Nat Gould

William Gould 1538-1589

William Gould was born in about the year 1538 at Herbage Farm in the moorlands of north Staffordshire, the ancestral home of his family (1).

He was the son of Thomas Gould of Herbage.

The name of his mother is unknown (2).

His father Thomas Gould probably died in 1540.

William Gould died in 1589. An inventory of his possessions was taken on 29 December in that year, and administration of his estate was granted on 23 November 1590 (3).

His sister Elizabeth Gould married Christopher Johnson on 16 February 1559.

(1) Information concerning this family and the photographs illustrating this webpage were kindly provided by Ann and Michael Hanson whose extensive and scholarly work on the Goulds of Herbage has been carried out over many years. Origins of the Goulds of Pilsbury, near Hartington, Derbyshire (2009).
(2) A recurring problem with parish registers is incomplete coverage and loss of sections, as well as deliberate Civil War omissions. The Alstonefield registers record no burials from 1625 to 1638 nor marriages from 1612 to 1637 and from 1643 to 1650. So gaps in the lineage of the Gould family of Herbage are unavoidable.
(3) Probate copies are in the Lichfield Record Office. The Administration document states that William Gould was "of Harbache".