This mail discusses the reported date of death of James Boynton* of Wintringham, Yorkshire East Riding, ENG, said to have made his will in 1534 and died the same year. See Rootsweb files on the matter, as well as p. xi of John F. Boynton and Caroline (Harriman) Boynton's "The Boynton Family. A Genealogy of the Descendants of William and John Boynton, etc. etc." A careful reading of James Boynton's will, printed on p. xii of the source, provides the proper year in terms of Roman numerals, and corroborated by the regnal year of King Henry VIII. The first three lines of his will read: " In noie dei Amen, in the year of oure lorde god a M. V. x l i j, the x x tie day of Junii, in the yere of oure Sovaigne lord Kinge henrie theght x x x i i i j King of England and of Frauncie and of Yrelande, defendor of the faith, supreme hede of the churche of Englande and of Yrelande." The Roman numerals M. V. x l i j stand for 1542, although in more-modern terms the V. would have been written as a D. The Roman numerals x x x i i i j stand for the 34th year of King Henry VIII's rule. Inasmuch as his reign commenced in 1509, 34 years into it calculates to 1542. It follows, then, that James Boynton made his will on 20 June 1542, not 1534. Therefore he could not have died in 1534. * James Boynton was the gr. gr. grandfather of the brothers William and John, immigrants who settled in Rowley, Mass. Bay Colony as proprietors, many of whose descendants settled in New Hampshire and Maine as well. 'Hope this helps. -- ** This email and attachments have been scanned for content and viruses and is believed to be clean ** Please visit UMICH MOA Project for digitized books and documents at http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/moagrp/