Our Head Family: Tied to valleys' heads, mills' hum, and rivers' flow

 Our ancestors primarily resided in rural villages and hamlets in Wiltshire and Hampshire, England, during the 17th and 18th centuries. These areas were characterized by agricultural economies, with rivers like the Avon, Wylye, and Test supporting farming, wool production, and small-scale industries. The family appears to have moved southward over generations, from the Woodford Valley in Wiltshire toward the New Forest and Southampton area in Hampshire. Below is a breakdown by generation, focusing on the key locations and their historical context during the relevant periods (based on birth, death, and marriage records you provided). I've noted approximate time frames for each generation's residency.

• GEN 1: George Hedd/Head (b. bef. 1610, d. ~1650) and Anne Peake (b. ~1615, d. ~1651)  
• Woodford, Wiltshire (early 17th century): George was born here, a civil parish on the west bank of the River Avon, about 4 miles north of Salisbury. In the 17th century, it was a small agricultural community divided into Lower, Middle, and Upper Woodford, with manors and farms. The area featured medieval and early modern buildings, including the 17th-century Manor House at Lower Woodford. It was part of the Woodford Valley, known for its fertile land and proximity to Salisbury's markets.   
• Great Wishford, Wiltshire (early-mid 17th century): Anne was born here, about 3 miles north of Wilton in the Wylye Valley. In the 17th century, it was a pre-Norman hamlet with ties to nearby estates, including rights to gather wood from Grovely Forest (a custom dating back centuries). The village had 17th-century almshouses and schools, reflecting a stable rural community focused on farming and woodland resources. 
• GEN 2: John Head (b. ~1640, d. 1707) and Edith Willis (b. 1631, d. 1696)  
• Woodford, Wiltshire (mid-17th century): John was born here, continuing the family's presence in this Avon-side parish during a time of post-Civil War recovery, with agriculture dominating.  
• Corton, Wiltshire (late 17th century): John died here, a small hamlet in Boyton parish on the River Wylye, about 10 miles west of Salisbury. In the 17th century, it was tied to local manors with a focus on wool and cloth production; Cortington Manor was built in the late 1600s.   
• Codford, Wiltshire (mid-17th century): Edith was born here, a parish south of the Wylye Valley with villages like Codford St. Peter and St. Mary. The 17th century saw it as part of Wiltshire's woollen industry hub, with fulling mills and weavers common. 
• GEN 3: Christopher Head (b. ~1666, d. 1744) and Martha Bearden (b. ~1670, d. 1729)  
• Great Wishford, Wiltshire (late 17th to mid-18th century): Both lived and died here, during a period of village growth with 18th-century schools and houses like Wishford House. The Wylye Valley supported mixed farming and community traditions, such as Oak Apple Day wood-gathering. 
• GEN 4: John Head (b. ~1692, d. 1739) and Sarah Beacham (b. ~1690, d. 1721)  
• Great Wishford, Wiltshire (late 17th to early 18th century): John was born here, linking back to prior generations.  
• Broughton, Hampshire (early-mid 18th century): Both died here, a village near the River Test, about 8 miles west of Winchester. In the 18th century, it was Saxon-rooted with enclosures and farming; the landscape included valleys and streams ideal for agriculture.   
• West Tytherley, Hampshire (early 18th century): Sarah was born here (noted as West Tyerley), a village near the Wiltshire border with manors and mills from Domesday times. The 18th century saw conservation of its diverse buildings and rural economy. 
• GEN 5: Thomas Head (b. 1715, d. 1798) and Mary Cook (b. ~1717, d. 1797)  
• Broughton, Hampshire (early 18th century): Thomas was born here.  
• Millbrook, Hampshire (late 18th century): Thomas died here, a parish near Southampton with manors held by the Mill (later Barker-Mill) family. In the 18th century, it was rural with streams and growing ties to Southampton's trade.   
• Eling, Hampshire (mid-18th century): Mary was born here, on Southampton Water with a long history as a royal manor.   
• Southampton, Hampshire (late 18th century): Mary died here, a bustling port town in the 18th century with shipbuilding and trade, though our family likely lived on its rural fringes.
• GEN 6: Thomas Head (b. ~1739, d. 1813) and Sarah Whitehorn (b. ~1748, d. 1807)  
• Eling, Hampshire (mid-18th century): Thomas was born here.  
• Millbrook, Hampshire (late 18th to early 19th century): Both died here, during a time of expansion due to proximity to Southampton.  
• Minstead, Hampshire (mid-18th century): Sarah was born here, in the New Forest with manors enlarged in the 18th century, known for woodlands and estates. 

These locations were predominantly rural, with economies based on farming, wool, and river-based activities. The shift from Wiltshire to Hampshire may reflect marriage ties or economic opportunities in the south.

Mills in the Areas Inhabited

Our speculation about mills aligns well with the geography—many of these places were on rivers or streams, where watermills were common for grinding corn, fulling cloth (cleaning and thickening wool), papermaking, or sawing timber. Wiltshire's Wylye and Avon valleys, and Hampshire's Test and Southampton Water areas, had thriving mill industries in the 17th-18th centuries. While no direct records tie our ancestors to milling occupations, the surname "Head" (from Old English "heafod," meaning a topographic feature like the head of a valley or stream) could suggest proximity to such sites, as mills often required headwaters or elevated streams for power.  Below are key mills and details from the areas:

• Woodford, Wiltshire: Middle Woodford Mill, a water-powered corn mill on the Avon, operated from the 16th century and rebuilt in the 18th. The Upjohn family were millers here for over a century from 1538. It featured flint and chalk chequerwork, typical of local architecture. 
• Great Wishford, Wiltshire: No specific mill named, but the Wylye Valley had numerous watermills for corn and fulling, supporting the 17th-18th century wool trade. Nearby Barford had shared mill rights with Wishford. 
• Corton, Wiltshire: Part of Wiltshire's textile belt; 17th-18th century fulling mills were common along the Wylye for processing wool from local sheep. The area had horned sheep breeds suited for coarse cloth. 
• Codford, Wiltshire: Several fulling mills on the Wylye; 16th-18th century probate records show clothiers and weavers. The woollen industry thrived here, with mills for dyeing and fulling. 
• Broughton, Hampshire: Broughton Mill (corn mill) in Mill Lane, with 18th-19th century chequerwork brick and weatherboarding. It was a water grist mill, sold in historical records, tied to local wool fulling until the early 19th century. 
• West Tytherley, Hampshire: Domesday mills likely at sites like Holbury Mill and Ford Mill (near East Tytherley). 18th century mills powered by local streams for corn and possibly textiles. 
• Eling, Hampshire: Eling Tide Mill, one of the UK's last operating tide mills, recorded in Domesday and rebuilt 1740-1785. It ground flour using tidal power from Southampton Water, owned by manor lords (including kings). A key 18th-century feature, it included a maltings and was lucrative during the period. 
• Millbrook, Hampshire: Named after its brook (Tanner's Brook), which powered mills from the 16th century. Held by the Mill/Barker-Mill family; 18th-century paper and corn mills were common in Hampshire, with streams harnessed for industry. 
• Minstead, Hampshire: No named mill, but New Forest streams supported watermills for corn and timber. Hampshire had over 200 mills by 1900, many dating to the 18th century. 

These mills were vital to local economies, often family-run. Our family's proximity suggests possible involvement in milling, farming near mills, or related trades like weaving.

Narrative About the Head Family

In the rolling chalk hills of southern England, where rivers carve through valleys like veins of silver, the Head family traced their roots back to the early 17th century. Their surname, evoking the "head" of a stream or valley, seemed almost prophetic, for their lives unfolded along waterways that powered the mills of Wiltshire and Hampshire. George Hedd, born before 1610 in Woodford's verdant Avon banks, might have gazed upon Middle Woodford Mill's turning wheel as a boy, its flint-and-chalk structure grinding corn for the village. He wed Anne Peake from nearby Great Wishford, a place of ancient oak-gathering rites in Grovely Forest, where the Wylye whispered secrets of endurance. Together, they navigated the turbulent 1600s—plagues, civil wars—raising their son John amid Woodford's orchards and farms, until George's passing around 1650 and Anne's a year later left echoes in the valley.

John Head, born around 1640, carried the family forward, marrying Edith Willis from Codford, where fulling mills thrummed along the Wylye, thickening wool into cloth that warmed England's hearths. They settled in Corton, a quiet hamlet with its late-17th-century manor, where sheep grazed the downs and millstreams sang. By 1707, John's life ended there, but not before siring Christopher, who returned to Great Wishford around 1666. Christopher Head and his wife Martha Bearden lived through the village's 18th-century bloom, with almshouses rising and schools teaching the next generation. Wishford House loomed grandly, a symbol of stability, as they tended fields and perhaps traded at nearby markets, until Martha's death in 1729 and Christopher's in 1744.

Their son John Head, christened in 1692, bridged counties by marrying Sarah Beacham from West Tytherley in Hampshire. They moved to Broughton, where the Test River fed mills like the chequer-bricked Broughton Mill, grinding grist for bread amid enclosures that reshaped the land. Sarah passed in 1721, John in 1739, but their legacy flowed southward through son Thomas Head, born in Broughton in 1715. Thomas wed Mary Cook from Eling, home to the remarkable Tide Mill, its wheels turned by Southampton Water's rhythms since Domesday—rebuilt in the 1740s-80s, it symbolized innovation amid rural life. They raised family in Eling's salty air, eventually settling in Millbrook, where streams named the place itself, powering paper and corn mills under the Barker-Mill estate. Thomas outlived Mary by a year, dying in 1798 as the century closed.

Finally, their son Thomas Head, born in Eling in 1739, married Sarah Whitehorn from Minstead's forested depths, where New Forest ponies roamed and manors expanded in Georgian splendor. They returned to Millbrook, perhaps drawn by its brook-fed industries, living through Napoleonic threats and bread shortages. Sarah died in 1807, Thomas in 1813, ending this chapter. Through generations, the Heads embodied the quiet resilience of England's countryside—tied to valleys' heads, mills' hum, and rivers' flow, their story a thread in the tapestry of history.

Thank you to Grok xAI for the enhanced details and editing -- Drifting Cowboy.