The Broadway, West and Card Families of North Dorset,England
Introduction
The Norman and Marshall families were amongst the lowest in the society; in stark contrast the early Broadways were a well-off; middle class family. The Cards and Miles enjoyed high status and were considered to be lesser gentry. They had, however, lost their money and status by the 1820s.
Our Broadway connections are distant. Joseph Scammell married first Sarah and then Anna Davidge. They were the daughters of John Davidge and Anna West. Anna was the daughter of Samuel West and Anna Broadway. She is believed to have been born circa 1790 in the village of Fontmell Magna, Dorset.
Prior to Broadway family can be traced back to Motcombe, a village in north Dorset, close to Gillingham. Over the last two centuries it has been an agricultural area, especially associated with cheese production but back in the 16th centuries it was part of the Royal Forest of Gillingham. For information about the village of Motcombe, see the Motcombe Village Website.
I am indebted to the late Bill Broadway for his help and encouragement in researching the Broadway line. Most of my personal research has been carried out at the Dorset History Centre, Dorchester and the Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office, formerly in Trowbridge. I have a lot more detail about the 18th century Motcombe Broadway family including transcripts of their wills. I am happy to share information with genuine family history researchers who are directly descended from this line. The information on this website is a summary.
Contact: helen at sign dorsetbay dot plus dot com. Please use . in place of dot and @ in place of 'at sign'!