Submit an update

Agnes [surname unknown] Garfield
By 28 July 1583 — By 22 February 1615/16

Help improve this person’s record. Share a memory, correct a detail, or add a photo. Jason will review your suggestion.

You only need to edit the details you want to change. Fields start with the current information; leave anything unchanged that already looks right. To suggest removing a value, clear that field and explain why.

Names and life details

Full name

Given names

Surname

Birth dateA year or an approximate date is fine, such as “about 1840.”

Birthplace

Death dateA year or an approximate date is fine, such as “about 1840.”

Death place

Sex

Living status

Other names

Family relationships

Include names, dates, and the type of relationship. For parents, say whether the connection is biological, adoptive, stepfamily, or uncertain.

Parents

Spouses and partners

Children

Their story and life events

Their story

**Life summary.** Agnes is identified as Thomas Garfield’s wife and the mother of seven children in the published reconstruction of their Hillmorton family. She was probably buried at Holy Trinity, Coventry, in February 1615/16, where the next generation of the family was already recorded. This suggests a later connection with Coventry, but does not establish that she moved there or shared her son’s home.

The published reconstruction names seven children of Agnes and Thomas Garfield: Edward, Thomas, William, Margaret, Sara, Henry and Elizabeth. Their reported baptisms at Hillmorton span thirteen years, from 1583 to 1596. The records do not establish how many survived together in the household. [^702-1]

Hillmorton, now part of Rugby, Warwickshire, was the village setting of those years. Its cultivated ground and documented windmill belonged to the local economy through which households obtained food. As a mother in the reconstructed family, Agnes’s life was connected with the continuing needs of children—feeding, clothing and care—even though the division of that work within this particular household is unknown. The children’s sequence gives those ordinary responsibilities a duration and a family setting. [^702-1][^702-2]

By 1611, the family reconstruction places her son Edward at Holy Trinity in Coventry. The parish records a Jonathan, son of Edward Garfield, baptized on 13 October and buried on 31 October that year. Another son, Samuell, was baptized on October 1, 1613. These entries add both growth and loss to the next generation’s history. Their link to Agnes rests on the family identification; they do not show that she was present at the events. [^702-3]

Coventry offered a different setting from Hillmorton. Holy Trinity stood near the city’s central market at Cross Cheaping. John Speed’s map of 1610 shows a compact walled settlement that still contained gardens and open ground. Timber-framed buildings beside the church at Priory Row, dating to about 1415 and described as cottages in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century records, give a more particular sense of that neighborhood. They are examples of its buildings, not an identified Garfield home. [^702-4]

An Agnes Garfeild was buried at Holy Trinity on February 22, 1615/16 and was probably this Agnes. The matching name and the presence of her reconstructed son’s family in the parish make the identification plausible. Yet the burial entry supplies no husband, age or other relationship, leaving room for a namesake. [^702-5]

A further family baptism, Sara’s on November 1, 1616, came after Agnes’s probable burial. Edward’s later settlement in Watertown, Massachusetts, carried this branch of the family farther still. Agnes’s own likely endpoint remained the Coventry parish where that next generation had already begun. [^702-3][^702-5]

[^702-1]: Robert J. O’Hara, [Ancestor Report, thirteenth generation, entries 6744–6745](https://rjohara.net/gen/ahnentafel/at01/at01_037.html), citing Anderson 2002, seven-child reconstruction. Baptism years: Edward 1583, Thomas 1585, William 1587, Margaret 1589, Sara 1591, Henry 1593 and Elizabeth 1596. The full Anderson article and original register images remain uninspected.

[^702-2]: “Parishes: Hillmorton,” [A History of the County of Warwick 6 (1951), pp. 108–114](https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/warks/vol6/pp108-114), including the 1582 windmill reference; Warwickshire Historic Environment Record [MWA9890](https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/catalogue_her/late-medievalearly-post-medieval-ridge-and-furrow-at-42-46-high-street-hillmorton-rugby), cultivation evidence. No occupation or field is assigned to Agnes or her household.

[^702-3]: FreeREG, Holy Trinity, Coventry, transcriptions by Amanda Williams: Jonathan, [baptism, October 13, 1611](https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/6a5cb790120cfc562c2ff603/jonathan-garfield-baptism-warwickshire-coventry-1611-10-13), line 364; [burial, October 31, 1611](https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/6a5cbb87120cfc562c30712a/jonathan-garfield-burial-warwickshire-coventry-1611-10-31), line 1315; Samuell, [baptism, October 1, 1613](https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/6a5cb79b120cfc562c2ff890/samuell-garfield-baptism-warwickshire-coventry-1613-10-01), line 504; Sara, [baptism, November 1, 1616](https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/6a5cb7a7120cfc562c2ffc05/sara-garfeild-baptism-warwickshire-coventry-1616-11-01), line 683. These entries name father Edward, not Agnes. The cross-generation identification and later Massachusetts connection follow the [Edward Garfield reconstruction](https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Edward_Garfield_(1)). Baptism and burial dates are not substituted birth and death dates.

[^702-4]: Coventry City Council, [The Historical Development of Coventry (May 2009)](https://www.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/file/25004/the-historical-development-of-coventry), pp. 2, 5–6, market, churches and discussion of Speed’s 1610 map; Historic Coventry Trust, [Priory Row, Overview](https://www.historiccoventrytrust.org.uk/projects/priory-row/), early timber fabric and later cottage descriptions. Later alterations do not establish the buildings’ appearance during Agnes’s lifetime.

[^702-5]: FreeREG, [Agnes Garfeild burial, Holy Trinity, Coventry, February 22, 1615/16](https://www.freereg.org.uk/search_records/6a5cbb98120cfc562c307445/agnes-garfeild-burial-warwickshire-coventry-1616-02-22), transcriber Amanda Williams, file line 1511. The record URL uses the year 1616; dual dating is retained here. No identifying relative, age or abode is supplied. Identification as person 702 remains probable rather than established.

Life events

Work and organizations

Occupations

Organization roles

Memories and sources

Memories and context

Sources

Anything else

Photos

Share up to three photos, each 4 MB or smaller. JPG, PNG, and WebP are supported. Add a caption beside each photo to help tell its story.

Who is pictured? About when and where was it taken? Where did the photo come from? Add whatever you know.

Photo 1Choose photo 1Caption for photo 1 Optional

Photo 2Choose photo 2Caption for photo 2 Optional

Photo 3Choose photo 3Caption for photo 3 Optional

Your suggestion

What changed, and how do you know?A source link, document title, or personal recollection can help Jason review it.

Your name Required

Email Optional — only for questions about your suggestion

Email is optional and stays private.