John Archer was a son of Humphrey Archer of Umberslade Hall near Tanworth in Warwickshire. His name appears in the court rolls for Welland from 1607 but he may have settled here earlier. He married Eleanor Frewen of Hanley Castle and they had at least seven sons. He was buried under the chancel of old St James Church, a privilege only granted to the most important people in the parish.

John appears to have lived at Hunts Farm (later known as Woodside) and in his will of 1640 he left this property and the water mill plus various pieces of land, to his wife. The extent of his landholdings is shown by the fact that in 1648 Eleanor was paying more than 25% of the total rent due for the manor of Welland.

Another three generations of John Archers followed in Welland. The hearth tax records of 1663 state that the house of John Archer, grandson of the above, had five hearths, second in number only to Welland Court, making it likely to have been Hunts Farm. In 1672 St James Church was re-built. An engraved stone was put up in the new church to commemorate this event, naming churchwardens John Archer and Ralph Taylor as well as the vicar Anselm Harford and architect John Avenant of Kings Norton. This John Archer died in 1713, pre-deceased by his son John in 1701.

The parish records for Welland are particularly sparse for the 17th century but there are few records under the name of Archer in Welland for any period. There are, however, many more in the surrounding parishes, who may or may not be related to the Welland Archers. A much later John Archer (1791-1877), who ran the Foley Arms Hotel in Malvern for many years, claimed descent from the Welland Archers, but we cannot substantiate this.