Thomas Luther of Stapleford Tawney (Born ~1530)
11th Great Grandfather – FFFMFFMFFFFFF1
Richard Luther my 10th great grandfather’s father was Thomas Luther.
We are now getting into the early 16th century. The requirement for parishes to record baptisms, marriages and burials did not start until 1538, and most parishes didn’t really start until the reign of Elizabeth I in 1558. However, the various Visitations do reveal some details, and the Visitation of Essex in 1634 does reveal that Thomas Luther was the son of Richard Luther2. Both of them are referred to as being “als (or alias) Hewett”.
The visitation also reveals that Thomas was married to the daughter of a man called Goudge and that they had a son called Richard. We know that when he wrote his will in 15863 his wife was called Phillipp (or Philipa) and as Philipa is a name that becomes fairly common in the Luther family I have inferred that Thomas’s wife was Philipa Goudge (or Googe).
Thomas was involved in several property disputes during his life, and in at least one of these he is a co-defendant with his wife Phillippa4.
Trin. Wm. Aylett, pl. Tho. Luther & w. Philippa, def., 1 mess., 40 a. ar., 12a. mw. & 100 a. pa. in Fange, Pytsey, Newyngdon & Bartelesdon. £580.
We also know from Thomas’s will that at the time it was written he had three children, two boys Richard, my 10th great grandfather, and Anthony as well as a daughter Margaret who had married Robert Wright.
We also know he must have had a second daughter as he refers a few times to his well-beloved son-in-law William Lewen (or Lewin). William was a Member of Parliament5 for Rochester in Kent, as well as a well know barister and judge and he was at Cambridge at the same time as Thomas’s eldest son Richard. As confirmation William in his own will6 refers to his brothers in law Anthony and Richard Luther.
Thomas’s will also confirms the maiden name of his wife as he makes his “good brother” Thomas Gooch together with his son in law William Lewin overseers of his will. Likewise, Thomas Gooch refers to his well-beloved nephews Anthony and Richard Luther in his will7.
Thomas died in 1586 and was buried at St Nicholas Kelvedon Hatch on 27th March 15868.
References
“England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858.” 2013. Ancestry.com. 2013. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/5111/.
“Essex, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812.” 2019. Ancestry.com. 2019. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/61698/.
“LEWIN, William (c.1545-98), of London and Otterden, Kent.” 1964-2020. The History of Parliament Trust. 1964-2020. https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/lewin-william-1545-98.
Metcalfe, Walter C., ed. 1872. The Visitations of Essex, 1552,1558,1570,1612,1634. London: Mitchell; Hughes. https://archive.org/details/visitationsofess1314metc/page/n8/mode/1up.
Footnotes
-
When showing relationships F means Father, M means Mother, U means Uncle and A means Aunt. So FFM is my father’s father’s mother, and FFMU is my father’s father’s mother’s uncle.↩
-
The Visitation of Essex by Owen and Leslie, 1634, (Metcalfe 1872) p. 439.↩
-
The Will of Thomas Luther, dated 21 Mar 1586, (see “England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858” 2013), PROB 11/69/201.↩
-
(see Essex-FeetofFines5?), p. 204.↩
-
(see “LEWIN, William (c.1545-98), of London and Otterden, Kent” 1964-2020)↩
-
The Will of William Lewin, dated 15 Nov 1597, (see “England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858” 2013), PROB 11/91/1.↩
-
The Will of Thomas Gooch, dated 20 Jan 1589, (see “England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858” 2013), PROB 11/74/269.↩
-
Parish Register of St Nicholas, Kelvedon Hatch, 1560 – 1695, (see “Essex, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812” 2019), D/P 296/1/1, pt 24.↩