Anne Clark

- Bef 1560

• Name	Anne Clark
  Birth	of London, England   [1]
  Gender	Female
  Death	Bef 16 Jun 1560	Edworth, Bedfordshire, England   [2, 3]
  Burial	16 Jun 1560	Edworth, Bedfordshire, England   [2, 3]
  Person ID	I936	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of AW
  Last Modified	14 Nov 2021

  
  

  Family	John Spencer,   b. Aft 1500   d. Bef 9 Jun 1558 (Age < 56 years)
  Children	+ 1. Michael Spencer,   b. Abt 1530-1535, of Edworth, Bedfordshire, England d. Aft 1599, Stotfold, Bedfordshire, England (Age ~ 65 years)
  Family ID	F552	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	3 Jul 2015

  
  

• Notes

  From Donald Lines Jacobus, "The Four Spencer Brothers -- Their Ancestors and Descendants," citation details below: The recorder in entering the burial of Ann Spencer, widow, paid her respect by the following tribute: "the good hospitality keeper; and she did give to the towneship of Edworth ii of her best bease [beasts] to be lett to ii pore folks in the towns for iii s. a cow & the parson & churchwarden to have the letting of them & the distributing of the money to the poor & to se the stock maintained etch of them to have iii d. of the vi s. for the panes to se this truly done acording to her last will." Her will, dated 13 June 1560, proved 21 Apr 1561, calls her Widow, in Edworth, Beds., and names her son Gerard (aged 17); son Michael, to have the chest that was his brother John's; John Spencer, son Michael's child, to have £20; Elisabeth Lymer, to have £4 at marriage; Alice Aystin, to have a calf; servants; for the mending of "London Brygge waye," 10 s.; brother Edward's children, to have the £1 that he borrowed of her, and the barley he gave her sons to his children; Nicholas Merryll and John Merryll his brother, to have the barley their father gave her sons; and the poor of Edworth, to have the gift already mentioned. Michael Spencer was a witness. From this will we gain the impression that our Spencer family at that period was of the yeoman class, and somewhat better off than the average village family of the time and place. Whether they were in origin a younger branch of an older gentry family, or a more humble clan which by industry and good fortune had improved its lot, we are not in a position to affirm. It would be necessary to prove the parentage and more remote ancestry of John Spencer, Sr., by documentary evidence, before claiming any specific connection with any other Spencer family in England. From the terms of the will, it would seem that Anne's brother was Edward Merryll or Merrill, and that this was her maiden name. A search of Merrill wills might confirm this conjecture.

  
  

• Sources

  [S404] John Melvin of Charlestown and Concord, Mass., by Emily Wilder Leavitt. Boston, MA: David Clapp & Son, 1901-1905. [S389] Donald Lines Jacobus, "The Four Spencer Brothers -- Their Ancestors and Descendants." The American Genealogist 27:79, 27:161, 1951; 28:56, 1952. [S906] The Ancestry of Lorenzo Ackley and His Wife Emma Arabella Bosworth by N. Grier Parke II, edited by Donald Lines Jacobus. Woodstock, Vermont: The Elm Tree Press, 1960.