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John Wheeler
b. 1533 - Cranfield, Bedfordshire, England
d. 1567 - Cranfield, Bedford, England
f.
Henry Wheeler
m. Unknown |
Alice Sayre w. 1558
b. 1541 - Odell, Bedforshire, England
d. 1567 - Cranfield, Bedfordshire, England
f. William Sayre
m. Alice Squire
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Thomas b. 1561
John b. 1563 |
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John Wheeler is thought to be the father of Thomas Wheeler ("Thomas the
Elder of Cranfield"), although no definitive documentation (baptism
and/or wills) can provide definitive confirmation.
John made his will February 9, 1567, and died thereafter. In his
will he named his wife Alice and two minor children, Thomas and John.
The fact that he left only these two children, both minors, suggests
that they were quite young and only the first of what might have been a
larger family, had he lived.
In his will, John gave sums:
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To the
church at Lincoln
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To the
poor man's box
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To the
poor of the parish
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To the
bells (possibly a pledge to fund bells for the church)
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To
repair of the highways (during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, many
left portions of their wills to build roads, which was a wish of the
Queen's)
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For
tithes forgotten 12d (his will was made during the reign of
Queen Mary "Bloody Mary", who was raised near Cranfield by her
mother Catherine of Aragon, and his atonement for forgotten tithes
may reflect the queen's attempt to restore Catholicsim).
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"and
where as the church near my office owes me 20d, I forgive the
same."
* Information found in;
"The Wheeler Genealogy - The Ancestral Wheeler Family of Cranfield,
Bedfordshire, England Whose Descendents Settled in Colonial New England", "Fifty
Great Immigration Colonists to New England & Their Origins" - John B.
Threlfall and "The Wheeler Family of Cranfield,
England and Concord, Massachusetts" - M. Wheeler Molyneaux
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