Nephew, Grandson to George the elder)
- Will of William Bissell, Probate 23 May 1704, Worcester (Possible older half brother)
- Will of Thomas Bissell of Halesowen, Probate 19 Jul 1726, PCC (Possible younger brother)
- It is this Thomas’s son Thomas Bissell (PCC will 1754) that mentions he has property in Yardley, ‘now in the possession of one George Bissell’
- Will of Thomas Bissell, Probate 13 Apr 1765, Lichfield (Oldest Son)
- Will of Joseph Bissell, Probate 20 Dec 1777, PCC (Son)
- National Archives (Library of Birmingham)
- MS 3375/571803 25 Mar 1689
- Lease for six months from George Bissell the elder of Yardley, yeoman, Mary, his wife, and George Bissell the younger of Yardley, yeoman, their son, to Christopher Wright of Yardley, yeoman, and John Shaw of Lyne Greene Lyndon Green, yeoman, of a messuage lands and appurtenances in Yardley near the lane leading from Yardley Wood towards Six Wayes
- MS 3375/424857 24 May 1698
- Grant from George Bissell, the elder, of Yardley, yeoman, and William Bissell of Yardley, yeoman, his son, to George Bissell, the younger, of Yardley, ironmonger, another son of the said George Bissell, the elder, of a messuage, cottage and land in Yardley
- MS 3375/424861 15 May 1739
- Receipt from Thomas Bissell to Joseph Bissell for the sum of £180, being a debt due to the said Thomas from his father, George Bissell late of Yardley, gent., deceased
- MS 3375/571803 25 Mar 1689