On Tuesday, May 31, 2016 at 7:38:56 PM UTC-4, Jan Wolfe wrote: > In line 6 [should say 9] of the will of Richard Drax, does the will say > > Itm lego Johanni Wakfeld iij s > or > Itm lego Johanne Wakfeld iij s ? > > Is the bequest to John or to Joan Wakfeld? > > An image of this will is on Ancestry at http://interactive.ancestry.com/5111/40611_311103-00481/869967 > and the will is described in TNA's catalog at http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D968976 > > In line 5 [actually 8] there is a bequest to "Johanne" designated as the testator's sister. There the last letter is clearly an e. > > Who was this Joan or John Wakfeld? The Drakes pedigree states that Katherine, a niece of this Richard, married Thomas Wakefield of Newark, https://archive.org/stream/visitationofyork00flow#page/103/mode/1up > > I am researching the Drax family because Barry Foulks recently alerted me to a 2007 thread in which Michael Andrews-Reading states that "This Katherine was the wife of Thomas Wakefield of Newark, Notts, whose daughter and heir Isabel (Pedigree of the Frecheville and Musard Families, p 4) married Aucher Frecheville." > http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/gen-medieval/2007-09/1190893077 > > If Katherine Drax was the mother of Thomas Wakefeld's daughter Isabel who married Anker Frecheville, then it appears that 17th century New Jersey immigrant Anne (Revell) Curtis would have the following descent from King John of England: > > John = a daughter of Hamelin Plantagenet and Isabel de Warenne > Richard FitzRoy = Rohese de Dover > Lorette de Dover = William Marmion > John Marmion = Isabel > John Marmion = Maud Furnival > Joan Marmion = John Bernake > Maud Bernake = Ralph Cromwell > Maud Cromwell = William Fitzwilliam > Elizabeth Fitzwilliam = Robert Rockley > Robert Rockley = Agnes Duckenfield > Eleanor Rockley = Robert Drax > Katherine Drakes = Thomas Wakefeld > Isabel Wakefield = Anker Frecheville > Eleanor Frecheville = Robert Revell > John Revell = Mary Comberford (descendant of Henry II) > John Revell = Mary Beighton > Robert Revell = Anne Knowles > Anne Revell = John Curtis > > A 1452/53 deed mentions Maud, wife of Thomas Wakefeld of Newark. > https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=yale.39002032429152;view=1up;seq=69 > > I've ordered FHL film 99455 in order to read the 1459 will of Robert Drax listed here, https://books.google.com/books?id=fVwJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA54. > > I would be pleased to hear about any records that identify the mother of Isabel Wakefeld. > > In addition to the deed mentioned above, Thomas Wakefeld is mentioned in deeds and Common Pleas (debt) cases from 1459-1484. A Chancery case (1475-1480 or 1483-85) identifies his father as Richard Wakefeld. See > http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7447295 > Bill of William Gilibrond of Newerk and Elene his wyfe, > http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT4/ChP/C1no50/C1no50nos1-301/IMG_0117.htm > Answere of Thomas Wakefeld to the bill of William Gelybrand and Elene his wyff, > http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT4/ChP/C1no50/C1no50nos1-301/IMG_0114.htm > (and adjacent images for the answer of the other defendant, replications, and a rejoinder) Thanks to Matt Thompkins for reading the 1457 will of Richard Drax. The bequest is to Johanni Wakfeld, thus John. Richard requested to be buried in the church of St Nicholas in Thames Ditton in the diocese of Winchester and made a bequest to every household having need in the parish of Thames Ditton. Thames Ditton, in Surrey, is a long way from Yorkshire, where the Drax/Drakes family in the pedigree lived. Perhaps this Richard is not the Richard who was a brother of Robert in the pedigree. Richard bequeathed to his "wife Maud all his movable goods pertaining to the hall, chamber, buttery and kitchen with all the plough chattels and others belonging to husbandry for the aid and maintenance of my boys" ("puerorum meum"). If Richard means his young sons, that seems like an unusual way to refer to them.