Let’s meet John Massingham

Let’s imagine it’s 1600 and John is about 21. King James I (1566 - 1625), James VI of Scotland is on the throne and we have gone so far back in time, 423 years in fact, that it becomes harder to trace our common ancestor. Records were not as good as they are today and generally they were only kept by the parish priest. We don’t have any records for John apart from his will which is outlined in italics below. £10 would be worth about £1750 today and enough to buy a horse in 1639. The average annual income for a working family was about £42. 19 August 1639, John Massingham the elder of the parish of Langham (body to churchyard of Langham) " All my houses copy hold lands and lease lands to my son John Massingham after the decease of me and my wife, to pay upon the entry within 1 year after unto Robert Massingham my son £10. " To William Massingham my son £10 to be paid 12 months after the former payment. " To Dorothy my daughter £10 to be paid as aforesaid. " To Francis my son £10 to be paid as aforesaid. " To John Youngs my grandchild and Agnes Youngs £10 to be paid £5 apiece by equal portions as aforesaid. " For the payment of these legacies, I tie my houses and all my copy hold lands if he refuse to pay the said legacies or any of them then my son Robert shall enter the land and pay the legacies, and if Robert refuse or die in the meantime then my son William shall enter the lands and pay the legacies. " To my son Francis, all my freelands be it more or less. " Last of all, to my wife Dorothy Massingham my sole executrix, of all my moveable goods and if of these either Robert Dorothy or Francis die before these legacies be paid them then the l egacy of the deceased shall be equally divided amongst the other 3 of my children. " My wife Dorothy Massingham my executrix shall receive and pay my debts, shall bring my body to the ground and do furrow all my copy hold lands of both mannors. Witnesses: John Locksmith (x his mark) John Tomson John Guys Thomas Abbs (x his mark) Probatum ... to Dorothea Massingham, September 1639 This is a great source of information, because in the absence of other evidence we have an official document that sets out all the family details that we can use to start more in depth research for this ancestor. Don’t worry if it looks technical. Wills have to be written in such a way that family and rela - tions can’t argue over them. We have now discovered that John was married to Dorothy and had five children and at least two grandchildren (Youngs), so we could assume that because he only had one daughter, Dorothy, she married a Mr Youngs. We would be wrong. He had two daughters, an older one called Marey. She does not appear in the will, but it was she who married Robert Youngs. She probably died before the will was made which is why only the grandchildren were mentioned. This is why it is so important to verify everything we discover using other evidence. Also, Probatum is latin for proved, so John had died sometime in 1639, during the reign of King Charles I . There is evidence of Marey’s baptism in 1604. The document is almost impossible to read but researchers have managed to pick out the important parts. Date: 1604 Marey Massingham daughter of John Massingham was baptised on 9th September 1604 There must have been a lot more to John’s life and for many others not mentioned in this short story. I wonder what John thought about Guy Fawkes who tried to blow up James I and parliament in 1605? Hopefully, you might feel you now know how you fit into the big picture and how you are related to some of your ancestors. More importantly, you learned something about their lives and the periods they lived in. There is so much to explore in our family history but for now we have reached the end of this story. If you want more, there is plenty to go round. Just click here to visit our family website.