What we currently know about Edward Hall’s father, as it turns out, is a whole lot less than what we don’t know. We do know from the records of the St. Mary’s Church in Henbury, Gloucestershire, England that Francis Hall was buried on 8 December 1620. We also know that he wrote his Will in 1620, it was probated 18 June 1621 and his Will named his wife Margaret, and his sons Edward, Thomas, and John. The baptisms of his sons are recorded in the St. Mary’s church records: Edward, baptized on 29 September 1611; Thomas baptized on 23 March 1615/16 (died 23 October 1639, buried in Henbury); and John baptized on 13 August 1620. There are no others records for this family that have been found as yet.

We have not (yet) been able to locate a Will that names Francis Hall of Henbury as a son, so we do not have documentation on who his parents were or even where he was born. His age at death was not given in the burial record so we cannot even guess how old he was when he died (although we can speculate that he was not very old based on the years that his sons were born), something that would help a great deal in trying to determine where and when he was born through available baptism records.

We know that his wife’s name was Margaret, according to his Will, but we do not know what her maiden name was. There is a recorded marriage between a Francis Hall and Margaret Lewis in Berkeley, Gloucestershire, England in 1606, but until such time as we can determine when Francis Hall was born, we cannot know, for a fact, whether he is the Francis Hall that married Margaret Lewis, or not.

Locating a Will that names Francis Hall of Henbury as a son would be a major find…..and a major start in learning more about him.